Easily approachable science books

[Alice]

Hi!
I'm currently reading Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers and I'm finding it really interesting and hard to put down! I'm pretty new to reading non fiction and would like to know about other interesting science books that are easily approachable to someone who only knows high school-level science. (However, easily approachable does not mean dumbed down) Preferably books related to the field of medicine :)

Thank you in advance!

[DrosoPHila]

Well, you are talking about accessible science writing or "popular science", as the genre is known:

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/popu...

There are also specific shelves for medical-related books. The most popular of these are also popular science books.

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/medi...
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/medical
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/health

Furthermore, there are also the automatic suggestions that GR will generate based on you read/to-read statistics.

As for a specific suggestion, I think The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is very popular at the moment - the science isn't too heavy, and I'd personally consider it to be "female-friendly" as its 3 main characters are women.

[Jim]

This month's read Bad Science would be perfect.

[Betsy, co-mod]

You might also look for books by some popular science authors like Deborah Blum, Mary Roach, or Carl Zimmer.

And check out the Group bookshelves. We do have a shelf for medicine - https://www.goodreads.com/group/books... - but that doesn't guarantee the writing is accessible. If a book looks interesting, check several reviews because they will often discuss how readable the book is for the lay person.

[Jim]

I've read all of Mary Roach's books. They're fantastic.

[James]

It really depends on what you want to discover and whether you want physics or biology. My favourites author for biology is Dawkins (selfish gene) and for physics Penrose (Emperors New mind). I just wrote a book my self which has a mix of biology and physics in it.

In that book I give a more thorough set of further reading which I have cut and pasted below.

if you enjoy the history of science I recommend, The Missing 4%, and Quantum for a really clear exposé of the issues around quantum mechanics, relativity and cosmology, Robert Winston’s Bad Ideas for a more thorough history of language and writing, and The Trouble with Physics for the recent history of particle Physics. Regarding the brain, anything by Oliver Sachs is a winner. Your Brain on Music is a good primer on the theory of artistic thought and music, and Proust and the Squid is a good discussion of dyslexia and learning.