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the best science books

The science books most often recommended by working scientists, founders, and journalists we track. Captures both the popular-science canon (Sagan, Tyson, Dawkins) and the deeper technical reads cited by people building on the frontier.

60 books, ranked by how many of the 4,800 notable readers in our index have publicly recommended each one.

  1. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
    14 people

    Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

    Caroline Criado Perez · 2019

    14 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  2. The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
    12 people

    The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

    Richard Dawkins · 2006

    12 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  3. The Death and Life of Great American Cities: 50th Anniversary Edition (Modern Library)
    12 people

    The Death and Life of Great American Cities: 50th Anniversary Edition (Modern Library)

    Jane Jacobs · 2002

    12 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  4. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
    12 people

    The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

    Michelle Alexander · 2010

    12 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  5. Hillbilly Elegy
    11 people

    Hillbilly Elegy

    J. D. Vance · 2016

    11 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  6. The Second Sex
    11 people

    The Second Sex

    Simone de Beauvoir · 1989

    11 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  7. A Brief History of Time
    11 people

    A Brief History of Time

    and The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking · 1998

    11 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  8. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
    11 people

    Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

    Merlin Sheldrake · 2020

    11 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  9. The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
    10 people

    The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself

    Sean M Carroll · 2016

    10 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  10. Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
    9 people

    Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality

    Christopher Ryan · 2010

    9 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  11. How To Lie With Statistics
    9 people

    How To Lie With Statistics

    Darrell Huff · 1982

    9 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  12. Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
    8 people

    Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society

    Nicholas A. Christakis MD PhD · 2019

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  13. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
    8 people

    Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

    Audre Lorde · 1984

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  14. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
    8 people

    An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

    Ed Yong · 2022

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  15. Collapse
    8 people

    Collapse

    Jared Diamond · 2005

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  16. The Hidden Life of Trees
    8 people

    The Hidden Life of Trees

    Peter Wohlleben · 2016

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  17. Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future
    7 people

    Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future

    Elizabeth Kolbert · 2021

    7 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  18. The Order of Time
    7 people

    The Order of Time

    Carlo Rovelli · 2018

    7 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  19. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
    7 people

    The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

    Edward R. Tufte · 2001

    7 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  20. Something Deeply Hidden
    6 people

    Something Deeply Hidden

    Sean Carroll · 2019

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  21. A New Kind of Science
    6 people

    A New Kind of Science

    Stephen Wolfram · 2002

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  22. Chaos
    6 people

    Chaos

    James Gleick · 1988

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  23. Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
    6 people

    Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

    Ronan Farrow · 2019

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  24. Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks
    6 people

    Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks

    Ben Goldacre · 2008

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  25. The Vital Question
    6 people

    The Vital Question

    Nick Lane · 2016

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  26. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
    5 people

    The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

    Michael Pollan · 2002

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  27. How to Take Smart Notes
    5 people

    How to Take Smart Notes

    Sönke Ahrens · 2022

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  28. Being You: A New Science of Consciousness
    5 people

    Being You: A New Science of Consciousness

    Anil Seth · 2020

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  29. The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Oxford Landmark Science)
    5 people

    The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Oxford Landmark Science)

    Richard Dawkins · 1999

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  30. Superior: The Return of Race Science
    4 people

    Superior: The Return of Race Science

    Angela Saini · 2019

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  31. The Voyage of the Beagle
    4 people

    The Voyage of the Beagle

    Charles Darwin · 2020

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  32. For the Love of Men
    4 people

    For the Love of Men

    Liz Plank · 2019

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  33. Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth
    4 people

    Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth

    Andrew H Knoll · 2003

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  34. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
    4 people

    Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

    Neil de Grasse Tyson · 2017

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  35. DMT
    4 people

    DMT

    Rick Strassman · 2000

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  36. She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity
    4 people

    She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity

    Carl Zimmer · 2018

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  37. Future Shock
    4 people

    Future Shock

    Alvin Toffler · 1971

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  38. Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe
    4 people

    Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe

    Dennis Overbye · 1991

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  39. Upstream: Selected Essays
    4 people

    Upstream: Selected Essays

    Mary Oliver · 2016

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  40. The Elegant Universe
    4 people

    The Elegant Universe

    Brian Greene · 2010

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  41. The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide
    4 people

    The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide

    James Fadiman · 2011

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  42. The Systems Bible
    4 people

    The Systems Bible

    John Gall · 2003

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  43. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
    4 people

    Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

    Robin Wall Kimmerer · 2003

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  44. Night Sky with Exit Wounds
    4 people

    Night Sky with Exit Wounds

    Ocean Vuong · 2016

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  45. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
    4 people

    Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

    Carlo Rovelli · 2016

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  46. The Fabric of Reality
    4 people

    The Fabric of Reality

    David Deutsch · 1998

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  47. Molecular Biology of the Cell
    4 people

    Molecular Biology of the Cell

    Bruce Alberts · 2002

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  48. Mothers and Others
    4 people

    Mothers and Others

    Sarah Blaffer Hrdy · 2009

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  49. What Doesn't Kill Us
    4 people

    What Doesn't Kill Us

    Scott Carney · 2017

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  50. Devotions
    3 people

    Devotions

    Mary Oliver · 2017

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  51. Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty
    3 people

    Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty

    Roy Baumeister · 1999

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  52. One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal
    3 people

    One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal

    Alice Domuran Dreger · 2005

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  53. Innumeracy
    3 people

    Innumeracy

    John Allen Paulos · 2001

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  54. Asimov's New Guide to Science
    3 people

    Asimov's New Guide to Science

    Isaac Asimov · 1993

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  55. Intelligent Life in the Universe
    3 people

    Intelligent Life in the Universe

    Carl Sagan & Iosif Shklovsky

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  56. One Two Three…Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science
    3 people

    One Two Three…Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science

    George Gamow · 1988

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  57. Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship
    3 people

    Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship

    Janet Jones PhD · 2020

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  58. Animal Liberation
    3 people

    Animal Liberation

    Peter Singer · 2009

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  59. The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time and Motion
    3 people

    The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time and Motion

    Sean Carroll · 2022

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  60. The Feynman Lectures on Physics
    3 people

    The Feynman Lectures on Physics

    Richard P. Feynman · 2006

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop

other topic hubs

Methodology: each book is ranked by the number of recommenders in our index who have publicly endorsed it. Curated topics use a hand-picked book list; year-stamped pages query our index by publication year. More on methodology →