The Greatest Books of All Time on Science

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14833 The Book Of Why Judea Pearl, Dana Mackenzie 2018 American English
14833 Origin Story David Christian 2018 American English
14833 Nine Pints Rose George 2018 British English
14867 Donovan's Brain Curt Siodmak 1942 American English
14891 What Is Metaphysics? Martin Heidegger 1929 German German
14899 Hypatia Charles Kingsley 1853 British English
14899 Fer De Lance Rex Stout 1934 American English
14985 The Metaphysical Club Louis Menand 2001 American English
14985 Poor Things Alasdair Gray 1992 Scottish English
14985 Born to Run Chris McDougall 2009 American English
14985 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
14985 Passage Connie Willis 2001 American English
14985 The Baroque Cycle Neal Stephenson 2003 American English
14985 The Nature Fix Florence Williams 2017 American English
14985 Nightfall Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg 1990 American English
14985 Brazzaville Beach William Boyd 1990 British English
14985 Wonderful Life Stephen Jay Gould 1989 American English
14985 Humble Pi Matt Parker 2019 British English
14985 Forward The Foundation Isaac Asimov 1993 American English
14985 Galileo's Daughter Dava Sobel 1999 American English
14985 Gulp Mary Roach 2013 American English
14985 The Drunken Botanist Amy Stewart 2013 American English
14985 The Dervish House Ian McDonald 2010 British English
14985 The Jonah Kit Ian Watson 1975 British English
14985 Artemis Andy Weir 2017 American English
14985 Deception Point Dan Brown 2001 American English
14985 Isaac's Storm Erik Larson 1999 American English
14985 Lab Girl Hope Jahren 2016 American English
14985 Horse Geraldine Brooks 2022 Australian English
14985 Salt Mark Kurlansky 2002 American English
14985 The Coming Wave Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar 2024 English
14985 The Wright Brothers David McCullough 2015 American English
14985 A City On Mars Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith 2023 Unknown English
14985 Genentech Sally Smith Hughes 2009 Unknown English
14985 Eve Cat Bohannon 2023 Unknown English
14985 Ultra Processed People Chris van Tulleken 2023 British English
15565 The Mind In The Making James Harvey Robinson 1921 American English
15567 Loonshots Safi Bahcall 2019 American English
15590 Accepting The Universe John Burroughs 1920 American English
15594 Broken Genius Joel N. Shurkin 2020 American English
15594 Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex David Reuben 1969 American English
15613 The Outline Of Science J. Arthur Thomson 1922 British English
15616 The Code Breaker Walter Isaacson 2021 American English
15651 The Days Of A Man David Starr Jordan 1922 American English
15660 The Outline Of Literature John Drinkwater 1923 British English
15665 Black Oxen Gertrude Atherton 1923 American English
15667 In The Valleys Of The Noble Beyond John Zada 2019 Unknown English
15683 Life And Confessions Of A Psychologist G. Stanley Hall 1923 American English
15758 The Tree Of Knowledge Pío Baroja 1911 Spanish Spanish
15916 Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature Niels Bohr 1932 Danish English
15916 The Expanding Universe Arthur Eddington 1933 British English
15916 Science and Hypothesis Henri Poincaré 1902 French French
15916 Science and the Modern World Alfred North Whitehead 1925 British English
15916 Uncertainty Principle Werner Heisenberg 1927 German Unknown
15916 A Critique of the Theory of Evolution Thomas Hunt Morgan 1916 American English
15916 First Principles Herbert Spencer 1862 British English
15916 Works of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1700 German Latin
15916 Atlas Gerardus Mercator 1595 Belgian Latin
15916 The life and letters of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1817 American English
15916 The Last Flight Of Dr. Ain James Tiptree Jr. 1969 American English
15916 Advancement Of Learning Francis Bacon 1605 British English
15916 On A Piece Of Chalk Thomas Henry Huxley 1868 British English
15916 The Works Of Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne 1686 British English
15916 The Journal Of A Disappointed Man W. N. P. Barbellion 1919 British English
15916 The Selected Letters Of William James William James 1920 American English
15916 On The Shoulders Of Giants Robert K. Merton 1965 American English
15916 The Radium Woman Eleanor Doorly 1939 British English
15916 Black On White M. Ilin 1932 Russian Russian
15916 The Social Function Of Science J. D. Bernal 1939 British English
15916 Physics For Entertainment Yakov Perelman 1913 Russian Russian
15898 Winds Of Doctrine George Santayana 1913 American English
15916 Light On Yoga B. K. S. Iyengar 1966 Indian English
15916 Alberuni's India Al-Biruni, Edward C. Sachau 1030 Multiple Arabic
15892 The Chain Of Chance Stanislaw Lem 1976 Polish Polish
16617 Profiles Of The Future Arthur C. Clarke 1962 British English
16552 Handbook Of The Birds Of India And Pakistan Salim Ali, S. Dillon Ripley 1968 Multiple English
16611 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
16645 Pebble In The Sky Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
16718 Inherit The Wind Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee 1955 American English
16750 The Verge Susan Glaspell 1921 American English
16716 Orphans Of The Sky Robert A. Heinlein 1941 American English
16682 Values, Objectivity, And The Social Sciences Gresham Riley 1974 American English
16673 The Undiscovered Self C.G. Jung 1957 Swiss German
16648 The Red Thumb Mark R Austin Freeman 1907 British English
16674 Personal Knowledge Michael Polanyi 1958 British English
17163 Schott's Original Miscellany Ben Schott 2002 British English
17163 Weapons and Hope Freeman Dyson 1984 American English
17163 Time, Love, Memory Jonathan Weiner 1999 American English
17163 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17163 Summer for the Gods Edward Larson 1997 American English
17163 The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846-1876 Robert V. Bruce 1987 American English
17163 The Nature of Life C. H. Waddington 1961 British English
17163 Physics and Philosophy Werner Heisenberg 1958 German German
17163 Discussion with Einstein on Epistemology Niels Bohr 1949 Danish Unknown
17163 English Passengers Matthew Kneale 2000 British English
17163 Hopeful Monsters Nicholas Mosley 1990 British English
17163 Samuel Pepys Claire Tomalin 2002 British English
17163 Scientists Against Time James Phinney Baxter III 1946 American English
17163 Terra Incognita Sara Wheeler 1996 British English
17163 The Heavens and the Earth Walter A. McDougall 1985 American English
17163 Entering Fire Rikki Ducornet 1986 American English
17163 Genoa Paul C. Metcalf 1965 American English
17163 Ever Since Darwin Stephen Jay Gould 1977 American English
17163 Die andere Bildung. Was man von den Naturwissenschaften wissen sollte Ernst Peter Fischer 2001 German German
17163 The Calcutta Chromosome Amitav Ghosh 1995 Indian English
17163 Distraction Bruce Sterling 1998 American English
17163 The Testament Of Jessie Lamb Jane Rogers 2011 British English
17163 The Lady's Guide To Celestial Mechanics Olivia Waite 2019 American English
17163 Sundiver David Brin 1980 American English
16867 From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne 1865 French French
17163 Flashforward Robert J. Sawyer 1999 Canadian English
17163 Earth David Brin 1990 American English
17163 Dragon's Egg Robert L. Forward 1980 American English
17163 The New Men C. P. Snow 1954 British English
17163 Doctor Copernicus John Banville 1976 Irish English
16804 La edad de oro José Martí 1889 Cuban Spanish
17163 Living With Risk the British Medical Association Board of Science 2003 British English
17163 The Making Of Memory Steven Rose 1992 British English
17163 The Language Of The Genes Steve Jones 1993 British English
17163 Plague's Progress Arno Karlen 1995 American English