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
14830 The Book Of Why Judea Pearl, Dana Mackenzie 2018 American English
14830 Origin Story David Christian 2018 American English
14830 Nine Pints Rose George 2018 British English
14866 Donovan's Brain Curt Siodmak 1942 American English
14887 What Is Metaphysics? Martin Heidegger 1929 German German
14896 Hypatia Charles Kingsley 1853 British English
14896 Fer De Lance Rex Stout 1934 American English
14983 The Metaphysical Club Louis Menand 2001 American English
14983 Poor Things Alasdair Gray 1992 Scottish English
14983 Born to Run Chris McDougall 2009 American English
14983 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
14983 Passage Connie Willis 2001 American English
14983 The Baroque Cycle Neal Stephenson 2003 American English
14983 The Nature Fix Florence Williams 2017 American English
14983 Nightfall Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg 1990 American English
14983 Brazzaville Beach William Boyd 1990 British English
14983 Wonderful Life Stephen Jay Gould 1989 American English
14983 Humble Pi Matt Parker 2019 British English
14983 Forward The Foundation Isaac Asimov 1993 American English
14983 Galileo's Daughter Dava Sobel 1999 American English
14983 Gulp Mary Roach 2013 American English
14983 The Drunken Botanist Amy Stewart 2013 American English
14983 The Dervish House Ian McDonald 2010 British English
14983 The Jonah Kit Ian Watson 1975 British English
14983 Artemis Andy Weir 2017 American English
14983 Deception Point Dan Brown 2001 American English
14983 Isaac's Storm Erik Larson 1999 American English
14983 Lab Girl Hope Jahren 2016 American English
14983 Horse Geraldine Brooks 2022 Australian English
14983 Salt Mark Kurlansky 2002 American English
14983 The Coming Wave Mustafa Suleyman, Michael Bhaskar 2024 English
14983 The Wright Brothers David McCullough 2015 American English
14983 A City On Mars Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith 2023 Unknown English
14983 Genentech Sally Smith Hughes 2009 Unknown English
14983 Eve Cat Bohannon 2023 Unknown English
14983 Ultra Processed People Chris van Tulleken 2023 British English
15557 The Mind In The Making James Harvey Robinson 1921 American English
15559 Loonshots Safi Bahcall 2019 American English
15582 Accepting The Universe John Burroughs 1920 American English
15586 Broken Genius Joel N. Shurkin 2020 American English
15586 Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex David Reuben 1969 American English
15605 The Outline Of Science J. Arthur Thomson 1922 British English
15608 The Code Breaker Walter Isaacson 2021 American English
15643 The Days Of A Man David Starr Jordan 1922 American English
15652 The Outline Of Literature John Drinkwater 1923 British English
15657 Black Oxen Gertrude Atherton 1923 American English
15659 In The Valleys Of The Noble Beyond John Zada 2019 Unknown English
15675 Life And Confessions Of A Psychologist G. Stanley Hall 1923 American English
15750 The Tree Of Knowledge Pío Baroja 1911 Spanish Spanish
15897 Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature Niels Bohr 1932 Danish English
15897 The Expanding Universe Arthur Eddington 1933 British English
15897 Science and Hypothesis Henri Poincaré 1902 French French
15897 Science and the Modern World Alfred North Whitehead 1925 British English
15897 Uncertainty Principle Werner Heisenberg 1927 German Unknown
15897 A Critique of the Theory of Evolution Thomas Hunt Morgan 1916 American English
15897 First Principles Herbert Spencer 1862 British English
15897 Works of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1700 German Latin
15897 Atlas Gerardus Mercator 1595 Belgian Latin
15897 The life and letters of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1817 American English
15897 The Last Flight Of Dr. Ain James Tiptree Jr. 1969 American English
15897 Advancement Of Learning Francis Bacon 1605 British English
15897 On A Piece Of Chalk Thomas Henry Huxley 1868 British English
15897 The Works Of Sir Thomas Browne Sir Thomas Browne 1686 British English
15897 The Journal Of A Disappointed Man W. N. P. Barbellion 1919 British English
15897 The Selected Letters Of William James William James 1920 American English
15897 On The Shoulders Of Giants Robert K. Merton 1965 American English
15897 The Radium Woman Eleanor Doorly 1939 British English
15897 Black On White M. Ilin 1932 Russian Russian
15897 The Social Function Of Science J. D. Bernal 1939 British English
15897 Physics For Entertainment Yakov Perelman 1913 Russian Russian
15884 Winds Of Doctrine George Santayana 1913 American English
15897 Light On Yoga B. K. S. Iyengar 1966 Indian English
15897 Alberuni's India Al-Biruni, Edward C. Sachau 1030 Multiple Arabic
16504 The Chain Of Chance Stanislaw Lem 1976 Polish Polish
16588 Profiles Of The Future Arthur C. Clarke 1962 British English
16530 Handbook Of The Birds Of India And Pakistan Salim Ali, S. Dillon Ripley 1968 Multiple English
16577 Storia Dei Greci Indro Montanelli 1959 Italian Italian
16609 Pebble In The Sky Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
16680 Inherit The Wind Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee 1955 American English
16713 The Verge Susan Glaspell 1921 American English
16679 Orphans Of The Sky Robert A. Heinlein 1941 American English
16645 Values, Objectivity, And The Social Sciences Gresham Riley 1974 American English
16639 The Undiscovered Self C.G. Jung 1957 Swiss German
16612 The Red Thumb Mark R Austin Freeman 1907 British English
16637 Personal Knowledge Michael Polanyi 1958 British English
17119 Schott's Original Miscellany Ben Schott 2002 British English
17119 Weapons and Hope Freeman Dyson 1984 American English
17119 Time, Love, Memory Jonathan Weiner 1999 American English
17119 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17119 Summer for the Gods Edward Larson 1997 American English
17119 The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846-1876 Robert V. Bruce 1987 American English
17119 The Nature of Life C. H. Waddington 1961 British English
17119 Physics and Philosophy Werner Heisenberg 1958 German German
17119 Discussion with Einstein on Epistemology Niels Bohr 1949 Danish Unknown
17119 English Passengers Matthew Kneale 2000 British English
17119 Hopeful Monsters Nicholas Mosley 1990 British English
17119 Samuel Pepys Claire Tomalin 2002 British English
17119 Scientists Against Time James Phinney Baxter III 1946 American English
17119 Terra Incognita Sara Wheeler 1996 British English
17119 The Heavens and the Earth Walter A. McDougall 1985 American English
17119 Entering Fire Rikki Ducornet 1986 American English
17119 Genoa Paul C. Metcalf 1965 American English
17119 Ever Since Darwin Stephen Jay Gould 1977 American English
17119 Die andere Bildung. Was man von den Naturwissenschaften wissen sollte Ernst Peter Fischer 2001 German German
17119 The Calcutta Chromosome Amitav Ghosh 1995 Indian English
17119 Distraction Bruce Sterling 1998 American English
17119 The Testament Of Jessie Lamb Jane Rogers 2011 British English
17119 The Lady's Guide To Celestial Mechanics Olivia Waite 2019 American English
17119 Sundiver David Brin 1980 American English
16826 From The Earth To The Moon Jules Verne 1865 French French
17119 Flashforward Robert J. Sawyer 1999 Canadian English
17119 Earth David Brin 1990 American English
17119 Dragon's Egg Robert L. Forward 1980 American English
17119 The New Men C. P. Snow 1954 British English
17119 Doctor Copernicus John Banville 1976 Irish English
16766 La edad de oro José Martí 1889 Cuban Spanish
17119 Living With Risk the British Medical Association Board of Science 2003 British English
17119 The Making Of Memory Steven Rose 1992 British English
17119 The Language Of The Genes Steve Jones 1993 British English
17119 Plague's Progress Arno Karlen 1995 American English