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
17119 The Wisdom Of Bones Alan Walker, Pat Shipman 1996 American English
17119 Mapping The Deep Robert Kunzig 2000 American English
17119 The Universe In A Nutshell Stephen Hawking 2001 British English
17119 Electric Universe David Bodanis 2005 British English
17119 Life Ascending Nick Lane 2009 British English
17119 The Wavewatcher's Companion Gavin Pretor-Pinney 2010 British English
17119 The Particle At The End Of The Universe Sean Carroll 2012 American English
17119 Testosterone Rex Cordelia Fine 2017 Australian English
17119 Explaining Humans Camilla Pang 2020 British English
17119 Doctor Rat William Kotzwinkle 1976 American English
17119 The Final Programme Michael Moorcock 1968 British English
17119 The Fifth Head Of Cerberus Gene Wolfe 1972 American English
17119 The Walking Shadow Brian Stableford 1979 British English
17119 Adventures Of A Young Naturalist Sir David Attenborough 2017 British English
17119 A Wind In The Door Madeleine L'Engle 1973 American English
17119 Middlegame Seanan McGuire 2019 American English
17119 Submergence J. M. Ledgard 2011 British English
17119 The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson 2011 British English
17119 Ruby Finley Vs. The Interstellar Invasion K. Tempest Bradford 2023 American English
17119 The Sky Road Ken MacLeod 1999 Scottish English
17119 Helliconia Winter Brian Aldiss 1985 British English
17119 Helliconia Spring Brian Aldiss 1982 British English
17119 The Night Of The Triffids Simon Clark 2001 British English
17119 From Dawn To Decadence Jacques Barzun 2000 American English
17119 Paradigms Regained John L. Casti 2000 American English
17119 The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750 1900 Michael J. Crowe 1986 American English
17119 The Fabric Of Reality David Deutsch 1997 British English
17119 Fire In The Mind George Johnson 1995 American English
17119 The Dreams Of Reason Heinz R. Pagels 1988 American English
17119 Defenders Of The Truth Ullica Segerstrale 1986 American English
17119 Common Sense, Science, And Scepticism Alan Musgrave 1993 New Zealand English
17119 Paradigms Lost John L. Casti 1989 American English
17119 The Shock Of The Old David Edgerton 2006 British English
17119 T. Rex And The Crater Of Doom Walter Alvarez 1997 American English
17119 Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly 2016 American English
17119 Brother Astronomer Guy Consolmagno 2000 American English
17119 Mapping The Heavens Priyamvada Natarajan 2016 American English
17119 365 Starry Nights Chet Raymo 1982 American English
17119 The Alchemy Of The Heavens Ken Croswell 1995 American English
17119 Breaking The Chains Of Gravity Amy Shira Teitel 2015 American English
17119 How To Cool The Planet Jeff Goodell 2010 American English
17119 Life On The Edge Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili 2015 British English
17119 Women In Science Rachel Ignotofsky 2016 American English
17119 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
17119 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
17119 The Berenstain Bears' Big Book Of Science And Nature Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain 1997 American English
17119 Candy Experiments Loralee Leavitt 2013 Unknown English
17119 Mythbusters Science Fair Book Samantha Margles 2011 American English
17119 The Story Of Snow Mark Cassino, Jon Nelson 2009 American English
17119 Mistakes That Worked Charlotte Jones 1991 Unknown English
17119 What Is The World Made Of? Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld 1994 American English
17119 Charged Up Jacqui Bailey 2004 British English
17119 The Periodic Table Adrian Dingle, Simon Basher 2007 British English
17119 Consider The Following Bill Nye 1995 American English
17119 The Age Of Entanglement Louisa Gilder 2009 American English
17119 The Magic Furnace Marcus Chown 1999 British English
17119 Only The Longest Threads Tasneem Zehra Husain 2014 Pakistani English
17119 The Woman Who Knew Too Much Gayle Greene 2005 American English
17119 Most Wanted Particle Jon Butterworth 2015 British English
17119 Martians Of Science Istvan Hargittai 2006 Unknown English
17119 The Cosmic Landscape Leonard Susskind 2005 American English
17119 The Philosophical Works Of Al Kindi Peter Adamson, Peter E. Pormann 2012 Unknown English
17119 Against Method Paul Feyerabend 1975 German English
17119 Nature Via Nurture Matt Ridley 2003 British English
17119 The Inflationary Universe Alan Guth 1997 American English
17119 Going Dutch Lisa Jardine 2008 British English
17119 Memories Of The Great And The Good Alistair Cooke 1999 British English
17119 Bright Air, Brilliant Fire Gerald M. Edelman 1992 American English
17119 Darwin's Dreampond Tijs Goldschmidt 1994 Dutch Dutch
17119 There Is A World Elsewhere F. Gonzalez-Crussi 1998 American Unknown
17119 The Cosmic Code Heinz R. Pagels 1982 American English
17119 Heisenberg's War Thomas Powers 1993 American English
17119 The Medical Detectives Berton Roueché 1980 American English
17119 Advice To A Young Scientist Peter B. Medawar 1979 British English
17119 The Legacy Of Malthus Allan Chase 1977 American English
17119 The Social Construction Of What? Ian Hacking 1999 Canadian English
17119 The Problem Of The Soul Owen J. Flanagan 2002 American English
17119 Human Nature After Darwin Janet Radcliffe Richards 2000 British English
17119 The Darwin Wars Andrew Brown 1999 British English
17119 The Unnatural Nature Of Science Lewis Wolpert 1992 British English
17119 Labyrinths Of Reason William Poundstone 1988 American English
17119 Our Final Century Martin Rees 2003 British English
17119 How To Dunk A Doughnut Len Fisher 2002 British English
17119 Wings Of Fire APJ Abdul Kalam 1999 Indian English
16874 The Alienist Machado de Assis 1882 Brazilian Portuguese
17119 Breath James Nestor 2020 American English
17119 Zero Charles Seife 2000 American English
17119 The Ghost Map Steven Johnson 2006 American English
17119 At Home Bill Bryson 2010 American English
17119 Consilience E. O. Wilson 1998 American English
17119 How The World Ran Out Of Everything Peter S. Goodman 2024 American English
17119 How The World Made The West Josephine Quinn 2024 Unknown Unknown
17119 Benjamin Franklin Walter Isaacson 2003 American English
17119 The Discoverers Daniel J. Boorstin 1983 American English
17119 Isaac Newton James Gleick 2003 American English
17119 The Victorian Internet Tom Standage 1998 British English
17119 The Lost World Michael Crichton 1995 American English
17119 The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins 1986 British English
17119 The Climate Book Greta Thunberg 2022 Swedish English
17119 Madness Antonia Hylton 2024 Unknown English
17119 Into The Great Wide Ocean Sönke Johnsen 2024 Unknown English
17119 Countdown Sarah Scoles 2024 Unknown English
17119 Rat City Jon Adams, Edmund Ramsden 2024 Unknown English
17119 Sharks Don't Sink Jasmin Graham 2024 Unknown English
17119 The Serviceberry Robin Wall Kimmerer 2024 Unknown English
17119 Adventures In Volcanoland Tamsin Mather 2024 Unknown English
17119 Silk Aarathi Prasad 2024 Unknown English
17119 Deep Space Govert Schilling 2024 Dutch English
17119 The Lost World Of The Dinosaurs Armin Schmitt 2024 Unknown English
17119 Superfoods, Silkworms, And Spandex Joe Schwarcz 2024 Unknown English
17119 The Story Of Nature Jeremy Mynott 2024 Unknown English
17119 The Unaccountability Machine Dan Davies 2024 Unknown English
17119 The Glass Universe Dava Sobel 2016 American English
17119 The Orchid Thief Susan Orlean 1998 American English
17119 In The Wake Of The Plague Norman F. Cantor 2001 American English
17119 Burn Book Kara Swisher 2024 Unknown English
17119 Soil Camille T. Dungy 2023 Unknown English
17119 Deep Water James D. Bradley 2024 Unknown English
17119 Mortal Secrets Frank Tallis 2008 British English
17119 Sing Like Fish Amorina Kingdon 2024 Unknown English