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
17163 The Wisdom Of Bones Alan Walker, Pat Shipman 1996 American English
17163 Mapping The Deep Robert Kunzig 2000 American English
17163 The Universe In A Nutshell Stephen Hawking 2001 British English
17163 Electric Universe David Bodanis 2005 British English
17163 Life Ascending Nick Lane 2009 British English
17163 The Wavewatcher's Companion Gavin Pretor-Pinney 2010 British English
17163 The Particle At The End Of The Universe Sean Carroll 2012 American English
17163 Testosterone Rex Cordelia Fine 2017 Australian English
17163 Explaining Humans Camilla Pang 2020 British English
17163 Doctor Rat William Kotzwinkle 1976 American English
17163 The Final Programme Michael Moorcock 1968 British English
17163 The Fifth Head Of Cerberus Gene Wolfe 1972 American English
17163 The Walking Shadow Brian Stableford 1979 British English
17163 Adventures Of A Young Naturalist Sir David Attenborough 2017 British English
17163 A Wind In The Door Madeleine L'Engle 1973 American English
17163 Middlegame Seanan McGuire 2019 American English
17163 Submergence J. M. Ledgard 2011 British English
17163 The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson 2011 British English
17163 Ruby Finley Vs. The Interstellar Invasion K. Tempest Bradford 2023 American English
17163 The Sky Road Ken MacLeod 1999 Scottish English
17163 Helliconia Winter Brian Aldiss 1985 British English
17163 Helliconia Spring Brian Aldiss 1982 British English
17163 The Night Of The Triffids Simon Clark 2001 British English
17163 From Dawn To Decadence Jacques Barzun 2000 American English
17163 Paradigms Regained John L. Casti 2000 American English
17163 The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750 1900 Michael J. Crowe 1986 American English
17163 The Fabric Of Reality David Deutsch 1997 British English
17163 Fire In The Mind George Johnson 1995 American English
17163 The Dreams Of Reason Heinz R. Pagels 1988 American English
17163 Defenders Of The Truth Ullica Segerstrale 1986 American English
17163 Common Sense, Science, And Scepticism Alan Musgrave 1993 New Zealand English
17163 Paradigms Lost John L. Casti 1989 American English
17163 The Shock Of The Old David Edgerton 2006 British English
17163 T. Rex And The Crater Of Doom Walter Alvarez 1997 American English
17163 Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly 2016 American English
17163 Brother Astronomer Guy Consolmagno 2000 American English
17163 Mapping The Heavens Priyamvada Natarajan 2016 American English
17163 365 Starry Nights Chet Raymo 1982 American English
17163 The Alchemy Of The Heavens Ken Croswell 1995 American English
17163 Breaking The Chains Of Gravity Amy Shira Teitel 2015 American English
17163 How To Cool The Planet Jeff Goodell 2010 American English
17163 Life On The Edge Johnjoe McFadden, Jim Al-Khalili 2015 British English
17163 Women In Science Rachel Ignotofsky 2016 American English
17163 Black Inventors For Children Charles Jones 2002 American Unknown
17163 Bathtub Science Shar Levine 2001 British English
17163 The Berenstain Bears' Big Book Of Science And Nature Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain 1997 American English
17163 Candy Experiments Loralee Leavitt 2013 Unknown English
17163 Mythbusters Science Fair Book Samantha Margles 2011 American English
17163 The Story Of Snow Mark Cassino, Jon Nelson 2009 American English
17163 Mistakes That Worked Charlotte Jones 1991 Unknown English
17163 What Is The World Made Of? Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld 1994 American English
17163 Charged Up Jacqui Bailey 2004 British English
17163 The Periodic Table Adrian Dingle, Simon Basher 2007 British English
17163 Consider The Following Bill Nye 1995 American English
17163 The Age Of Entanglement Louisa Gilder 2009 American English
17163 The Magic Furnace Marcus Chown 1999 British English
17163 Only The Longest Threads Tasneem Zehra Husain 2014 Pakistani English
17163 The Woman Who Knew Too Much Gayle Greene 2005 American English
17163 Most Wanted Particle Jon Butterworth 2015 British English
17163 Martians Of Science Istvan Hargittai 2006 Unknown English
17163 The Cosmic Landscape Leonard Susskind 2005 American English
17163 The Philosophical Works Of Al Kindi Peter Adamson, Peter E. Pormann 2012 Unknown English
17163 Against Method Paul Feyerabend 1975 German English
17163 Nature Via Nurture Matt Ridley 2003 British English
17163 The Inflationary Universe Alan Guth 1997 American English
17163 Going Dutch Lisa Jardine 2008 British English
17163 Memories Of The Great And The Good Alistair Cooke 1999 British English
17163 Bright Air, Brilliant Fire Gerald M. Edelman 1992 American English
17163 Darwin's Dreampond Tijs Goldschmidt 1994 Dutch Dutch
17163 There Is A World Elsewhere F. Gonzalez-Crussi 1998 American Unknown
17163 The Cosmic Code Heinz R. Pagels 1982 American English
17163 Heisenberg's War Thomas Powers 1993 American English
17163 The Medical Detectives Berton Roueché 1980 American English
17163 Advice To A Young Scientist Peter B. Medawar 1979 British English
17163 The Legacy Of Malthus Allan Chase 1977 American English
17163 The Social Construction Of What? Ian Hacking 1999 Canadian English
17163 The Problem Of The Soul Owen J. Flanagan 2002 American English
17163 Human Nature After Darwin Janet Radcliffe Richards 2000 British English
17163 The Darwin Wars Andrew Brown 1999 British English
17163 The Unnatural Nature Of Science Lewis Wolpert 1992 British English
17163 Labyrinths Of Reason William Poundstone 1988 American English
17163 Our Final Century Martin Rees 2003 British English
17163 How To Dunk A Doughnut Len Fisher 2002 British English
17163 Wings Of Fire APJ Abdul Kalam 1999 Indian English
16901 The Alienist Machado de Assis 1882 Brazilian Portuguese
17163 Breath James Nestor 2020 American English
17163 Zero Charles Seife 2000 American English
17163 The Ghost Map Steven Johnson 2006 American English
17163 At Home Bill Bryson 2010 American English
17163 Consilience E. O. Wilson 1998 American English
17163 How The World Ran Out Of Everything Peter S. Goodman 2024 American English
17163 How The World Made The West Josephine Quinn 2024 Unknown Unknown
17163 Origin Dan Brown 2017 American English
17163 Benjamin Franklin Walter Isaacson 2003 American English
17163 The Discoverers Daniel J. Boorstin 1983 American English
17163 Isaac Newton James Gleick 2003 American English
17163 The Victorian Internet Tom Standage 1998 British English
17163 The Lost World Michael Crichton 1995 American English
17163 The Blind Watchmaker Richard Dawkins 1986 British English
17163 The Climate Book Greta Thunberg 2022 Swedish English
17163 Madness Antonia Hylton 2024 Unknown English
17163 Into The Great Wide Ocean Sönke Johnsen 2024 Unknown English
17163 Countdown Sarah Scoles 2024 Unknown English
17163 Rat City Jon Adams, Edmund Ramsden 2024 Unknown English
17163 Sharks Don't Sink Jasmin Graham 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Serviceberry Robin Wall Kimmerer 2024 Unknown English
17163 Adventures In Volcanoland Tamsin Mather 2024 Unknown English
17163 Silk Aarathi Prasad 2024 Unknown English
17163 Deep Space Govert Schilling 2024 Dutch English
17163 The Lost World Of The Dinosaurs Armin Schmitt 2024 Unknown English
17163 Superfoods, Silkworms, And Spandex Joe Schwarcz 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Story Of Nature Jeremy Mynott 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Unaccountability Machine Dan Davies 2024 Unknown English
17163 The Glass Universe Dava Sobel 2016 American English
17163 The Orchid Thief Susan Orlean 1998 American English
17163 In The Wake Of The Plague Norman F. Cantor 2001 American English
17163 Burn Book Kara Swisher 2024 Unknown English
17163 Soil Camille T. Dungy 2023 Unknown English
17163 Deep Water James D. Bradley 2024 Unknown English
17163 Mortal Secrets Frank Tallis 2008 British English