the great pop-sci book project

I recently received an email from a grandmother asking for book recommendations for her gifted granddaughter, who shows considerable talent in math and physics. That request, plus the recent book meme floating about teh Internetz listing some of the great books in Western literature got me thinking about compiling a similar meme thing for popular science books. The emphasis here is on "popular": books that are engaging and accessible to a truly general reader, ideally with a strong narrative component. (Weighty tomes delving into the minutiae of a given field need not apply, although one must make a few exceptions for books that were truly influential.)

In an ideal world, of course, one wouldn't need to compile a separate list for science-y books, because the Powers That Be that decide such things would have greater knowledge of, and respect for, the many talented writers out there who choose to write about science. While we're waiting for our long-overdue integration back into the general bookworld -- and broader culture at large -- to take place, I took a superficial inventory of the many books on science scattered about our apartment and compiled the following working list. We have some obvious biases -- physics, math and science history, with the odd foray into forensics and chemistry -- plus, a few notable fictional works that have a history of inspiring present and future scientists. (I also asked my pal Lee Kotther for a few of her suggestions.)

Alas, many of my books are still in storage. So I know I'm missing many significant titles. But one has to start somewhere. Ergo, I offer the following popular science book list, in no particular order. The rules, as always are simple:

1. Highlight those you've read in full
2. Asterisk those you intend to read
3. Add any additional popular science books you think belong on the list
4. Link back to me (leave links or suggested additions in the comments, if you prefer) so I can keep track of everyone's additions. Then we can compile it all into one giant "Top 100" popular science books list, with room for honorable mentions. (I, for one, have some quirky choices in the list below.) Voila! We'll have awesome resource for general readers interested in delving into the fascinating world of science!

0. Principia, Isaac Newton

Oh, just kidding. Granted, it's an influential work that pretty much founded modern physics, but has anybody read the Principia in its entirety lately? Really? How about De Revolutionibus? If so, do you not have a life? Seriously, Newton would turn over in his grave in horror at any inclusion of his masterpiece in a list of popular science books. Which is why I'm starting with....

1. Micrographia, Robert Hooke [I've looked at the pretty pictures, but that's not exactly "reading"]
2. *The Origin of the Species, Charles Darwin
3. Never at Rest, Richard Westfall
4. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Richard Feynman
5. Tesla: Man Out of Time, Margaret Cheney
6. The Devil's Doctor, Philip Ball
7. The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes
8. Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos, Dennis Overbye
9. *Physics for Entertainment, Yakov Perelman
10. 1-2-3 Infinity, George Gamow
11. The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene
12. Warmth Disperses, Time Passes, Hans Christian von Bayer
13. Alice in Quantumland, Robert Gilmore
14. Where Does the Weirdness Go? David Lindley
15. *A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
16. A Force of Nature, Richard Rhodes
17. Black Holes and Time Warps, Kip Thorne
18. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
19. Universal Foam, Sidney Perkowitz
20. Vermeer's Camera, Philip Steadman
21. The Code Book, Simon Singh
22. The Elements of Murder, John Emsley
23. *Soul Made Flesh, Carl Zimmer
24. Time's Arrow, Martin Amis
25. The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments, George Johnson
26. Einstein's Dreams, Alan Lightman
27. *Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter
28. The Curious Life of Robert Hooke, Lisa Jardine
29. A Matter of Degrees, Gino Segre
30. The Physics of Star Trek, Lawrence Krauss
31. E=mc<2>, David Bodanis
32. Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, Charles Seife
33. *Absolute Zero: The Conquest of Cold, Tom Shachtman
34. A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, Janna Levin
35. Warped Passages, Lisa Randall
36. *Apollo's Fire, Michael Sims
37. Flatland, Edward Abbott
38. Fermat's Last Theorem, Amir Aczel
39. Stiff, Mary Roach
40. Astroturf, M.G. Lord
41. The Periodic Table, Primo Levi
42. Longitude, Dava Sobel
43. The First Three Minutes, Steven Weinberg
44. The Mummy Congress, Heather Pringle
45. The Accelerating Universe, Mario Livio
46. Math and the Mona Lisa, Bulent Atalay
47. *This is Your Brain on Music, Daniel Levitin
48. The Executioner's Current, Richard Moran
49. Krakatoa, Simon Winchester
50. *Pythagorus' Trousers, Margaret Wertheim
51. Neuromancer, William Gibson
52. The Physics of Superheroes, James Kakalios
53. The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump, Sandra Hempel
54. Another Day in the Frontal Lobe, Katrina Firlik
55. Einstein's Clocks and Poincare's Maps, Peter Galison
56. The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan
57. The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins
58. The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker
59. An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears
60. *Consilience, E.O. Wilson
61. Wonderful Life, Stephen J. Gould
62. Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard
63. Fire in the Brain, Ronald K. Siegel
64. The Life of a Cell, Lewis Thomas
65. Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Timothy Ferris
66. Storm World, Chris Mooney
67. The Carbon Age, Eric Roston
68. The Black Hole Wars, Leonard Susskind
69. Copenhagen, Michael Frayn
70. From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne
71. Gut Symmetries, Jeanette Winterson
72. Chaos, James Gleick
73. *Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos
74. The Physics of NASCAR, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky
75. Subtle is the Lord, Abraham Pais

My bias for books with a strong narrative is patently obvious, isn't it? Correct my imbalances (you know you want to! What are some of your faves?

Comments

[Freiddie]

If I had the time I wish I could read most of the books you've listed here. Sigh, college life doesn't leave room for any extra-reading.

[jo in okc]

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman

My Brain is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos by Bruce Schechter

The Murderous Maths series of books by Kjartan Poskitt
The Horrible Science series of books by Nick Arnold

The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way by Joy Hakim
The Story of Science: Newton at the Center by Joy Hakim
The Story of Science: Einstein Adds a New Dimension by Joy Hakim

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

Descartes' Dream: The World According to Mathematics by Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersch

A Tour of the Calculus by David Berlinski

any book by Theoni Pappas

The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures by Malba Tahan

[Skip Key]

From your list, I've read all of these:

4. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Richard Feynman
5. Tesla: Man Out of Time, Margaret Cheney
7. The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes
18. A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking
21. The Code Book, Simon Singh
27. *Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter
37. Flatland, Edward Abbott
51. Neuromancer, William Gibson
57. The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins
70. From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne
72. Chaos, James Gleick
74. The Physics of NASCAR, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

In addition, I might add a few to the list:

Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh
The Emperor's New Mind, Roger Penrose
Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, John Derbyshire
Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

For Feynman there's a recent hardback that contained both Surely You're Joking and What Do You Care What Other People Think? which is a really good deal. Also, depending on the age of the granddaughter, if she's really interested in physics I'd highly recommend Feynman's QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. This book really shows Feynman's genius as a teacher. He explains the theory of quantum electrodynamics using no more math than an average high school student should understand. There are basically no equations in the entire book. It's really not a Pop-Sci book as such, but I honestly don't think that Feynman would have been offended for it to be included on the list.

[Skip Key]

Oh, and I'd also probably want to add at least one of the books from Martin Gardner's 'Mathematical Games' series. They're excellent reading, containing his columns from Scientific American back when it was a science magazine and not a political advocacy one.

[Stacy Kennedy]

I've read The Demon-Haunted World, Stiff, Teaching a Stone to Talk, and, um, most of The Language Instinct.

I'd add to the list: Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, by Frans de Waal, and The Ape and the Sushi Master, by Frans de Waal.
Also, The Variety of Life, by Colin Tudge. Contains a good rundown of cladistics.
If we're including Annie Dillard (and why not, though her theological musings may be off-putting to some,) how about Pilgrim at Tinker Creek?

[Lee Kottner]

Here's 25 more from me, too: http://leekottner.typepad.com/dowsing/2008/08/science-book-me.html

[marvin]

Master of the science essay at a turning point in history
Thomas Huxley-Method and Results- Essays

[tcmJOE]

On the subject of bio books, I thought Gleick's "Genius" was really good and "A Beautiful Mind" is a classic. Beyond that, I thought Steven Strogatz's "Sync" was excellent.

[Fresca Davis]

How about Oliver Sachs? Not physics/math kind of science, but very popular...

[Sarah]

Good job, Jen. I'd add
Beak of the Finch, Richard Weiner
The Selfish Gene, Dawkins
The Coming Plague, Laurie Garrett
QED, Richard Feynman
The Moral Animal, Robert Wright
Man's Place in Nature, Thomas Huxley
The Myth of Monogamy, Barash and Liptin
The Evolution of Religion , Edward Caird
The Astonishing Hypothesis, Francis Crick
Consilience, E.O. Wilson
Phantoms in the Brain, Ramachandran

[Lab Lemming]

Some non-physics suggestions:
"Uncle Tungsten" by Oliver Sachs is awesome.
You should read "Basin and Range" and "Assembling California" by John McPhee, preferably before the next earthquake.
"Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams.

[gg]

Nice list! I would add, "Bones, Rocks and Stars: The Science of When Things Happened," by Chris Turney. I also suggest, "The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science," by Robert Crease (i.e. the other book about 'beautiful experiments').

[gg]

Oh, I missed Lab Lemming's recommendation of "Last Chance to See." Highly seconded!

[Alexandre Colavin]

Thank you for compiling this list of books. This is by far the most exhaustive list of general physics literature available.
I would add
The character of Physical Law, Feynman
even if it might scare the layman.

[Eric Roston]

I just posted a list with about 40+ more at CarbonNation.org. A hearty second to these posted earlier in this string:

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth by Paul Hoffman

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry

[Ken]

Oh my gosh, I need to get reading. To the collected lists I'll add:

The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus, Owen Gingerich (more a history of science, but wonderfully researched & written)
The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction, David Quammen
Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind, David Quammen
The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution, Richard Dawkins
The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change, Charles Wohlforth

[Blake Stacey]

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, by Richard Feynman
The Character of Physical Law, by Richard Feynman
The Cartoon Guide/Cartoon History series by Larry Gonick and co-authors
Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, by Isaac Asimov
Atom, by Isaac Asimov
The Book of Numbers, by John Conway and Richard Guy
Connections, by James Burke

I'm midway through Douglas Hofstadter's I Am A Strange Loop, and I'm enjoying it much more than Godel, Escher, Bach. I mean, I'm motivated to finish this one, when I never bothered to go all the way through the other. The recent anthology edited by Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, has many strong selections, although it's pretty heavy on biology and physics.

[Miss Anne Throp'ist]

Hello.

I certainly don't read enough science books, but ones that I'd add:

The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes
both Guns Germs and Steel and The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond
anything by Bruno Latour
The Science of the Discworld by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen

(I almost missed that The Language Instinct was on your list and was going to tentatively suggest it since I wasn't sure if the subject matter was suitably scientific, guess my question's been answered!)

[Eric Roston]

@Ken -- I just read Gingerich's "The Book That Nobody Read" last week! What an amazing career he has had. And a great suggestion.

[Dave Mosher]

I offer a healthy serving of space books for el listo by referencing this post:
http://blogs.discovery.com/space_disco/2008/07/10-space-books.html

[Traums]

If Neuromancer made it, I'd also include:

* Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

[Nashville Bill]

When I was in junior high school, being an avid science fiction fan led me to a series of books that had a huge impact on my life -- "popular science" books written by Issac Asimov. I'm pretty sure they were out of print when I was reading them -- I found most of them at a used book store I used to frequent -- but they were terrific! He did a number of them on a wide variety of science topics, and I remember they were engaging, clear without being sophomoric, and fun to read. If I could find them again I'd love to have a set for my daughter -- and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone!

[Thony C.]

Newton's "Principia" is indeed anything but popular but you could have included his "Optics" which is a great read and is regarded as a classic of English literature. As a lady I'm surprised that you didn't include Patricia Fara's "Pandora's Breeches: Women: Science and Power in the Enlightenment". Equally good on demolishing the solitary genius myth is Clifford D. Conner's "A People's History of Science. Miners, Midwives and 'Low Mechanicks'".Two great reads are Matthew Cobb's "The Egg & Sperm Race: The Seventeenth-Century Scientists Who Unravelled the Secrets of Sex, Life and Growth" and Peter Gallison's "Einstein's Clocks and Poincaré's Maps: Empires of Time". Last but not least, and I could go on for hours, is an absolute classic Jacob Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man".

[Chad Orzel]

Since TrackBack seems to be comprehensively broken, here's a manual ping:

http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2008/08/popscience_science_book_projec.php

[Alex]

Great list. I'd add these:
Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie Angier (biology)
The Power of Babel, by John McWhorter (linguistics)
Genes, Peoples, and Languages, by Luca Cavalli-Sforza (the controversial intersection of biology and linguistics!)
The Decipherment of Linear B, by John Chadwick (little-known but excellent linguistic mystery/novel/biography)