This is a list of popular science books for people who want to learn more about science but do not have a background in it. In an age where misinformation abounds, scientific literacy is important, but it can be daunting if one does not have any formal education or training in science or technology. This list does not focus on the philosophy of science, as that would be a very different list and much longer. Instead, this compilation just deals with books that discuss the actual science without too much technical or academic jargon. This list should provide some enjoyable and readable texts to fill in those gaps for the regular person who wishes to learn more about our universe and how it works. If there are some key books that should be on this list, please let me know and I will add them.
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery by Joseph Wright of Derby (1766)
Anthologies
Galileo’s Commandment: Anthology of Great Science Writing by Edmund Bolles (1997)
Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing by Richard Dawkins (2008)
Mathematics
Introduction to Logic by Irving Copi (2016)
Concise Introduction to Logic by Patrick Hurley (2008)
Language, Proof, and Logic by David Barker-Plummer (2011)
History of Mathematics by Carl Boyer (2011)
Princeton Companion to Mathematics by Timothy Bowers (2008)
What Is Mathematics? Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods by Richard Couran (1996)
Mathematics for the Million: How to Master the Magic of Numbers by Lancelot Hogben (1993)
Astronomy
At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe’s First Seconds by Dan Hooper (2019)
Cosmology: The Science of the Universe by Edward Harrison (2000)
Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1998)
Maps of Time: Introduction to Big History by David Christian (2011)
Cosmos by Carl Sagan (1980)
Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence by Armand Delsemme (1999)
First Three Minutes: Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg (1993)
Cosmic Perspective by Jeffrey Bennett (2013)
Life of the Cosmos by Lee Smolin (1997)
Technology
Science and Technology in World History by James McClellan & Harold Dorn (1999)
Technology in World Civilization by Arnold Pacey (1991)
Technology: World History by Daniel Headrick (2009)
Technics and Civilization by Lewis Mumford (1934)
Evolution of Technology by George Basalla (1989)
The Oxbow by Thomas Cole (1836)
Geology
Story of Earth: First 4.5 Billion Years from Stardust to Living Planet by Robert Hazen (2012)
Here on Earth: Natural History of the Planet by Tim Flannery (2010)
Gaia: New Look at Life on Earth by James Lovelock (1995)
Holocene: Environmental History by Neil Roberts (2000)
Short History of Planet Earth: Mountains, Mammals, Fire, and Ice by J. D. Macdougall (1996)
Against the Grain: Deep History of the Earliest States by James Scott (2017)
Sixth Extinction: Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (2014)
Physics
Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman (1970)
Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman (2011)
Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Einstein’s Relativity, Symmetry, and Space-Time by Richard Feynman (2011)
Deep Down Things: Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics by Bruce Schumm (2004)
Classical Mechanics by John Taylor (2003)
Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene (2010)
Einstein’s Clocks, Poincare’s Maps: Empires of Time by Peter Galison (2003)
Biology
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859)
Immense Journey: Imaginative Naturalist Explores the Mysteries of Man and Nature by Loren Eiseley (1959)
New History of Life: Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth by Joseph Kirschvink & Peter Ward (2015)
Wonderful Life: Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould (1989)
Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson (2010)
Masters of the Planet: Search for Our Human Origins by Ian Tattersall (2012)
After the Ice: Global Human History, 20,000–5000 BCE by Steven Mithen (2003)
Gene: Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee (2016)
Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1999)
Biology as Ideology: Doctrine of DNA by Richard Lewontin (1992)
Biology Under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on the Coevolution of Nature and Society by Richard Lewontin (2007)
Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by Lewis Thomas (1978)
Origins of Life by Freeman Dyson (1999)
Origins of Life: From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language by John Maynard Smith (2009)
Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism: Knowing What’s Real and Why It Matters by Ardea Skybreak (2006)
What Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr (2001)
Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives by David Sloan Wilson (2007)
This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution by David Sloan Wilson (2019)
Why Evolution Is True by Jerry Coyne (2009)
Evolution: The First Four Billion Years by Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (2011)
The Alchemist by Mattheus von Helmont (1679)
Chemistry
Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams (2011)
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik (2013)
Napoleon’s Buttons by Jay Burreson & Penny Le Couteur (2004)
Liquid Rules: Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives by Mark Miodownik (2018)
Elements: Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray (2009)
Molecules: Elements and the Architecture of Everything by Theodore Gray (2014)
Nature’s Building Blocks: A–Z Guide to the Elements by John Emsley (2011)
Modernity
Science in History by J. D. Bernal (1954)
Science: Four Thousand Year History by Patricia Fara (2009)
Invention of Science: New History of the Scientific Revolution by David Wootton (2015)
Industrial Revolution in World History by Peter Stearns (2018)
Industry and Empire: Birth of the Industrial Revolution by Eric Hobsbawm (1999)
ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age by Andre Gunder Frank (1998)
Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy by Kenneth Pomeranz (2000)
Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial West by Margaret Jacob (1997)
To Explain the World: Discovery of Modern Science by Steven Weinberg (2015)
What Science Is and How It Works by Gregory Derry (2002)
Classic Landscape by Charles Sheeler (1931)
Engineering
Engineering in History by Richard Shelton Kirby (1990)
Mechanics by J. P. Den Hartog (1948)
History of Mechanical Inventions by Abbott Payson Usher (1988)
Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down by J. E. Gordon (2003)
Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman (2013)
Art of Insight in Science and Engineering: Mastering Complexity by Sanjoy Mahajan (2014)
Engineering Fundamentals by Saeed Moaveni (2016)
Basic Machines and How They Work (1994)
Basics of Mechanical Engineering by R. K. Singal (2007)
Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics by Michael Moran (2014)
Theory of Machines and Mechanisms by John Uicker (2016)
Computing
Computing: Concise History by Paul Ceruzzi (2012)
Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1981)
Where Wizards Stay Up Late: Origins of the Internet by Katie Hafner (2006)
Code: Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold (1999)
A History of the Internet and the Digital Future by Johnny Ryan (2010)
Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick (2011)
This list was compiled by Shalon van Tine with suggestions by the following individuals: Alex Cummings, Jim Farmelant, Susan Fowler, Doug Greene, Heather Kazmer, Manuel Pala, Ami Palmer, Donald Parkinson, Ben Ratcliffe, Franklin Ridgway, Eric Rovie, Matthew Strauss, Ian Turner, Christofer Ulyanov, Fanshen Wong, Chris Wright