I’m no science expert, but I love a good book about groundbreaking discoveries, untold stories, or how the world around me works, as discussed in episode 155 of What Should I Read Next. Ashley and her father Brent didn’t think their taste in books overlapped, until they discovered a common interest in science-related books, both fiction or nonfiction. I was pleasantly surprised to hear how many of you shared their interest.
Many readers responded to that episode with enthusiastic recommendations and fervent requests for more science-y titles, and I’m happy to share these 15 absorbing titles with you today. Whether you prefer nonfiction about space, technology, medicine, or the environment—there’s something here for your TBR.
The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight
Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World
The Radium Girls
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon
The riveting, behind-the-scenes story of three astronauts who bravely took on NASA’s Apollo 8 mission to the Moon in late 1968. Just a few months before the Apollo 8 launched into space, NASA abandoned its customary slow and methodical approach to space exploration because they were desperate to beat the Soviets in the Space Race. Kurson weaves together the daring and suspenseful journey to the Moon, the impact of the Apollo 8 mission on the families of the astronauts, and the cultural mood in America at the time of the launch.
More info →The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars
In Episode 155, Brent loved this untold story of the women who were employed as calculators by the male astronomers working at the Harvard Observatory in the mid-nineteenth century. They worked to interpret the displays captured on glass photographic plates, categorize the stars, and measure distances in space by starlight. The collection of half a million glass plates made up the “glass universe” of the Harvard Observatory, and these women became groundbreaking scientists in various fields.
More info →Do you have any favorite books to share? Tell us all about them in comments!
P.S. Want a good novel along these lines? Check out the new release Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver, Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, and The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict.
92 comments
You missed Lab Girl! My favorite book of 2017. Loved it so much.
That’s a great one for this list!
I was just going to recommend Lab Girl! It’s fantastic; I really saw nature in such a different light.
I thought of Lab Girl too! I read it for the Diverse Books Club. The DBC has really expanded my reading choices and I’m really enjoying books that I wouldn’t otherwise have picked up. Between DBC and MMD by tbr is daunting!
I was going to say Lab Girl too! I’ve read almost half the list. It gives me ideas for the scientists in the family.
We just discussed it at our book club and it was the best discussion in months. What a terrific writer!
So many good ones are already on the list! I’d like to add The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
Book by Denise Kiernan and anything by May Berenbaum Bugs in the System and The Earwigs Tale. Carl Zimmer also writes great science books including She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, Science Ink (about science inspired tattoos) and A Planet of Viruses.
I was just going to say ‘The Girls of Atomic City’ is such an amazing story!
Dead men do tell tales is a very interesting story from an anthropologist. Stiff is one of my all time favorites!
Ghost Map was one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m glad to see it made your list!
I loved The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert and am savoring Unsheltetered – read by Barbara Kingsolver
Yes, totally agree about The Signature of All Things! Such an enthralling read and I learned so much about botany.
Madame Curie. A fascinating book on her written by her daughter. Lab Girl was only meh in my opinion.
I’ve read quite a few of these books and I’m going to add the ones I missed to my TBR list! From the ones I have read, I loved The Mercury 13 best!!!
“Lab Girl” by Hope Jahren is also a good choice.
I second the nod to Carl Zimmer’s She Has Her Mother’s Laugh. It is an excellent overview of the development of the science of heredity and where we stand today with many exciting new discoveries. Guns, Steel and Germs by Jared Diamond is also a stand-out read on the development of modern man/woman. I highly recommend it.
Atomic City Girls by Janet Beard. Brings to light the story of the “city” created just to work on the atomic bomb. The lives of the people who worked in secrecy(many not even knowing why they were helping to create!!)
Thanks for these suggestions – I’m always on the lookout for great non-fiction, especially if it reads as smoothly as fiction. Personally, I’m a big fan of Susan Casey – The Wave (colossal waves), Devil’s Teeth (great white sharks) and Voices in the Ocean (dolphins).
Dawn, thanks for these. I have never read Susan Casey, but these all sound like things I would like.
I echo all of the sentiments about Hope Jahren’s “Lab Girl.” I recently read it for my Women in STEM book club, and it was excellent. One of the best books I have read in recent memory.
I also would suggest “Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet” by Claire L. Evans. That is the book club’s current read. Overall, I thought this was a very well-rounded and compelling list!
Yes! I was going to give a +1 to the Lab Girl sentiments and add in Broad Band!
Thank you I love the idea of a STEM book club
A women in STEM book club is an AWESOME idea!! Kudos!!
Anything by David Quammen, but especially the essay collections.
I’ve read several David Quammen stories but not his non-fiction. He is a great writer- thanks for the recommendation.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey is both fascinating and beautiful.
A resounding yes!
Yes! This book was so wonderful! I recommend it most often out of all the books I’ve ever read! So fascinating! Love that others enjoyed it, too!
I really enjoyed Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything.
I love a good history of science book and frequently intersperse my fiction reading with some good science books.
Here are my latest recommendations.
A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
by Jimmy Soni, Rob Goodman
Here is the story about the smartest man and contemporary of Einstein that no one knows about. His work makes sending large amounts of data flying around the internet possible.
Through Two Doors at Once: The Elegant Experiment That Captures the Enigma of Our Quantum Reality
by Anil Ananthaswamy
Here is an excellent explanation of all the lovely weirdness of quantum theory. A good survey of then and now in Quantum science.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
This is a history of “us”. How did our genes ever make it this far?
Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us
by Sam Kean
Yes, that lung full of air you just took in contains a few of the molecules that Ceasar exhaled in his last breath. Want to know where the rest of it comes from, read this book.
I loved SAPIENS. The author had an on line course also, either through Great Ciurses or Coursera.
Other books by Mary Roach are also good, eg “Gut,” which is about digestion and our microbiome. “The Gene” is a comprehensive look at unraveling the history of genetic theory, also good.
I love all of Dava Sobel’s work! I just finished I Contain Multitudes and it was teriffic! I also love Bomb by Steve Shenkin – it’s for younger readers, but it’s fascinating! Oliver Sacks & Steven Pinker are two of my favorite science/social science writers.
I was also going to suggest everything by Dava Sobel!
I’m so glad someone suggested Dava Sobel. My favorite, by far is Longitude. Galileo’s Daughter was also wonderful.
Great list. I have to call out one grammar edit, not because I’m dying to catch Modern Mrs. Darcy in a mistake, but because it’s an error that has been spreading wider and wider.
Your wrote about about The Making of the Atomic Bomb, “Brent found it captivating and page-turning, and his enthusiasm left Ashley and I eager to pick it up.” It should be “…left Ashley and me eager to pick it up.”
I think kids are corrected so often when they say “John and me are going to…” that it becomes second nature to think it’s always John and I in every situation. But it’s only I if, when you take John away, I still makes sense. You would never say “…left I eager to pick it up.”
My big pet peeve used to be less/fewer but I/me is steadily overtaking it and that is why you, my dear, wonderful Anne, are bearing the brunt of my grammar-Nazi-dom today! Sorry!
I’m with you!! The less/fewer thing drives me up the WALL! And I made a lot of I/me errors over the years, thanks to my mother drilling it into me all my life… you’d better believe that when I learned the true grammar rule, I called her straightaway and (I can’t think of a way to put it diplomatically) rubbed her face in it ?? You’re not alone!
Thanks, Sheree! I’ve actually felt super guilty after posting this. I was home sick with wayyy too much time on my hands.
Oh, doll, we’ve all been there ❤️ big hugs!!!
Dee, I saw that grammar goof, as well, but frankly, I’m getting so used to people doing it that I’ve just given up. That’s not to say that I don’t still cringe every single time. My husband keeps telling me this is how language evolves, and I tell him these people are just wrong! The worst is when certain podcasters, not MMD fortunately, say “Me and her…” as the subject of the sentence. Aargh! I just can’t!?
It is very common. I think commercials are the biggest offenders and cause the greatest harm – because it makes everyone think it’s acceptable.
ACK, this is the kind of thing that would drive me crazy if someone else had written it! Thanks for catching; will edit pronto. 🙂
We have all been there! I cringe at the things that slip through the alumni magazine I produce, even with multiple eyes on it!
My former boss used to do this even in possessive phrases: “This analysis is for Rolf and I’s paper,” aaarrrgghh!!
“The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time” by John Kelly has stuck with me for years.
And gave me a slight phobia of fleas and mice. 🙂
Oh my gosh, I have to read this! I still remember reading a National Geographic in the mid-eighties about the plague. I was completely absorbed. Years later I found a copy and shared it with my students.
I don’t remember authors (and am too lazy to look them up right now), but two that I enjoy are What Einstein Told His Cook and Proof. The Einstein book is about the chemistry involved in cooking and Proof is the science behind making alcoholic drinks. As a chemist turned homemaker, both are fascinating to me. I don’t read much nonfiction, but both of these are in the storytelling style that is a must in order for me to get through them.
Another great science book is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. This may be the first nonfiction read that convinced me it can be as engaging and page turning as fiction.
Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes who Fought Them was a great popular science read. The author has made it lighthearted and approachable (or at least sarcastic) for the topic!
Highly recommend Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World by Rachel Swaby and this book was fascinating Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan.
I added The Mercury 13. Your discussion of it made me so excited to read it! Thank you!
I would add The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
Book by Denise Kiernan. This was the first book I read when I wanted to start to read more non-fiction. Also, loved Lab Girl and Rise of the Rocket Girls. I look forward to reading several of these new to me titles. Thanks!
Highly recommend Longitude by Dava Sobel. I think the podcast episode mentioned another Sobel book, but this was my favorite. A teacher recommended it to me when I was in High School and I think it was the first non-fiction book I read voluntarily and enjoyed!
I have to add Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements for Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams. I found this book fascinating and at times, hilarious. So did my daughter, when I made her read it for high school chemistry (home school.) The old scientists were absolutely nuts.
Sorry, meant this to be a new comment.
Hello, I enjoyed episode 155. I have it in my bullet journal as one to resource / follow comments for books to read with my son, Matthew. It was an answer to a prayer about ways for me to connect with my youngest son (20yrs), he has an amazing curiosity and depth of knowledge in the science field. I have read some of these on the list but look forward to reading many of them. More TBR-its a great thing.
I was fascinated reading Thoms Hager’s “The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield to Nazi Labs, One Doctor’s Heroic Search for the World’s First Miracle Drug” about the discovery of antibiotics.
I highly recommend The Emperor of All Maladies by Mukherjee and also Dreamland by Quinones. The first is a biography of cancer and was fascinating and surprisingly not depressing. The second is about the rise of the opiate epidemic in America. it was fascinating and rather disturbing.
The Invention of Air, a Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and The Birth of America by Steven Johnson – about Joseph Priestly who discovered oxygen, and so much more. Also The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande – not sure if this is exactly scientific but so fascinating!
I just started listening to “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil deGrasse Tyson and it’s super good too!
Oh! Also his book “The Pluto Files” is s super fascinating look at Pluto being redefined to no longer being a planet and the reasons for it.
I found Stiff fascinating! I think Mary Roach’s humor and sensitivity made it much less morbid to read.
I would also recommend The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery, all about the mysterious octopus.
Another fun one I’m reading right now is The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean, with stories about elements and the creation of the periodic table. My son is reading the Young Reader edition with me, which isn’t dumbed down at all.
Finally, someone says our family favorite— Dissapearing Spoon, AND Napoleons Buttons AND (for kids) Irresponsible Science. It’s really not as irresponsible as the title, but a lot of fun!
In the fiction category, our book club had a great discussion on “Intuition” by Allegra Goodman. It concerned a medical research lab in Cambridge MA, the pressure to find a cure for cancer, and the temptation to falsify data.
It was on one of your summer reading lists years ago, but I loved The Remedy about trying to find a cure for Tuberculosis.
I’m also currently reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, by Samin Nosrat. It’s technically a cookbook, but there are 200 pages of information before you get to the recipes. It’s the best book about food science I’ve read in a long time (probably since Michael Pollan’s Cooked).
Physics for Future Presidents is an informative read on how Physics impacts public policy. Very readable for the non-scientist, too!
I have to add Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements for Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams. I found this book fascinating and at times, hilarious. So did my daughter, when I made her read it for high school chemistry (home school.) The old scientists were absolutely nuts.
“Broad Band” by Claire L. Evans. First, love the title. It is catchy and appropriate for a book about the origins of the Internet in general and especially the women who played a pivotal role.
It is important history and women were largely shortchanged. This is a bit similar to “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly in its effort to give credit where credit is due.
Wow, so many interesting titles here!! The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Bloom was really interesting (plus, that title keeps your housemates on their toes! ?).
Another vote for Mary Roach, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins. This occasionally went over my head—no matter how many times carbon dating is explained to me, I still can’t quite make it all fit into the nooks and crannies of my brain—and Dawkins’ tone toward creationists can be pretty condescending; while I understand his frustrations, this is unfortunate. This would be a good book to put into curious folks’ hands, but the tone might turn them off from further reading/exploration. If you believe in evolution because there’s proof of it, but you can’t quite go much farther with specific examples than fossils and finches, this is a good book to pick up.
This may be reaching a bit for “science” reads, but it involves a lot of cause and effect, observation, and a weather phenomenon, so I think it counts! ? The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan in conjunction with Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Both are good on their own, but together I think they tell a really compelling story about human effects on nature.
Oops, Deborah Blum.
I can’t wait to read Stiff, AND Radium Girls! Both sound like fantastic reads, and you’re nudging them higher up my TBR with your descriptions of them here 😉 I would also add to this list Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything (hands-down the best pop-science book I’ve ever read, I can’t recommend it highly enough for non-scientists) and also The Trauma Cleaner, which is far more niche but so touching and eye-opening!!
Oh! One more! Death’s Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Their Tales. Definitely not for the squeamish—the whole point at The Body Farm is to dicover what happens to dead bodies under various conditions—but very interesting.
I really loved the book, “Longitude” by Dava Sobel, which told the story of the struggle to find a way to reckon position on the open sea.
Also, it has one of my favorite closing lines of any book.
I loved Longitude as well.
I read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier this summer and really enjoyed it. Ultimately it is a fictional novel, but it is based on the relationship between Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot and how they handle searching, selling and credit for their discoveries.
Great list! I just added several to my TBR list. I’m currentky reading The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum and it’s good so far. The tag line is: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade For Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. It’s all about the poisonous food additives put into food before there was any regulation.
Just started Radium Girls today for book club. So far, so good!
The Great Influenza by John Berry
Polio An American Story by David Oshinsky
Anything by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Erik Larson or Candice Millard.
Also I just finished Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Grizwold and enjoyed it. Currently on audio I am listening to Madeline Albright’s Fascism: A Warning and it is great too.
Gathering Moss, by Robin Kimmerer. Beautifully written, it’s a fascinating book about moss and life. Who would have thought that moss would be so wonderful! I couldn’t put it down and now can’t help stopping to examine moss on my daily walks.
Thanks for this great list!
Gotta add another vote for Lab Girl! One of my all-time favorites.
Back in 2010, Tracy Chevalier wrote “Remarkable Creatures”, a wonderful novel about Mary Anning’s fossil hunting along the sea cliffs in England and her struggle to be recognized for her work. Loved it!
This is an old title, but The World Without Us is an exploration of exactly how quickly the earth would reclaim itself if humans suddenly disappeared. It was fascinating, frightening and somewhat reassuring to know that the human race could disappear and life would go on.
The Homing Instinct: Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration by Bernd Heinrich and The Thing with Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human by Noah Strycker. We humans like to think we’re more intelligent than birds and other creatures, but more and less is a completely unhelpful way of looking at intelligence. It’s just completely, and amazingly, different, like comparing apples and oranges.
Scott Kelly’s Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery was fascinating. I also enjoyed Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars and Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.
I am not sure if it is “science” but I just DEVOURED The Feather Thief! It was a surprisingly fascinating read. Radium Girls is on my To Read pile right now – gotta go clear that out. 🙂
One of my favorite books of 2018 is Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright. It has a 4.5 star rating on amazon.com by over 4,000 readers. I listened to the audio which is read by the author. I loved the information and learning about the people involved in fighting the plagues and how they did it. Wright offers touches of humor that made me laugh out loud. Definitely a book for your list.
I have to add “The Poisoner’s Handbook” to this list. About the start of forensic medicine – based on real crimes in the 1920’s. I couldn’t put it down.
Recent book “Burn” by Herman Pontzer, written quite engagingly, presents new evidence about how humans really burn calories.
The Ghost Map is one of my favorite books EVER, fiction or non! So glad to see it included here!
Unseen City: The Majesty of Pigeons, the Discreet Charm of Snails & Other Wonders of the Urban Wilderness
by Nathanael Johnson
It was already mentioned above, but The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is also excellent… and I think it was mentioned in Unseen City and that’s how I found it!
I loved ‘Stiff.’ Exactly my kind of book! I have gotten so many new recs from the comment section alone!
Along the same vein, I highly recommend “Beyond the Body Farm” and “Death’s Acre,” both by Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Bill Bass founded the “Body Farm.” He also writes really good fiction books with Jon Jefferson under the name ‘Jefferson Bass.’
Staying macabre, anything by Caitlin Doughty is fantastic. She’s a mortician and funeral industry reform advocate. She also has an amazing YouTube channel that I tell everyone I know about.
My absolute favorite nonfiction book is “The American Way of Death” by Jessica Mitford. It was originally published in 1963, and is a shocking and heartbreaking expose about the abuses in the U.S. funeral home industry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it.
On a MUCH lighter note, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Genius of Birds” by Jennifer Ackerman. It’s an in-depth look at bird brains, and how birds are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.