I thought it would be interesting to produce a short list of popular science books, which I’ve not read before, which would be worth reading. I have done some research on Amazon, looking for five books which:
- looked appealing,
- were well written,
- were published in the last 15 years,
- were aimed at the general public with an interest in science ( i.e.weren’t dumbed down), and
- had a large number of good reviews.
I decided to only consider books written by authors who had worked in the field the book was about. I was looking for books written by real scientists rather than journalists. It really irriates me when journalists without scientific training write books and articles which end up being full of mistakes.
So, here’s the list my five books along with a link to their Amazon UK product pages. This will enable you to have a look at the book descriptions yourself and just as importantly look at the reviews (from people who have actually read the book ). If you are interested in any of these books, please don’t feel obliged to buy them from Amazon, you could always buy from your local bookshop or borrow from your local library.
The Books
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry: Essays on the Universe and Our Place Within it (2017) – Neil Degrasse Tyson
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (2012) – David Deutsch
Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality (2015) – Max Tegmark
Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity (2017) – Carlo Rovelli
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2024) – Ray Kurzweil
And finally, on a separate note
My blog contains mostly articles on astronomy, space and space travel. However, I have been re-reading many of the posts I’ve written since I started it back 2014 and is interesting to see just how many articles there are other scientific subject. So if you want to explore some of these topics, please click on the links below.
The switch to zero emission vehicles
Time and time zones, daylight saving time, solstices, equinoxes, The date of Easter, the calendar
The seasonal changes in an English garden
Global warming and our attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rising use of fossil fuels by developing countries , opportunities for solar energy
The origin of the word Eureka!
There are even a couple of posts about the more abstract world of pure math
Explaining Science 