The Big Read Project 2.0

[Zankapfel]

Pop-Sci Big Read, a natural evolution of The Big Read ;]
Inspired by BBC's list, let us compile a similar thing for popular science books. The emphasis here is on popular: books that are engaging and accessible to a truly general reader or laymen, ideally with a strong narrative component.
I took a superficial inventory of the many books on science scattered about our home and compiled a potential list. I have some obvious biases: physics, maths 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.

The rules, as always are simple:

• Bold those you have read.
• Italicize those you have started but haven't finished.
• Place an asterisk by those you intend to read/finish someday *
• Mark in red the books you love/found most useful.
• Mark in blue those you read, but are not particularly fond of.

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.

1. Micrographia - Robert Hooke
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. Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
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 [odd choice, I know]
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. Chaos - James Gleick
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

We have 30 more to go.
This is not an official list, so correct my imbalances (you know you want to!) - what are some of the titles that you would add?
I have faith there are enough Aprigeeks around for us to complete this list

[Nameless Son]

Only read The Origin of the Species and From the Earth to the Moon. Both are great.

I would add Godel, Escher, Bach; and The Hot Zone.

EDIT: actually I see that GEB is already present.

[Groenewolf]

1. Micrographia - Robert Hooke
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. Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
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 [odd choice, I know]
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. Chaos - James Gleick
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

We have 30 more to go.
This is not an official list, so correct my imbalances (you know you want to!) - what are some of the titles that you would add?
I have faith there are enough Aprigeeks around for us to complete this list

I have some other pop science books but they are practically all in Dutch except for this one :

The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe - Stephen W. Hawking

And maybe some others.

[Eldritch]

1. Micrographia - Robert Hooke
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. Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
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 (the illustrated version for retards, though)
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 [odd choice, I know]
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. Chaos - James Gleick
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

There'll be 30 more of these? Me like.

[Nameless Son]

Oh, Men of Mathematics should surely be included. Definition of a classic right there.

[Pallantides]

0

[Zankapfel]

^ Not a man of Science, I see ;]

Updated with new suggestions:

1. Micrographia - Robert Hooke
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. Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
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 [odd choice, I know]
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. Chaos - James Gleick
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. The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe - Stephen W. Hawking
72. Men of Mathematics - E. T. Bell

There'll be 30 more of these? Me like.

We have to come up with them ourselves, so feel free to suggest more titles ;]
28 to go now.
I'm blank atm, been busy moving.

[Pallantides]

^ Not a man of Science, I see ;]

Well this book is missing from the list:

[Logan]

1.Micrographia - Robert Hooke
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.Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
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 [odd choice, I know]
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.Chaos - James Gleick
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

[Zankapfel]

Well this book is missing from the list:

I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, but I'll include it.
It's had a huge influence as a teaching aid for children.