The 25 best science and ideas books
The 25 highest-ranked science and ideas books in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 119 science and ideas books in all. How we rank
- 1
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer93.3Must-Read ScoreThe Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist, set out to answer a patient's question: what exactly is she fighting?
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) winner (2011)33 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2010NBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2010)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 2
The Body Keeps the Score92.1Must-Read ScoreThe Body Keeps the Score
Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk spent more than thirty years working with survivors of war, abuse and disaster, and this is what he learned: trauma isn't only a memory, it reshapes the brain and the body, leaving people stuck in fear long after the danger has passed.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (16 weeks at #1)323 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2019 - 3
A Brief History of Time89.6Must-Read ScoreA Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking's attempt to explain the biggest questions in physics to ordinary readers: where the universe came from, how it might end, what black holes are, why time only moves forward, and whether physics can ever find a single theory of everything.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 25 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (19 weeks at #1)TIME All-TIME 100 NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 4
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind88.9Must-Read ScoreSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
A hundred thousand years ago, at least six species of humans walked the Earth.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 25 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 5
Braiding Sweetgrass88.2Must-Read ScoreBraiding Sweetgrass
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a botanist trained in the tools of science and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, raised on the idea that plants and animals are our oldest teachers.
Why it made the list132 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021 - 6
Cosmos87.7Must-Read ScoreCosmos
Written alongside his landmark TV series, Carl Sagan's tour of the universe covers fifteen billion years of cosmic history: how stars are born and die, how life might have begun, what we've learned from planets and comets, and the long human story of how science pieced it all together, from ancient Greek astronomers to the Voyager spacecraft.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 40 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (16 weeks at #1)National Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (1981) - 7
The Anxious Generation87.3Must-Read ScoreThe Anxious Generation
Around 2012, rates of depression, anxiety and self-harm among teenagers began rising sharply in many countries at once.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (nonfiction) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (6 weeks at #1)131 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024 - 8
Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity86.9Must-Read ScoreFar From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
Andrew Solomon spent ten years interviewing more than three hundred families whose children were profoundly different from their parents: children who are deaf, have dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism or schizophrenia, are prodigies, were conceived in rape, committed crimes, or are transgender.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Nonfiction) winner (2012)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 9
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It86.9Must-Read ScoreNever Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It
Chris Voss went from policing the streets of Kansas City to becoming the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator, facing bank robbers and terrorists across the table.
Why it made the list48 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 10
Thinking, Fast and Slow86.8Must-Read ScoreThinking, Fast and Slow
Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman explains the two systems that drive how we think.
Why it made the list545 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2011Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 11
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History86.2Must-Read ScoreThe Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Elizabeth Kolbert, a New Yorker staff writer, sets out to explain the five mass extinctions in Earth's history and to argue that humans are now causing a sixth.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) winner (2015)NBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2014)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st CenturyGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 12
Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World85.9Must-Read ScoreFire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World
In May 2016, a wildfire swept into Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada's oil industry, and in a single afternoon drove 88,000 people from their homes while melting cars and leveling neighborhoods.
Why it made the listBaillie Gifford Prize winner (2023)Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) finalist (2024)National Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2023) - 13
Everything Is Tuberculosis85.7Must-Read ScoreEverything Is Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis killed more people than any other infectious disease in history, and it still kills over a million people a year, even though it's curable.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (nonfiction) winner (2025)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)43 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 14
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals85.2Must-Read ScoreThe Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Pollan sets out to trace where four meals come from.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2006)TIME All-TIME 100 NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 15
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity83.8Must-Read ScoreOutlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
Peter Attia, a physician, argues that medicine waits too long to treat the diseases that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, dementia and metabolic illness.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (6 weeks at #1)142 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2023Goodreads Choice (nonfiction) finalist (2023) - 16
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression83.7Must-Read ScoreThe Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Andrew Solomon draws on his own experience of severe depression, which at its worst left him unable to get out of bed, and on years of interviews with patients, doctors, scientists and policymakers.
Why it made the listNational Book Award (Nonfiction) winner (2001)Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) finalist (2002)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 17
Outliers: The Story of Success83.4Must-Read ScoreOutliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell argues that success isn't just about talent and hard work, but about hidden advantages: when and where you were born, your family's culture, and the opportunities you happened to get.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (15 weeks at #1)534 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2008 - 18
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End82.9Must-Read ScoreBeing Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Modern medicine has made birth, injury and infection manageable, but surgeon Atul Gawande argues it often fails us at the end of life: nursing homes that put safety ahead of happiness, hospitals that isolate the dying, and treatments that extend suffering long after a cure is possible.
Why it made the list101 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2014 - 19
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us82.9Must-Read ScoreAn Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
Every animal lives inside its own sensory bubble, a world of the signals it can pick up.
Why it made the list19 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022NBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2022)Goodreads Choice (nonfiction) finalist (2022) - 20
Silent Spring82.8Must-Read ScoreSilent Spring
In 1962, Rachel Carson, a marine biologist and bestselling nature writer, warned that the pesticides being sprayed across America, especially DDT, were poisoning birds, fish, soil, water and people.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (5 weeks at #1)Modern Library 100 Best NonfictionTIME All-TIME 100 NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 21
How to Be an Antiracist82.6Must-Read ScoreHow to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)47 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2019 - 22
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks82.4Must-Read ScoreThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
In 1951 Henrietta Lacks, a young Black mother, was treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins.
Why it made the list184 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2010Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 23
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone82.0Must-Read ScoreMaybe You Should Talk to Someone
Lori Gottlieb is a Los Angeles therapist whose world comes crashing down after a sudden breakup, and she ends up in therapy herself, with Wendell, a quirky, cardigan-wearing therapist who turns out to be anything but ordinary.
Why it made the list54 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2019 - 24
The Selfish Gene81.8Must-Read ScoreThe Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins argues that evolution is best understood from the gene's point of view.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 25
The Soul of a New Machine80.8Must-Read ScoreThe Soul of a New Machine
In the late 1970s, at a computer company called Data General, a team of young engineers led by the intense Tom West raced to build a new 32-bit minicomputer in about a year, working nights and weekends with little reward except the work itself.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) winner (1982)National Book Award (Nonfiction) winner (1982)
