Classic Books

• Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character packaged with an hour-long audio CD of the 1978 “Los Alamos from Below” lecture.
• From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin’s Four Great Books (Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals), edited by Edward O. Wilson.
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Life Science

• Good Germs, Bad Germs by Jessica Snyder Sachs. A great introduction to germs and the systemic interaction with our own immune systems that have developed over millions of years. Our bodies need many bacteria and even eliminating parasites can lead to problems.
• Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer – great look at the amazing life of parasites.
• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Evolution from Our Microbial Ancestors by Lynne Margulis and Dorion Sagan

• The Insect Societies by E.O. Wilson
• Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer – a great read that explains the life of bacteria and evolution with engaging and easy to read text. Another fascinating book by Carl Zimmer.
• DNA: The Secret of Life by James D. Watson and Andrew Berry.
• Life – A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard Fortey.
• Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History, by Stephen Jay Gould
• The Future of Life by E.O. Wilson
• When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time, by Michael Benton

Math

• Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci
• God Created the Integers: The Mathematical Breakthroughs That Changed History by Stephen Hawking

Physics

• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene.

Chaos

• Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life by Steven Strogatz
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
• Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick
• At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity by Stuart Kauffman

Activities, experiments, engaging science

• Gonzo Gizmos: Projects and Devices to Channel Your Inner Geek by Simon Field.

Information

• The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick.

Essays

• The Open Laboratory: The Best Writing on Science Blogs 2006
• The Best American Science Writing 2005 – articles included by Oliver Sacks, James Gleick, Atul Gawande and Natalie Angier.

History and Biographies

• Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
• iWoz, autobiography of Steve Wozniak
• The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery by Wendy Moore.