“Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
-Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Book Projects
Great books have the power to transform a student’s entire worldview. While not a standard component of most science classrooms, we believe having a mandatory book project provides a fantastic opportunity to supplement the history and nature of science that standards (e.g. NGSS) call for, but most curricula largely miss.
Our recommendation is simple: make every student read one science book in your course. Below, we provide a list of some of our favorites in each discipline to help guide your recommendations to students.
A Few of Our Recommendations
General Science
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Ascent of Science, Brian Silver
History of Science
Einstein’s War by Matthew Stanley
Ascent of Science by Brian L. Silver
The Science of Liberty by Timothy Ferris
Physics
What is Real? by Adam Becker
Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman
Isaac Newton by James Gleick
Mathematics
Infinite Powers by Steven Strogatz
Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh
The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow
Biology
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson
A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky
Chemistry
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood by Oliver Sacks
Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us by Sam Keene
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Keene