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Originals

Books by the great names of science, or direct from the researcher's mouth, that are still remarkably readable. Click on the book's name or the summary to find out more.

After Dolly	Ian Wilmut & Roger Highfield	Excellent combination of a history of the development of the first animal clone, Dolly the sheep, with an exploration of the ethics and practicality of cloning by one of the team behind Dolly's birth.	Biology
Avoid Boring People	James D. Watson	Dull autobiography that has none of the style and panache of the much younger Watson's The Double Helix.	Biography
A Different Universe	Robert M. Laughlin	An argument for a different kind of physics, that is more dependent on emergent properties, rather than bottom up. Interesting but not entirely convincing.	Physics
Findings	Hugh Aldersey-Williams	Examines key scientific papers by famous and obscure scientists, one per decade of the 20th century	Overview
The Autobiography	Charles Darwin	Not at all stuffy - short book is a fascinating insight into Darwin as a human being	Biography, biology
The Born-Einstein Letters	Max Born & Albert Einstein	Fascinating letters between two of the 20th century greats of physics.	Biography, physics
A Brief History of Time	Stephen Hawking	The one that started it all - and much more readable than you might think	Cosmology, physics
Endless Universe: Before the Big Bang	Neil Turok & Paul J. Steinhardt	Accessible and readable book from the respected proponents of a theory of the creation of the universe without a big bang.	Cosmology
The God Particle	Leon Lederman & Dick Teresi	In-depth and often funny look at the history of particle physics and the development of the standard model, viewed by an insider.	Physics
In Search of Memory	Eric R. Kandel	Excellent account of the work of the Nobel Prize winner Kandel, putting his studies of the cellular nature of memory into the context of his life..	Biology
The Long Tomorrow	Michael R. Rose	Excellent description by evolutionary biologist Michael Rose of his work on aging in fruit flies, put into the context of his life and the possibilities for understanding human aging.	Biology
Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track	Richard Feynman	Absolutely fascinating collection of letters from one of the greatest scientists ever	Biography
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter	Richard Feynman	Great insight into Feynman's genius in these transcribed lectures, in not popular science	Physics
Six Easy Pieces	Richard Feynman	The essentials of physics in a chatty textbook that just scrapes into pop-sci	Physics
Surely you are Joking, Mr Feynman	Richard Feynman	Wonderful anecdotes from the great physicist	Biography, physics
The Time Traveller	Ronald Mallett & Bruce Henderson	Moving and highly readable story of a physicist's mission to build a time machine to visit his dead father - just finishes a bit too soon.	Physics
What Do You Care What Other People Think?	Richard Feynman	Feynman's follow up collection of reminiscences, distinguished by amazing section on the Challenger enquiry	Biography
Mr Tompkins in Paperback	George Gamow	Early attempt at popularizing hard physics, beloved of many scientists, but hasn't aged well	Physics
Status Syndrome	Michael Marmot	Brilliant research on the way social standing affects health and life expectancy, but so-so book	Human science
The Third Man of the Double Helix	Maurice Wilkins	Autobiography of the third DNA Nobel prize winner. Not great writing, but fascinating insight, especially into the Frankin affair	Biography, biology
The Double Helix	James D. Watson	Forget the tendency to disregard this book because it's not politically correct - it's a wonderful personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA	Biology, physics

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