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COSMOLOGY
Afterglow of Creation	Marcus Chown	Intriguing detective story tracking back from the cosmic background radiation to the big bang.	Cosmology
Bang! The Complete History of the Universe	Patrick Moore, Brian May, Chris Lintott	A superbly illustrated introduction to the basics of cosmology, for all ages, though we think it works best for younger readers.	Astronomy, cosmology
Before the Big Bang	Brian Clegg	The latest ideas on how the universe began, the limitations of the Big Bang theory and more in excellent popular history of how humans understand the universe.	Cosmology
Beware Invisible Cows	Andy Martin	A totally subjective, Impressionist look at where the universe came from. Some might like it, but for us it doesn't work.	Physics, cosmology
Big Bang	Simon Singh	The answer to the ultimate question of the universe - where did it come from? - beautifully put in context	Cosmology
A Brief History of Time	Stephen Hawking	The one that started it all - and much more readable than you might think	Cosmology, physics
A Briefer History of Time	Stephen Hawking (with Leonard Mlodinow)	Attempt to make Brief History more approachable - good content, but suffers from übergloss	Cosmology, physics
The Chilling Stars	Nigel Calder & Herik Svensmark	Controversial but fascinating theory that much of the Earth's climate change through history has been caused by the impact of cosmic rays.	Cosmology, Earth Science
The Cosmic Verses	James Muirden	Astonishingly effective history of our ideas on the universe, all in verse - certainly could have been much worse.	Cosmology
The Cosmos: A Beginner's Guide	Adam Hart-Davis & Paul Bader	A beautifully illustrated book from a BBC TV series that's really more about the equipment we use to study it than the cosmos.	Cosmology
Death by Black Hole	Neil deGrasse Tyson	Reasonable collection of cosmological articles. Well written, but failed to excite.	Cosmology
Einstein's Telescope	Evalyn Gates	Okay exploration of the hunt for dark matter and dark energy.	Cosmology
The Elegant Universe	Brian Greene	Precursor to Fabric of the Cosmos with considerable overlaps. Not as good on relativity/quantum theory but more on string theory.	Physics, cosmology
Empire of the Stars	Arthur I. Miller	The battle over the nature of white dwarf stars and the emergence of black holes in the life of Chandrasekhar, well told but long	Cosmology, biography
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 Fabric of the Cosmos	Brian Greene	Great exploration of the nature of space, time and matter, starting with relativity and quantum theory and reaching out to the universe	Physics, cosmology
Fred Hoyle's Universe	Jane Gregory	A thorough and effective biography of the great astronomer Fred Hoyle - not perfect, but probably the best	Biography, cosmology
God's Equation	Amir Aczel	An exploration of 'Einstein's greatest mistake' - the cosmic constant	Biography, cosmology, physics
The Goldilocks Enigma	Paul Davies	Why are all the physical constants so fine-tuned for an environment we can live in? A thought provoking exploration of the cosmological reasons why things are just right.	Cosmology
The Infinite Cosmos	Joseph Silk	Up-to-date (as of 2005) overview of cosmology - lots of great information, but poorly written and not recommended unless you already know the basics	Cosmology
Just Six Numbers	Martin Rees	In an elegant and enjoyable book that should be just as famous as A Brief History of Time, Martin Rees explores how six fundamental constants have shaped the universe	Cosmology
The Labyrinth of Time	Michael Lockwood	Attempt to explore the universe through a better understanding of time that doesn't quite make it	Physics, cosmology
The Magic Furnace	Marcus Chown	Where atoms come from - a remarkable story that takes us from the big bang to now	Physics, astronomy, cosmology
Measuring the Universe	Kitty Ferguson	A solid survey of the attempts to pin down the size of the universe through the ages. Fine, but never soars.	Cosmology, astronomy
The Never Ending Days of Being Dead	Marcus Chown	A clear exploration of some of the big questions in physics, bringing in a range of weird and wonderful theories	Physics, cosmology
Our Cosmic Habitat	Martin Rees	A clear and well-written guide to the universe from the Astronomer Royal	Cosmology, astronomy
Parallel Worlds	Michio Kaku	Fascinating ideas on parallel universes, cosmology and string theory only slightly let down by oversimplification and mixed writing.	Cosmology, physics
The State of the Universe	Pedro G. Ferreira	Attempts to be a primer on modern cosmology - has all the right content, but just not readable enough.	Cosmology
Uncentering the Earth	William T. Vollmann	A turgid, unreadable attempt at telling what should be the interesting story of Copernicus's move of the Earth away from the centre of the universe	Cosmology
The Universe in a Nutshell	Stephen Hawking	Workings of the universe, well illustrated, for lay readers	Cosmology, physics
The View from the Centre of the Universe	Nancy Ellen Abrams & Joel Primack	Superbly brilliant idea of the need for a new cosmological myth to ground us in the universe, only slightly let down by so-so writing	Cosmology
We need to talk about Kelvin	Marcus Chown	Uses everyday observations to plunge into quantum theory, thermodynamics and cosmology. Great fun and very readable.	Physics, cosmology
Why Aren't They Here?	Surendra Verma	A description of different theories of why we haven't been contacted by aliens (and of our attempts to reach them). Some nice historical context, but a trifle dull.	Cosmology
EARTH SCIENCE
Alien Volcanoes	Rosaly M. C. Lopes &  Michael W. Carroll	Effective neither as a picture book or a really engaging book on volcanoes, the 'alien' part just makes what could be fascinating a touch wishy-washy.	Earth science
Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities	Tony Hallam	A worth attempt to include all the options to explain prehistoric mass extinctions that's sadly rather dull	Earth science
The Chilling Stars	Nigel Calder & Herik Svensmark	Controversial but fascinating theory that much of the Earth's climate change through history has been caused by the impact of cosmic rays.	Cosmology, Earth Science
Climate Change Begins at Home	Dave Reay	Why climate change is a problem and what we as individuals can do about it, without jargon or being preachy	Earth science, technology
Earth	James F. Luhr	One of DK's highly illustrated books that sits between a reference and a coffee table book - fascinating if not true popular science	Earth science
The Earth: an intimate history	Richard Fortey	Not only a good explanation of how the Earth works, but a tour of key locations too.	Earth science
Ecologic	Brian Clegg	Moves green issues away from knee-jerk emotional responses and bogeymen to uncover greenwash and establish what really is effective for the environment.	Earth science
Heatstroke	Anthony Barnosky	Excellent exploration of the impact of climate change on species, and how the present global warming could devastate nature.	Earth science, biology
Ice, Mud and Blood	Chris Turney	As a call to action on climate change, it is a missed opportunity. But as a story of scientific ingenuity and the wonders of nature, it takes every chance - and succeeds	Earth science
Latitude: The Magnetic Earth	Stephen Pumfrey	Good consideration of the impact of the little-known Elizabethan, William Gilbert	Physics, earth science
Lovelock & Gaia: Signs of Life	Jon Turney	If you thought Gaia was all about tree-hugging, think again with this excellent mini-introduction to Lovelock	Earth science
Plan B 2.0	Lester R. Brown	Disappointingly dull and uninspiring plan to save the world from eco-disaster, though does have a good survey of the problems.	Earth science
Rain	Brian Cathcart	Some lovely insights into rain and its effects, but too short	Earth science
Rock & Gem	Ronald Louis Bonewitz	Not really popular science, but a beautifully illustrated reference on all kinds of rocks, minerals & gems	Earth science
The Rough Guide to Climate Change	Robert Henson	An excellent introduction to the whys and wherefores of global warming: mix of politics and science, hence relatively low score	Earth science
Six Degrees: our future on a hotter planet	Mark Lynas	An important book - graphically tells of the impact of one to six degrees of temperature rise on the planet. Gets a little repetitious, but still important.	Earth sciences
Surviving Armageddon	Bill McGuire	Good, short book on the possible disasters facing the earth and how we can overcome them	Earth science
HUMAN SCIENCE
The 21st Century Brain	Steven Rose	Rose gives us a detailed and powerful study of our brains and where they came from - it's just not awfully readable	Human science
Abducted	Susan A. Clancy	Sensible scientific look at the reality of alien abduction - very engaging writing, but could have better structured	Human science
After the Ice	Steven Mithen	Huge history of humanity between 20,000 and 5,000 BC with neat "observer" style	Human science
[The Age of] Scurvy	Stephen R. Bown	Gripping story of the slow discovery of the cure for scurvy that brings alive the atmosphere of life on sailing ships	Human science
Ancient Americans [1491]	Charles C. Mann	Superb revelation of the remarkable prehistoric cultures of the Americas - full of surprises and eminently readable	Human science
Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug	Dairmuid Jeffreys	The story of aspirin from quinine substitute to heart medicine. Excellent background; truly fascinating	Chemistry, human sciences
Being Me	Pete Moore	A remarkable and very different book that looks into what it means to be human, using interviews to open up human characteristics. Science-based, but goes wider too.	Human science
The Big Necessity	Rose George	The rarely visited world of human waste - great fun down the sewers, investigating Japanese high function toilets, and with the sociological and health issues involved.	Human Science
Blink	Malcolm Gladwell	Lightweight but delightfully told illustration of how we make ultra-quick decisions	Human Science
Born to be Good	Dacher Keltner	A collection of quite interesting observations about human behaviour with respect to goodness, but with rather flaky new-age feel and lacking structure.	Human science
The Brain Book	Rita Carter	Surprisingly good adult picture book on the brain and how it works.	Human science
Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control	Kathleen Taylor	That rarest of things, an academic book that is enjoyable to the general reader - excellent study of brainwashing	Human science
Buy-ology	Martin Lindstrom	Interesting study of how people react to advertising by monitoring the brain, though some of the interpretation of the science is poorly presented.	Human science
Chloroform: the quest for oblivion	Linda Stratmann	Interesting history of the early anaesthetic chloroform and its rise and fall. Great period detail.	Human science
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive	Jared Diamond	A study of why societies fail catastrophically and how it's all too easy to go over the edge. Very good stuff, but overly academic.	Human science
Conversations on Consciousness	Susan Blackmore	20 interesting interviews with experts on the nature of consciousness - but this isn't a helpful format for this topic	Human science
De La Mettrie's Ghost - The Story of Decisions	Chris Nunn	Enjoyably written but patchy exploration of the scientific basis for free will and how we choose to act	Psychology, human science
Digging up the Dead	Druin Burch	Riveting, if occasionally stomach churning biography of the top surgeon from around 1800, Astley Cooper. Highly recommended.	Human Science
The Discovery of the Germ	John Waller	Much more interesting than the title sounds - the transformation of medicine from fantasy to reality	Biology, human science
Dreaming	J. Allan Hobson	Dream and sleep science hauled out of the Freudian dark ages with an excellent introduction	Human sciences
Dying to Live	Susan Blackmore	One of the few books to address a possible piece of evidence for life after death (near death experiences) in a rational, scientific fashion	Human science
The Elements of Murder	John Emsley	A history of the use of several key elements from mercury to lead in poisonings - fascinating stories and surprisingly interesting	Human science
The Emperor's New Drugs	Irving Kirsch	An analysis of the ineffectiveness of anti-depressant drugs and the importance of the placebo effect that is a good guide to scientific method.	Human science
Enhancing Me	Pete Moore	Although using a restrictive definition of enhancement, a thought-provoking look at how humans can be made more than human.	Human Science, technology
The Essential Difference	Simon Baron-Cohen	Fascinating new evidence on the genetic difference between male and female brains, but a bit stodgy	Human science
The Eternal Child	Clive Bromhall	Stunningly effective theory of how the human ape became more like an infant to survive in large groups, and its impact on our bodies and behaviours	Human science
Everyday Survival	Laurence Gonzales	Brilliant first half of the book on the way our programmed behaviour puts us at risk, ruined by poor second half.	Human science
The Forensic Casebook	Ngaire E. Genge	An attempt to explore the science of crime scene investigation, very readable but let down by style	Human Science
The Forensics Handbook	Pete Moore	A useful mini-encyclopedia of the practices and technology of police forensics, but lacks narrative and the science	Human Science
Freaks of Nature	Mark Blumberg	Interesting take on how developmental pressures can produce freaks as much as genetic faults.	Human science
Genome	Matt Ridley	Already classic exploration of human genetics via 23 genes - excellent	Human science
Happiness	Daniel Nettle	The science of happiness - a fascinating analysis of what happiness is and how we react to it	Human science
Heal Thyself (US)	see The Herbalist
The Herbalist (UK)	Benjamin Woolley	Life and works of herbalist and medic Nicholas Culpeper	Biography, Human science
How the Mind Works	Steven Pinker	Exploration of thought and the mechanisms behind it	Psychology, Human science
How to Score	Ken Bray	A book on the science of football (soccer, that is). Not all for the fans - some of it is generally interesting, but perhaps not enough of it	Human science
Human	Robert Winston (Ed.)	Wonderful illustrated reference guide to the human being - not popular science really, hence only	Human science
Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction	Bernard Wood	Pocket summary of the latest thinking on human evolution and the paleo-anthropology that lies behind it	Human science
The Human Mind	Robert Winston	A good exploration of the human brain and its functions, but not what the title says it is and occasionally trivializes	Human science
The Human Story	Charles Lockwood	Well-illustrated introductory guide to the stages of evolution from pre-human to Homo sapiens using the fossil record.	Human science
The Humans who went Extinct	Clive Finlayson	Strikingly different view of why Neanderthals died out and we survived, well worth reading despite some boring bits.	Human science
The Importance of Being Trivial	Mark Mason	Delightful exploration of why we find trivia fascinating, packing in lots of wonderful factoids along the way.	Human science
The Knife Man	Wendy Moore	Unexpectedly impressive life of John Hunter, surgeon, dissector and inspiration for Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde	Human Science
The Living End	Guy  Brown	Book about death, aging and immortality, but mostly death. Frankly it's a bit depressing and gave me a pain in all the diodes down my left side.	Human science
Living with Enza	Mark Honigsbaum	The story of the 1918 flu pandemic and how it impacted the UK, intertwined with events in the First World War. Scary at a time of another pandemic.	Human science
The Lobotomist	Jack El-Hai	The story of the rise and fall of US lobotomist Walter Freedman - not great pop sci, but very good medical biog	Human science
The Long Summer	Brian Fagan	Well-written and engrossing study of the way the climate changes between 18,000BC and the present time have influenced human civilization	Human Science
Making Time	Steve Taylor	A magazine article on the way subjective time varies blown up with much padding into a book that confuses science and anecdote.	Human science
The Medical Detective [The Strange Case of the Broad Street Pump]	Sandra Hempel	Fascinating medical history of the attempts to discover how cholera spread, and John Snow's detective work to trace the origins of the Broad Street outbreak	Human science
A Mind of Its Own	Cordelia Fine	A short and wonderfully readable introduction to the many ways our brains deceive us, illustrated throughout by psychological experiments	Human science
Mismatch	Peter D. Gluckman & Mark Hanson	Gets its three stars for the excellent idea - the mismatch between humans and environment - but the delivery is poor.	Human science
MonkeyLuv	Robert M. Sapolsky	Elegant and witty articles on the nature/nurture debate, the interface between the human mind and body, and the interaction between society and human biology. Highly readable	Human science
Moral Minds	Marc D. Hauser	A detailed exploration of the science of morality, with some excellent content but let down by being over-long and not taking into account some obvious questions.	Human science
Mutants	Armand Leroi	Truly remarkable book that uses human mutation to explain how we are all formed while avoiding the voyeurism of the freak show	Human science
The Myth of Mars and Venus	Deborah Cameron	Great idea, debunking the whole Mars/Venus think (and pop sci equivalents), but not enough for a whole book.	Human Science
Nature via Nurture	Matt Ridley	A superbly balanced picture of the ages-old debate between nature and nurture, and the latest thinking to emerge from genetic science	Human science
The New Killer Germs	Pete Moore	Very effective if depressing account of our battle against bacteria and viruses, and how things are likely to get worse in the future	Human science
No Two Alike	Judith Rich Harris	A real page turner as the author explores how personalities differ, with a style that owes as much to a murder mystery as a science book	Human science
Oxygen	Nick Lane	Not, as it may seem a book on the element, but on its complex relationship with life. Great content but very hard work for the reader.	Biology, human sciences
Perfect Copy	Nicholas Agar	Good introduction to the working of cloning and exploration of the ethical implications and uses	Human science
Personality	Daniel Nettle	Using a series of quasi-Jungian personality type measures, psychologist Daniel Nettle looks at how our personalities differ and why we may have evolved this way.	Human science
Phantoms in the Brain	Sandra Blakeslee & V. S. Ramachandran	The workings of the brain cleverly explored through mental problems and the effects of brain damage	Human science
The Piltdown Forgery	Joseph Weiner	Fifty years after it was discredited, OUP publish an updated version of Weiner's still very readable account	Human science
Polio: An American Story	David M. Oshinsky	A masterful job of bringing to life the struggles to develop a vaccine against polio. Not as US-centric as the title suggests.	Human Science
Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain	Carolyn Abraham	Occasionally gory but fascinating account of what happened to Einstein's brain after his death	Biography, Human science
Predictably Irrational	Dan Ariely	Great demonstration of how flawed the conventional economics assumption that humans make rations decisions is, with a string of experiments.	Human science
Proust and the Squid	Maryanne Wolf	Wonderful concept - looking at how the brain copes with reading - not very well executed as a popular science book.	Human science
Radiation and Reason	Wade Allison	Powerful arguments for a better assessment of the risk of nuclear power, but could do to be more approachable.	Physics, human science
Risk: The science and politics of fear	Dan Gardner	Good insights into how human responses divide into 'head' and 'gut' and how our gut leads us to be frightened more than we should.	Human science
Science of Discworld II	Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen	Clever idea, mixing Pratchett's fantasy and science, but this instalment on the mind is by far the worst	Human Science
Seeing Through Illusion	Richard Gregory	Wonderful idea of getting a better idea of how the brain handles vision through optical illusions, but very poor execution.	Human Science
Seven Million Years	Douglas Palmer	This exploration of the whole sweep of human evolution only truly comes alive when covering the life and work of Louis Leakey	Human science
Seven Years to Save the Planet	Bill McGuire	Excellent analysis of the  threats we face from climate change, and how they will change our world, but poor, over-simplistic solutions.	Earth science
Sex, Drugs and Chocolate	Paul Martin	Exploration of the science of pleasure, a little let down by snobbish view on chocolate. Explicit.	Human Science
The Singing Neanderthals	Steven Mithen	Interesting study of the origins of music, that gets a little lost along the way	Human science
The Singularity is Near	Ray Kurzweil	Futurologist Ray Kurzweil argues that in the next 40 years Human 2.0 will emerge from a combination of human and technology. Interesting subject, clumsily addressed..	Human sciences
Social Intelligence	Daniel Goleman	Fat follow-up to Emotional Intelligence with some interesting scientific input, but very selective and there's little depth to the interpretation. Disappointing.	Human science
Status Syndrome	Michael Marmot	Brilliant research on the way social standing affects health and life expectancy, but so-so book	Human science
The Surgeons	Charles Morris	By turns gory and over-awed, but still a dramatic account of the author's stint with New York heart surgeons.	Human Science
The Talent Code	Daniel Coyle	Interesting observations on how the brain programs for skills that work well for physical skills but the author fails to spot they're anathema to creativity.	Human science
The Talking Ape	Robbins Burling	Fascinating exploration of the origins and nature of language. Approachable yet authoritative.	Human Science
Terrors of the Table	Walter Gratzer	History of nutrition with an interesting start and great final chapters, but rather stodgy middle section	Human Science
The Tipping Point	Malcolm Gladwell	Connectedness, how information spreads virally and the stickiness of ideas transformed into a great little book by excellent stories	Human Science
Trick or Treatment	Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst	Superb analysis of alternative medicine, showing how early trials were unscientific and new data proves most to be no different from a placebo. Very readable - excellent.	Human science
The Truth About Hormones	Vivienne Parry	The truth about hormones, certainly, but sadly it's a pretty dull read	Human science
Trust: from Socrates to spin	Kieron O'Hara	Trust dissected in a book explores the psychology and sociology of this key to scientific advance	Human science, psychology
Upgrade Me	Brian Clegg	A fascinating exploration of the journey to human 2.0, from the key ability to contemplate the future, to life extension, cosmetic enhancement, extra strength, electronic implants and more.	Human science
Vanity, Vitality & Virility	John Emsley	Nice idea - the chemicals behind these key aspects of humanity - but somehow just doesn't inspire.	Human science
Versatile Vaccines	Parvinder Chawla	Basic but accessible book on vaccines with a little history and several chapters on the fight to produce new vaccines for killers like HIV.	Human science
Viruses vs Superbugs	Thomas Häusler	An intriguing but frightening look at one alternative to antibiotics - will phages save us as killer bacteria become resistant?	Human science
Watching the English	Kate Fox	Excellent insights into the English culture and how much English behaviour can be explained by social dis-ease.	Human science
The Whole Story: Alternative Medicine on Trial	Toby Murcott	This should be a brilliant book, as alternative medicine is crying out for a proper investigation. Still good, but not really popular science	Human science
Why the Toast Always Falls Butter Side Down	Richard Robinson	Subtitled The Science of Murphy's Law, a witty and light exploration of how our brains fool us to make everything seem to go wrong	Human science
Why We Lie	David Livingstone Smith	Be amazed, not just at how much we lie, but how essential it is for the operation of society. Interesting and original	Human science
Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion	Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, Robert B. Cialdini	Some excellent insights from scientific studies of how people behave that help persuade them to act in a particular way. More business book than science, but very good nonetheless.	Human science
Your Money and Your Brain	Jason Zweig	Although technically a 'how to invest' guide, it's really a great exploration of how the different mechanisms of the brain make us unsuited to the stock market.	Human science
MATHS
A Certain Ambiguity	Gaurav Suri & Hartosh Singh Bal	Attempt to get across the joys of maths in a novel form. Wonderful idea, hence the bracketed five stars, but doesn't work very well as novel or popular maths. []	Mathematics
Against the Gods	Peter Bernstein	Good history of our attitude to risk and probability - a little too much finance and not enough physics, but good	Maths
The Archimedes Codex	Reviel Netz & William Noel	Fascinating combination of the story of the uncovering of a hidden manuscript copy of Archimedes' books and an explanation of what's special about the content.	Maths
The Art of the Infinite	Robert & Ellen Kaplan	Good idea of explaining why mathematics is worthy of passion that singularly fails to deliver	Maths
A Beautiful Math	Tom Siegfried	Although it sounds like a follow up the biography of John Nash (A Beautiful Mind), it's actually a flawed but interesting attempt to show that game theory could be the real psychohistory.	Maths
Beyond Coincidence	Martin Plimmer & Brian King	Great opportunity to explain apparently spooky coincidences that gives way to amazement	Maths, sceptics
The Book of Numbers	Peter J. Bentley	Lavishly illustrated glossy book on the history and use of numbers. Looks good, but only skims the surface in content.	Maths
A Brief History of Infinity	Brian Clegg	The people and paradoxes in the quest to think the unthinkable	Maths
Chance	J P Marques de Sa	Would make a good introductory textbook on probability for science students, but is much too complex and equation driven for popular science.	Maths
Chaos	James Gleick	The remarkable development of chaos theory	Maths
Chaos: A Very Short Introduction	Leonard Smith	One of the best entries in the Oxford series of pocket introductions, concentrating on the practical uses of chaos theory.	Maths
The Code Book	Simon Singh	The development of codes and ciphers through the ages	Maths
Coincidences, Chaos and All that Math Jazz	Edward B. Burger & Michael Starbird	A high speed, highly enjoyable tour of many of the interesting bits of maths that doesn't patronize, but is never over-heavy.	Maths
The Collapse of Chaos	Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart	Combines chaos theory and complexity theory to boggle the mind	Maths
The Colossal Book of Mathematics	Martin Gardiner	Classic puzzles, paradoxes and problems	Maths
Conversations with a Mathematician	Gregory Chaitin	Compilation of lectures and interviews, best read as a follow-up to Meta Math!.	Maths
Deep Simplicity	John Gribbin	Chaos, complexity and simplicity related to the origins of life, but sadly not very well explained.	Maths, overview
Einstein's Heroes	Robyn Arianrhod	Excellent exploration of the move of maths to centre stage in physics, mostly focussing on the life and work of James Clark Maxwell	Physics, maths
The Equation that Couldn't be Solved	Mario Livio	Brilliant popular maths coverage of group theory and symmetry, throwing in a quick history of algebra. Highly approachable with excellent historical context.	Mathematics
Eureka Man	Alan Hirshfeld	Attempting the impossible with a biography of Archimedes, about whom little is known. Partially successful.	Biography, maths
Everything and more: a compact history of ∞	David Foster Wallace	Much more style than readability in this patchy infinity title	Maths
Fermat's Last Theorem	Simon Singh	The history and the final solution of this knotty mathematical problem	Maths
From Cosmos to Chaos	Peter Coles	Stunning introduction to probability and statistics, particularly in cosmology, plus Bayesian statistics, sadly only readable by a degree-level science student or above.	Mathematics
From Here to Infinity	Ian Stewart	Surprisingly readable and low-equation tour of the heart of today's mathematics	Maths
How Long is a Piece of String	Rob Easterway & Jeremy Wyndham	Very enjoyable book of mathematical fun in everyday life - could do to be a little more adult in presentation	Maths
How to Make a Camel Smoothie	Gary Rimmer	Entertaining book of strange statistics. The format (guess the answer from three) gets a little tedious	Maths
Infinite Ascent	David Berlinski	This short history of mathematics has a lot of promise, and a good summary of modern maths, but is let down by flowery language and inaccuracies.	Maths
The Infinite Book	John D. Barrow	Interesting book on infinity, generally very good, though too much cosmology and attempts at artiness and not enough maths	Maths
Introducing Chaos	Ziauddin Sardar & Iwona Abrams	Wacky illustrated introduction to the concepts of chaos - pure marmite	Maths, physics
Introducing Mathematics	Ziauddin Sardar, Jerry Ravetz and Borin van Loon	Strangely illustrated ultra-quick overview of maths - pure marmite	Maths
Little Book of Infinity	Mike Flynn	Not a book on infinity, but an overview of maths (and parts of science too). Readable but too compact to be useful	Maths
The Man Who Knew Infinity	Robert Kanigel	Biography of 20th century mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan	Biography, maths
Mapping Murder	David Canter	Fascinating if flawed book on geographical profiling from the man who really started it as a systematic approach	Mathematics
Mathematicians	Mariana Cook (photographer)	Collection of 92 portraits of mathematicians with a page each to explain why they love maths. Very coffee table.	Mathematics
The Mayor of Uglyville's Dilemma	Ian Stewart	Thirty delightful mathematical puzzles of the sort that begins with a story and ends with something to solve. Only 3 stars because not really popular maths	Maths
Meta Math! The Quest for Omega	Gregory Chaitin	Fascinating description of a real modern mathematician's thinking, coupled with insights into the nature of maths.	Maths
The Millennium Problems	Keith Devlin	The seven maths problems with a $1M prize for cracking each, well presented, if in a rather off-putting way	Maths
The Mystery of the Aleph	Amir Aczel	Good biography of Georg Cantor and explanation of his maths of the infinite.	Maths, biography
The Nothing that Is	Robert Kaplan	An enjoyable tour around that most significant gap in our counting system, zero	Maths
Number Freak	Derrick Niederman	Goes through every number from 1 to 200 trying to find interesting things to say about it. A bit like counting sheep.	Maths
Number Freaking	Gary Rimmer	Entertaining book of strange statistics. The format (guess the answer from three) gets a little tedious	Maths
Prisoner's Dilemma	William Poundstone	Interesting biography of John von Neumann plus introduction to game theory and its cold war significance	Maths
Pythagoras' Revenge	Arturo Sangalli	Popular maths, mostly from ancient Greece, presented in a novel. Brilliant idea, execution not so good.(*)	Maths
The Road to Reality	Roger Penrose	Remarkable tour-de-force exploration of physics and its mathematical basis, but almost totally incomprehensible!	Physics, maths
Sacred Mathematics	Fukagawa Hidetoshi & Tony Rothman	Remarkable historical idea of geometry problems displayed in Japanese temples - but all seems a bit pointless.	Maths
The Secret Life of Numbers	George C. Szpiro	Collection of articles on interesting maths topics let down by lack-lustre writing	Maths
Small World: Uncovering Nature's Hidden Networks	Mark Buchanan	Fascinating concept leading to the 'six degrees of separation' idea, but ultimately unsatisfying.	Maths
Statistics: a very short introduction	David J. Hand	Very readable pocket introduction to probability and statistics: first half is particularly good.	Maths
Symmetry and the Monster	Mark Ronan	Fascinating and rarely touched on mathematical subject of group theory and symmetry, but could have been told better	Mathematics
The Tiger that Isn't	Michael Blastland & Andrew Dilnot	Brilliant excursion into the way we misuse and misunderstand numbers and statistics, and how to see around it.	Maths
The Triumph of Numbers	I. B. Cohen	A genuinely interesting and often surprising history of statistics that brings in unexpected characters from King David and Dickens to Florence Nightingale.	Mathematics
Unknown Quantity	John Derbyshire	Attempt at popular maths history of algebra. The history part isn't too bad, but the maths part feels too much like a textbook.	Maths
Venn that Tune	Andrew Viner	Clever gift book combining Venn diagrams (and other mathematical diagrams) with song titles.	Maths
When Least is Best	Paul J. Nahin	Maths history of minima with not enough history and far too many equations.	Maths
Why Most Things Fail	Paul Ormerod	Fascinating assessment of the flaws in economics, based on parallels in biology, though limited in conclusions	Maths
The Zen of Magic Squares, Circles & Stars	Clifford Pickover	You'll either love or be bored to tears by this exploration of all that is magical squares - it's mathematical marmite	Maths

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Last update 05 June 2007