Recommended science books

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Fully updated edition of the first book published by world-renowned astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

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The Elements of Marie Curie

Dava Sobel

Dava Sobel, acclaimed and bestselling author of Longitude, chronicles the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science – and the untold story of…

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The Secret Life of the Universe

Nathalie A. Cabrol

Over the last few decades, space exploration has revolutionised our understanding of our place in the cosmos. We now know that there are many habitable environments within our solar system…

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How to Feed the World

Vaclav Smil

A myth-busting book about how the world produces and consumes its food and how to do so without killing the planet

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Paperback

Wild Science

Helen P. Waudby (ed.)

What's it like to study polar bears in the wild? How do you raise children among large carnivores? And how do you find a frog that no-one has seen for…

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Hardback

The Genetic Book of the Dead

Richard Dawkins, Jana Lenzová (illus.)

From one of the world's great science writers, a book that explores the deepest principles of evolutionary history.

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Why Are We Like This?

Zoe Kean

An exhilarating scientific journey, Why Are We Like This? takes us behind the scenes of the evolutionary paradoxes that make up life on this planet.

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Hardback

Into the Clear Blue Sky

Rob Jackson

A leading climate scientist explores the boldest new solutions from around the world

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The Knowledge Gene

Lynne Kelly

Drawing on a major discovery with tremendous implications, an Australian researcher uncovers the source of human creativity and learning in the functioning of a supergene she calls the knowledge gene.

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The Best Australian Science Writing 2024

Jackson Ryan (ed.), Carl Smith (ed.)

The finest voices in Australian science writing.

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Good Nature

Kathy Willis

Good Nature is a groundbreaking exploration that reveals how, if we bring nature more into our lives, it can help improve our health and well-being in so many unexpected ways.

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Space Oddities

Harry Cliff

Newly discovered strangenesses could transform our understanding of the fundamentals of physics – and of the nature of reality. In this eye-opening account, CERN experimental physicist Harry Cliff takes the…

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Love Triangle

Matt Parker

Explore the life-changing magic of trigonometry with Matt Parker, stand-up mathematician and No. 1 bestselling author of Humble Pi

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High Tech Maths: How Maths Shaped the Present and Will Build the Future

Hugh Barker

Discover the hidden maths behind every modern technology.

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On the Edge

Nate Silver

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, the definitive guide to our era of risk-and the players raising the stake

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Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity

Carlo Rovelli

What are time and space made of? Where does matter come from? And what exactly is reality? From Aristotle to Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday to the Higgs boson, the author…

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Living on Earth

Peter Godfrey-Smith

The eagerly anticipated conclusion to Peter Godfrey-Smith’s three-part exploration of the origins of intelligence on Earth, which began with the bestselling Other Minds in 2018 and continued with Metazoa in…

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Voyagers: Our Journey Into the Anthropocene

Lauren Fuge

A journey through history and across the planet, Voyagers shows how exploration has led humanity to the brink of destruction-and how it might help us face the challenges of the…

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Hardback

The Weight of Nature

Clayton Aldern

A riveting, revelatory account of how the climate emergency is changing us from the inside out

It is now inarguable that climate change threatens the future of life on Earth…

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Techno

Marcus Smith

Technology is changing the world. How will the opportunities and risks affect you?

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Milk

Matthew Evans

A powerful, entertaining and, at times, eviscerating commentary on the most controversial of original superfoods.

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Escape from Shadow Physics

Adam Forrest Kay

An expert physicist argues for a revolutionary new understanding of quantum mechanics. 

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Vector

Robyn Arianrhod

A celebration of the seemingly simple idea that allowed us to imagine the world in new dimensions — sparking both controversy and discovery.

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Inside the Stargazer’s Palace

Violet Moller

Step inside the dazzling world of the sixteenth-century scientist.

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Inheritance

Harvey Whitehouse

The ancient inheritance that made us who we are. The ancient inheritance that is now driving us to ruin.

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Everything Is Predictable

Tom Chivers

A fascinating intellectual history that takes a comparatively little-known but important idea and shows how it affects huge areas of our lives

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Alien Earths: Planet Hunting in the Cosmos

Lisa Kaltenegger

The world expert explains how we hunt new planets, then search them to find if we're alone in the universe

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This Is Why You Dream

Rahul Jandial

Uncover the truth of your dreaming brain with Sunday Times bestselling neurosurgeon Dr Rahul Jandial

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Co-Intelligence

Ethan Mollick

From Wharton professor and author of the One Useful Thing Substack, comes an urgent and definitive playbook for working, learning and living in the new age of AI. For…

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Why We Remember

Dr Charan Ranganath

A radical reexamination of memory, by the pioneering neuroscientist and internationally-renowned memory researcher.

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How Infrastructure Works

Deb Chachra

Every day, we are granted the power to travel at high speeds, fly, see in the dark, summon water from distant mountains and electricity from the sun. The systems that…

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Why We Die

Venki Ramakrishnan

Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan transforms our understanding of why we age and die - and whether there's anything we can do about it.

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Mapping the Darkness

Kenneth Miller

The astonishing true story behind sleep science: from staying awake for 115 consecutive hours to living in a cave for 32 days

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White Holes

Carlo Rovelli

A mesmerizing trip to the strange new world of white holes, from Carlo Rovelli, the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

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Beyond DNA

Benjamin Oldroyd

Uncover how a new approach to epigenetics affects the basis for our understanding of evolutionary biology.

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Anaximander

Carlo Rovelli

The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics tells the thrilling story of one of the greatest intellectual leaps of all time.

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The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science

Kate Zernike

The remarkable untold story of how a group of sixteen determined women used the power of the collective and the tools of science to inspire ongoing radical change. This is…

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The Great Dead Body Teachers

Jackie Dent

Jackie Dent explores the world of whole-body donation all the while looking for answers as to what happened to her grandparents.

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Man-Made

Tracey Spicer

Man-Made aims to open readers’ eyes to a transformative technological shift in society and give them the tools to make positive change.

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Pathogenesis: How Infectious Diseases Shaped Human History

Jonathan Kennedy

athogenesis shows how germs have been responsible for some of the seismic revolutions in human history.

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The Story of the Brain in Ten and a Half Cells

Richard Wingate

Peer into a microscopic world - and fall in love with the beauty of the brain

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We Are Electric: The New Science of Our Body’s Electrome

Sally Adee

Award-winning science and technology journalist Sally Adee reveals the new science of our body’s electrome.

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12 Bytes: How artificial intelligence will change the way we live and love

Jeanette Winterson

Twelve eye-opening, mind-expanding and provocative essays from Sunday Times-bestselling author Jeanette Winterson.

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Taking to the Field

Jane Carey

Taking to the Field is the first comprehensive history of Australian women in science from the colonial period to contemporary times.

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This Is What It Sounds Like

Dr. Susan Rogers, Ogi Ogas

A legendary record-producer-turned-brain-scientist explains why you fall in love with music.

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Humanity’s Moment

Joelle Gergis

A personal call to action from an Australian IPCC author.

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The Genetic Age

Professor Matthew Cobb

How fifty years of genetic engineering have brought us to the brink of a profound and disturbing future, from Baille Gifford-shortlisted scientist Matthew Cobb.

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Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI

Toby Walsh

Can we build moral machines? Toby Walsh, AI expert, examines the ethical issues we face in a future dominated by artificial intelligence.

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Recommended science books

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

The Elements of Marie Curie

The Secret Life of the Universe

How to Feed the World

Wild Science

The Genetic Book of the Dead

Why Are We Like This?

Into the Clear Blue Sky

The Knowledge Gene

The Best Australian Science Writing 2024

Good Nature

Space Oddities

Love Triangle

High Tech Maths: How Maths Shaped the Present and Will Build the Future

On the Edge

Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity

Living on Earth

Voyagers: Our Journey Into the Anthropocene

The Weight of Nature

Techno

Milk

Escape from Shadow Physics

Vector

Inside the Stargazer’s Palace

Inheritance

Everything Is Predictable

Alien Earths: Planet Hunting in the Cosmos

This Is Why You Dream

Co-Intelligence

Why We Remember

How Infrastructure Works

Why We Die

Mapping the Darkness

White Holes

Beyond DNA

Anaximander

The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science

The Great Dead Body Teachers

Man-Made

Pathogenesis: How Infectious Diseases Shaped Human History

The Story of the Brain in Ten and a Half Cells

We Are Electric: The New Science of Our Body’s Electrome

12 Bytes: How artificial intelligence will change the way we live and love

Taking to the Field

This Is What It Sounds Like

Humanity’s Moment

The Genetic Age

Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI