In the last four years it’s been my habit to structure my science reading, mitigating my tendency of reading some subjects devotedly and ignoring the others (‘others’ almost always being physics and chemistry.) This year I completed the survey early, on 9/2/2021, and continued reading for an end total of 22 science books. I’ve already got some interesting titles lined up for 202!

Science Survey 2017 | Science Survey 2018 | Science Survey 2019 | Science Survey 2020

Cosmology and Astrophysics

• What’s Eating the Universe? And Other Cosmic Questions, Paul Davies

Local Astronomy

• The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Legacy of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers, Emily Levesque

Geology and Natural History

• The Red Planet, Simon Morden
• The Call to Antarctica, Leiliana Raashida Henry

Chemistry and Physics

• Chemistry for Breakfast, Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim

Biology

• Some Assembly Required, Neil Shubin

Flora and Fauna

• The Bird Way: A New Look at how Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think. Jennifer Ackerman
• Mama’s Last Hug, Frans de Waal
• Spying on Whales:, Nick Pyenson

Archaeology & Anthropology

• The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make us Human, Johnathan Gottschall
• The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shapes the World, Nichola Raihani
• Anthropology: Everything You Need to Know in One Book!, Julia Morris
• The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body, Desmond Morris
• The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body, Desmond Morris

Cognition, Neurology, and Psychology

• How Emotions are Made, Lisa Feldman Barrett
• Good Reasons for Bad Feelings, Randolph Nesse

Weather and Climate

• Back to Earth: What Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet, Nicola Stott

Ecology

• Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: Thor Hanson

Thinking Scientifically

• Conspiracies Declassified: The Skeptoid Guide to the Truth Behind the Theories, Brian Dunning

Wildcard (Science Biography, History of Science, Natural History, Science and Health, or Science and Society)

•  Drug Use for Grown Ups, Carl Hart
• Clean: The New Science of Skin, James Hamblin
• Erasing Death: The New Science That’s Rewriting the Boundaries Between Life and Death, Sam Parnia