- Book Recommendations
Top 4 Book Recommendations See All
- Extracts
Top 5 Extracts See All
- Author Speak
Top 5 Interviews See All
- Children & YA
Top 4 Childrens Books See All
- Quizzes
Top 4 Quizzes See All
- Asides
Top 4 Asides See All
- Press Room
Top 4 Press Room See All
- Videos
- Home
- Blog
- Editors Recommend
- 30 Most Popular Science and Maths Books
30 Most Popular Science and Maths Books
The study of science and maths has intrigued many over the centuries, and indeed, has played a significant role in enlightening mankind. Our list of 30 most popular books on the subject can be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in the subjects or wishes to learn more:
Every Creature Has a Story by Janaki Lenin
We are surrounded by an astounding variety of lifeforms. Over millennia, they have evolved to exploit unique niches, in the process developing features and skills that set them apart. Have you ever wondered what price the giraffe pays for its long neck? The neck increases its blood pressure to pump blood up to its brain, which endangers its life every time it bends down to drink. Or have you thought about how female nightingales decide which male will share the burdens of parenthood with them? They listen to prospective candidates’ songs to gauge if they’d make good fathers. And did you know that glassfrogs pee on their eggs and the gender of bearded dragons is fixed by sex chromosomes or temperature? In Every Creature Has a Story, Janaki Lenin draws us towards the wonders of the natural world in evocative and witty words. She uncovers the surprising, sometimes bizarre but always amazing ways in which creatures breed and survive, from spiders salivating during sex and snails entombing their parasites into their shells to elephants developing immunity to cancer. After reading this book, you’ll never look at nature in the same way again.
Forgotten Science by S.D. Tucker
Science has a reputation as the most logical and rational of human pastimes — but this has not always been the case. From the inventor Nikola Tesla, who fell in love with his favourite pigeon and tried to broadcast his own thoughts, to the wannabe chemist August Strindberg, who injected apples with drugs to see if they could get high, numerous scientists have conducted bizarre experiments down the centuries. Some of them were genuine geniuses; others were simply lone loons. History is littered with their wreckage, and this book tells the story of the very strangest. Proposing that science has become a kind of modern religion, and telling the tale of such noted pseudoscientific fads and fallacies as alchemy, spontaneous generation and the doomed quest to raise the dead, Forgotten Science is sure to make you laugh at the same time as making you think.
Weirder Maths by D Darling & A Banerjee
Even the most enthusiastic of maths students probably at one time wondered when exactly it would all prove useful in ‘real life’. Well, maths reaches so far and wide through our world that, love it or hate it, we’re all doing maths almost every minute of every day. David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee go in search of the perfect labyrinth, journey back to the second century in pursuit of ‘bubble maths’, reveal the weirdest mathematicians in history and transform the bewildering into the beautiful, delighting us once again.
Weird Maths by D Darling & Agnijo Banerjee
Weird Maths is a lively, accessible, fun book about mathematics, the maths that is all around us, that defines us, our intelligence, our curiosity. In this delightful journey of discovery, David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee explore the cutting edge of modern maths and delve into some fascinating questions: Is anything truly random? Does infinity actually exist? Can maths help us understand chaos? Can chess be solved with maths? If there are aliens and if they play music, would we like it? Packed with puzzles and paradoxes, mind-bending concepts and surprising solutions, Weird Maths is a book for anyone who is interested in maths or in popular science.
Mapping the Heavens by Priyamvada Natarajan
It was while growing up as a child in India that astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan felt the need to locate herself in the world. Her love affair with scientific discovery and exploration started when she wrote the code to generate the monthly sky map over Delhi for a national newspaper.Mapping the Heavens provides a tour of the greatest hits of cosmological discovery. The cosmos, once understood to be alone and small, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, structured by dark matter and propelled by dark energy. Natarajan is currently involved in one of the largest and most innovative mapping exercises of the universe ever undertaken—the Hubble Fields Initiative.
Did you know?- Dance flies of the family Empididae court their mates by presenting them with silk-wrapped prey. – Some moth-caterpillars will walk only on a path of silk – something humans can certainly aspire for! – Insects were spinning silk 150 million years ago, even if it has been only 5000 years since humans discovered itSilk, perhaps the most ubiquitous luxury item, is produced by one of Earth’s grittiest species which has found ways to cope with a changing world. Since life evolved on this planet, there have been five major extinctions, but insects – since their arrival 400 million years ago – have not been amongst them. How have insects survived when species after species is going extinct. In a world faced with cataclysmic environmental changes, there is an increasing amount of interest in knowing the secrets of their survival.In The Weavers, silk forms the central motif of an enquiry into the life of insects, their management practices, their mating rituals and ways of life. Generously sprinkled with oddities and eccentricities, this book is an invitation into their fascinating world.
Why Aren’t We Dead Yet? By Idan Ben-Barak
So how come we’re not dead yet? In this lively and accessible book, Idan Ben-Barak tells us why. He explores the immune system and what keeps it running, how germs are destroyed, and why we develop immunities to certain disease-causing agents. He also examines the role of antibiotics and vaccines, and looks at what the future holds for our collective chances of not being dead.This is entertaining and thoughtful science writing to inspire the student interested in a career in medicine or immunology, or to inform the reader who just wants to understand more about their body while having a laugh along the way.
From Soup to Superstar by Kartik Shanker
From Soup to Superstar provides the first comprehensive account of marine conservation in India, focusing on sea turtles, which are at once a fishery resource, a religious symbol and a conservation icon. Worshipped as Kurma, the incarnation of Vishnu, by several communities, these creatures have been part of folklore and mythology for over 2,000 years. Until the 1970s, there were large- and small-scale turtle fisheries in Odisha and the Gulf of Mannar, while eggs and meat were consumed along the rest of the coast. Since then, several conservation programmes have been led in these regions by naturalists, scientists, activists and concerned citizens with diverse, often conflicting, approaches. Globally, attention has centred on the mass-nesting beaches in Odisha, where over 1,00,000 turtles may nest simultaneously. New threats have emerged and elicited responses at local, national and international levels. Bringing together a range of issues and actors that have affected the world of sea turtles, filled with fascinating insights into scientific research and human-animal ecologies, this is a definitive chronicle of the efforts that have been made to protect these mysterious creatures in the last fifty years.
Neoliberals often point to improvements in public health and nutrition as examples of the success of globalization, but this book argues that the corporate food and medicine industries are destroying environments and ruining living conditions across the world.Scientist Stan Cox expertly draws out the strong link between Western big business and environmental destruction, and tells us of the huge damage that drug manufacturers and large food corporations are inflicting on the health of people and crops worldwide. On issues ranging from the poisoning of water supplies in South Asia to natural gas depletion, Cox shows how the demand for profits is always put above the public interest.While individual efforts to ‘shop for a better world’ and conserve energy are laudable, Cox explains that they need to be accompanied by an economic system that is grounded in ecological sustainability if we are to find a cure for our sick planet.
Please explain by Kruszelnicki Karl
Please Explain Is the latest in Dr Karl’s mega-selling science series which includes the best sellers Great Myth conceptions, Bum Breath, Botox and Bubbles and Q and A with Dr K.Australia’s favourite scientist answers more curly questions on life, the universe and everything. No one conveys the excitement and wonder of science quit like Dr Karl, and this, his twenty-sixth book, taken us on another thoroughly entertaining exploration of the world around us. If you like your science fun and unpredictable, don’t miss this new addition to the Dr Karl library.
Taking us on an eye-opening journey through science, Inferior challenges our preconceptions about men and women, investigating the ferocious gender wars that burn in biology, psychology and anthropology. Angela Saini revisits the landmark experiments that have informed our understanding, lays bare the problem of bias in research, and speaks to the scientists finally exploring the truth about the female sex. The result is an enlightening and deeply empowering account of women’s minds, bodies and evolutionary history. Interrogating what these revelations mean for us as individuals and as a society, Inferior unveils a fresh view of science in which women are included, rather than excluded.
Drug-resistant bacteria – known as superbugs – are one of the biggest medical threats of our time. Here, a doctor, researcher, and ethics professor tells the exhilarating story of his race to beat them and save countless lives. From the muddy trenches of the First World War, where Alexander Fleming searched for a cure for soldiers with infected wounds, to breakthroughs in antibiotics and antifungals today that could revolutionize how infections are treated, Dr Matt McCarthy takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the history and future of medicine. Along the way, we meet a series of patients. And we also learn why potentially life-saving treatments are often delayed for years to protect patients from exploitation. Can McCarthy get his trial approved and underway in time to save the lives of his countless patients infected with deadly bacteria, who have otherwise lost all hope?
Destination Moon by Subhadra Menon
Twenty years from now when space travel is likely to become mundane like airlines travel today, we don’t want to be buying travel tickets on other people’s space vehicles.’- Dr G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO Fabled in songs and poetry, and romanticized by lovers down the ages, the earth’s closest neighbour is still an enigma in material terms. Can it sustain life? Does it have water? How did it come into existence? And what is its exact relationship with the earth?Chandrayaan-1, India’s maiden moon craft, will seek to unravel these and other mysteries in the most ambitious exploratory mission to the moon in decades. Conceptualised by Indian scientists, it is in some ways a global scientific endeavour, with European and American instruments hitching a ride on a lunar satellite and rocket designed and launched by the Indian Space Research Organization. When the mission was first proposed in 1999, it seemed wildly optimistic to most people. Could a developing nation with limited resources afford to invest so much money, time and effort on research into outer space? Yet, almost a decade later, India’s science community has proven beyond doubt that it is capable of meeting the most exacting challenges. This book is a celebration of that achievement. It tells the story of the moon mission from conception to launch – the genesis, the plan, the people, the science. Based on reportage, interviews and most important of all, a deep understanding of the processes involved, Destination Moon is a lucidly written and comprehensive guide to India’s engagement with outer space – past, present and future.
Great Myth Conceptions by Kruszelnicki Karl
Is the toilet cleaner than the office desk? Did Man really land on the moon? Is the Black box black? Does a soul weigh 21 grams at the time of human death? Did Einstein fail school? Why isn’t a quantum leap huge? Do we really use only 10% of our brain? Did hydrogen seal the fate the fate of the Hindenburg airship? Does a duck’s quack echo? Is there really a truth serum? Is a camel’s hump full of water? And is it really written in the stars? For answers to these, and a galaxy full of funny facts and dizzying discoveries about life and science, lay your hands on Dr Karl’s Great Myth Conceptions as soon as you can.
Since 2003 Dr Ben Goldacre has been exposing dodgy medical data in his popular Guardian column. In this eye-opening book he takes on the MMR hoax and misleading cosmetics ads, acupuncture and homeopathy, vitamins and mankind’s vexed relationship with all manner of ‘toxins’. Along the way, the self-confessed ‘Johnny Ball cum Witchfinder General’ performs a successful detox on a Barbie doll, sees his dead cat become a certified nutritionist and probes the supposed medical qualifications of ‘Dr’ Gillian McKeith. Full spleen and satire, Ben Goldacre takes us on a hilarious, invigorating and ultimately alarming journey through the bad science we are fed daily by hacks and quacks.
Algorithms To Live by Brian Christian
In this dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show us how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. Modern life is constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? The authors explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one’s inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms To Live By is full of practical takeaways to help you solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind.
Autonomy tells the story of the maverick engineers and computer experts who triggered the revolution. Lawrence Burns – long-time adviser to the Google self-driving car project (now Waymo) and former corporate vice president of research, development, and planning at General Motors – provides the perfectly-timed history of how we arrived at this point, in a character-driven and vivid account of the unlikely thinkers who accomplished what billion-dollar automakers never dared. Beginning at a 2004 off-road robot race across the Mojave Desert with a million-dollar purse and continuing up to the current stampede to develop driverless technology, Autonomy is a page-turning chronicle of the past, a diagnosis of the present and a prediction of the future – the ultimate guide to understanding the driverless car and to navigating the revolution it has sparked.
Your favourite literary newsletter just got a makeover!
New Releases • Author Speak • Events & Festivals Recommendations • First Look • After School Tales Press Room • Pre Orders • Coming Soon • Special Offers Trending • Just In • Also Read • And much more...
Deprecated: File Theme without comments.php is deprecated since version 3.0.0 with no alternative available. Please include a comments.php template in your theme. in /var/www/html/harper_staging/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6085
Warning: Undefined variable $aria_req in /var/www/html/harper_staging/wp-content/themes/harpercollins/comments.php on line 67
Warning: Undefined variable $aria_req in /var/www/html/harper_staging/wp-content/themes/harpercollins/comments.php on line 68