What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall Munroe

Hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask, such as “What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 % of the speed of light?”

(suggested by Theresa Kueckmann, Chemistry – An Asian Journal and Brian Johnson, The Chemical Record)

Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood
by Oliver Sacks

In this memoir, neurologist Oliver Sacks chronicles his love affair with science and the odd and sometimes harrowing childhood in which that love affair unfolded.

(suggested by Stephen Horner, Angewandte Chemie)

A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson

Just as the title promises, this broad overview covers nearly everything – from the size of the universe to subatomic particles, from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization – in a thoroughly comprehensible and entertaining way.

(suggested by Meghan Campbell, ChemBioChem)

The Matter Factory: A History of the Chemistry Laboratory
by Peter J. T. Morris

This book offers a unique way to look at the history of chemistry itself, showing how the development of the laboratory helped shape modern chemistry.

(suggested by Vera Köster, ChemistryViews.org)

The Universe in a Nutshell
by Stephen Hawking

This book explains the history and principles of modern physics – including quantum mechanics, general relativity, superstrings, and black holes – to a general audience.

(suggested by Cordula Buse, ChemBioEng Reviews)

Scientific Babel: The Language of Science from the Fall of Latin to the Rise of English
by Michael Gordin

In a sweeping history from the Middle Ages through to today, this book untangles the web of politics, money, personality, and international conflict that led to the English language dominating the world of science.

(suggested by Peter Gölitz, Angewandte Chemie)

Life’s Greatest Secret: The Story of the Race to Crack the Genetic Code
by Matthew Cobb

This book is the story of the discovery and cracking of the genetic code. It describes cooperation and competition among some of the 20th century’s most outstanding and eccentric minds, and moves between biology, physics and chemistry.

(suggested by Richard Threlfall, Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry)

The Science of Discworld
by Terry Pratchett

A creative and very entertaining mash-up of fiction and fact, this book alternates between fantastical stories from “Discworld” and explanations of scientific principles such as the Big Bang theory and the evolution of life on earth.

(suggested by Catharina Goedecke, ChemistryViews.org)

Note-by-Note Cooking: The Future of Food
by Hervé This

This book aims to liberate cooks from the constraints of traditional ingredients through the use of pure molecular compounds. It clearly explains the properties of naturally occurring and synthesized compounds and dispels a host of misconceptions about the place of chemistry in cooking.

(suggested by Eva Wille, Executive Director Chemistry, Wiley-VCH)

Cantor’s Dilemma
by Carl Djerassi

Carl Djerassi, the “father of the pill”, draws from his career as a scientist to describe the fierce competition driving scientific discovery and the issues in research ethics it can cause.

(suggested by Natalia Ortúzar, ChemMedChem)