List of recommended non-fiction science books.

1. Rocks & Minerals
Plants
Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That
Changed the World by Dan Koeppel
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David R.
Montgomery
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales
of Madness, Love, and the History of the World
from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam
Kean
Gold: The Race for the Word’s Most Seductive
Metal by Matthew Hart
The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the
World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire by Tom
Zoellner
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye
View of the World by Michael Pollan
Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of
Olive Oil by Tom Mueller
Recommended Non-Fiction
Science Books
Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the
Beautiful in the Business of Flowers by Amy Stewart
How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True)
Stories of Common Vegetables by Rebecca Rupp
The Savage Garden: Cultivating Carnivorous Plants
by Peter D’Amato
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner
Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock
That Shaped the World by Tom Zoellner
Tulipomania: The Story of the World’s Most Coveted
Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused by
Mike Dash
Birds
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart
Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle by
Thor Hanson
Space
Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion,
and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like
Humans by John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene
Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the Worlds
Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew
Blechman
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the
Void by Mary Roach
List compiled by Cindy Grove on 1/13/14 updated on 1/13/14
Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien
Images taken from the MVLC library catalog on 1/13/14
A list of science books that are both
educational and entertaining. Creative writing
styles and storytelling make these books hard
to put down. The abundance of information
makes these books easy to pick up and read
repeatedly!

2. Oceans
The Human Body
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the
World by Mark Kurlansky
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by
Mary Roach
The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and
Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by
Susan Casey
The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son by Ian Brown
Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to Sargasso, of the World’s Most Mysterious Fish by James
Prosek
Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul
Greenber
The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
General
My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach
Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England by Tom
Wessels
A Short History of Nearly Everything by
Bill Bryson
Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed by
Carl Zimmer
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary
Canal by Mary Roach
Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of
the Animals and Plants That Time Has
Left Behind by Richard Fortey
Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Animals
Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and
Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid by
Wendy Williams
Rabid: A Cultural History of the
World’s Most Diabolical Virus by Bill
Wasik
Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of
Blood-Feeding Creatures by Patricia J. Wynne
The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the Atlantic & Survival in Gloucester, America’s Oldest
Town by Mark Kurlansky
Insects
In the Shadow of Man by Jan Goodall
Ants At Work: How An Insect Society Is Organized by
Deborah Gordon
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys
Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including
the Author,Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn
Following the Bloom: Across America With the Migratory
Beekeepers by Douglas Whynott
Bears: A Brief History by Bernd Brunner
Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from
Myth to Reality by Helen Scales
The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and
Scientists are Unraveling the Mysteries of our Favorite Crustacean by Trevor Corson
Wild Blue: A Natural History of the World’s Largest
Animal by Dan Bortolotti
Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the
Monarch Butterfly by Sue Halpern
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of
the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert
Sullivan
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier by
Jeffrey A. Lockwood
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Bailey
Mosquito: The Story of Man’s Deadliest Foe by Andrew
Spielman and Michael D’Antonio
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
by John Vaillant
Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s
Army & Other Diabolical Insects by Amy Stewart
The Whole Hog: Exploring the Extraordinary Potential of Pigs by Lyall Watson