New Scientist Top 25 Most Influential Popular Science Books (43 books)

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Shortlist of 25 popular science books selected by New Scientist magazine coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring".

As this list has grown, I thought it necessary to point out the original 25. Any others now on this list were added by Goodreads members. Here are the top 10 as voted by the New Scientist readers in 2012:
1. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859)
2. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988)
3. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976)
4. The Double Helix by James Watson (1968)
5. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)
6. The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris (1967)
7. Chaos by James Gleick (1987)
8. Gaia by James Lovelock (1979)
9. An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus (1798)
10. The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski

And the remaining 15 from the original list:
- Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne (1994)
- Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A personal history of the atomic scientists by Robert Jungk (1956, first published in German)
- Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson (1979)
- Godel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid by Douglas Hofstadter (1979)
- Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond (1997)
- Phantoms in the Brain by V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee (1998)
- Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell (1830-1833)
- The Ambidextrous Universe by Martin Gardner (1964)
- The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose (1989)
- The First Three Minutes by Steven Weinberg (1977)
- The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker (1994)
- The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (1985)
- The Mysterious Universe by James Jeans (1930)
- What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944)
- Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould (1989)

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All Votes Add Books To This List

1	The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 4.16 avg rating — 197,554 ratings score: 2,967, and 30 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	A Brief History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking 4.21 avg rating — 492,906 ratings score: 2,259, and 23 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 4.04 avg rating — 472,083 ratings score: 2,065, and 21 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter 4.29 avg rating — 53,918 ratings score: 1,869, and 19 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Cosmos by Carl Sagan 4.40 avg rating — 163,404 ratings score: 1,555, and 16 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin 4.01 avg rating — 124,466 ratings score: 1,462, and 15 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	The Double Helix by James D. Watson 3.83 avg rating — 20,358 ratings score: 1,046, and 11 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Silent Spring by Rachel Carson 4.06 avg rating — 57,152 ratings score: 958, and 10 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 4.21 avg rating — 435,040 ratings score: 862, and 9 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks 4.04 avg rating — 254,012 ratings score: 846, and 9 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author) 4.01 avg rating — 22,745 ratings score: 645, and 7 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	The Removable Root Cause of Cancers and other Chronic Diseases : The Effort Theory of Evolution, Chronic Diseases and Extinction by Paul Ola (Goodreads Author) 3.70 avg rating — 27 ratings score: 600, and 6 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan 4.28 avg rating — 82,993 ratings score: 568, and 6 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould 4.14 avg rating — 10,399 ratings score: 562, and 6 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick (Goodreads Author) 4.03 avg rating — 42,100 ratings score: 481, and 5 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg 4.10 avg rating — 13,520 ratings score: 468, and 5 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	The Emperor's New Mind by Roger Penrose 3.91 avg rating — 7,773 ratings score: 458, and 5 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	What Is Life? with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches by Erwin Schrödinger 4.12 avg rating — 8,101 ratings score: 388, and 4 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff 3.83 avg rating — 18,579 ratings score: 385, and 4 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski 4.21 avg rating — 6,401 ratings score: 369, and 4 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris 3.93 avg rating — 12,032 ratings score: 364, and 4 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	FREEDOM: The End of the Human Condition by Jeremy Griffith (Goodreads Author) 4.12 avg rating — 638 ratings score: 300, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	Black Holes & Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne 4.23 avg rating — 13,821 ratings score: 294, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Robert Malthus 3.41 avg rating — 1,922 ratings score: 293, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	King Solomon's Ring by Konrad Lorenz 4.12 avg rating — 4,849 ratings score: 293, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil 3.93 avg rating — 12,846 ratings score: 283, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
27	Cybernetics: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine by Norbert Wiener 3.99 avg rating — 794 ratings score: 200, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson 4.19 avg rating — 934 ratings score: 193, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	The Story of Art by E.H. Gombrich 3.96 avg rating — 479,529 ratings score: 189, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond 3.94 avg rating — 75,613 ratings score: 189, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
31	Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen W. Hawking 4.25 avg rating — 91,217 ratings score: 186, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V.S. Ramachandran 4.27 avg rating — 20,932 ratings score: 179, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
33	Istinto di morte e conoscenza by Massimo Fagioli 4.83 avg rating — 24 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth by James E. Lovelock 3.81 avg rating — 2,403 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	Math and Magic in Wonderland by Lilac Mohr (Goodreads Author) 4.39 avg rating — 76 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	The Axemaker's Gift A Double Edged History of Human Culture by James Burke 4.01 avg rating — 317 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	Geology Illustrated by John S. Shelton 4.38 avg rating — 24 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World by Marcia Bjornerud 4.07 avg rating — 1,867 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
39	Brighter Than A Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists by Robert Jungk 4.30 avg rating — 656 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
40	The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene 4.12 avg rating — 41,531 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
41	Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell 3.91 avg rating — 364 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
42	The Ambidextrous Universe by Martin Gardner 4.21 avg rating — 191 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
43	The Mysterious Universe by James Hopwood Jeans 3.89 avg rating — 91 ratings score: 79, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars