4.06 avg rating — 42,742 ratings

"Easy read — a one-nighter, if you like. Fiction, but a beautiful visualization of ideas based on Einstein's Relativity."

4.27 avg rating — 10,510 ratings

"An insight into the history and development of Quantum Physics."

4.21 avg rating — 30,767 ratings

"Real lessons in physics."

4.26 avg rating — 216,919 ratings

"Feynman is funny, inspiring, and sobering. Offers a no-BS point of view about why science is important and what it means to think like a scientist. "

4.29 avg rating — 79,992 ratings

"Sagan had a huge agenda to offer a counterpoint to the barrage of myths and superstitions we're constantly faced with. I personally prefer Cosmos as this book can get a bit preachy/angry (hard to swallow for some), but it's ALL about scientific literacy."

3.84 avg rating — 1,794 ratings

"Gell-Mann offers the most insightful explanations of concepts from Quantum Physics that I've ever come across. He easily explains the truth behind ideas like "the observer effect" and the multi-verse theory, where most people offer only exaggeration and mystification."

3.84 avg rating — 794 ratings

"For bits like this:

"It did seem that likely Aristotle, Hume, and Darwin were right: we are social by nature. But what does that actually mean in terms of our brains and our genes? To make progress beyond the broad hunches about our nature, we need something solid to attach the claim to.""

4.10 avg rating — 102,053 ratings

"Not that easy to digest for a layman. There's advanced physics here. But it's a good intro to the real science behind all the crazy-sounding theories."

3.95 avg rating — 24,359 ratings

"Humans kind of suck at understanding statistics. So, our perception of how (often) events happen in nature are skewed, thus fueling BS like "New Thought" and "Laws of Attraction" and the rest."

4.40 avg rating — 158,260 ratings

"The video series was truly eye-opening for me. Carl reaches out and shows you the things you should've learned in school, but probably didn't... especially if you live anywhere remotely conservative in America."

4.21 avg rating — 476,662 ratings

"Quintessential reading, for scientific literacy. Apparently there's an even briefer version, but this one seems easy enough..."

3.71 avg rating — 1,773 ratings

""Some people—people who probably distrust mathematics—are quick to claim that they knew all along that some truths are beyond mathematics. But they just didn’t. They didn’t KNOW it. They didn’t prove it." — about Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, vs. "intuition"."

4.03 avg rating — 29,790 ratings

"Science isn't perfect, and scientists are well aware. It's a "closed system" in a way, and a very narrow prodding into nature — because it has to be.

Kuhn examines trends in science, how important ideas in research/theory are (unconsciously) decided (especially by generations), etc. Important to consider."

3.97 avg rating — 11,104 ratings

"Because "the imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.""

4.06 avg rating — 1,987 ratings