Gift guide · 12 books

Gifts for a science lover

Octopuses, fungi, black holes and the immune system, from writers who can explain them to anyone.

Paid links. If you buy a book through these links, Bookshop.org pays us a small commission and sends a share of the sale to independent bookstores.

Cosmos (opens Bookshop.org)

Carl Sagan · 1980

Carl Sagan's book from his 1980 television series travels from the Library of Alexandria to the origin of the universe, in one of the best loved science books ever written.
A Short History of Nearly Everything (opens Bookshop.org)

Bill Bryson · 2003

Bill Bryson spent three years asking scientists how we know the age of the Earth, the size of atoms and the history of life, and writes it up with humor.
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics (opens Bookshop.org)

Carlo Rovelli · 2014

Physicist Carlo Rovelli covers relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes and time in seven short essays, in a small book that is easy to give.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (opens Bookshop.org)

Neil deGrasse Tyson · 2017

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the Big Bang, dark matter and the expanding universe in twelve short chapters that take an evening to read.
Immune (opens Bookshop.org)

A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

Philipp Dettmer · 2021

Philipp Dettmer, founder of the Kurzgesagt video channel, guides readers through the immune system with vivid illustrations of how cells detect and destroy invaders.
An Immense World (opens Bookshop.org)

How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Ed Yong · 2022

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ed Yong describes how bats, bees, elephants and fish perceive echoes, electric fields and ultraviolet light that humans cannot sense.
The Soul of an Octopus (opens Bookshop.org)

A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Sy Montgomery · 2015

Naturalist Sy Montgomery befriends four octopuses at the New England Aquarium and reports on what they show about intelligence, personality and play.
The Hidden Life of Trees (opens Bookshop.org)

What They Feel, How They Communicate

Peter Wohlleben · 2016

German forester Peter Wohlleben describes how trees share resources through fungal networks and warn one another, based on decades managing a beech forest in the Eifel.
Entangled Life (opens Bookshop.org)

How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures

Merlin Sheldrake · 2020

Biologist Merlin Sheldrake explores mycelial networks, lichens and yeast, from truffle hunting in Italy to his own experiments, in a book with a striking cover.
The Body (opens Bookshop.org)

A Guide for Occupants

Bill Bryson · 2019

Bill Bryson tours the human body organ by organ, drawing on anatomists, physicians and medical history, with plenty of odd facts about skin, blood and the brain.
The Invention of Nature (opens Bookshop.org)

Alexander von Humboldt's New World

Andrea Wulf · 2015

Andrea Wulf recovers Alexander von Humboldt, the Prussian explorer who climbed Chimborazo in 1802 and first described nature as an interconnected web, and his influence on Darwin.
The Disappearing Spoon (opens Bookshop.org)

And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Sam Kean · 2010

Sam Kean tells the stories behind the periodic table, from gallium spoons that melt in tea to poisonings and rivalries among the chemists who found the elements.