You all know I love reading nonfiction. It started as a challenge to myself and grew into me actually being really excited to read history books and memoirs and, especially, weird science things. I studied very little science in school – my brain is much more the history/literature kind – but I do find it fascinating. I absolutely love new weird facts, and science has plenty of them. So, this year, I want to make it a point to fit in some new science books and learn some new things.

This may change if I discover anything fun and new, but here are the five books currently at the top of my list:

The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson

I have discovered that I really enjoy reading very specific animal books. In the past couple of years, I have read books on octopuses, zombifying parasites, dinosaurs, and even earthworms. (Yes, I read an entire book about earthworms and I liked it.) So while there is definitely a lot more for me to explore in this area, the book that caught my eye this year is… The Book of Eels. Which is – you guessed it – about eels. And, honestly, I’m just curious. I love reading about interesting animals, and eels are definitely up on that list. What are they? I need to know. And reading books full of fun animal facts is way more fun than Googling things.

The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine by Thomas Morris

I am by no means a doctor or a scientist, but I also really enjoy reading about medicine and the history of medicine. And, clearly, I also enjoy reading about weird things. So this book sounds right up my alley. I actually got my wisdom teeth out at the end of last year (after putting it off for way too long) because one of them had gotten infected and the dental hygienist told me there was a possibility it could explode. Which terrified me into oral surgery. But I am still very curious about exploding teeth. I also just really love learning weird facts (to annoy people with), and this sounds perfect.

Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Cancer is such a weird thing… it consists of cells that don’t die, and yet it can kill people. Having, like many people, seen what cancer can do, I put off reading this book for a long time. But I’ve had enough distance from it that I think I can get through this without it bringing back unpleasant memories. I also read The Gene last year and really enjoyed Mukherjee’s writing, so I think I’m going to enjoy this one. Even though it’s not exactly about a fun topic.

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith

Fun fact about me, as a kid I was obsessed with space (and also the Titanic, but that’s irrelevant here). I just find space fascinating. And new planet discoveries or astroids heading to Earth, I am on top of it. But weirdly, I haven’t actually read a lot of adult books about space. Which needs to change. I also really like Neil deGrasse Tyson (and have actually read his book on astrophysics), so I think I’m going to really enjoy this one. Other than the Big Bang, I don’t know too much about the origins of the universe and cosmic evolution. I’m pretty excited to learn more.

Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt

I had to fit in one slightly disturbing nonfiction read in here (though I guess exploding teeth counts, so I should san another disturbing book). This one has been sitting on my shelves for years now, and it’s finally time. I need to read this. I love reading about how utterly insane nature is. And the fact that cannibalism is not really unusual for many species is pretty weird. Obviously, I need to know more.

That’s it for this post! Like I said, this list may change (I’m always discovering new science books to add to my TBR). But I’m still pretty excited about all of these. I will keep you updated on all of the weird things I learn this year.

Do you enjoy reading science books? Are there any I should have on my radar?

22 thoughts

  1. These books sound so very interesting! I’d read all of them, especially the ones that help to know better the human body – maybe because I wished to become a doctor during childhood 🙂

    Last year I read an interesting book by James Nestor – Deep – it is a mix of science (oceans and animals that live in the ocean) and culture (especially deep-diving). I know he published one more book about breathing – I’d love to read that one also!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Oo these all sound so interesting. I’ve never thought about reading a science based book but the biography on cancer would be so interesting, its touched my family so much but we never really understand what it is. It’s just this disease, it would be interesting to learn more! Fab post! xx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks! Same here with the cancer book. I needed some distance from that (multiple family members diagnosed or passed away within the same year), but I am definitely very curious to learn more about it!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  6. I also have my eye on The Book of Eels. One of the people in my book club had read it and gave a convincing review. But it’s more on the borderline between fiction and non-fiction. It won’t lack in fun facts about eels, though, so it should be a fun read!

    Like

    Reply

  7. These all sound fascinating, I’ll add them to my list! Will be interested to see what you think of these.

    Some science books I’ve recently read and enjoyed are:
    1. The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time and Beyond – Christophe Galfard
    2. The Body: A Guide for Occupants – Bill Bryson

    I have a book on my shelf I’m planning to read next called ‘The Remarkable Life of Skin’

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That’s awesome! Yay for the nonfiction addiction club! I don’t know that I’ve read any books on plants (except one about all of the plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays), but that sounds fun! I might need to check some out now. (My biggest problem is that I love reading all the things and maybe have an addiction to finding new things to read about 😂).

      Like

      Reply
  10. Pingback: February Wrap Up – Adventures of a Bibliophile

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.