Popular Science

These books span a wide range of scientific disciplines, including environmental and plant intelligence studies, astrobiology and physics, public health histories, and captivating explorations of animal behavior and Earth's prehistoric past.

Updated June 7, 2026
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Popular Science

These books span a wide range of scientific disciplines, including environmental and plant intelligence studies, astrobiology and physics, public health histories, and captivating explorations of animal behavior and Earth's prehistoric past.

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Soil : the story of a Black mother's garden
Dungy, Camille T.
Paper Book
A seminal work that expands how we talk about the natural world and the environment as National Book Critics Circle Criticism finalist Camille T. Dungy diversifies her garden to reflect her heritage. In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden, poet and...
The Martians : the true story of an alien craze that captured turn-of-the-century America
Baron, David
Paper Book
"There is Life on the Planet Mars" --New York Times, December 9, 1906 This New York Times headline was no joke. In the early 1900s, many Americans actually believed we had discovered intelligent life on Mars, as best-selling science writer David Baron...
The serviceberry : abundance and reciprocity in the natural world
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world....
Our moon : how Earth's celestial companion transformed the planet, guided evolution, and made us who we are
Boyle, Rebecca
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A riveting feat of science writing that recasts that most familiar of celestial objects into something eerily extraordinary, pivotal to our history, and awesome in the original sense of the word."--Ed Yong, New York Times...
Everything is tuberculosis : the history and persistence of our deadliest infection
Green, John
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestseller * #1 Washington Post bestseller * #1 Indie Bestseller * USA Today Bestseller John Green, award-winning author and passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world's...
The light eaters : how the unseen world of plant intelligence offers a new understanding of life on Earth
Schlanger, Zoe?
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The New Yorker's Best Books of 2024 * TIME's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 * New York Magazine's 10 Best Books of the Year * Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction of 2024 *...
Challenger : a true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space
Higginbotham, Adam
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction * Winner of the Kirkus Nonfiction Prize * Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * A New York Times Notable Book NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Stunning...A heart-pounding...
What if we get it right? : visions of climate futures
Johnson, Ayana Elizabeth
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . "With a thoughtfully curated series of essays, poetry, and conversations, the brilliant scientist and climate expert Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has assembled a group of dynamic people who are willing to imagine what seems impossible, and articulate those visions...
What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions
Munroe, Randall
Paper Book
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, a hilarious and informative book of popular science that provides answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask. Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick...
The singularity is nearer : when we merge with Al
Kurzweil, Ray
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTUAL PEOPLE IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE The noted inventor and futurist's successor to his landmark book The Singularity Is Near explores how technology will transform the human race in the...
The elements of Marie Curie : how the glow of radium lit a path for women in science
Sobel, Dava
Paper Book
The acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Galileo's Daughter crafts a luminous chronicle of the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science, and the untold story of the many young women trained in her laboratory who...
Gut check : unleash the power of your microbiome to reverse disease and transform your mental, physical, and emotional health
Gundry, Steven R.
Paper Book
In this groundbreaking addition to his New York Times bestselling Plant Paradox series, Steven R.Gundry, MD offers a definitive guide to the gut biome and its control over its home--us!--revealing the unimaginably complex and intelligent ecosystem controlling our health and...
Why we remember : unlocking memory's power to hold on to what matters
Ranganath, Charan
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER * Memory is far more than a record of the past. In this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, one of the world's top memory researchers reveals the powerful role memory plays in nearly every aspect of our lives,...
The worlds I see : curiosity, exploration, and discovery at the dawn of AI
Li, Fei Fei
Paper Book
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON AI * FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOKS OF 2023 From Dr. Fei-Fei Li, one of TIME's 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL in AI, comes "a powerful plea for keeping humanity at the centre of our latest technological transformation" (...
What the chicken knows : a new appreciation of the world's most familiar bird
Montgomery, Sy
Paper Book
A charming and eye-opening exploration of the special relationship between humans and chickens from Sy Montgomery, "one of our finest chroniclers of the natural world" (The New York Times). For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery--whose The Soul of an...
Better living through birding : notes from a Black man in the natural world
Cooper, Christian
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER . Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up. "Wondrous . . ....
Air-borne : the hidden history of the life we breathe
Zimmer, Carl
Paper Book
One of Smithsonian Magazine's Ten Best Science Books of 2025 The fascinating, untold story of the air we breathe, the hidden life it contains, and invisible dangers that can turn the world upside down Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air-...
Every living thing : the great and deadly race to know all life
Roberts, Jason (President of Panmedia Corporation)
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * An epic, extraordinary account of scientific rivalry and obsession in the quest to survey all of life on Earth "[An] engaging and thought-provoking book, one focused on the theatrical politics and often deeply troubling science that shape our...
Quantum supremacy : how the quantum computer revolution will change everything
Kaku, Michio
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An exhilarating tour of humanity's next great technological achievement--quantum computing--which may supercharge artificial intelligence, solve some of humanity's biggest problems, like global warming, world hunger, and incurable disease, and eventually...
When the Earth was green : plants, animals, and evolution's greatest romance
Black, Riley
Paper Book
NOW A USA TODAY BESTSELLER! Winner, A Friend of Darwin Award, 2024 A gorgeously composed look at the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth Fossils plants allow us to touch the lost worlds from...
Crossings : how road ecology is shaping the future of our planet
Goldfarb, Ben (Environmental journalist)
Paper Book
Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they're practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings,...
Merlin's tour of the universe : a traveler's guide to blue moons and black holes, Mars, stars & everything far
Tyson, Neil deGrasse
Paper Book
A USA Today bestseller! The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry takes readers on an entertaining and edifying tour of the universe. In Neil deGrasse Tyson's delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to...
Meet the neighbors : animal minds and life in a more-than-human world
Keim, Brandon
Paper Book
Honeybees deliberate democratically. Rats reflect on the past. Snakes have friends. In recent decades, our understanding of animal cognition has exploded, making it indisputably clear that the cities and landscapes around us are filled with thinking, feeling individuals besides ourselves. But the...
They poisoned the world : life and death in the age of forever chemicals
Blake, Mariah
Paper Book
"Riveting . . . Blake's deft chronicle of one of the greatest moral scandals of our time [is] a book that none of us can afford to miss."--The Washington Post A gripping investigation of the chemical industry's decades-long campaign to hide the dangers of forever...
Grizzly confidential : an astounding journey into the secret life of North America's most fearsome predator
Grange, Kevin
Audiobook
Sing like fish : how sound rules life under water
Kingdon, Amorina
Paper Book
A captivating exploration of how underwater animals tap into sound to survive, and a clarion call for humans to address the ways we invade these critical soundscapes--from an award-winning science writer "Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world...
Alfie & me : what owls know, what humans believe
Safina, Carl
Paper Book
When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they'd rescued, she'd be a temporary presence. But Alfie's feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a...
To infinity and beyond : a journey of cosmic discovery
Tyson, Neil deGrasse
Paper Book
This enlightening illustrated narrative by the world's most celebrated astrophysicist explains the universe from the solar system to the farthest reaches of space with authority and humor. No one can make the mysteries of the universe more comprehensible and fun than Neil...
Hope dies last : visionary people across the world, fighting to find us a future
Weisman, Alan
Paper Book
One of Heatmap's 18 Climate Books to Read in 2025 The award-winning environmental journalist's extraordinary, long-awaited portrait of hope and resilience as we face a fractured and uncertain future In this profoundly human and moving narrative, the...
Alien earths : the new science of planet hunting in the cosmos
Kaltenegger, Lisa
Paper Book
"Kaltenegger's breezy narrative style invites you to experience with her the challenges and joys of being a scientist on the frontier of discovery." --Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History "Horizon-expanding... [Kaltenegger] has...
The catalyst : RNA and the quest to unlock life's deepest secrets
Cech, Thomas
Paper Book
For over half a century, DNA has dominated science and the popular imagination as the "secret of life." But over the last several decades, a quiet revolution has taken place. In a series of breathtaking discoveries, the biochemist Thomas R. Cech and a diverse cast of brilliant scientists have...
Valley of forgetting : Alzheimer's families and the search for a cure
Smith, Jennie Erin
Paper Book
A WALL STREET JOURNAL TOP 10 BOOK OF 2025 ALSO NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2025 BY THE NEW YORKER AND THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY "Valley of Forgetting reminds us that scientific progress is measured not only in breakthroughs but also through the sacrifices...
Rethinking diabetes : what science reveals about diet, insulin, and successful treatments
Taubes, Gary
Paper Book
An eye-opening investigation into the history of diabetes research and treatment by the award-winning journalist and best-selling author of Why We Get Fat * "[Gary] Taubes's meticulous, science-based work makes him the Bryan Stevenson of nutrition, an early voice in the wilderness for...
When it all burns : fighting fire in a transformed world
Thomas, Jordan (Anthropologist)
Paper Book
2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE AND THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD ONE OF PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'S TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2025 NAMED A BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY KIRKUS AND A GOLD WINNER BY THE NAUTILUS...
This is why you dream : what your sleeping brain reveals about your waking life
Jandial, Rahul
Paper Book
AN AMAZON EDITORS' BEST BOOKS OF 2024 PICK "Completely transformed my way of thinking about dreams." -Jay Shetty Dreaming is one of the most underappreciated functions of the human brain, yet our very survival as a species depends on it. In This Is Why You...
Birding to change the world : a memoir
O'Kane, Trish
Paper Book
In this uplifting memoir, a professor and activist shares what birds can teach us about life, social change, and protecting the environment. Trish O'Kane is an accidental ornithologist. In her nearly two decades writing about justice as an investigative journalist, she'd...
The secret life of the universe : an astrobiologist's search for the origins and frontiers of life
Cabrol, Nathalie A.
Paper Book
One ofScientific American's Best Books of 2024 One of the world's leading astrobiologists takes us on an awe-inspiring journey across the cosmos to investigate some of humanity's most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe? And how did life on Earth begin? ...
Turning to stone : discovering the subtle wisdom of rocks
Bjornerud, Marcia
Paper Book
Winner of the 2025 John Burroughs Medal for Natural History Writing "A beautiful book--at once intimate and sweeping, informative and moving." --Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky Earth is vibrantly alive and full of wisdom for those...
How to win friends and influence fungi : collected quirks of science, tech, engineering, and math from nerd nite
Balakrishnan, Chris
Paper Book
In the vein of acclaimed popular-science bestsellers such as Atlas Obscura, Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry, The Way Things Work, What If?, and Undeniable, the co-founders of the global science organization Nerd Nite bring readers a collection of...
Alive : our bodies and the richness and brevity of existence
Weston, Gabriel
Paper Book
A profound and provocative journey through the human body from a surgeon and award-winning writer. "Weston's evocative descriptions will change how readers see the body....This captivates."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) What does it mean to live in a body? For...
The ocean's menagerie : how earth's strangest creatures reshape the rules of life
Harvell, C. Drew
Paper Book
A Nature Best Book of 2025 * A Wall Street Journal Holiday Gift Pick An elegantly written exploration of the cutting edge science of the strangest and most remarkable creatures on our planet by a leading marine biologist Hundred-year-old giant clams,...
The secret history of sharks : the rise of the ocean's most fearsome predators
Long, John A.
Paper Book
From ancient megalodons to fearsome Great Whites, this book tells the complete, untold story of how sharks emerged as Earth's ultimate survivors, by world-leading paleontologist John Long. "Will keep you on the edge of your seat from its first page to its last page."--Jared...
What the wild sea can be : the future of the world's ocean
Scales, Helen
Paper Book
The acclaimed marine biologist and author of The Brilliant Abyss examines the existential threats the world's ocean will face in the coming decades and offers cautious optimism for much of the abundant life within in No matter where we live, "we are all ocean people," Helen...
Twelve trees : the deep roots of our future
Lewis, Daniel
Paper Book
A compelling global exploration of nature and survival as seen via a dozen species of trees, offering "extensive insight into the ways in which humans and trees are interconnected" (BookPage), revealing the challenges facing our planet and how scientists are working urgently to save our...
Why animals talk : the new science of animal communication
Kershenbaum, Arik
Paper Book
"Animal communication doesn't need to resemble human language to be full of meaning and nuance. Arik Kershenbaum delivers an expert overview of the astonishing discoveries made in the last few decades" --Frans de Waal From leading zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, a delightful and...
American poison : a deadly invention and the woman who battled for environmental justice
Stone, Daniel
Paper Book
From the national bestselling author of The Food Explorer comes the untold story of Alice Hamilton, a trailblazing doctor and public health activist who took on the booming auto industry--and the deadly invention of leaded gasoline, which would poison millions of people across America....
The song of the cell : an exploration of medicine and the new human
Mukherjee, Siddhartha
Paper Book
Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences and the 2023 Chautauqua Prize! Named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist, Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public...
Space oddities : the mysterious anomalies challenging our understanding of the universe
Cliff, Harry
Paper Book
Experimental physicist at CERN and acclaimed science presenter Harry Cliff offers an eye-opening account of the inexplicable phenomena that science has only recently glimpsed, and that could transform our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. Something strange is...
The allure of the multiverse : extra dimensions, other worlds, and parallel universes
Halpern, Paul
Paper Book
"A rich and rewarding history of one of the most astounding ideas in physics and astronomy" (Marcia Bartusiak) - that the universe we know isn't the only one   Our books, our movies--our imaginations--are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate...
When the ice is gone : what a Greenland ice core reveals about Earth's tumultuous history and perilous future
Bierman, Paul
Paper Book
In 2018, lumps of frozen soil, collected from the bottom of the world's first deep ice core and lost for decades, reappeared in Denmark. When geologist Paul Bierman and his team first melted a piece of this unique material, they were shocked to find perfectly preserved leaves, twigs, and moss....
Adventures in volcanoland : what volcanoes tell us about the world and ourselves
Mather, Tamsin A.
Paper Book
*A Library Journal Best Book of 2024* A mix of memoir, travel and popular science, charting journeys across deserts, through jungles and up ice caps, to some of the most important volcanoes around the world In this captivating book from one of...
Strata : stories from deep time
Poppick, Laura
Paper Book
The epic stories of our planet's 4.54-billion-year history are written in strata--ages-old remnants of ancient seafloors, desert dunes, and riverbeds striping landscapes around the world. In this brilliantly original debut work, science writer Laura Poppick decodes strata to lead us on a journey...
Collisions : a physicist's journey from Hiroshima to the death of the dinosaurs
Nevala-Lee, Alec
Paper Book
To his admirers, Luis W. Alvarez was the most accomplished, inventive, and versatile experimental physicist of his generation. During World War II, he achieved major breakthroughs in radar, played a key role in the Manhattan Project, and served as the lead scientific observer at the bombing of...
Intraterrestrials : discovering the strangest life on earth
Lloyd, Karen G.
Paper Book
A biologist's firsthand account of the hunt for life beneath earth's surface--and how new discoveries are challenging our most basic assumptions about the nature of life on Earth Life thrives in the deepest, darkest recesses of Earth's crust--from methane seeps in the ocean...
Insectopolis : a natural history
Kuper, Peter
Paper Book
This visually immersive work of graphic nonfiction dives into a world where ants, cicadas, bees, and butterflies visit a library exhibition that displays their stories and humanity's connection to them throughout the ages. Kuper's thrilling visual feast layers history and science, color and...
Becoming Earth : how our planet came to life
Jabr, Ferris
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A vivid account of a major shift in how we understand Earth, from an exceptionally talented new voice. Earth is not simply an inanimate planet on which life evolved, but rather a planet that came to life. "Glorious . . . full of achingly beautiful...
A billion butterflies : a life in climate and chaos theory
Shukla, J.
Paper Book
The amazing true story of the man behind modern weather prediction Consider a world without weather prediction. How would we know when to evacuate communities ahead of fires or floods, or figure out what to wear tomorrow? Until 40 years ago, we couldn't forecast weather...
Four battlegrounds : power in the age of artificial intelligence
Scharre, Paul
Ebook
An NPR 2023 "Books We Love" Pick One of the Next Big Idea Club's Must-Read Books "An invaluable primer to arguably the most important driver of change for our future." --P. W. Singer, author of Burn-In An award-winning defense...
Amphibious soul : finding the wild in a tame world
Foster, Craig (Filmmaker)
Paper Book
"An important book that will transform how we think about being human. ... that will inspire hope."--Jane Goodall How can we reclaim the soul-deepening wildness that grounds us and energizes us when so much of the modern world seems designed to tame us? In this thrilling memoir of a...
Nuts & bolts : seven small inventions that changed the world (in a big way)
Agrawal, Roma
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the 2023 Royal Society Science Book Prize A structural engineer examines the seven most basic building blocks of engineering that have shaped the modern world. Some of humanity's mightiest engineering achievements are small in scale--and, without them,...
Living on Earth : forests, corals, consciousness, and the making of the world
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paper Book
One of the Washington Post's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 The bestselling author of Other Minds shows how we and our ancestors have reinvented our planet. If the history of the Earth were compressed down to a year, our species would arise...
How to change your mind : what the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence
Pollan, Michael
Paper Book
"Pollan keeps you turning the pages . . . cleareyed and assured." --New York Times A #1 New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2018, and New York Times Notable Book A brilliant and brave investigation into...
Astrophysics for people in a hurry
Tyson, Neil deGrasse
Paper Book
Over a year on the New York Times bestseller list and more than a million copies sold. The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist. What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit...
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