12/12/2014

The Best Science Books of 2014

26:00 minutes

We’re making our book list and checking it twice. Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Deborah Blum and io9.com editor Annalee Newitz join Ira Flatow to share their top science, technology, and environmental books of 2014. Have a favorite? Share it in the comments and add your pick to the list! Plus, check out our kids’ science book picks here.

The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl: How Two Brave Scientists Battled Typhus and Sabotaged the Nazis
By Arthur Allen

Dodging Extinction: Power, Food, Money, and the Future of Life on Earth
By Anthony D. Barnosky

On Immunity
By Eula Biss

Oxygen: A Four Billion Year History
By Donald E. Canfield

The Glass Cage
By Nicolas Carr

How Not to Be Wrong
By Jordan Ellenberg

Being Mortal
By Atul Gawande

The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures
By Christine Kenneally

Stuff Matters
By Mark Miodownik

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
By Randall Munroe

Me, Myself, and Why?
By Jennifer Ouelette

Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches
By Cherie Priest

The Coming Swarm: DDOS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet
By Molly Sauter

This Changes Everything
By Naomi Klein

Dr. Mütter’s Marvels
By Cristin O. Aptowitz

The Martian
By Andy Weir

Segment Guests

Deborah Blum

Deborah Blum is a science journalist & author, the publisher of Undark magazine, and the director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Annalee Newitz

Annalee Newitz is a science journalist and author based in San Francisco, California. They are author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age andThe Future of Another Timeline, and co-host of the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.

Meet the Producer

About Annie Minoff

Annie Minoff is a producer for The Journal from Gimlet Media and the Wall Street Journal, and a former co-host and producer of Undiscovered. She also plays the banjo.

Explore More

Five Books Guaranteed To Make Kids Love Science

These kids' books spark science curiosity with playful illustrations and facts to match.

Read More

The Best of Science Friday, 2014 (Picked by Our Staff)

SciFri staff members recommend their favorite stories from the past year.

Read More