Best Science Books 2014: Brain Pickings

As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I've done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

And here we are in 2014!

As in previous years, my definition of "science books" is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.

Today's list is Brain Pickings The Best Science Books of 2014.

• The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew by Alan Lightman
• The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us by Diane Ackerman
• The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge by Manuel Lima
• The Meaning of Human Existence by E.O. Wilson
• The Edge of the Sky: All You Need to Know About the All-There-Is by Roberto Trotta
• The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright’s Universe by Dan Falk
• A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees by Dave Goulson
• The Universe: Leading Scientists Explore the Origin, Mysteries, and Future of the Cosmos edited by John Brockman
• Neurocomic by Hana Ros & Matteo Farinella
• The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery by Sam Kean
• What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe
• Nothing: Surprising Insights Everywhere from Zero to Oblivion by Jeremy Webb
• 30 Days by Joanna Tilsley
• Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking) by Christian Rudder
• Evolution: A Coloring Book by Annu Kilpeläinen

And check out my previous 2014 lists here!

Many of the lists I use use are sourced via the Largehearted Boy master list.

(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project last year and never got around to the end of year summary. The last few years I ended up featuring dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I'm only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)