Best Science Books 2014: The Guardian

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 The Guardian Best Books of the Year Science, Biography, City Books, Nature, Science.

• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
• The Innovators by Walter Isaacson
• Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio 24
• Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh
• Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance by Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford
• The Passenger Pigeon by Errol Fuller
• A Message from Martha: The Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and its Relevance Today by Mark Avery
• A Sparrowhawk's Lament: How British Breeding Birds of Prey Are Faring by David Cobham and Bruce Pearson
• Urban Peregrines by Ed Drewitt
• The Birds of London by Andrew Self
• Grey Daggers and Minotaurs in Greenwich Park: Memories of a London Schoolboy Naturalist in the 1940s by John F. Burton and Susan England
• Nature in Towns and Cities by David Goode
• Herbaceous by Paul Evans
• Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet by by Mark Cocker
• My Year with Hares by Martin Hayward Smith
• Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field by John Lewis Stempel
• Buzz in the Meadow by Dave Goulson
• A Comprehensive Guide to Insects of Britain and Ireland by Paul D. Brock
• A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects by David Callahan
• Shrewdunnit: The Nature Files by Conor Mark Jameson
• Savannah Diaries by Brian Jackman
• Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 4: Sea Mammals Edited by Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier
• HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines by Josep del Hoyo, Nigel J. Collar, David A. Christie, Andrew Elliott, Lincoln D. C. Fishpool
• The World of Birds by Jonathan Elphick
• Cold Blood by Richard Kerridge
• H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

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.)