BookRank

Best Popular science books

The 58 highest-rated Popular science books, scored from 15.6K reader ratings.

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58 results
By year of first publication, 1962–2025. The busiest stretch is 2010–2019, with 29. Select a bar to narrow the list.
  1. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
    1
    8.98.9 / 10
    One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against ThisOmar El Akkad241 ratings“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” is a short, unsparing essay on how the West speaks about horrors that happen elsewhere.Our view
  2. Cosmos
    2
    8.88.8 / 10
    CosmosCarl Sagan365 ratings“Cosmos” turns the history of astronomy into one story about people working out where they are in the universe.Our view
  3. The New Jim Crow
    3
    8.88.8 / 10
    The New Jim CrowMichelle Alexander306 ratings“The New Jim Crow” argues, with figures, cases and legal history, that America’s mass incarceration is a new form of racial discrimination.Our view

Why One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is #1

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (Omar El Akkad) scores 8.9/10 from 241 ratings — 0.1 points ahead of Cosmos in second place.

The score is a weighted average across 3 independent rating sources. A title with few ratings is pulled toward the category average, so a handful of enthusiastic reviews cannot outrank a book that thousands of readers have judged. To keep the list varied, the top 20 holds at most two books from one series and three by one author; the rest follow further down. Method →

  1. Evicted
    EvictedMatthew Desmond · 2016NYT bestseller289 ratings
    8.88.8 / 10
  2. Being Mortal
    Being MortalAtul Gawande · 2015NYT bestseller336 ratings
    8.78.7 / 10
  3. Factfulness
    FactfulnessHans Rosling · 2018NYT bestseller623 ratings
    8.68.6 / 10
  4. An Immense World
    An Immense WorldEd YongNYT bestseller152 ratings
    8.68.6 / 10
  5. Gödel, Escher, Bach
    Gödel, Escher, BachDouglas Hofstadter · 1979309 ratings
    8.68.6 / 10
  6. A Short History of Nearly Everything
    A Short History of Nearly EverythingBill Bryson · 20031.1K ratings
    8.58.5 / 10
  7. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
    Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for MenCaroline Criado-Perez · 2019457 ratings
    8.58.5 / 10
  8. The Demon-Haunted World
    The Demon-Haunted WorldCarl Sagan · 199588 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  9. Brief Answers to the Big Questions
    Brief Answers to the Big QuestionsStephen Hawking · 2018NYT bestseller317 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  10. What If?
    What If?Randall Munroe · 2014NYT bestseller120 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  11. The Body: A Guide for Occupants
    The Body: A Guide for OccupantsBill Bryson · 2019NYT bestseller346 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  12. The Selfish Gene
    The Selfish GeneRichard Dawkins · 1976483 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  13. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
    On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth CenturyTimothy Snyder · 2017NYT bestseller410 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  14. Pale Blue Dot
    Pale Blue DotCarl Sagan · 1994124 ratings
    8.48.4 / 10
  15. The Ancestor's Tale
    The Ancestor's TaleRichard Dawkins · 200454 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  16. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
    Homo Deus: A Brief History of TomorrowYuval Noah Harari · 2015NYT bestseller888 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  17. The Fabric of the Cosmos
    The Fabric of the CosmosBrian Greene · 2004134 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  18. Discipline and Punish
    Discipline and PunishMichel Foucault · 197594 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  19. A Brief History of Time
    A Brief History of TimeStephen Hawking · 1988NYT bestseller1.3K ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  20. The Emperor of All Maladies
    The Emperor of All MaladiesSiddhartha Mukherjee · 2010NYT bestseller225 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  21. The Universe in a Nutshell
    The Universe in a NutshellStephen Hawking · 2001137 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  22. How to Change Your Mind
    How to Change Your MindMichael Pollan · 2018NYT bestseller327 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  23. Thing Explainer
    Thing ExplainerRandall Munroe · 2015148 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  24. A Briefer History of Time
    A Briefer History of TimeStephen Hawking · 2005149 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  25. The End of Everything
    The End of EverythingKatherine Mack · 202095 ratings
    8.38.3 / 10
  26. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
    The Information: A History, a Theory, a FloodJames Gleick · 2011NYT bestseller127 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  27. The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
    The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital RevolutionWalter Isaacson · 2014NYT bestseller185 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  28. Stuff Matters
    Stuff MattersMark Miodownik · 201488 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  29. I Contain Multitudes
    I Contain MultitudesEd Yong140 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  30. Careless People
    Careless PeopleSarah Wynn-Williams · 2025NYT bestseller477 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  31. The Hidden Reality
    The Hidden RealityBrian GreeneNYT bestseller67 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  32. A City on Mars
    A City on MarsKelly L. Weinersmith · 2023NYT bestseller88 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  33. Your Inner Fish
    Your Inner FishNeil H. Shubin · 200897 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  34. The Coddling of the American Mind
    The Coddling of the American MindJonathan Haidt · 2018NYT bestseller127 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  35. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory
    Bullshit Jobs: A TheoryDavid Graeber · 2018272 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  36. Algorithms to Live By
    Algorithms to Live ByBrian Christian · 2016319 ratings
    8.28.2 / 10
  37. The Blank Slate
    The Blank SlateSteven Pinker · 200282 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  38. The Elegant Universe
    The Elegant UniverseBrian Greene · 1999244 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  39. The Magic of Reality
    The Magic of RealityRichard Dawkins · 2011111 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  40. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
    The Structure of Scientific RevolutionsThomas Kuhn · 1962124 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  41. The Fifth Risk
    The Fifth RiskMichael Lewis · 2018NYT bestseller167 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  42. Silent Spring
    Silent SpringRachel Carson · 1962149 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  43. The Uninhabitable Earth
    The Uninhabitable EarthDavid Wallace-Wells · 2019NYT bestseller133 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  44. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
    No One Is Too Small to Make a DifferenceGreta Thunberg · 2019NYT bestseller67 ratings
    8.18.1 / 10
  45. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
    Astrophysics for People in a HurryNeil deGrasse Tyson · 2017NYT bestseller697 ratings
    8.08.0 / 10
  46. Hallucinations
    HallucinationsOliver Sacks · 2012NYT bestseller81 ratings
    8.08.0 / 10
  47. Life 3.0
    Life 3.0Max Tegmark · 2017NYT bestseller155 ratings
    8.08.0 / 10
  48. Grunt
    GruntMary RoachNYT bestseller93 ratings
    8.08.0 / 10
  49. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a HatOliver Sacks · 1985567 ratings
    8.08.0 / 10
  50. The Denial of Death
    The Denial of DeathErnest Becker · 197362 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10
  51. The Grand Design
    The Grand DesignStephen Hawking · 2010187 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10
  52. Fuzz
    FuzzMary RoachNYT bestseller141 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10
  53. Moonwalking with Einstein
    Moonwalking with EinsteinJoshua Foer · 2011NYT bestseller402 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10
  54. The Signal and the Noise
    The Signal and the NoiseNate Silver · 2012NYT bestseller258 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10
  55. Breath
    BreathJames Nestor · 2020NYT bestseller308 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10

Frequently asked questions

Which title here has the most ratings?

A Brief History of Time (Stephen Hawking) — 1.3K ratings and 8.3/10, which puts it at #22 on this list.

What is the best book of recent years in Popular science?

Of the books here published since 2022, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (2025) ranks highest: #1, 8.9/10.