\n<\/p>\n
Selecting a book to read can sometimes be overwhelming: countless books are published every year, and there are countless more published years ago that we haven\u2019t gotten around to. If you\u2019d like to incorporate some science books into your TBR (to-be-read) list, Scientific American has been reviewing books for well more than 100 years. Below is a collection of some of our favorite (and sometimes downright snarky) book reviews over the past century. We\u2019ve paired each title with a recently published book on the same topic that a modern-day reader might enjoy. Maybe you read this book from 2025 or that book from the 1930s. Either way, the past 100 years of science writing are a treasure trove.<\/p>\n
If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n
Tuberculosis: Its Cause, Prevention, and Care by Frank H. Livingston
Macmillan, 1930<\/p>\n
Everything Is Tuberculosis
\nby John Green
Crash Course Books, 2025<\/p>\n
In March 1931 Scientific American reviewed Frank H. Livingston\u2019s 1930 book Tuberculosis 12 years before a cure for the eponymous disease was found. We noted that the book had a \u201clayman\u201d author and said \u201calthough entirely non-professional we recommend it highly for its common sense and helpful spirit\u201d\u2014 pretty high praise from us back then! Published in March 2025, author John Green\u2019s latest book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, arrived at a vastly different historical moment:\ufffctuberculosis cures are readily available. Though he\u2019s a \u201cnonprofessional\u201d as well, Green\u2019s commonsense view \ufffcilluminates how inequity in treatment around the world allows the disease to persist.<\/p>\n
Your Hearing: How to Preserve and Aid It
by W. C. Phillips and H. G. Rowell
D. Appleton and Company, 1932<\/p>\n
Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World\u2014And How We Can Take It Back
by Chris Berdik
W. W. Norton, 2025<\/p>\n
In January 1933 Scientific American reviewers found W. C. Phillips and H. G. Rowell to be two \u201coutstanding authorities\u201d on human hearing. Their 1932 book Your Hearing neatly explained \u201cmechanical aids\u201d to hearing, later referred to as hearing aids, and a \u201csystematic hygiene for the conservation of hearing,\u201d also known as cleaning your ears. Nearly 100 years later, hearing is still a vital health care concern, and Chris Berdik\u2019s new book Clamor offers a deep dive into how sound can affect humans and other animals on the planet. The racket constantly echoing around Earth has real effects on animal health and behavior.<\/p>\n
The Science of Life
by H. G. Wells, Julian Huxley and G. P. Wells
Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1931<\/p>\n
When the Earth Was Green
by Riley Black
St. Martin\u2019s Press, 2025<\/p>\n
We were beside ourselves in April 1931 when we saw a copy of The Science of Life co-written by none other than celebrated author H. G. Wells himself, along with his son G. P. Wells and Julian Huxley (the \u201cgrandson of the great Huxley of Darwin\u2019s day\u201d and a \u201cwell-known professor of zoology,\u201d) we enthused). We opened our review with \u201cWhat a work!\u201d and went on to rave about the book\u2019s scope and length (nearly 1,500 pages), exclaiming that the 300 pages dedicated to evolution \u201ccover every nook and cranny of the subject.\u201d In their latest book, When the Earth Was Green, modern-day science writer Riley Black offers another beautiful and insightful exploration of the evolution of life on Earth. Black effortlessly brings readers billions of years into the past while maintaining the brevity, humor and gentle guidance that all science writing so desperately craves.<\/p>\n
Antarctic Ecology, Vol. I and II
edited by M. W. Holdgate
Academic Press, 1970<\/p>\n
Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and our Future
by Neil Shubin
Dutton, 2025<\/p>\n
In September 1970 Scientific American reviewed M. W. Holdgate\u2019s impressive two-volume exploration of Antarctic ecology. The first part, we wrote, offered an \u201can appraisal of the geologic past … to the fishes and birds of the shore … to the soil and the vegetation and the land fauna.\u201d And we noted that the second volume discussed conservation efforts to protect all this precious life. We thought \u201cthe most poignant graph in the book\u201d was one showing \u201cthe terrible decline in the total mass of the baleen whales.\u201d In the past 55 years, the Arctic environment has continued to change, documented by evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin’s latest book, Ends of the Earth. His sweeping overview of life and ice at the northernmost latitudes offers a crucial exploration of the Arctic of our time and the things that scientists are still learning from it.<\/p>\n
Oxygen: A Play in 2 Acts
by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann
Wiley-VCH, 2001<\/p>\n
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
by Peter Brannen
Ecco, 2025<\/p>\n
In July 2001 we expanded our books coverage to include plays, specifically off-beat plays written by scientists. With Oxygen, chemistry professors Carl Djerassi (\u201cperhaps best known as the inventor of the birth-control pill,\u201d we noted) and Roald Hoffmann applied their career experience to theater: In their play, the Nobel Prize Committee decides to retroactively honor the discovery of oxygen, and the drama begins as the committee members decide who to award the prize to. Molecular building blocks of our world are just as important in 2025. Peter Brannen\u2019s latest book, CO2 Is the Story of Everything, makes a striking case that carbon dioxide is the most important\u2014but perhaps misunderstood\u2014chemical compound on Earth, in the galaxy and in us carbon-based life-forms.<\/p>\n
Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence
by Pamela McCorduck
W. H. Freeman and Company, 1979<\/p>\n
Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman\u2019s OpenAI
by Karen Hao
Penguin Press, 2025<\/p>\n
In March 1980 Scientific American reviewed author Pamela McCorduck\u2019s 1979 book Machines Who Think and found that it offered a real insight into the power players of machine learning, specifically \u201cwhat they do, say and plan.\u201d At the same time, we lamented the lack of figures and wished there were photographs of father of machine intelligence Alan Turing. Machine learning is even more relevant today, evidenced by this year\u2019s breakout book: Empire of AI, by journalist Karen Hao. She offers readers a modern-day peak into artificial intelligence moguls of our time, including Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. Both books wrestle with similar questions: while McCorduck asked whether a machine should think, Hao asks: What have these machines already been taught to think, and what will they think to do next?<\/p>\n
Number: The Language of Science
by Tobias Dantzig
Macmillan, 1930<\/p>\n
The Language of Mathematics: The Stories behind the Symbols
by Ra\u00fal Rojas
Princeton University Press, 2025<\/p>\n
In September 1930 Scientific American recommended Tobias Dantzig\u2019s book Number, the Language of Science because \u201cit [wasn\u2019t] a mere schoolbook on algebra, geometry, calculus, or any other horrible kind of formal mathematical torture.\u201d Instead it offered readers insight into surprisingly interesting mathematical topics such as the origin of zero and the history of the infinity symbol. We were so certain that our readers would enjoy this one that we predicted that any reader would \u201cexclaim at least once per page, \u2018Well, I never thought of that before.\u2019\u201d Mathematician Raul Rojas\u2019s book about math symbols, published in January 2025 by Princeton University Press, offers the numeral nerds among us a guide to the fascinating history of mathematical symbols, some of which have become commonplace in everyday life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Selecting a book to read can sometimes be overwhelming: countless books are published every year, and there are countless more published years ago that we haven\u2019t gotten around to. If you\u2019d like to incorporate some science books into your TBR (to-be-read) list, Scientific American has been reviewing books for well more than 100 years. Below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[1980,1001,1253,11519,862,11520,11518,11517],"class_list":{"0":"post-18836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-book","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-love","11":"tag-paired","12":"tag-readers","13":"tag-recommendation","14":"tag-scienceminded","15":"tag-vintage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}