Books like Chaos: Making a New Science

01

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood

James Gleick · Science

The Information traces the history of information — as a concept, a technology, and a way of understanding the universe — from the talking drums of West Africa through the telegraph, the printing press, the telephone, and into the digital age.

02

The Elegant Universe

Brian Greene · Science

The Elegant Universe is Brian Greene's attempt to bring string theory — one of the most mathematically demanding ideas in modern physics — within reach of general readers.

03

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson · Science

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's attempt to understand the scientific story of everything — from the Big Bang to the emergence of modern humans — by spending three years talking to scientists and reading science history.

04

The Second Machine Age

Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee · Economics

The Second Machine Age is Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee's argument that digital technology has entered a qualitatively new phase — one in which machines can perform cognitive tasks previously reserved for humans, creating economic disruption and opportunity simultaneously.

05

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

James Gleick · Biography

Genius is James Gleick's biography of Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who developed quantum electrodynamics, cracked safes at Los Alamos, played bongo drums in bars, and became the twentieth century's most celebrated scientific personality.

06

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking · Science

A Brief History of Time is Stephen Hawking's attempt to explain the biggest questions in physics — where the universe came from, how it behaves, and where it might be going — to readers with no scientific training.