Books like The Fabric of Reality

01

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.

Both dig into quantum mechanics.

02

Our Mathematical Universe

Max Tegmark · Science

Our Mathematical Universe is Max Tegmark's argument for what he calls the Mathematical Universe Hypothesis: the bold claim that the universe is not merely described by mathematics but is a mathematical structure.

Both dig into multiverse.

03

The Emperor's New Mind

Roger Penrose · Science

The Emperor's New Mind is Roger Penrose's argument that human consciousness cannot be reproduced by any computational device — that the mind is not, in the relevant sense, a computer — and that understanding consciousness will require fundamental advances in physics, particularly in reconciling quantum mechanics with general relativity.

Shares quantum mechanics and computation with The Fabric of Reality.

04

The Grand Design

Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow · Science

The Grand Design is Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow's short, provocative book about the deepest questions in physics: Why is there something rather than nothing?

Shares quantum mechanics and multiverse with The Fabric of Reality.

05

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.

Both dig into quantum mechanics.

06

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos

Brian Greene · Science

Brian Greene, a string theorist at Columbia University and the author of The Elegant Universe, devoted this book to a single sprawling question: does our universe have company?

Shares quantum mechanics and multiverse with The Fabric of Reality.

07

A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution

Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg · Science

A Crack in Creation is Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg's account of how CRISPR-Cas9 works, what it can do, and why its possibilities should give everyone pause.

Both dig into evolution.

08

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.

Both dig into evolution.

09

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Frans de Waal · Science

Frans de Waal's central argument is that we've spent most of the last century asking the wrong questions about animal intelligence.

Both dig into evolution.

10

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Robert M. Sapolsky · Science

Behave is Robert Sapolsky's attempt to explain why humans do what they do — the violence, the altruism, the tribalism, the heroism — by working through every layer of biology that contributes to a single act.

Both dig into evolution.

11

Climbing Mount Improbable

Richard Dawkins · Science

Climbing Mount Improbable is Richard Dawkins's response to the persistent intuition that complex biological structures — the vertebrate eye, insect wings, spider webs — are too improbable to have evolved by chance.

Both dig into evolution.

12

Cosmos

Carl Sagan · Science

Cosmos is Carl Sagan's attempt to tell the full story of the universe and humanity's place in it — from the Big Bang to the origins of life to the rise of science as a way of knowing.

Both dig into evolution.