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History of Science
The "history of science" is my favorite nonfiction genre.
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A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 400 |
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The Evolutionary World: How Adaptation Explains Everything from Seashells to Civilization
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3.57 avg rating — 44 ratings
score: 63,
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1 person voted
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| 400 |
|
The Art of Managing Longleaf: A Personal History of the Stoddard-Neel Approach (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Books)
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4.23 avg rating — 22 ratings
score: 63,
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1 person voted
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| 403 |
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The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink
by
Robert D. Morris (Goodreads Author)
3.87 avg rating — 316 ratings
score: 62,
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1 person voted
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| 403 |
|
The Origins of European Thought: About the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time and Fate
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4.48 avg rating — 52 ratings
score: 62,
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1 person voted
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| 403 |
|
Stalin and the Scientists: A History of Triumph and Tragedy, 1905-1953
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3.68 avg rating — 500 ratings
score: 62,
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1 person voted
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| 406 |
|
The Secret Life of Germs: What They Are, Why We Need Them, and How We Can Protect Ourselves Against Them
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3.84 avg rating — 264 ratings
score: 61,
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1 person voted
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| 406 |
|
A Little History of the World
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4.10 avg rating — 31,059 ratings
score: 61,
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1 person voted
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| 406 |
|
A History of Medicine in 50 Objects
by
Gill Paul (Goodreads Author)
3.85 avg rating — 79 ratings
score: 61,
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1 person voted
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| 409 |
|
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
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3.90 avg rating — 30,301 ratings
score: 60,
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1 person voted
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| 409 |
|
The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution
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3.88 avg rating — 895 ratings
score: 60,
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1 person voted
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| 411 |
|
The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum
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4.11 avg rating — 10,702 ratings
score: 59,
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1 person voted
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| 411 |
|
Darwin's Odyssey: The Voyage of the Beagle
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3.97 avg rating — 336 ratings
score: 59,
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1 person voted
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| 411 |
|
Energy: A Human History
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3.75 avg rating — 1,841 ratings
score: 59,
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1 person voted
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| 414 |
|
The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox
by
Jennifer Lee Carrell (Goodreads Author)
4.02 avg rating — 1,540 ratings
score: 58,
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1 person voted
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| 414 |
|
Wonderwereld der atomen
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4.33 avg rating — 45 ratings
score: 58,
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1 person voted
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| 414 |
|
For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation
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3.72 avg rating — 197 ratings
score: 58,
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1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
50 Things You Should Know About the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings
score: 57,
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1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins
by
Ian Tattersall (Goodreads Author)
4.06 avg rating — 1,322 ratings
score: 57,
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1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
De mechanisering van het wereldbeeld
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4.13 avg rating — 39 ratings
score: 57,
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1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
by
Annie Jacobsen (Goodreads Author)
3.94 avg rating — 2,069 ratings
score: 57,
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1 person voted
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| 421 |
|
Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science
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3.22 avg rating — 55 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 421 |
|
De ideeën die de wereld veranderden
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3.77 avg rating — 205 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 421 |
|
Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
by
Annie Jacobsen (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 9,455 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 424 |
|
A History of Mathematics
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4.08 avg rating — 1,039 ratings
score: 55,
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1 person voted
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| 424 |
|
The Year Without Summer: 1816 and the Volcano That Darkened the World and Changed History
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3.44 avg rating — 1,278 ratings
score: 55,
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1 person voted
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| 424 |
|
What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by
Randall Munroe (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 192,499 ratings
score: 55,
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1 person voted
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| 424 |
|
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
by
Annie Jacobsen (Goodreads Author)
3.99 avg rating — 4,810 ratings
score: 55,
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1 person voted
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| 428 |
|
Charlatan
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3.82 avg rating — 3,338 ratings
score: 54,
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1 person voted
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| 428 |
|
The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science
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4.15 avg rating — 156 ratings
score: 54,
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1 person voted
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| 428 |
|
Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base
by
Annie Jacobsen (Goodreads Author)
3.86 avg rating — 10,558 ratings
score: 54,
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1 person voted
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| 431 |
|
The World of Copernicus
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3.70 avg rating — 20 ratings
score: 53,
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1 person voted
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| 431 |
|
Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About The Event That Changed History
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3.76 avg rating — 478 ratings
score: 53,
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1 person voted
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| 431 |
|
Tasting the Past: The Science of Flavor and the Search for the Origins of Wine
by
Kevin Begos (Goodreads Author)
3.91 avg rating — 282 ratings
score: 53,
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1 person voted
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| 434 |
|
Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution
by
Holly Tucker (Goodreads Author)
3.65 avg rating — 2,600 ratings
score: 52,
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1 person voted
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| 434 |
|
The Great Paleolithic War: How Science Forged an Understanding of America's Ice Age Past
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4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
score: 52,
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1 person voted
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| 436 |
|
Medieval And Early Modern Science - Volume 2
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 436 |
|
A Crack in the Edge of the World
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3.79 avg rating — 7,211 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 436 |
|
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism
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3.97 avg rating — 19,324 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 436 |
|
Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays
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3.71 avg rating — 486 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 440 |
|
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
by
Sean Carroll (Goodreads Author)
4.06 avg rating — 6,791 ratings
score: 50,
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1 person voted
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| 440 |
|
De rivier die tegen de berg opstroomt
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4.38 avg rating — 136 ratings
score: 50,
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1 person voted
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| 440 |
|
How to Mellify a Corpse: and Other Human Stories of Ancient Science and Superstition
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3.48 avg rating — 166 ratings
score: 50,
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1 person voted
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| 443 |
|
Cows in the Maze: And Other Mathematical Explorations
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3.77 avg rating — 99 ratings
score: 49,
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1 person voted
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| 443 |
|
The Creative Moment
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3.75 avg rating — 8 ratings
score: 49,
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1 person voted
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| 443 |
|
Two-Fisted Science
by
Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author)
3.45 avg rating — 151 ratings
score: 49,
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1 person voted
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| 446 |
|
Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures
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3.80 avg rating — 293 ratings
score: 48,
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1 person voted
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| 446 |
|
Dignifying Science
by
Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author)
3.63 avg rating — 176 ratings
score: 48,
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1 person voted
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| 448 |
|
The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance
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3.95 avg rating — 1,488 ratings
score: 47,
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1 person voted
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| 449 |
|
Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
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4.18 avg rating — 1,390 ratings
score: 46,
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1 person voted
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| 450 |
|
Earthly Remains: The History and Science of Preserved Human Bodies
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3.90 avg rating — 61 ratings
score: 45,
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1 person voted
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| 451 |
|
The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets
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3.94 avg rating — 472 ratings
score: 44,
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1 person voted
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| 452 |
|
From Black Land To Fifth Sun: The Science Of Sacred Sites
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3.82 avg rating — 83 ratings
score: 43,
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1 person voted
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| 453 |
|
The Science of Monsters: the Origins of the Creatures We Love to Fear
by
Matt Kaplan (Goodreads Author)
3.56 avg rating — 1,376 ratings
score: 41,
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1 person voted
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| 454 |
|
Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
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3.67 avg rating — 660 ratings
score: 39,
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1 person voted
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| 455 |
|
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
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4.05 avg rating — 1,170 ratings
score: 38,
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1 person voted
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| 456 |
|
How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival
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3.55 avg rating — 805 ratings
score: 37,
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1 person voted
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| 457 |
|
How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial
by
Darryl Cunningham (Goodreads Author)
3.50 avg rating — 1,627 ratings
score: 36,
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1 person voted
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| 458 |
|
Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children
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3.97 avg rating — 74 ratings
score: 35,
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1 person voted
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| 459 |
|
Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat
by
Marta Zaraska (Goodreads Author)
4.05 avg rating — 559 ratings
score: 34,
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1 person voted
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| 460 |
|
Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,988 ratings
score: 33,
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1 person voted
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| 461 |
|
The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science
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3.68 avg rating — 378 ratings
score: 32,
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1 person voted
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| 462 |
|
A Magical World: Superstition and Science from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
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3.08 avg rating — 118 ratings
score: 31,
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1 person voted
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| 463 |
|
The Republican War on Science
by
Chris C. Mooney (Goodreads Author)
3.82 avg rating — 1,252 ratings
score: 30,
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1 person voted
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| 464 |
|
Discovering the Mammoth
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3.45 avg rating — 110 ratings
score: 29,
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1 person voted
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| 465 |
|
The Orange Trees of Marrakesh: Ibn Khaldun and the Science of Man
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3.58 avg rating — 12 ratings
score: 28,
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1 person voted
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| 466 |
|
The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science
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3.88 avg rating — 301 ratings
score: 27,
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1 person voted
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| 467 |
|
The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement
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3.67 avg rating — 85 ratings
score: 26,
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1 person voted
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| 468 |
|
American Madness: The Rise and Fall of Dementia Praecox
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4.15 avg rating — 20 ratings
score: 25,
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1 person voted
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| 469 |
|
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity
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4.28 avg rating — 17,399 ratings
score: 24,
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1 person voted
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| 470 |
|
Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture
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3.56 avg rating — 18 ratings
score: 22,
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1 person voted
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| 471 |
|
The Interpretation of Cultures
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4.11 avg rating — 3,832 ratings
score: 21,
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1 person voted
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| 472 |
|
Mummies, Disease and Ancient Cultures
by
Thomas Aidan Cockburn (Editor)
4.38 avg rating — 40 ratings
score: 20,
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1 person voted
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| 473 |
|
Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums
by
Stephen T. Asma (Goodreads Author)
3.71 avg rating — 307 ratings
score: 19,
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1 person voted
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| 474 |
|
Stir It Up: Home Economics in American Culture
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3.77 avg rating — 26 ratings
score: 18,
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1 person voted
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| 475 |
|
Food Fights & Culture Wars: A Secret History of Taste
by
Tom Nealon (Goodreads Author)
3.36 avg rating — 270 ratings
score: 17,
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1 person voted
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| 476 |
|
The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition
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3.85 avg rating — 437 ratings
score: 16,
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| 477 |
|
Discovering Gilgamesh: Geology, narrative and the historical sublime in Victorian culture
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it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 3 ratings
score: 15,
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1 person voted
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| 478 |
|
Archaeology of Aboriginal Culture Change in the Interior Southeast: Depopulation during the Early Historic Period (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series)
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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings
score: 14,
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| 479 |
|
On the Road of the Winds: An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact, Revised and Expanded Edition
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4.05 avg rating — 85 ratings
score: 13,
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| 480 |
|
Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World
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3.84 avg rating — 350 ratings
score: 12,
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| 481 |
|
Practicing Ethnohistory: Mining Archives, Hearing Testimony, Constructing Narrative
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4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings
score: 11,
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| 482 |
|
Stolen Lightning: Social Theory of Magic
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3.88 avg rating — 25 ratings
score: 9,
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| 483 |
|
The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy
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4.16 avg rating — 770 ratings
score: 8,
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| 484 |
|
The Workshop and the World: What Ten Thinkers Can Teach Us About Science and Authority
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3.70 avg rating — 114 ratings
score: 7,
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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
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message 1:
by
Susan
(new)
Jul 23, 2012 06:52PM
Every one of these books looks fascinating. But I'm lazy. What I would like is a whole series of TV specials, one per book, narrated beautifully by Edward Herrmann, James Earl Jones, David Attenborough, Mike Rowe, Sigourney Weaver. Would someone please do that for me?
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I really wanted to vote positively for A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It was a fun read. But I found a mistake. I feel that if a non-scientist like myself found a mistake there must be others in this book. Sigh.
Some books on here are not history. #100 Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things is psychology.
Agreed. Removed.
Susan wrote: "Every one of these books looks fascinating. But I'm lazy. What I would like is a whole series of TV specials, one per book, narrated beautifully by Edward Herrmann, James Earl Jones, David Attenbor..."There is a Crash Course series about the history of science on youtube, there's about 30+ videos @ 13mn in length. I recommend it!
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