The best science/nature books by scientists

This is the classic personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA. I read it as an early college assignment, but now find it rich in history, biology, and insight. Watson described himself as an ornithology undergraduate who avoided chemistry and physics courses in spite of a desire to do science—a common sentiment. He unfolds in frank detail how the world of science worked, and sometimes didn’t work, early post-WWII. We learn as much about bond angles and hydration as we do about laboratory politics and personality quirks beneath the effort to puzzle out the structure and function of DNA. The epilogue pays tribute to less well-known collaborators, especially Rosalind Franklin, sometimes dismissed as uncooperative, but recognized here for her essential contributions and competence as a scientist.

Two leading experts on protein-RNA chemistry explain the workings and alarming potential behind the gene-editing tool CRISPR. They describe in clear language how the CRISPR-Cas9 system was uncovered, how it can be used to manipulate DNA, and the incredible hope it offers to cure HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers. At the same time, these inventors of the technology raise alarm and warn of the incredible danger and unforeseen consequences posed by rewriting the code of an organism—a biological genie that once released can never be harnessed or controlled. I read this book on the plane after a scientific conference where NGO donors touted the benefits of gene manipulation, and landed with a new commitment to bioethics and questions about the need and motivation driving such endeavors.

I love a book that strikes a perfect balance between respect for the tools of modern science, botany, and ecology, together with the understanding that arises from indigenous knowledge and ancient ways of understanding the world. I came away with a sense that modern learning is impoverished unless it is somehow connected with ancient approaches to knowledge. Professor Kimmerer clearly loves language, and her rich and lyrical narrative makes this book a pleasurable journey through fields and laboratories and ancient rituals. For a crusty plant scientist like me, this book reawakened an ecological consciousness where people, plants, and animals live in remarkable interdependence on a remarkably generous planet earth.  

The meaning of evolution, the foundation of creativity, the nature of consciousness—nobody can write so clearly and evocatively about these things as Oliver Sacks did over his long and productive career. This book offers a fresh look into the mind of a big thinker. Sacks explores issues and ideas across a remarkable breadth of disciplines. Here, he delved into questions most people probably have never thought to ask about evolution, botany, medicine, as well as the arts. He explores the science and humanity in everything, including his own growing awareness of memory loss. Having read most of his other books, I found this one as new and novel and enlightening as the first I came across decades ago.  

There is so much well-intentioned but misinformed writing about ecology and the environment, it was a pleasure to read a solidly written book by an expert entomologist who speaks with authority and personal experience about native trees. This book follows oaks through the year, describing their remarkable biology and many interacting organisms. We get clear illustrations of changing seasons, environments, and stresses, along with co-evolutionary partners that form the web of life around this remarkable tree. It covers many foundational concepts in ecology—mutualism, keystone plants, mimicry, predation, competition, and more. I never before appreciated the essentiality of oaks, a tree that is a habitat for more insects (over 500) than any other, and thus supports a whole panoply of birds and other creatures. Like me, readers will keep an eye out for oaks in a new way.