The most recommended biological engineering books

Who picked these books? Meet our 6 experts.

6 authors created a book list connected to biological engineering, and here are their favorite biological engineering books.
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Book cover of How to Build a Dinosaur: The New Science of Reverse Evolution

Jeff Campbell Author Of Glowing Bunnies!? Why We're Making Hybrids, Chimeras, and Clones

From my list on stop worrying and love bioengineered animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an author of YA science books (as well as being an editor), my goal is to inspire teens to think deeply about our world, but especially about our relationships with animals. To be honest, I knew bubkis about bioengineering until I was writing my previous book, Last of the Giants, about the extinction crisis. My head exploded as I learned how close we are to “de-extincting” lost species. The power that genetic engineering gives us to alter animals is unnerving, and it’s critical that we understand and discuss it. Bioengineering will change our future, and teens today will be the ones deciding how.    

Jeff's book list on stop worrying and love bioengineered animals

Jeff Campbell Why did Jeff love this book?

It’s nice when scientists talk like regular people, with a sense of humor and simple explanations of how impossibly complex stuff works. That’s paleontologist Jack Horner, who has been the dinosaur consultant on all the Jurassic Park films. He’s currently trying to re-create a real-life dinosaur, which he makes sound like tinkering with the engine of a 1960s Mustang. Who me? Just trying to get a chicken embryo to grow into a dinosaur, to see if I can. And if it works, by the way, there’s your proof about the theory of evolution.  

By Jack Horner, James Gorman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Build a Dinosaur as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A world-renowned paleontologist reveals groundbreaking science that trumps science fiction: how to grow a living dinosaur.

Over a decade after Jurassic Park, Jack Horner and his colleagues in molecular biology labs are in the process of building the technology to create a real dinosaur.

Based on new research in evolutionary developmental biology on how a few select cells grow to create arms, legs, eyes, and brains that function together, Jack Horner takes the science a step further in a plan to "reverse evolution" and reveals the awesome, even frightening, power being acquired to recreate the prehistoric past. The key is…


Book cover of The Bermuda Connection

Rick Simonds Author Of Operation: Midnight

From my list on thrillers revealing government conspiracies.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have long had an interest in government conspiracies and have spent hundreds of hours researching the many experiments our government has foisted upon an unsuspecting populous. When the Church Committee released info on Projects MK Ultra, Bluebird, Artichoke, and others, people were stunned to realize what had been going on. Movies such as The Matrix dealt with mind control and the attempt to create the perfect soldier, and I am convinced such research and experimentation continues today.

Rick's book list on thrillers revealing government conspiracies

Rick Simonds Why did Rick love this book?

A government researcher disappears and the protagonist, Nick Randall, is battling reoccurring visions that are somehow intertwined. When assassins attempt to kill him, he is forced to go into hiding. I loved the use of Randall’s son, John, who discovers that he is part of a clandestine psychological project being overseen by the military.

As a father, I loved the use of Randall’s son, who is also searching for someone—his partner—in this fast-paced novel that uses very different locales.

By Robert Rapoza,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bermuda Connection as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A recurring frightening vision and the disappearance of a top government researcher are somehow tied to each other. Only Nick Randall solve the mystery.

Archeologist Nick Randall is haunted by a recurring nightmare that may be tied to his controversial research. As he searches for answers, assassins nearly kill him, forcing him into hiding.

Nick’s son, John, a talented bioengineer, faces his own mystery. Having developed a drug that erases traumatic memories, his research partner suddenly disappears.

While searching for him, John makes a terrifying discovery. He has been part of a secret, psychological, military project, and the shadowy figures…


Book cover of The Earthlings

Carolyn Watson Dubisch

From Carolyn's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Graphic novelist Avid reader Writer Artist

Carolyn's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Carolyn Watson Dubisch Why did Carolyn love this book?

The premise of this short novel is that humans are being engineered by aliens to be a variety of sizes. Quite a lot of sizes, really. I almost wish there was a diagram.

That said, the book was really engaging and had some of the most off-the-wall sex scenes I’d ever read.
 It reminded me of that crazy, weird animated movie “Fantastic Planet” from the 1970s. Whenever you pair giant humans with tiny people, things get bizarre, and this author certainly delivered on that!


This book is illustrated with some incredible drawings by author-illustrator Mike Dubisch. I loved how this book takes the reader into a whole other world that truly stays with you for months after reading it.

By Mike Dubisch,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Earthlings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


ABANDONED BY THEIR GODS!

FORSAKEN BY THEIR OVERSEERS!


Discover a world where humanity has been bioengineered by alien gods into a diverse array of new races, ranging from the minuscule to the colossal, in The Earthlings!


When the alien overseers vanished one fateful morning, the humans were left to confront a daunting new reality. Experience a thrilling adventure in this gripping illustrated novelette by Mike Dubisch.



Book cover of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

Chris Hepler Author Of Civil Blood: The Vampire Rights Case that Changed a Nation

From Chris' 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author TTRPG gamer Martial artist Dad Reptile enthusiast Worldbuilding nerd

Chris' 3 favorite reads in 2023

Chris Hepler Why did Chris love this book?

I love how Mary Roach travels the world finding out the history of unusual things – whether sex research, deployed soldiers, or what happens to corpses. In Fuzz, she chronicles the hassles of people who have to deal with dangerous animals…often in encounters that are ridiculous, deadly, or both.

Bears that roam onto median strips dotted with crabapple trees, elephants that squash people (or worse, de-limb them like a tree), and dumb ocean birds that are unafraid to nest at airports are all unique hazards, and Mary Roach writes with humor about all of them.

As a video game writer constantly having to come up with fresh human-versus-beast conflicts, I found this book informative as well as hilarious. Definitely staying on my shelf.

By Mary Roach,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Fuzz as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.

Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller blasters. Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in…


Book cover of How to Build a Dinosaur: The New Science of Reverse Evolution
Book cover of The Bermuda Connection
Book cover of The Earthlings

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