My favourite science books

I've been talking to a few people recently about good science books. My favorite books that deal with similar topics to this blog are in descending order:

Mapping the deep - Robert Kunzig

The World without us - Alan Weisman

The wavewatcher's companion - Gavin Pretor-Pinney

Trilobite - Richard Fortey

At the water's edge - Carl Zimmer

Books outside the topic area of this blog that I found to be excellent are:

The demon-haunted world - Carl Sagan
The elegant universe - Brian Breene
Chaos - James Gleick

Neil Shubin's "Your inner fish" is sitting on my bookshelf just waiting to be read. I hear it is very good and will probably make it onto my list. Several books by Dawkins and Gould are also among my favorites, but I liked them less than the ones above. The ancestor's tale (Dawkins) and Wonderful life (Gould) are probably the best I've read of their books.

Top five on Friday

On a whim, I've decided to start writing some top five lists. And, because five and Friday both start with 'f', I'm going to post them each Friday. Today it'll be my top five favorite popular science books that I have read. 

1. The demon-haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark, Carl Sagan

2. Mapping the deep: The extraordinary story of ocean science, Robert Kunzig

3. The world without us, Alan Weisman

4. The elegant universe: Superstrings, hidden dimensions and the quest for the ultimate theory, Brian Greene

5. Trilobite: Eyewitness to evolution, Richard Fortey