“Most Popular Science Book in Australia” — Royal Institute of Australia

The Philosophical Breakfast Club came out on top in the Royal Institution of Australia’s poll for “Most Popular Science Book!”

Here’s the final list of the top 9, out of the initial 100 books:

1. The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World, Laura J Snyder
2. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. A Short History Of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
4. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
5. The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin
6. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
7. Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson & The Foundation Series, by Isaac Asimov
8. 1984, by George Orwell

Thanks to all the book’s fans, and to the Royal Institution of Australia for running the poll—a great way to remind all of us to pick up our favorite science books again, or to discover new favorites!! (The only one on the short list I’ve never read is Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. Maybe I can fit it in before starting to teach at the end of the month. . . .)

You can see the list on the Royal Institution of Australia’s website, here.

2 replies
  1. Anne Williams
    Anne Williams says:

    That is an interesting list of nice books! A good mix also of astronomy, philosophy, biology and history. Funny that most of these books are already quite “old”. Recently I came across a website with the best popular science books on biology that have been released in 2011: http://popsciencebooks.com/best-biology-books/

    It includes books that are not yet on this list, including for example “The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today” by Rob Dunn

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