biology

6 books in this category

Start here

The Descent of Man

The Descent of Man

by Charles Darwin

Cited by 2 other books and connected to 0 more in biology. If you read one book in this category first, the citation network says make it this one.

Foundational Books in biology

Ranked by how often they are cited by other books in the collection. These are the titles later authors keep returning to — read one and you will recognise its fingerprints across the rest of the category.

  1. The Descent of Man1

    The Descent of Man

    by Charles Darwin

    Cited by 2
  2. The Red Queen2

    The Red Queen

    by Matt Ridley

    Cited by 1

More books in biology

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

by Philipp Dettmer

star4.7

Dettmer, creator of the Kurzgesagt YouTube channel, gives an illustrated tour of the human immune system's cells, signalling molecules, and escalating layers of defense. He explains innate immunity, antibodies, T-cells, inflammation, allergy, and cancer immunology for readers with no biology background.

sciencebiology
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

The Body: A Guide for Occupants

by Bill Bryson

star4.6

Bryson takes the reader head-to-toe through the human body, marshaling anatomy, immunology, genetics, and medical history into a witty guided tour. Along the way he surveys how little we still understand about the organs, cells, and microbes that keep us running.

sciencebiology
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

by Ed Yong

star4.45

Yong introduces the concept of the Umwelt -- each organism's unique sensory bubble -- to reveal how animals perceive the world through senses humans can barely imagine. From electric fields sensed by fish to the magnetic maps of sea turtles, the book redefines our understanding of perception and consciousness.

sciencenature
The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David Quammen

The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

by David Quammen

star4.2

Quammen narrates how Carl Woese's ribosomal-RNA work, Lynn Margulis's endosymbiosis theory, and the discovery of horizontal gene transfer have shattered Darwin's neatly branching tree of life. The result is a 'tangled tree' where whole genomes cross species lines, rewriting the history of evolution and even the composition of our own cells.

sciencebiology