Most Popular Science Book in 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.

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About the Author

Laura J. Snyder, Ph.D., is a science historian, philosopher and writer whose most recent book, The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends who Transformed Science and Changed the World, was an Official Selection of the TED Book Club, a Scientific American Notable Book, and winner of the 2011 Royal Institution of Australia Poll for Favorite Science Book. Snyder is Professor of Philosophy at St. John's University in New York City and writes frequently about science and ideas for The Wall Street Journal. She is a Fulbright Scholar, a Life Member of Clare Hall College, Cambridge, and Past President of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.   She is currently working on a book about how new optical technologies in the 17th century revolutionized not only science, but also art and the rest of culture. Follow Laura Snyder on Twitter and Facebook.

2 Responses to “Most Popular Science Book in Australia”

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1 Anne Williams December 1, 2011 at 4:27 pm

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

- 2 Laura J. Snyder December 2, 2011 at 9:28 am
  
  Thanks for the comment. And thanks for pointing me to that website, where I see that THE PHILOSOPHICAL BREAKFAST CLUB is on the list of Best Popular Science Books (General)!
  
  http://popsciencebooks.com/category/general/page/4/

Laura J. Snyder