Books Scientists Recommend Most

Based on 363 sourced recommendations from 119 scientists. Updated October 20, 2026.

1. 1. Sapiens

   

   By Yuval Noah Harari

   Recommended by 4 of 119 scientists

   • Melinda French Gates Source
   • Demis Hassabis Source
   • Jared Diamond Source
   • Lex Fridman Source

   It just was a very, as you said, expansive book for me and for my thinking.

   Source

2. 2. The Hard Thing About Hard Things

   

   By Ben Horowitz

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Andrew Ng Source
   • Larry Page Source

   Ben's book is a great read — with uncomfortable truths about entrepreneurship and how to lead to a company. It's also an inspiring story of a business rebirth through sheer willpower.

   Source

3. 3. 1984

   

   By George Orwell

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source
   • Lex Fridman Source

   I saw the movie 1984 recently. Not a very good movie. The book is better than the movie

   Source

4. 4. Snow Crash

   

   By Neal Stephenson

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Sergey Brin Source
   • Larry Page Source

5. 5. The Better Angels of Our Nature

   

   By Steven Pinker

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Lex Fridman Source
   • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

   So you've written some of my favorite books all over the place. So starting from Enlightenment Now to The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, the one about language, The Language Instinct.

   Source

6. 6. The Selfish Gene

   

   By Richard Dawkins

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • David Deutsch Source
   • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

   I haven't read all 30... I've read The Selfish Gene, I've read The Blind Watchmaker, I've read The God Delusion

   Source

7. 7. The Wealth of Nations

   

   By Adam Smith

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Nick Szabo Source
   • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

   to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself

   Source

8. 8. The Prince

   

   By Niccolò Machiavelli

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source
   • Jared Diamond Source

   to learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it

   Source

9. 9. Mountains Beyond Mountains

   

   By Tracy Kidder

   Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

   • Jeff Dean Source
   • Donald Knuth Source

10. 10. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

    

    By Richard Feynman

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Sergey Brin Source
    • Larry Page Source

11. 11. Life 3.0

    

    By Max Tegmark

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source
    • Lex Fridman Source

    And of course Life 3.0, where you're exploring the future of what we even think of as life. And I've enjoyed both of those books.

    Source

12. 12. The Blank Slate

    

    By Steven Pinker

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source
    • Lex Fridman Source

    I got you down here for a dozen books, several of them are some of my favorite books. You know, The Blank Slate

    Source

13. 13. The Player of Games

    

    By Iain Banks

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source
    • Dario Amodei Source

    I'm doing an experiment of reading/rereading 1 book a day for 7+ days starting Aug 19. Looking for short, impactful books (see pic for examples).

    Source

14. 14. The Guns of August

    

    By Barbara W. Tuchman

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Dario Amodei Source
    • Lex Fridman Source

    My third recommendation would be actually The Guns of August... The basic idea that crises happen very fast, almost no one knows what's going on, there are lots of miscalculations because there are humans at the center of it.

    Source

15. 15. The Making of the Atomic Bomb

    

    By Richard Rhodes

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Dario Amodei Source
    • Bill Nye Source

    The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes, it's an example of technology being developed very quickly and with very broad implications.

    Source

16. 16. Cosmos

    

    By Carl Sagan

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Bill Nye Source
    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    “Cosmos” is the story of my other hero, Carl Sagan. The other guy who inspired me to do what I do now.

    Source

17. 17. Chasing Space: An Astronaut's Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances

    

    By Leland Melvin

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Bill Nye Source
    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    Read (Jan 2017).

    Source

18. 18. The Demon-Haunted World

    

    By Carl Sagan

    Recommended by 2 of 119 scientists

    • Bill Nye Source
    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    This is the title of one of Carl Sagan's books, The Demon-Haunted World. Science as a Candle in the Dark, that was the subtitle of that book.

    Source

19. 19. The Bible

    

    By Unknown/Other

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    The Bible (to learn that it's easier to be told by others what to think, than to think for yourself)

    Source

20. 20. Man's Search For Meaning

    

    By Viktor Frankl

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    I reread [this book] quite often.

    Source

21. 21. Zero to One

    

    By Peter Thiel, Blake Masters

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Andrew Ng Source

22. 22. Principles

    

    By Ray Dalio

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    A book I highly recommend.

    Source

23. 23. Meditations

    

    By Marcus Aurelius

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    I'm doing an experiment of reading/rereading 1 book a day for 7+ days starting Aug 19. Looking for short, impactful books (see pic for examples).

    Source

24. 24. Guns, Germs, and Steel

    

    By Jared Diamond

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Patrick Arnold Source

25. 25. The War of Art

    

    By Steven Pressfield

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    Beautiful book.

    Source

26. 26. Animal Farm

    

    By George Orwell

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    I'm doing an experiment of reading/rereading 1 book a day for 7+ days starting Aug 19. Looking for short, impactful books (see pic for examples).

    Source

27. 27. Brave New World

    

    By Aldous Huxley

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    Listed as read on his official reading list.

    Source

28. 28. The Lean Startup

    

    By Eric Ries

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Andrew Ng Source

29. 29. How to Change Your Mind

    

    By Michael Pollan

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Hamilton Morris Source

30. 30. Siddhartha

    

    By Hermann Hesse

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    I'm doing an experiment of reading/rereading 1 book a day for 7+ days starting Aug 19. Looking for short, impactful books (see pic for examples).

    Source

31. 31. Anna Karenina

    

    By Leo Tolstoy

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Jared Diamond Source

    What’s the best love story you’ve ever read? Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” — even though the love goes sour and the book has a sad ending.

    Source

32. 32. Ready Player One

    

    By Ernest Cline

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Astro Teller Source

33. 33. Crossing the Chasm

    

    By Geoffrey Moore

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Andrew Ng Source

34. 34. The Brothers Karamazov

    

    By Fyodor Dostoevsky

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    I read The Brothers Karamazov both in English and Russian ... I mean, I love Dostoevsky. ... So, this book means a lot to me. I'm not somebody just kind of rolling in, 'What are the cool kids reading these days?' These books have been lifelong companions to me.

    Source

35. 35. The Great Gatsby

    

    By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    This is why I know I'll never be a novelist because this quote is just… too perfect. … I can't do that. I'm sorry. I'll never be a novelist.

    Source

36. 36. The Art of War

    

    By Sun Tzu

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art

    Source

37. 37. The Book of Five Rings

    

    By Miyamoto Musashi

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    I'm doing an experiment of reading/rereading 1 book a day for 7+ days starting Aug 19. Looking for short, impactful books (see pic for examples).

    Source

38. 38. Gates of Fire

    

    By Steven Pressfield

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    Also his books Gates of Fire, about the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae, The Lion's Gate, Tides of War, and others are some of the best historical fiction novels ever written.

    Source

39. 39. Hillbilly Elegy

    

    By J. D. Vance

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Bill Nye Source

    “Hillbilly Elegy” provides the reader with insight into how the United States got into its current mess... I hope J.D. Vance’s story will help us learn to work together and improve the quality of life for all our citizens.

    Source

40. 40. When Breath Becomes Air

    

    By Paul Kalanithi

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Melinda French Gates Source

    What a gift Kalanithi gave us by sharing—beautifully and bravely—his perspectives on mortality.

    Source

41. 41. Superintelligence

    

    By Nick Bostrom

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Neil deGrasse Tyson Source

    For me also I remembered your book Superintelligence, which got people thinking, as any good philosopher should do

    Source

42. 42. Save the Cat

    

    By Blake Snyder

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Bill Nye Source

43. 43. The Beginning of Infinity

    

    By David Deutsch

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    listening to Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch, which is one of my favorite books. It's endlessly optimistic and inspiring.

    Source

44. 44. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

    

    By Jack Weatherford

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    He has written a legendary book on his topic titled Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World... I've gotten to know Jack more after this conversation and I cannot speak highly enough about him.

    Source

45. 45. Think Again

    

    By Adam Grant

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Melinda French Gates Source

    A book recommendation: @AdamMGrant’s “Think Again,” which makes a compelling case for why learning should be a lifelong habit.

    Source

46. 46. Born Standing Up

    

    By Steve Martin

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Bill Nye Source

    This is the story of my hero. The guy who inspired me to do what I do now.

    Source

47. 47. Brotopia

    

    By Emily Chang

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Melinda French Gates Source

    @EmilyChangTV's book proves that the first statement is wrong. And we don't have to accept the second.

    Source

48. 48. Enlightenment Now

    

    By Steven Pinker

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    So you've written some of my favorite books all over the place. So starting from Enlightenment Now to The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, the one about language, The Language Instinct.

    Source

49. 49. Creativity, Inc.

    

    By Amy Wallace, Ed Catmull

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Demis Hassabis Source

50. 50. Deep Work

    

    By Cal Newport

    Recommended by 1 of 119 scientists

    • Lex Fridman Source

    And I'm very much with Cal Newport on this. He wrote Deep Work and a lot of other amazing books. He talks about task switching as the thing that really destroys productivity.

    Source

Every Scientist on Ultimate Book List

• Neil deGrasse Tyson — 106 recommendations
• Lex Fridman — 77 recommendations
• Melinda French Gates — 37 recommendations
• Bill Nye — 28 recommendations
• Donald Knuth — 17 recommendations
• Nick Szabo — 15 recommendations
• David Deutsch — 14 recommendations
• Jared Diamond — 14 recommendations
• Hamilton Morris — 9 recommendations
• Jonathan Eisen — 9 recommendations
• Andrew Ng — 7 recommendations
• Larry Page — 6 recommendations
• Dario Amodei — 5 recommendations
• Demis Hassabis — 3 recommendations
• Liv Boeree — 3 recommendations
• Sergey Brin — 3 recommendations
• Adam Gazzaley — 2 recommendations
• Jeff Dean — 2 recommendations
• M. Sanjayan — 2 recommendations
• Patrick Arnold — 2 recommendations
• Astro Teller — 1 recommendations
• Lisa Randall — 1 recommendations
• Abigail Marsh — 0 recommendations
• Adam Rutherford — 0 recommendations
• Albert Hofmann — 0 recommendations
• Alice Roberts — 0 recommendations
• Alison Gopnik — 0 recommendations
• Andrew McAfee — 0 recommendations
• Andrew S. Tanenbaum — 0 recommendations
• Anthony D. Williams — 0 recommendations
• Anthony Pratkanis — 0 recommendations
• Arnold van Gennep — 0 recommendations
• Arvind Narayanan — 0 recommendations
• Behzad Mohit — 0 recommendations
• Bob Berman — 0 recommendations
• Brian Greene — 0 recommendations
• Brian M. Fagan — 0 recommendations
• C. P. Snow — 0 recommendations
• Callum Roberts — 0 recommendations
• Carl Hart — 0 recommendations
• Carl Sagan — 0 recommendations
• Carlo Rovelli — 0 recommendations
• Carmen Simon — 0 recommendations
• Christian Rätsch — 0 recommendations
• Craig Venter — 0 recommendations
• Daniel Lieberman — 0 recommendations
• Danny Hillis — 0 recommendations
• David A. Sinclair — 0 recommendations
• David Reich — 0 recommendations
• David Steinmetz — 0 recommendations
• Delia Owens — 0 recommendations
• Edward Felten — 0 recommendations
• Eliot A. Cohen — 0 recommendations
• Elkhonon Goldberg — 0 recommendations
• Evgeny Morozov — 0 recommendations
• Freeman Dyson — 0 recommendations
• G. H. Hardy — 0 recommendations
• Garrett Hardin — 0 recommendations
• Gary Marcus — 0 recommendations
• Gerald Durrell — 0 recommendations
• Gregory Cochran — 0 recommendations
• Hans C. Ohanian — 0 recommendations
• Henry Harpending — 0 recommendations
• Herbert Bos — 0 recommendations
• Ian Morris — 0 recommendations
• Ivan Savov — 0 recommendations
• J. A. Bittencourt — 0 recommendations
• J. Allen Hynek — 0 recommendations
• Jack Wisdom — 0 recommendations
• Jacob Lund Fisker — 0 recommendations
• Jacques Vallée — 0 recommendations
• James DiNicolantonio — 0 recommendations
• James Lovelock — 0 recommendations
• Jaron Lanier — 0 recommendations
• Jason Fung — 0 recommendations
• Jim Al-Khalili — 0 recommendations
• John C. Lilly — 0 recommendations
• John D. Barrow — 0 recommendations
• Johnjoe McFadden — 0 recommendations
• Karel Bartosek — 0 recommendations
• Károly Simonyi — 0 recommendations
• Katharine Hayhoe — 0 recommendations
• Leonard Mlodinow — 0 recommendations
• Lon Kilgore — 0 recommendations
• Luca Massaron — 0 recommendations
• Lyanda Lynn Haupt — 0 recommendations
• Margaret Mead — 0 recommendations
• Mark P. Mills — 0 recommendations
• Marshall Sahlins — 0 recommendations
• Max Tegmark — 0 recommendations
• Michio Kaku — 0 recommendations
• Neil Gershenfeld — 0 recommendations
• Neil Price — 0 recommendations
• Nick Bostrom — 0 recommendations
• Nicolaus Copernicus — 0 recommendations
• Paul G. Hewitt — 0 recommendations
• Peter Atkins — 0 recommendations
• Peter Watts — 0 recommendations
• Philip Morrison — 0 recommendations
• R. Gordon Wasson — 0 recommendations
• Ray Kurzweil — 0 recommendations
• Richard Evans Schultes — 0 recommendations
• Robert Axelrod — 0 recommendations
• Robert Lanza — 0 recommendations
• Robin Wall Kimmerer — 0 recommendations
• Scott Aaronson — 0 recommendations
• Scott E. Page — 0 recommendations
• Sean B. Carroll — 0 recommendations
• Shanna H. Swan — 0 recommendations
• Silvanus P. Thompson — 0 recommendations
• Stéphane Courtois — 0 recommendations
• Stephen Wolfram — 0 recommendations
• Stuart Kauffman — 0 recommendations
• Sverker Johansson — 0 recommendations
• Tim Flannery — 0 recommendations
• V. S. Ramachandran — 0 recommendations
• Vaclav Smil — 0 recommendations
• Valter Longo — 0 recommendations
• Wade Davis — 0 recommendations

Frequently asked questions

What is the top book recommended by scientists?

Sapiens ranks first, recommended by 4 scientists.

How is the ranking counted?

We count each person once per book, using only public people, books and approved recommendations. Books are ranked by recommenders in this group, then by total public recommenders. Source links are shown where available.

How many scientists are included?

This group includes 119 public profiles, including profiles with no public recommendations. 8 have recommended at least 10 books.