Science & Discovery
Individual topics classified under "Science & Discovery", ranked by how many awards the books carrying each one have won combined. Open a topic to see its most-awarded books.
- 1
History of science
46 books
15
wins
278
score
- The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science · Richard Holmes2 wins · 27 score
- The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World · Andrea Wulf2 wins · 26 score
- A Short History of Nearly Everything · Bill Bryson1 win · 12 score
- Figuring · Maria Popova1 win · 12 score
- The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies · Richard Hamblyn1 win · 12 score
- 2
Quantum mechanics
9 books
7
wins
68
score
- The Elegant Universe · Brian Greene2 wins · 17 score
- Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists · Fred Alan Wolf1 win · 12 score
- The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics · Leonard Susskind1 win · 8 score
- The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom · Graham Farmelo1 win · 8 score
- The Universe in a Nutshell · Stephen Hawking1 win · 8 score
- 3
Cosmology
15 books
6
wins
90
score
- The Elegant Universe · Brian Greene2 wins · 17 score
- The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred · Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein2 wins · 15 score
- Cosmic Dawn: The Origins of Matter and Life · Eric Chaisson1 win · 9 score
- The Universe in a Nutshell · Stephen Hawking1 win · 8 score
- Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Story of the Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe · Dennis Overbye0 wins · 7 score
- 4
Scientific discovery
18 books
5
wins
101
score
- The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science · Richard Holmes2 wins · 27 score
- Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West · William H. Goetzmann1 win · 12 score
- Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World · David Bodanis1 win · 8 score
- The Age of Alchemy: The Secret History of Chemistry From Ancient Magic to Modern Science · Kit Chapman1 win · 8 score
- Coming of Age in the Milky Way · Timothy Ferris0 wins · 4 score
- 5
Arctic exploration
4 books
4
wins
44
score
- 6
History of physics
8 books
3
wins
47
score
- "Subtle is the Lord ...": The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein · Abraham Pais1 win · 12 score
- Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists · Fred Alan Wolf1 win · 12 score
- Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian · A. Douglas Stone1 win · 5 score
- Are Quanta Real?: A Galilean Dialogue · J. M. Jauch0 wins · 4 score
- The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America · Daniel J. Kevles0 wins · 4 score
- 7
Chernobyl nuclear disaster
3 books
3
wins
39
score
- 8
Philosophy of science
13 books
2
wins
70
score
- The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher · Lewis Thomas1 win · 16 score
- Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists · Fred Alan Wolf1 win · 12 score
- Are Quanta Real?: A Galilean Dialogue · J. M. Jauch0 wins · 4 score
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life · Daniel C. Dennett0 wins · 4 score
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life · Daniel Dennett0 wins · 4 score
- 9
Mathematics
11 books
2
wins
50
score
- Is Math Real? How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths · Eugenia Cheng1 win · 8 score
- The Man Who Loved Only Numbers · Paul Hoffman1 win · 8 score
- Alex's Adventures in Numberland · Alex Bellos0 wins · 7 score
- The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan · Robert Kanigel0 wins · 7 score
- Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life · Alex Bellos0 wins · 3 score
- 10
Science and religion
5 books
2
wins
34
score
- Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love · Dava Sobel1 win · 12 score
- The Measure of Man · Joseph Wood Krutch1 win · 12 score
- Myths, Models and Paradigms · Ian Barbour0 wins · 4 score
- Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order · George Johnson0 wins · 3 score
- The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth · Edward O. Wilson0 wins · 3 score
- 11
Popular science
5 books
2
wins
33
score
- A Short History of Nearly Everything · Bill Bryson1 win · 12 score
- The Wavewatcher's Companion · Gavin Pretor-Pinney1 win · 8 score
- Alex's Adventures in Numberland · Alex Bellos0 wins · 7 score
- Alex Through the Looking-Glass: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life · Alex Bellos0 wins · 3 score
- Magic Universe · Nigel Calder0 wins · 3 score
- 12
Consciousness
6 books
2
wins
30
score
- I Am a Strange Loop · Douglas Hofstadter1 win · 8 score
- The Emperor's New Mind · Roger Penrose1 win · 8 score
- The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind · Julian Jaynes0 wins · 4 score
- The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness · Sy Montgomery0 wins · 4 score
- A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness · Michael Pollan0 wins · 3 score
- 13
Enlightenment
3 books
2
wins
28
score
- 14
Oceanography
3 books
2
wins
25
score
- 15
Space race
3 books
2
wins
25
score
- 16
Black holes
5 books
2
wins
24
score
- The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics · Leonard Susskind1 win · 8 score
- Black Holes & Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy · Kip S. Thorne1 win · 5 score
- Black Holes and Warped Spacetime · William J. Kaufmann0 wins · 4 score
- Black Holes: the Edge of the Space, the End of Time · Walter Sullivan0 wins · 4 score
- Empire of the Stars: Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes · Arthur I. Miller0 wins · 3 score
- 17
Quantum physics
4 books
1
win
31
score
- The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics · Gary Zukav1 win · 12 score
- Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman · James Gleick0 wins · 11 score
- Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature · Heinz R. Pagels0 wins · 4 score
- Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality · Manjit Kumar0 wins · 4 score
- 18
Astrophysics
6 books
1
win
27
score
- Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Story of the Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe · Dennis Overbye0 wins · 7 score
- Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth · Adam Frank1 win · 5 score
- Black Holes and Warped Spacetime · William J. Kaufmann0 wins · 4 score
- Black Holes: the Edge of the Space, the End of Time · Walter Sullivan0 wins · 4 score
- The Big Bang: The Creation and Evolution of the Universe · Joseph Silk0 wins · 4 score
- 19
Cognitive science
4 books
1
win
25
score
- How the Mind Works · Steven Pinker1 win · 16 score
- AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence · Daniel Crevier0 wins · 3 score
- The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human · Jonathan Gottschall0 wins · 3 score
- This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession · Daniel J. Levitin0 wins · 3 score
- 20
Extraterrestrial life
6 books
1
win
23
score
- Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth · Adam Frank1 win · 5 score
- Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science · Carl Sagan0 wins · 4 score
- Cosmos · Carl Sagan0 wins · 4 score
- We Are Not Alone: The Search for Intelligent Life on Other Worlds · Walter S. Sullivan0 wins · 4 score
- The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos · Jaime Green0 wins · 3 score
- 21
Geology
4 books
1
win
22
score
- 22
Archaeology
4 books
1
win
19
score
- 23
Economic policy
3 books
1
win
19
score
- 24
Relativity theory
3 books
1
win
19
score
- 25
Origins of the universe
4 books
1
win
18
score
- Cosmic Dawn: The Origins of Matter and Life · Eric Chaisson1 win · 9 score
- Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story · Jim Holt0 wins · 4 score
- The Alchemy of the Heavens: Searching for Meaning in the Milky Way · Ken Croswell0 wins · 3 score
- The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math · Manil Suri0 wins · 2 score
- 26
Particle physics
4 books
1
win
17
score
- 27
Astronomy
4 books
1
win
15
score
- The Mystery of Comets · Fred L. Whipple1 win · 5 score
- Galaxies · Timothy Ferris0 wins · 4 score
- We Are Not Alone: The Search for Intelligent Life on Other Worlds · Walter S. Sullivan0 wins · 4 score
- The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers · Emily Levesque0 wins · 2 score
- 28
History of astronomy
4 books
1
win
15
score
- The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World · Sarah Stewart Johnson1 win · 5 score
- Coming of Age in the Milky Way · Timothy Ferris0 wins · 4 score
- The Hunt for Vulcan: ... and How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe · Thomas Levenson0 wins · 3 score
- The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began · Stuart Clark0 wins · 3 score
- 29
Cognitive psychology
3 books
1
win
14
score
- 30
Materials science
3 books
1
win
14
score
- Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World · Mark Miodownik1 win · 8 score
- Liquid: The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives · Mark Miodownik0 wins · 3 score
- The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another · Ainissa Ramirez0 wins · 3 score
- 31
Science policy
4 books
1
win
14
score
- The Art and Politics of Science · Harold Varmus1 win · 5 score
- Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial · Peter A. Stott0 wins · 3 score
- Is Science Necessary?: Essays on Science and Scientists · Max F. Perutz0 wins · 3 score
- The Republican War on Science · Chris Mooney0 wins · 3 score
- 32
Scientific Revolution
3 books
1
win
14
score
- 33
Theoretical physics
3 books
1
win
14
score
- 34
Philosophy of mind
3 books
1
win
13
score
- 35
Space exploration
6 books
0
wins
24
score
- Disturbing the Universe · Freeman Dyson0 wins · 8 score
- Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys · Michael Collins0 wins · 4 score
- The Voyages of Apollo: The Exploration of the Moon · Richard S. Lewis0 wins · 4 score
- Backroom Boys · Francis Spufford0 wins · 3 score
- Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space, and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril · Timothy Ferris0 wins · 3 score
- 36
History of geology
5 books
0
wins
18
score
- Continents in Motion: The New Earth Debate · Walter S. Sullivan0 wins · 4 score
- The Abyss of Time: Changing Conceptions of the Earth's Antiquity after the Sixteenth Century · Claude C. Albritton0 wins · 4 score
- Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle · Stephen Jay Gould0 wins · 4 score
- The Greywacke: How a Priest, a Soldier and a School Teacher Uncovered 300 Million Years of History · Nick Davidson0 wins · 3 score
- Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform · Martin J. S. Rudwick0 wins · 3 score
- 37
History of mathematics
5 books
0
wins
17
score
- Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times · Morris Kline0 wins · 4 score
- Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty · Morris Kline0 wins · 4 score
- Everything Is Predictable: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World · Tom Chivers0 wins · 3 score
- Fermat’s Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret of an Ancient Mathematical Problem · Amir D. Aczel0 wins · 3 score
- Why Beauty is Truth: A History of Symmetry · Ian Stewart0 wins · 3 score
- 38
Religion and science
3 books
0
wins
11
score
- 39
History of psychology
3 books
0
wins
10
score
- 40
Physics
3 books
0
wins
9
score
- 41
Memory science
3 books
0
wins
8
score
Recent Standout Topics (2020+)
- 1Mathematics1 win
- 2History of science0 wins
Where This Data Comes From
- Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction2012–2026
- Anisfield-Wolf Book Award1936–2026
- Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction1999–2026
- Bancroft Prize1948–2026
- Cundill History Prize2008–2026
- Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award2005–2026
- J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize1999–2026
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography1919–2025
- Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction2014–2026
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography1981–2025