A guide to the best science writing, which tells the centuries-long story of our striving to understand the world.

The Story of Science guides us to the original texts that have changed the way we think about our world, our cosmos and ourselves. Whether referenced individually or read together as the narrative of Western scientific development, the book's twenty-eight succinct chapters lead readers from the first science texts by Hippocrates, Plato and Aristotle through twentieth-century classics in biology, physics and cosmology, including works by Einstein, Schrödinger and Dawkins. Each chapter recommends one or more classic books and provides an entertaining account of the discovery, a vivid sketch of the scientist-writer and a clear explanation of any technical issues. The Story of Science reveals science to be a human pursuit-an essential, often deeply personal, sometimes flawed, frequently brilliant way of understanding the world.