I was like Kant reading Hume when I opened this book, because it woke me from small-minded slumber. Before Darwin's Dangerous Idea, I thought biology was basically just memorizing different parts of cells. Dennett opened my mind to the intricacies of evolutionary theory, and did so with wit and elegance.
The ultimate big-picture book. Wilson outlines how fields like history and the humanities can incorporate insights from biology and the study of human nature — to the benefit of both science and the arts. Consilience offers a bracing look at the future of human knowledge.
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson (HarperCollins, $20 as an e-book).
A 1,000-plus-page novel in three volumes about the origins of calculus might not sound promising, but Stephenson alchemizes science history into a gripping, swashbuckling, world-spanning adventure.
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The first book I read that made me say I want to do that; I want to write like that. No one ever mixed erudition and earnestness like DFW, and this book was my favorite of his. I still remember having to put it down, multiple times, because I was laughing so hard.
This was a set of children's reference books, divided by topic, that my mother bought at a grocery store. I got obsessed with them in the way that only kids can get obsessed with things: I read the volumes Myths & Legends and The Puzzle Book probably 20 times each. I still get excited when I visit my parents' home and see them.
Imagine a medieval bestiary of whimsical creatures, but with a twist — the animals here really exist. The book moves alphabetically from axolotl to zebra fish, with a new delight on every page. It's a perfect reminder of what biologist J.B.S. Haldane once said: that the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine.
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