The Best Science And Nature Books of 2021 (A Year-End List Aggregation)
“What are the best Science & Nature books released in 2021?” We looked at 238 of the top Science & Nature books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 32 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Science & Nature” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 200+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Our other Best Of 2021 Articles:
- The Best Art, Photography, And Coffee Table Books
- The Best AudioBooks
- The Best Biography And Memoir Books
- The Best Graphic Novels And Comics
- The Best Cookbooks
- The Best Fiction Books
- The Best Books (All Catergories)
- The Best History Books
- The Best Kids, Children, and Youth Books
- The Best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller Books
- The Best Nonfiction Books
- The Best Poetry Books
- The Best Science And Nature Books
- The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
- The Best Young Adult Books
Previous Years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Happy Scrolling!
Top 32 Best Science & Nature Books From 2021
32.) A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life written by Heather Heying
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Waterstones 2
A provocative exploration of the tension between our evolutionary history and our modern woes–and what we can do about it. We are living through the …
31.) Beavers: Radical Rodents and Ecosystem Engineers written by Frances Backhouse
Lists It Appears On:
- Alison Zak
- NSTA
By cutting trees and building dams, beavers shape landscapes and provide valuable wetland homes for many plants and animals. These radical rodents wer…
30.) Beyond written by Stephen Walker
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 4
- Waterstones 2
“This remarkable account of the 1961 race into space is a thrilling piece of storytelling. . . . It is high definition history: tight, thrilling and b…
29.) Exponential written by Azeem Azhar
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 4
- Waterstones 2
A bold exploration and call-to-arms over the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data–and our ability to deal with its effects We are living…
28.) Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate written by Paul Halpern
Lists It Appears On:
- Science News
- Symmetry
A respected physics professor and author breaks down the great debate over the Big Bang and the continuing quest to understand the fate of the univers…
27.) Free: Coming of Age at the End of History written by Lea Ypi
Lists It Appears On:
- Five Books
- Geographical
For precocious 11-year-old Lea Ypi, Albania’s Soviet-style socialism held the promise of a preordained future, a guarantee of security among enthusias…
26.) Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began written by Guido Tonelli
Lists It Appears On:
- Symmetry
- Waterstones 2
A breakout bestseller in Italy, now available for American readers for the first time, Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began is a short, humanist…
25.) Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science written by
Lists It Appears On:
- Science News
- The Cosmic Companion
Filled to the brim with far-out facts, this wickedly informative narrative from the author of National Geographic’s popular Gory Details blog takes us…
24.) Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive written by Carl Zimmer
Lists It Appears On:
- Science News
- Smithsonian
“Stories that both dazzle and edify… This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself. It is about error and hubris, but also about wond…
23.) Noise written by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony
Lists It Appears On:
- Barnes & Noble
- Waterstones 2
…
22.) Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters written by Steven Pinker
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Waterstones 2
“In our uncertain age, which can so often feel so dark and disturbing, Steven Pinker has distinguished himself as a voice of positivity.” – New York …
21.) Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World written by Katharine Hayhoe
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times
- The Dirt
NATIONAL BESTSELLER “An optimistic view on why collective action is still possible–and how it can be realized.” –The New York Times “As far as heroi…
20.) Spike written by Jeremy Farrar, Anjana Ahuja
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 3
- Waterstones 2
…
19.) The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA’s Double Helix written by Howard Markel
Lists It Appears On:
- Kirkus 2
- NPR
James Watson and Francis Crick’s 1953 discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is the foundation of virtually every advance in our modern unders…
18.) The Sleeping Beauties written by Suzanne O’Sullivan
Lists It Appears On:
- The Guardian
- Waterstones 2
In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children fall into a state that resembles sleep for months or years at a time. In Le Roy, a town in upstate New York, t…
17.) Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty written by Patrick Radden Keefe
Lists It Appears On:
- NPR
- Science News
- The Guardian
A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose re…
16.) Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider’s Guide to the Future of Physics written by Stephon Alexander
Lists It Appears On:
- Barnes & Noble
- Kirkus 2
- Symmetry
“The rabbit hole gets wrestled here. An old school saying applies: the more you know, the more you don’t know. Dance along this read into the unknown …
15.) Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive written by Philipp Dettmer
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Waterstones 2
A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular scie…
14.) The Anthropocene Reviewed written by John Green
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- NPR
- Waterstones 2
#1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. “The …
13.) The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity written by David Graeber and David Wengrow
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Kirkus 2
- Science News
A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution–from the development of agricu…
12.) The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything written by Michio Kaku
Lists It Appears On:
- Barnes & Noble
- Smithsonian
- Symmetry
The epic story of the greatest quest in all of science–the holy grail of physics that would explain the creation of the universe–from renowned theor…
11.) The Premonition: A Pandemic Story written by Michael Lewis
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Smithsonian
- Waterstones 2
Fortunately, we are still a nation of skeptics. Fortunately, there are those among us who study pandemics and are willing to look unflinchingly at wor…
10.) Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine written by Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 2
- NPR
- The Guardian
Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley have been researching quarantine since long before the COVID-19 pandemic. With Until Proven Safe, they bring us a boo…
9.) Vaxxers written by Sarah Gilbert, Catherine Green
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 3
- The Guardian
- Waterstones 2
…
8.) Being You written by Professor Anil Seth
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 3
- Five Books
- The Guardian
- Waterstones 2
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A brilliant beast of a book.–David Byrne Exhilarating… a vast-ranging, phenomenal achievement that will undoubtedly become…
7.) Helgoland written by Carlo Rovelli
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times 3
- Symmetry
- The Guardian
- Waterstones 2
“Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator… This is the place where science comes to life.” ―Neil Gaiman “One of the warmest, most elegant and…
6.) The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, & Dreams Deferred written by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Kirkus 2
- Smithsonian
- Symmetry
From a star theoretical physicist, a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos — and a call for a more just practice of science. In T…
5.) This Is Your Mind on Plants written by Michael Pollan
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Kirkus
- NPR
- Waterstones 2
The “Expert storytelling . . . [Pollan] masterfully elevates a series of big questions about drugs, plants and humans that are likely to leave reader…
4.) Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering How the Forest Is Wired for Intelligence and Healing written by Suzanne Simard
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Geographical
- Science News
- Smithsonian
From the world’s leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in…
3.) Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law written by Mary Roach
Lists It Appears On:
- Alison Zak
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- NPR
- Smithsonian
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law…
2.) The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race written by Walter Isaacson
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Science News
- The Guardian
- Waterstones 2
The bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs returns with a “compelling” (The Washington Post) account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennife…
1.) Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future written by Elizabeth Kolbert
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Booklist
- Geographical
- Kirkus
- NPR
- Smithsonian
- The Guardian
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity’s transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so m…
The 200+ Additional Best Science & Nature Books Released In 2021
33) Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet – Thich Nhat Hanh List: Alison Zak
34) 12 Bytes – Jeanette Winterson List: Waterstones 2
35) 250 Things a Landscape Architect Should Know – List: The Dirt
36) A (VERY) SHORT HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters – Henry Gee List: Geographical
37) A BIGGER PICTURE – Vanessa Nakate List: Kirkus
38) A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation: Uniting Design, Economics, and Policy – List: The Dirt
39) A Field Guide to Larking – Lara Maiklem List: Waterstones
40) A History of the Universe in 100 Stars – Florian Freistetter List: Waterstones 2
41) A HUMAN HISTORY OF EMOTION – Richard Firth-Godbehere List: Kirkus 2
42) A Life Electric: The Story of Nikola Tesla – Azadeh Westergaard, illustrated by Júlia Sardà List: NSTA
43) A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey – Jonathan Meiburg List: NPR
44) A Thousand Brains – List: Financial Times 4
45) A Tree A Day – Amy-Jane Beer List: Waterstones
46) A World on the Wing – Scott Weidensaul List: Waterstones
47) A Year on Our Farm – Matt Baker List: Waterstones
48) A Year Unfolding – Angela Harding List: Waterstones
49) Across the Airless Wilds – List: The Cosmic Companion
50) AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future – List: Financial Times 4
51) All the Colors Came Out – Kate Fagan List: Alison Zak
52) Appleseed – Matt Bell List: NPR
53) Around the World in 80 Plants – Jonathan Drori, Lucille Clerc List: Waterstones
54) Atlas of AI – List: Financial Times 4
55) Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience – Brené Brown List: Amazon
56) Atlas of the Invisible – James Cheshire, Oliver Uberti List: Waterstones 2
57) Backyard Guide to the Night Sky – List: The Cosmic Companion
58) Badir and the Beaver – Shannon Stewart List: Alison Zak
59) BEING A HUMAN – Charles Foster List: Kirkus
60) Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction – Michelle Nijhuis List: Smithsonian
61) Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted – Suleika Jaouad List: Amazon
62) Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border – Mitali Perkins List: Alison Zak
63) Bindu’s Bindis – Supriya Kelkar List: Alison Zak
64) Bird Photographer of the Year – Bird Photographer of the Year List: Waterstones
65) Birds of a Feather: Bowerbirds and Me – Susan L. Roth List: Alison Zak
66) Birdsong in a Time of Silence – Steven Lovatt List: Waterstones
67) Books do Furnish a Life – Richard Dawkins List: Waterstones 2
68) Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond – List: Science News
69) Celebrating the Seasons with the Yorkshire Shepherdess – Amanda Owen List: Waterstones
70) Chasing the Deer – Neil McIntyre, Simon Henry King List: Waterstones
71) Chasing the Ghost: Nobelist Fred Reines and the Neutrino – Leonard A. Cole List: Symmetry
72) CHASING THE THRILL: Obsession, Death, and Glory in America’s Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt – Daniel Barbarisi List: Geographical
73) Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith: How Changes in Climate Drive Religious Upheaval – Philip Jenkins List: Financial Times
74) Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going – List: The Cosmic Companion
75) Covid By Numbers – David Spiegelhalter, Anthony Masters List: Waterstones 2
76) Critical Lives: Hannah Arendt – Samantha Rose Hill List: Five Books
77) Critique of Architecture – List: Financial Times 2
78) Curious About Fish – Cathryn Sill, illustrated by John Sill List: NSTA
79) Deep Time: A Journey Through 4.5 Billion Years of Our Planet – Riley Black List: Smithsonian
80) Diddly Squat – Jeremy Clarkson List: Waterstones
81) Disasters by the Numbers: A Book of Infographics – Steve Jenkins List: NSTA
82) DON’T BE EVIL: The Case Against Big Tech – Rana Foroohar List: Geographical
83) Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence – Dr. Anna Lembke List: Amazon
84) Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor – Kate Messner, illustrated by Alexandra Bye List: NSTA
85) Dynamic Geographies – List: The Dirt
86) Earth’s Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World – List: Booklist
87) Eating to Extinction – Dan Saladino List: Waterstones 2
88) Ecoregional Green Roofs: Theory and Application in the Western USA and Canada – List: The Dirt
89) Empireland – Sathnam Sanghera List: Geographical
90) Evelyn Hooker and the Fairy Project – Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Sarah Green List: NSTA
91) EVERY DAY THE RIVER CHANGES – Jordan Salama List: Kirkus
92) Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth – Avi Loeb List: Amazon
93) Eyes that Kiss in the Corners – Joanna Ho, illustrated by Dung Ho List: Alison Zak
94) Fauja Singh Keeps Going – Simrat Jeet Singh List: Alison Zak
95) Fearless World Traveler: Adventures of Marianne North, Botanical Artist – Laurie Lawlor, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander List: NSTA
96) FEATHERHOOD – Charlie Gilmour List: Kirkus
97) First Steps – List: Science News
98) Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa – Matthew Gavin Frank List: NPR
99) Folklorn – Angela Mi Young Hur List: NPR
100) Fossils from Lost Worlds – Damien Laverdunt, Hélène Rajcak List: NSTA
101) Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals – Oliver Burkeman List: Five Books
102) Fox and I – Catherine Raven List: Barnes & Noble
103) Fred & Marjorie: A Doctor, a Dog, and the Discovery of Insulin – Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Angela Poon List: NSTA
104) Fungarium: Welcome to the Museum – Gaya Ester, illustrated by Katie Scott List: NSTA
105) Haiku Enlightenment – Gabriel Rosenstock List: Naturalist Weekly
106) Hawking Hawking: The Selling of a Scientific Celebrity – Charles Seife List: Symmetry
107) Hello, Earth!: Poems to Our Planet – Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Miren Asiain Lora List: NSTA
108) History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics – Kate Messner, illustrated by Falynn Koch List: NSTA
109) How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need – Bill Gates List: Waterstones 2
110) How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire – Andreas Malm List: Financial Times
111) HOW TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE FROM SCRATCH – Harry Cliff List: Kirkus 2
112) How to Prepare for Climate Change: A Practical Guide to Surviving the Chaos – List: Booklist
113) Hummingbird Salamander – Jeff Vandermeer List: NPR
114) Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose – Leigh Cowart List: NPR
115) I Belong Here – Anita Sethi List: Waterstones
116) I Sang You Down from the Stars – Tasha Spillet-Sumner List: Alison Zak
117) Ice Walker: A Polar Bear’s Journey through the Fragile Arctic – List: Booklist
118) If Bees Disappeared – Lily Williams List: NSTA
119) Inside In: X-Rays of Nature’s Hidden World – Jan Paul Schutten, illustrated by Arie van ‘t Riet List: NSTA
120) Islands of Abandonment – Cal Flyn List: Waterstones
121) Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science – List: Booklist
122) Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel – Stephen Budiansky List: Kirkus 2
123) Journeys to Impossible Places – Simon Reeve List: Waterstones
124) København: Urban Architecture and Public Spaces – List: The Dirt
125) Life on a Knife’s Edge – Dr Rahul Jandial List: Waterstones 2
126) Living Planet – Sir David Attenborough List: Waterstones
127) Masters of Disguise: Camouflaging Creatures & Magnificent Mimics – Marc Martin List: NSTA
128) Math Without Numbers – Milo Beckman List: Symmetry
129) Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene edited – Jessica Cory List: Alison Zak
130) Nests – Susan Ogilvy List: Waterstones
131) Night Sky Almanac 2022 – Storm Dunlop, Wil Tirion List: Waterstones 2
132) Notes from Deep Time – Helen Gordon List: Waterstones
133) Ocean Planet: Animals of the Sea and Shore – Ben Rothery List: NSTA
134) Ocean: A Global Odyssey – List: The Cosmic Companion
135) On Animals – Susan Orlean List: Barnes & Noble
136) On the Fringe – List: Science News
137) Our Biggest Experiment – Alice Bell List: Waterstones 2
138) Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis – List: Booklist
139) Over and Under the Canyon – Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal List: NSTA
140) Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey – James Rebanks List: NPR
141) Pipe Dreams – List: Science News
142) Pooper Snooper – Jennifer Keats Curtis with Julianne Ubigau, illustrated by Phyllis Saroff List: NSTA
143) Public House – List: Financial Times 2
144) RACE FOR TOMORROW: Survival, Innovation and Profit on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis – Simon Mundy List: Geographical
145) Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America – List: The Dirt
146) Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting – Lisa Genova List: NPR
147) Resetting the Table: Straight Talk about the Food We Grow and Eat – List: Booklist
148) Resilient City: Landscape Architecture for Climate Change – List: The Dirt
149) Rewilding – Micah Mortali List: Naturalist Weekly
150) Rutherford and Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) – Adam Rutherford, Hannah Fry List: Waterstones 2
151) Same Sun Here – Silas House and Neela Vaswani List: Alison Zak
152) Saving America’s Amazon – List: Booklist
153) Saving Sorya: Chang Sun Bear – Trang Nguyen, illustrated by Jeet Zdung List: NSTA
154) Schools That Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind – List: The Dirt
155) Scientist: E. O. Wilson: A Life in Nature – Richard Rhodes List: Amazon
156) Scientists: Inspiring Tales of the World’s Brightest Scientific Minds – Isabel Thomas, illustrated by Jessamy Hawke List: NSTA
157) Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness – Kristen Radtke List: NPR
158) Sentient – Jackie Higgins List: Waterstones
159) Serious Fun: The Landscapes of Claude Cormier – List: The Dirt
160) She Persisted: Virginia Apgar – Sayantani Dasgupta and Chelsea Clinton, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint List: NSTA
161) Sigurd Lewerentz – List: Financial Times 2
162) Silent Earth – Dave Goulson List: Waterstones
163) Slime – Susanne Wedlich, Ayca Turkoglu List: Waterstones 2
164) Small Bodies of Water – Nina Mingya Powles List: Waterstones
165) Social Urbanism: Reframing Spatial Design – Discourses from Latin America – List: The Dirt
166) Space Forces – List: Financial Times 2
167) Sparrow Envy – J. Drew Lanham List: Alison Zak
168) Summertime Sleepers: Animals That Estivate – Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Sarah Brannen List: NSTA
169) Superman’s Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do about It – List: Booklist
170) Tapestries of Life – Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson List: Waterstones
171) The Almanac – Lia Leendertz List: Waterstones
172) The Amur River – Colin Thubron List: Waterstones
173) The Beak Book – Robin Page List: NSTA
174) The Body Book – Illustrated by Hannah Alice List: NSTA
175) The Book of Hope – Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams List: Waterstones 2
176) The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse – Charlie Mackesy List: Alison Zak
177) The Brilliant Abyss – Helen Scales List: Waterstones
178) The Case for Rage: Why Anger Is Essential to Anti-Racist Struggle – Myisha Cherry List: Five Books
179) The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto – Charles M Blow List: Waterstones 2
180) The Dirt Book: Poems About Animals That Live Beneath Our Feet – David L. Harrison, illustrated by Kate Cosgrove List: NSTA
181) The Easternmost Sky – Juliet Blaxland List: Waterstones
182) The Frontiers of Knowledge – A. C. Grayling List: Waterstones 2
183) THE GLITTER IN THE GREEN – Jon Dunn List: Kirkus
184) The Grizzly in the Driveway: The Return of Bears to a Crowded American West – Robert Chaney List: NPR
185) THE HEARTBEAT OF IRAN: Real Voices of a Country and Its People – Tara Kangarlou List: Geographical
186) The Heartbeat of Trees – Peter Wohlleben, Jane Billinghurst List: Waterstones
187) The Hidden Spring – Mark Solms List: Waterstones 2
188) The Hydrogen Revolution: A Blueprint for the Future of Clean Energy – Marco Alverà List: Financial Times
189) The Importance of Being Interested – Robin Ince List: Waterstones 2
190) The Invisible Universe: Why There’s More to Reality than Meets the Eye – List: The Cosmic Companion
191) The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration – Sarah Everts List: Smithsonian
192) The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease – Daisy Hernández List: NPR
193) The Man from the Future – List: Financial Times 3
194) The Mission – List: The Cosmic Companion
195) The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet – Michael E Mann List: Financial Times
196) The Nightingale – Sam Lee List: Waterstones
197) The Physics of Climate Change – List: The Cosmic Companion
198) THE PLANT HUNTER – Cassandra Leah Quave List: Kirkus
199) The Power of Geography – Tim Marshall List: Geographical
200) The Rag and Bone Shop – Veronica O’Keane List: Waterstones 2
201) The Red Planet – Simon Morden List: Waterstones 2
202) The Screaming Sky – Charles Foster List: Waterstones
203) The Sea is Not Made of Water – Adam Nicolson List: Waterstones
204) The Secret History of Here – Alistair Moffat List: Waterstones
205) The Secret World of Weather – Tristan Gooley List: Waterstones
206) The Sense of Wonder – Rachel Carson List: Naturalist Weekly
207) The Seven Ages of Death – Dr Richard Shepherd List: Waterstones 2
208) THE SOUND OF THE SEA – Cynthia Barnett List: Kirkus
209) The Swan – Stephen Moss List: Waterstones
210) The Tea Dragon Tapestry – Kay O’Neill List: Alison Zak
211) The Universe – Andrew Cohen, Professor Brian Cox List: Waterstones 2
212) The Untold Story of Sita – Dena Merriam List: Alison Zak
213) The Wild Handbook – Emily Thomas, James Weston Lewis List: Waterstones
214) The Wild Isles – Patrick Barkham List: Waterstones
215) Thin Places – Kerri ni Dochartaigh List: Waterstones
216) Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know – Adam Grant List: Amazon
217) Thinking Better – Marcus du Sautoy List: Waterstones 2
218) This Is a Sea Cow – Cassandra Federman List: Alison Zak
219) Three Simple Lines – Natalie Goldberg List: Naturalist Weekly
220) Time – Colin Stuart List: Waterstones 2
221) TOXIC LEGACY – Stephanie Seneff List: Kirkus
222) Tracking Tortoises: The Mission to Save a Galápagos Giant – Kate Messner List: NSTA
223) Twice Alive – Forrest Gander List: NPR
224) Underwater Wild: My Octopus… – Craig Foster List: Barnes & Noble
225) Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters – Steven E. Koonin List: Amazon
226) Unsolaced: Along the Way to All That Is – Gretel Ehrlich List: Booklist
227) Unwell Women – Elinor Cleghorn List: Waterstones 2
228) Vera Rubin: A Life – Jacqueline Mitton and Simon Mitton List: Symmetry
229) We Are Water Protectors – Carole Lindstrom List: Alison Zak
230) What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing – Oprah Winfrey List: Amazon
231) What Stars Are Made Of: The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin – Donovan Moore List: Symmetry
232) What’s the Use? – Professor Ian Stewart List: Waterstones 2
233) When the World is Dreaming – Rita Gray List: Alison Zak
234) Wild Souls – List: Science News
235) Wildlife Photographer of the Year – Rosamund Kidman Cox List: Waterstones
236) Wonder Women of Science: Twelve Geniuses Who Are Currently Rocking Science, Technology, and the World – Tiera Fletcher; Ginger Rue, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport List: NSTA
237) Woodston – John Lewis-Stempel List: Waterstones
238) World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments – Aimee Nezhukumatathil List: Waterstones
23 Best Science & Nature Book Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| Amazon | Best science books of 2021 |
| Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble’s Best Science & Nature Books of 2021 |
| Booklist | Top 10 Books on the Environment & Sustainability: 2021 |
| Alison Zak | The Almost Anthropologist’s Favorite Books of 2021 |
| The Cosmic Companion | Astronomy Books of 2021 |
| The Dirt | Best Books of 2021 |
| Financial Times | Best books of 2021: Climate and environment |
| Financial Times 2 | Best books of 2021: Architecture and design |
| Financial Times 3 | Best books of 2021: Science |
| Financial Times 4 | Best books of 2021: Technology |
| Geographical | Geographical’s top ten books of 2021 |
| The Guardian | The best science books of 2021 |
| Kirkus | Best Nature & Environment Books of 2021 |
| Kirkus 2 | Best Science Books of 2021 |
| Naturalist Weekly | Favorite Books of 2021 and Readers’ Poll |
| Five Books | The Best Philosophy Books of 2021 |
| NPR | Books We Love |
| NSTA | Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12: 2022 |
| Science News | These are Science News’ favorite books of 2021 |
| Smithsonian | The Ten Best Science Books of 2021 |
| Symmetry | Physics books of 2021 |
| Waterstones | The Best Books of 2021: Nature Writing |
| Waterstones 2 | The Best Books of 2021: Popular Science |
