Besides the classic below, see what I've read, am reading or intend to read at CiteULike

BOOKS

• uncle tungsten

  

  memories of a chemical boyhood. a scientific biography of neuroscientist oliver sacks. he interweaves a narration of his childhood interest in chemistry with a gripping account of major ideas and developments in science during the last few centuries.

• the selfish gene

  

  will change your way of thinking about the biological world. read more...

• the language instinct

  

  steven pinker argues that natural language is an instinct shaped by natural selection.

• darwin's dangerous idea

  

  everything you wanted to know about evolution but were afraid to ask. daniel dennett's tour de force.

• the major transitions in evolution

  

  john maynard smith and eors szathmary explore the big breakthroughs: from the birth of life to the origin of language. eye-opening. read more...

• surely you're joking, mr feynman or adventures of a curious character

  

  my girlfriend said this guy was a smartass but still she couldn't put the book down. hilarious stories told by one of the most brilliant physicist of our times. read an article about the rivalry between feynman and gell-murray.

• foundations of language

  

  ray jackendoff's grand synthesis of brain, meaning, grammar, evolution. jackendoff goes some way towards bridging the gap between linguistics and the rest of the natural sciences.