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Best General Interest Science Books of 2021
Amazon Books editors have made their selections for Best Books of the Year, including these top 20 titles within the general interest science category.

Amazon Books editors announce selections for best 2021 general interest science books

Amazon Books editors have announced their picks for 2021 Best Books of the Year, including the top book within the general interest science category, Walter Isaacson's 'The Code Breaker'.

By Staff writer
November 16, 2021
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  1. Looking for some books to gift this holiday season?  Amazon Books editors have some suggestions for you as today they announced their picks for 2021’s Best Books of the Year, including those within the general interest science category.

    Throughout the year, Amazon Books editors read thousands of books to make selections for Best Books of the Month, Best Books of the Year So Far, and Best Books of the Year.  After reviewing titles released from January through December 2021, Amazon editors made their selections for books customers will want to consider gifting this holiday season.

    Walter Isaacson’s book, “The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race”, which topped the general science category at mid-year, remained the top book for the full-year list. Eight other titles from the list of picks at mid-year made the full-year list.

    “This year had so many great books that expanded our understanding of science and our natural environment,” said Al Woodworth, an Amazon Books editor. “From Suzanne Simard’s fascinating exploration of how trees communicate with one another in Finding the Mother Tree, to Avi Loeb’s thrilling and dogged investigation of an interstellar object in Extraterrestrial, to Mary Roach’s hilarious inquiry into wildlife, with Fuzz.

    "But the book that stood out," Woodworth added, "was Walter Isaacson’s The Code Breaker, which chronicles the Nobel Prize winning Jennifer Doudna and her team’s quest to edit human DNA. Isaacson not only shares the intricate science behind the CRISPR technology but asks big questions about the impact of what it truly means to change our genetic make-up.”

    Below is the complete list of the Top 20 picks of 2021 within the general interest science category, as chosen by Amazon Books editors.

     

  2. The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
    The Code Breaker

    By Walter Isaacson

  3. Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
    Rationality

    By Steven Pinker

  4. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
    Think Again

    By Adam Grant

  5. This Is Your Mind on Plants
    This is your mind on plants

    By Michael Pollan

  6. Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted
    Between Two Kingdoms

    By Suleika Jaouad

  7. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
    Finding the Mother Tree

    By Suzanne Simard

  8. Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters
    Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us

    By Steven E. Koonin

  9. What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
    What Happened to You?

    By Oprah Winfrey & Bruce D. Perry

  10. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
    Atlas of the Heart

    By Brenė Brown

  11. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
    Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

    By Mary Roach

  12. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
    Dopamine Nation

    By Dr. Anna Lembke

  13. Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive
    Immune

    By Philipp Dettmer

  14. A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life
    A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century

    By Heather Heying & Bret Weinstein

  15. The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
    The Disordered Cosmos

    By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

  16. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
    The Premonition

    By Michael Lewis

  17. Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future
    Under a White Sky

    By Elizabeth Kolbert

  18. Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life
    Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life

    By Avi Loeb

  19. Scientist E.O. Wilson: A Life in Nature
    Scientist: E.O. Wilson: A Life in Nature

    By Richard Rhodes

  20. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
    The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

    By David Graeber & David Wengrow

  21. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
    The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

    By John Green

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