Eureka’s Picks for Best Science Books of 2025

Still time to find a great gift for the science lover in your life

Each year the world gains more knowledge through the careful research conducted by our scientist heroes. Equally important are the great writers who bring this knowledge to the public with their accurate, entertaining, engaging, and sometimes heartbreaking prose. Below are some reading suggestions or potential gift ideas for the voracious readers on your holiday lists!

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

On a 2019 trip to Sierra Leone, author John Green met a young man with the same first name as his son, Henry. Henry had tuberculosis, a disease that Green thought was gone from the world. He spent the next few years researching everything about tuberculosis, from its history and biology to its political and social consequences. 

According to Kirkus, “this highly readable call to action could not be more timely.”

Crick: A Mind in Motion by Matthew Cobb

While Francis Crick is probably best known for his work on the structure of DNA with his research partner James Watson (who died just last month), his neuroscience research is not as well known. Also probably not as well known is his reputation as a party animal and a bit of a player. Though brilliance and arrogance often seem to go hand in hand, Professor Matthew Cobb writes that Crick was not a wunderkind prodigy but someone whose gift was bringing brilliant people together and finding connections between concepts.

According to The Guardian, “Cobb sets himself an ambitious task in trying to do justice to both Crick’s prolific scientific career and his colourful personal life, and this biography is an impressive work of research and scholarship.”

Manufacturing My Miracle: One Woman’s Quest to Create Her Personalized Gene Therapy by Jill Dopf Viles

If there was ever such a thing as a guerrilla geneticist, it would be Jill Viles. Born in Iowa in 1974, Viles was eventually diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy that turned out to run in her family. But it took some deception and even a little outright theft to get those answers. Viles was determined to find out the truth of her and her family’s condition, and although her methods were radical, she got her answers. Although she died before this book was released, her work lives on.

Reporter David Epstein, who shared her story on an episode of the podcast “This American Life,” also wrote a touching memorial to Viles, remembering how she reached out to him initially with an exaggerated subject line that sucked him in to her story. Remembering his correspondence with her, Epstein said: “If I was deceived, I’m grateful for it.”

Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain by Masud Husain

University of Oxford professor Masud Husain presents seven patient stories of people who began to behave in confusing and sometimes antisocial ways, presenting us with seven neurological mysteries. While detailing their symptoms and describing the various ways that our brains can betray us, Husain also offers reassurance that the field of neurology is finding new answers and even cures.

In a review on Forbes, the author says “Professor Husain shares how our brains normally function and how neurologists, such as himself, are bringing hope to people with various brain disorders and shedding light on the human experience.”

Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach

In this primer on human anatomy, aimed at the nonexpert reader, Mary Roach covers the history and current research behind building all kinds of parts for patients – from prosthetic limbs to 3D printed organs. She begins with the most important kinds of replacements – life-saving organs from various sources – before moving to the more elective, including cosmetic surgeries such as hair transplants and BBLs. Roach interviewed researchers and patients for her book, travelling all over the world to find the most interesting and groundbreaking stories to share.

In one review, the author said “She asks questions I wouldn’t think of, dares to try things I’d think twice about, and even gets previous interviewees to agree to submit themselves to her investigations again.”