The April 19th, 2008 New Scientist had a collection of brief articles by scientists identifying those books which were, for them, life changing, many of which were books they read when they were young. Life-changing books: Recommendations from 17 leading scientists.
Farthest North - Steve Jones, geneticist
The Art of the Soluble - V. S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist
Animal Liberation - Jane Goodall, primatologist
The Foundation trilogy - Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist
Alice in Wonderland - Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist
One, Two, Three... Infinity - Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist
The Idea of a Social Science - Harry Collins, sociologist of science
Handbook of Mathematical Functions - Peter Atkins, chemist
The Mind of a Mnemonist - Oliver Sacks, neurologist
A Mathematician's Apology - Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician
The Leopard - Susan Greenfield, neurophysiologist
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior - Frans de Waal, psychologist and ethologist
Catch-22 / The First Three Minutes - Lawrence Krauss, physicist
William James, Writings 1878-1910 - Daniel Everett, linguist
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Chris Frith, neuroscientist
The Naked Ape - Elaine Morgan, author of The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis
King Solomon's Ring - Marian Stamp Dawkins, Zoologist
Farthest North - Steve Jones, geneticist
The Art of the Soluble - V. S. Ramachandran, neuroscientist
Animal Liberation - Jane Goodall, primatologist
The Foundation trilogy - Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist
Alice in Wonderland - Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist
One, Two, Three... Infinity - Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist
The Idea of a Social Science - Harry Collins, sociologist of science
Handbook of Mathematical Functions - Peter Atkins, chemist
The Mind of a Mnemonist - Oliver Sacks, neurologist
A Mathematician's Apology - Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician
The Leopard - Susan Greenfield, neurophysiologist
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior - Frans de Waal, psychologist and ethologist
Catch-22 / The First Three Minutes - Lawrence Krauss, physicist
William James, Writings 1878-1910 - Daniel Everett, linguist
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Chris Frith, neuroscientist
The Naked Ape - Elaine Morgan, author of The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis
King Solomon's Ring - Marian Stamp Dawkins, Zoologist
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