The best books proving history isn’t driven by destiny, but by chance and (sometimes) choice

Book cover of Thomas Browne: Selected Writings Book cover of Contingency and Convergence Book cover of The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Book cover of The Legitimacy of the Modern Age

The best books about the fact that evolution didn't predict us (and that's not bad news)

Book cover of Understanding Human Evolution Book cover of On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects: And the Good Effects of Intercrossing Book cover of Guns, Germs, and Steel Book cover of Genes, Peoples and Languages Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

The best books about the big ideas that changed our world

Book cover of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Book cover of The Malay Archipelago Book cover of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World Book cover of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

The best books on extinct animals

Book cover of Extinct Birds Book cover of The Fate of the Mammoth: Fossils, Myth, and History Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Book cover of Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found Book cover of The Cave Bear Story: Life and Death of a Vanished Animal

The best books about earth history

Book cover of Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains Book cover of Rising from the Plains Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Book cover of The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology Book cover of A Short History of Nearly Everything

The best books to stretch your imagination

Book cover of The Troubled Man Book cover of Walking Through Spring Book cover of The Voyage of the Beagle Book cover of My Family and Other Animals Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History

The best books on scientific discovery and what makes scientists tick

Book cover of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Book cover of The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars Book cover of The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World Book cover of Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie Book cover of Science in the Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist

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Book cover of The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World Book cover of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures Book cover of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Book cover of Guns, Germs, and Steel Book cover of The Voyage of the Beagle Book cover of Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains

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