Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science...(Bryson is irreverent, but this book is more controlled than his typical travel books).

Hear the stories of the scientists who have shaped the past 2,000 years. This audiobook provides...(Audible provides a nice long sample to hear).

From paleontology, dinosaurs, and fossils to the fascinating and strange phenomena of life on Earth...(Gould is always highly evolutionary, and highly entertaining, with plenty of room for debate).

From a cocktail party to a terrorist cell, from an ancient bacteria to an international conglomerate - all are networks...(a mix of many sciences, and an interesting bit about early Christianity and networking--author is Notre Dame prof.).

This fascinating book explains how the expansion of the universe was discovered - by a band of...(great explanation of cosmology's big questions).

Anyone can get started in astronomy, just by going outside on a dark night with a star chart and learning their way around...(inspire your backyard astronomer!).

This landmark book is for those of us who prefer words to equations; this is the story of the ultimate...

This classic of contemporary science writing by a Nobel prize-winning physicist explains to general readers what happened when the Universe began, and how we know....(a classic).

Geology and archaeo-astronomy have already indicated that the Great Sphinx of Egypt may be...(fun and interesting).

In this unscripted recording, renowned astrophysicist Dr. Richard Berendzen takes you on a journey through space and time that is captivating from the moment he begins to speak...(fun and great for note-taking practice).

The product of research around the globe and interviews with dozens of prominent scientists, God's Equation discusses the latest developments in cosmology, the study of the nature of the universe...(listen for a view of Einstein's life).

From the creation of life to the exploration of the heavens and the stars, from the origins of the earth to the possibility of life on other planets, Ben Bova unveils....(a bit of a stretch, but he has some interesting insight).

In this enthralling blend of adventure and science, veteran travel and outdoor sports writer Peter Stark reenacts the drama...(you'll be holding your breath, too!).

Few fish are as beloved, or as obsessed over, as the American shad....(I know:  It's a about a fish, but McPhee makes any subject so interesting, telling us about the people who do the research as well as the science itself; his discussion of the biology of dams is worth the whole book).

Every year on January 1, a quirky crowd of adventurers storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year...(a must-listen for birders).

This classic book is natural history at its best...(like insects?).

In 1831, at age 22, Charles Darwin set out on a 5-year voyage that would revolutionize natural science...(classic).

Darwin's theory of evolution is accepted by most educated Americans as simple fact. This easy...(a book guaranteed to make you pause).

In the early 1850s, Henry David Thoreau took many meditative walks along the coast...(great descriptions of the landscape).

From the time Jane Goodall was a girl, she dreamed of a life spent working with animals. Her earliest fascination with animals inspired her...(classic).

These are the stories that catapulted James Herriot to literary fame. When this book was first published, it was merely a simple volume of memoirs by an unknown Scottish veterinarian...

James Herriot has now become firmly established and accepted as one of Darrowby's veterinarians. He's also married, and lives with his wife Helen on the top floor of Skeldale House...

In this third enchanting collection of stories, James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, picks up where All Things Bright and Beautiful left off...

The volume that completes the verse: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all...

Nowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bill Bass's: on a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria and birds. At the "Body Farm"...

To geologists, rocks are beautiful, roadcuts are windowpanes, and the earth is alive, a work in progress....(brilliant).

John McPhee's Pulitzer Prize-winning Annals of the Former World takes readers on mind-expanding adventures in geology....(still brilliant).

Rising From the Plains creates a fascinating picture of the interdependence of geology, commerce, and culture....(wildly brilliant).

This is the story of a seventeenth-century scientist-turned-priest who forever changed our understanding of the Earth and created a new field of science...(great secular book on Bl. Steno).

The date is January 11, 1911. A young German paleontologist, accompanied only by a guide, a cook, and four camels...(the only geology book that has ever made me cry).

Where can you find the worst weather on earth? The surprising answer in Tying Down the Wind is: everywhere...(breezy discussion of force).

In Diamond, Matthew Hart embarks on a journey into an obsessive, largely hidden, and utterly fascinating world...(understand the hardest gem).

The secrets of science meet the drama of the high seas. Amir D. Aczel, the distinguished science writer, turns detective as he uncovers the fascinating story...

In 1793, William Smith, the orphan son of a village blacksmith, made a startling discovery that was to turn the science of geology on its head....(the author is an atheist, and feels free to belittle the faith of others

So much of our human body is made up of salt that we'd be dead without it...(some interesting information on primitive fertility rites that you may wish to edit, many recipes, and an interesting launching point for a discussion and debate of the Church's role in economics).

The Yosemite is one of the most beautiful areas on Earth, bringing all those who come across it...

"In mid-July of 1879, John Muir sailed for the first time through the sheer-walled fjords of Alaska's Inside Passage...

Generations have grown up knowing that the equation E=mc2 changed the shape of our world but never understanding what it actually means...

First published in 1972, The Great Bridge is the classic account of one of the greatest engineering feats of all time: the building of the Brooklyn Bridge....

Can reindeer fly? Why is Santa Claus fat? Could scientists clone...

Internationally renowned theoretical physicist and educator Lawrence M. Krauss provides matter-of-fact scientific explanations of the physics of Star Trek....

Where will the science of black holes, gravitational waves, and time travel lead us?...

Will "beam me up, Scotty" become reality? Quantum mechanics suggests it may...and soon...