You may have heard about the recent breakthrough in nuclear fusion, a history-making moment that points toward a future of unlimited, clean energy. It’s a reminder of how powerful science is, and how it shapes our lives. And if you’re feeling inspired to explore other new scientific advances, we at the Next Big Idea Club can help.
We looked at the data to determine which science books were loved most by our tens of thousands of app users this year. (Our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant only pick each season’s two official selections.) So to read up on the remarkable present and exciting future of science, check out the 26 titles below.
26. Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe
By Brian Thomas Swimme
From the host and cocreator of PBS’s Journey of the Universe, a fresh look at how the rich collision between science and spirituality has influenced contemporary consciousness. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Brian Thomas Swimme, in the Next Big Idea App
25. Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood
By Chelsea Conaboy
An acclaimed health and science journalist explodes the concept of “maternal instinct” and tells a new story about what it means to become a parent. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Chelsea Conaboy, in the Next Big Idea App
24. Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why It Matters
By Marlene Zuk
Filled with delightful anecdotes and fresh insights, Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test helps us see both other animals and ourselves more clearly, demonstrating that animal behavior can be remarkably similar to human behavior, and wonderfully complicated in its own right. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Marlene Zuk, in the Next Big Idea App
23. How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication
By Tom Mustill
What if animals and humans could speak to one another? A nature documentarian—who went viral when a thirty-ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak—asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Tom Mustill, in the Next Big Idea App
22. The Exquisite Machine: The New Science of the Heart
By Sian E. Harding
A world leader in cardiac research explores the relation between the emotions and heart function, reporting that the heart not only responds to our emotions, but creates them as well. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sian E. Harding, in the Next Big Idea App
21. Taxi from Another Planet: Conversations with Drivers About Life in the Universe
By Charles S. Cockell
Insightful, good-humored essays on the possibilities of alien life and the uses of space exploration, based on an astrobiologist’s everyday conversations with his fellow humans―taxi drivers, to be precise. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Charles S. Cockell, in the Next Big Idea App
20. This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You
By Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas
A sound engineer turned cognitive neuroscientist guides readers to recognize their musical personality, and offers language to describe one’s own unique taste. This is a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Susan Rogers, in the Next Big Idea App
19. A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems
By Joseph L. Graves Jr.
A pioneering Black biologist, leftist, and Christian uses his personal story—his journey from a child of Jim Crow to a major researcher and leader of his peers—to rewrite his field. A Voice in the Wilderness is a powerful work of scientific anti-racism and a moving account of a trailblazing life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Joseph L. Graves Jr., in the Next Big Idea App
18. Methuselah’s Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Healthier Lives
By Steven N. Austad
An acclaimed biologist (and former Hollywood lion trainer) shares stories of long-lived animal species—from thousand-year-old tubeworms to 400-year-old sharks—and what they might teach us about human health and longevity. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Steven N. Austad, in the Next Big Idea App
17. Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity
By Antonio Padilla
A leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star takes the reader on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics, offering a startling picture of how the universe works. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Antonio Padilla, in the Next Big Idea App
16. If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal: What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity
By Justin Gregg
A scientist highlights the features seemingly unique to humans, like our use of language, our rationality, our moral systems, and our so-called sophisticated consciousness. What emerges is both demystifying and remarkable, and will change how you look at animals, humans, and the meaning of life itself. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Justin Gregg, in the Next Big Idea App
15. Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
By Nick Lane
From the renowned biochemist and author of The Vital Question comes an illuminating inquiry into the Krebs cycle and the origins of life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nick Lane, in the Next Big Idea App
14. Wonder: Childhood and the Lifelong Love of Science
By Frank Keil
An acclaimed Yale psychologist describes the cognitive dispositions that set children on their paths of discovery and explains how we can all become lifelong wonderers. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Frank Keil, in the Next Big Idea App
13. The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World
By Oliver Milman
Three out of every four of our planet’s known animal species are insects. In The Insect Crisis, an acclaimed journalist dives into the evidence that suggests this kaleidoscopic group of creatures is suffering a great existential crisis—an emergency with profound consequences for us all. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Oliver Milman, in the Next Big Idea App
12. Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey
By Florence Williams
A remarkable merging of science and self-discovery that will change the way we think about loneliness, health, and what it means to fall in and out of love. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Florence Williams, in the Next Big Idea App
11. Sweat: A History of Exercise
By Bill Hayes
A New York Times contributor runs, jogs, swims, spins, walks, bikes, boxes, lifts, sweats, and downward-dogs his way through the origins of different forms of exercise, chronicling how they have evolved over time, dissecting the dynamics of human movement. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Bill Hayes, in the Next Big Idea App
10. Moonshot: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible
By Albert Bourla
A riveting, fast-paced, inside look at one of the most incredible private sector achievements in history, Moonshot recounts the intensive nine months in 2020 when the scientists at Pfizer created, tested, and manufactured a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine that previously would have taken years to develop. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Albert Bourla, in the Next Big Idea App
9. Ways of Being: Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence
By James Bridle
A brilliant, searching exploration of different kinds of intelligence―plant, animal, human, artificial―and how they transform our understanding of humans’ place in the cosmos. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author James Bridle, in the Next Big Idea App
8. The Joy of Science
By Jim Al-Khalili
A quantum physicist, New York Times bestselling author, and BBC host reveals how eight lessons from the heart of science can help you get the most out of life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jim Al-Khalili, in the Next Big Idea App
7. Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation
By Christopher Kemp
Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places, a molecular biologist embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Christopher Kemp, in the Next Big Idea App
6. A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain
By Sara Manning Peskin
Our brains are the most complex machines known to humankind, but they have an Achilles heel: the very molecules that allow us to exist can also sabotage our minds. Here are gripping accounts of unruly molecules and the diseases that form in their wake. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sara Manning Peskin, in the Next Big Idea App
5. Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions
By Sabine Hossenfelder
Does the past still exist? Do particles think? Was the universe made for us? A contrarian scientist reveals how close physicists are to answering these questions, where the current limits are, and what questions might well remain unanswerable forever. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sabine Hossenfelder, in the Next Big Idea App
4. Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking
By Leonard Mlodinow
We’ve all been told that thinking rationally is the key to success. But at the cutting edge of science, researchers are discovering that feeling is every bit as important as thinking. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Leonard Mlodinow, in the Next Big Idea App
3. The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss
By Mary-Frances O’Connor
A renowned grief expert and neuroscientist shares surprising discoveries about what happens in our brain when we grieve, providing a new paradigm for understanding love, loss, and learning. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mary-Frances O’Connor, in the Next Big Idea App
2. The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body’s Fear Response
By Ellen Vora
From an acclaimed psychiatrist comes a groundbreaking understanding of how anxiety manifests in the body and mind—and what we can do to overcome it. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Ellen Vora, in the Next Big Idea App
1. The Book of Minds: How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings, from Animals to AI to Aliens
By Philip Ball
A popular science writer explores a range of sciences to map our answers to a huge, philosophically rich question: How do we even begin to think about minds that are not human? Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Philip Ball, in the Next Big Idea App
The Key Ideas in 15 Minutes
“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books,” Roald Dahl once famously said. The only trouble is, reading even one book from cover to cover takes hours—and you may not have many hours to spare.
But imagine for a moment: What if you could read a groundbreaking new book every day? Or even better, what if you could invite a world-renowned thinker into your earbuds, where they personally describe the 5 key takeaways from their work in just 15 minutes?
With the Next Big Idea App, we’ve turned this fantasy into a reality. We partnered with hundreds of acclaimed authors to create “Book Bites,” short audio summaries of the latest nonfiction that are prepared and read aloud by the authors themselves. Discover cutting-edge leadership skills, productivity hacks, the science of happiness and well-being, and much more—all in the time it takes to drive to work or walk the dog.
Go Deeper with a Next Big Idea Club Membership
The Next Big Idea App is free for anyone to try—and if you love it, we invite you to become an official member of the Next Big Idea Club. Membership grants you unlimited access to Book Bites and unlocks early-release, ad-free episodes of our LinkedIn-partnered podcast. You also gain entry to our private online discussion group, where you can talk big ideas with fellow club members and join exclusive live Q&A sessions with featured authors.
For a more focused learning experience, we recommend a Hardcover or eBook Membership. Every few months, legendary authors and club curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink select two new nonfiction books as the must-reads of the season. We then send hardcover copies straight to your doorstep, or eBook versions to your favorite digital device. We also collaborate with the authors of selected books to produce original reading guides and premium video e-courses, 50-minute master classes that take you step by step through their most life-changing ideas. And yes, it’s all available through the Next Big Idea App.
Learn Faster, from the World’s Leading Thinkers
Whether you prefer to read, listen, or watch, the Next Big Idea is here to help you work smarter and live better. Wake up with an always-fresh Idea of the Day, the perfect shot of inspiration to go with your morning coffee. Then dive into one of our Challenges, hand-picked collections of Book Bites that form crash courses in subjects like communication, motivation, and career acceleration. Later, watch the playback of an interview with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, or philosopher John Kaag. And be sure to check the “Events” tab in the app, so that you can join an upcoming live Q&A and personally chat with the next featured thought leader.
If you’re hoping to grow as a person or as a professional, we hope you’ll join us and tens of thousands of others who enjoy the Next Big Idea. Get started by downloading the app today!
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