Aug 18, 2015 6:45 AM

Gallery: 14 Essential Sources for Getting Up to Speed in Science

Warner Bros. Pictures/Everett Collection
01
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-gravity
*[Gravity](https://youtu.be/OiTiKOy59o4)* | Great, now humans feel just as petrified—and just as inspired—by the awesome fragility of space travel as they did in the 1960s.
02
Chaos
*[Chaos: Making a New Science](http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Making-Science-James-Gleick/dp/0143113453)* | No one explains a tricky concept better than James Gleick. Here he shows how researchers have tamed wild randomness in everything from stocks to storms.

Peter Yang
03
2203-UL-RUBIN-DH-140108-WiredTyson-078-cw3-FFF
*[Cosmos](https://youtu.be/bzS39oghcnY)* (80) and *[Cosmos](https://youtu.be/Fm4UV5_HsPA)* (14) | Even devoted Sagan fans see the beauty in Neil deGrasse Tysons reincarnation—but you cant beat the awesomely cruddy production values of the original.
04
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-Spillover
*[Spillover](http://amzn.com/0393346617)* | Many diseases originally leapt to humans from animals, and David Quammen went to the places where they arose. Spoiler: Stay away from bats.

05
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-biowars
*[Biowars](http://www.biowars.com/comic/issue-1/)* | Anthropomorphized immune and nervous system cells in mortal combat? Yes please! Perfect for converting kids from comic nerds to science nerds.
Everett Collection
06
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-magicschoolbus
*[The Magic School Bus](https://youtu.be/BTjXdzxhc_w)* | The one where Ms. Frizzle and her gang shrink to fly through the human body inspired a whole generation of doctors—probably even yours.

07
man who mistook his wife for a hat
*[The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat](http://amzn.com/1491514078)* | Oliver Sacks is the godfather of popular neuroscience writing. This collection was one of the first to introduce you to humans who think differently.
Courtesy of Maker Media
08
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-makers
*[Maker Faire](http://makerfaire.com/)* | Like a Renaissance faire but from the future, with (slightly) more steampunk, more stuff to build, and more technology to explore.

09
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-doublehelix
*[The Double Helix](http://amzn.com/074321630X)* | James Watsons memoir is shamelessly arrogant—and essential to understanding the most important biological finding of the 20th century.
BBC
10
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-connections
*[Connections](https://youtu.be/re1ZLwb1jLw)* | James Burkes classic Brit docuseries shows how every major discovery started with some other major discovery.

11
immortal-life
*[The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks](http://amzn.com/1400052181)* | Rebecca Skloots incredibly reported story of the cell line that underpins modern cancer research—and the woman whose death made it possible.
12
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-island
*[The Theory of Island Biogeography](http://amzn.com/0691088365)* | Civilization is a rising sea surrounding islands of nature. This 1967 book explains what happens as creatures huddle on and hopscotch between the shrinking fragments.

Valve
13
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-portal
*[Portal](https://youtu.be/TluRVBhmf8w)* | The videogame that gets you thinking about alternate dimensions instead of just saying youre in one.
14
ff-cultlit-1-scicanon-making
*[The Making of the Atomic Bomb](http://amzn.com/1451677618)* | The grand soap opera/secret reality show that turned Feynman into the trickster god of physics and Oppenheimer into the destroyer of worlds.

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