Read The Selfish Gene

Darwin's one long argument for natural selection, still readable.

Mukherjee's intimate history of heredity, from Mendel's peas to CRISPR.

Jennifer Doudna and CRISPR; Isaacson on the gene-editing race.

Sagan's book of the series: the pale blue dot before the photo and the cosmic calendar.

Carl Sagan's thirteen-part tour of the universe from 1980; "billions and billions".

Why Eurasia conquered the rest: geography, crops and animals rather than people; Diamond's Pulitzer.

Bill Bryson explains the universe, the atom and the dinosaurs as if to a friend in a pub.

Hawking on black holes and the beginning of time with one equation; the most unread bestseller.