Read Chaos

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

Hofstadter on self-reference in logic, art and music, and where minds come from; the Pulitzer nobody finishes.

Simon Singh on the 358-year problem and Andrew Wiles's seven secret years solving it.

Fifty-four levels of a motorbike on rubber suspension, collecting apples and touching the flower without landing on your head; one Hungarian programmer, and a time-attack scene still going.

Knuth's volumes since 1968; the book programmers own and do not finish.

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.

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