Ask HN: Favourite science history book of the 20th century? ↗

The books people recommended

2026-07-20 · 9 points · 14 comments · 8 books named by at least one person here and at least 3 people overall. The number on the left is how many people named it in this thread.

1The Dream Machine
The Dream Machine
M. Mitchell Waldrop
1 here · 31 all-time · #184 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 307 ratings on Amazon
1
Cosmos
Carl Sagan
1 here · 20 all-time · #309 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 8,712 ratings on Amazon
1The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Richard Hamming
1 here · 14 all-time · #467 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 1,311 ratings on Amazon
1Turing's Cathedral
Turing's Cathedral
George Dyson
1 here · 13 all-time · #511 overall
Buy on Amazon4.2 out of 5, 456 ratings on Amazon
1Summa Technologiae
Summa Technologiae
Stanisław Lem
1 here · 6 all-time · #1106 overall
1Microserfs
Microserfs
Douglas Coupland
1 here · 5 all-time · #1329 overall
1Technics and Civilization
Technics and Civilization
Lewis Mumford
1 here · 4 all-time · #1629 overall
1Connections
Connections
James Burke
1 here · 4 all-time · #1656 overall