So I've been wanting to make this video for a while and a recent conversation with a friend reminded me why. I start my physics degree properly this September and the main reason why I'm even in that position is not because of school, it's because of books and TV and film and even YouTube. They have informed me and motivated me and inspired me while I've been studying. I find that a good scientific biography keeps me ticking away while I'm a bit stressed out studying and reminds me why I'm doing all this in the first place. So without further ado here are my five most influential slash favorite science-y type books. Number one on the list is slightly unconventional but it's number one for a couple of reasons. DK's children's illustrated as psychopheaviors. Probably 1996. This is the first and possibly most important book for me. I think I need to go up into my attic at some time and find out if I actually still have it. This is where it all started for me aged about a years old. I think it was a Christmas present and I was off schooled and it was probably raining outside and no one's going out and playing and I think I remember when I was saying why don't you just go and read some books, you've got a pile of books that you got for Christmas go and have a look at them. So I did. I started at the very beginning of this book and the book started at the very beginning and I was hooked. The first page was dedicated to the universe and I distinctly remember little fact boxes and illustrations and suggestions of things to do and I just remember sitting there for a couple of hours just absorbing it all. One little section was about the universe expanding and it suggested that I find a balloon uninflated, draw a load of stars all over it really close together and then blow the balloon up and watch as they expand like the universe expands and I just thought it was really interesting. Another suggestion was that I get hold of a telescope somehow, make a flask of hot chocolate, grab a blanket and go and sit outside and look at the moon and that just sounded incredible and I think a year or so later I asked for a telescope from the August catalogue and did exactly that. I have to admit it's probably not one of my favorite books ever however it is probably the most influential, probably as influential as the next book I'm going to talk about. A short history of everything I build rice in. Now anyone who knows me knows how influential this book was to me. I was about 20 when I read it. I'd already begun my degree in Eastern European studies and I remember going through a couple of chapters and stopping and thinking to myself oh shit this is what I meant to be studying. I only really started enjoying school and studying by the age of 16 and by this point in my life I had realised that I enjoyed not only English and art but also politics and history and I was also going back through the reasons why I liked astronomy and physics and reading this book was a part of that. It showed me that not only was I actually interested in physics I just didn't like the way it was taught school but that I even liked chemistry and geology and and the rest it's a book I revisit quite a lot I really get a lot out of it. There are hundreds of facts and there's so much information that's covered in this book that I never remember it so every time I reread it there's something new if you haven't read it I highly recommend it and I think one of the things I enjoyed most about this was it wasn't just this is science and this is what we know about science it was these are the people behind it and these are their stories and I found that really interesting and it made me want to be part of that world. The strangest man the hidden life of Paul Dirac quantum genius by Graeme Farmer I think that's how he pronounces it sorry Graeme. I started reading this book because it was featured on radio full because it had won a cost of book award in 2009 although I don't think I started reading it until 2011 when I was living in Bosnia. By this point I'd read quite a few popular science books mostly Brian Green books about the cosmos and things like that things were very very very fact heavy and this was nice and refreshing so I don't think I'd read a biography before unless you can't read and keep it but this really appealed to me the story of a physicist and a physicist's life because I was beginning to think more and more whether this is something I could do. I had not heard of Paul Dirac at the time but I was aware of the many characters littered throughout his life such as Neel's bore, trading a fineman up on a hammer and it really really made me want to go back in time and the book kind of felt like I was I was there it was really well written. This is definitely one of my favourite books and I need to revisit it at some point. It's heartbreaking, fascinating, entertaining and I highly recommend it. Chaos by James Gleek. Put simply this book taught me that mathematics could be fun and interesting and that even I might be able to enjoy it at some point and for that I will always be grateful. So as I try to suggest it explores chaos theory in a way that is accessible and uncomplicated. It also tells the story of the researchers and scientists and mathematicians and meteorologists whose work helped to develop the field. I read this book in 2013 mostly on a commute to work and I just found myself looking at the clouds and the leaves and the trees in a way that I had never really looked at them before. It's a hugely fascinating read. I can't begin to say that I actually understand what Chaos theory is because of this book but it's a really really good introduction and it makes me quite excited to be able to study this at university in the coming years. This book was first published in 1987 but when I read it a few years ago I found that it was an insightful and refreshing read and if you haven't read it then I really recommend that you do. No list of top science books would ever be complete if it didn't feature something to do with or buy rigid Feynman so here is mine. Surely you're joking Mr Feynman as told to Ralph or should I say Ray Fleton by Ray Fleton and Richard Feynman. I had always been vaguely aware of Feynman but I didn't know much about the man or his physics. I started watching his old lectures on YouTube and found him engaging and interesting and because I had this kind of information in the back in my mind that he was a big deal I decided to find out more and I started with this book. Feynman's life was very colourful and if you know anything about him you'll know he was widely regarded as a genius and probably one of the greatest physicists. When I started reading this I thought there would be no way I could relate to such a person but part of Feynman's brilliance is that he sort of brings out the best in others and is so engaging and accessible that makes you think that you understand what he's talking about even when you don't. This book taught me that science and learning is ultimately about understanding and it should be fun and interesting and fantastic and not dull like it was at school that it's not just memorising a series of facts and that rules are there to be challenged and that if you want to know something or do something then you're just going to have to persevere. There are hundreds of other books either by Feynman to do with Feynman or about Feynman that I also highly recommend but this is a really really good starting place it sort of takes you through his life from when he was a kid at school through the Manhattan Project and the war and quantum electromagnetic dynamics and his time at Caltech and his exploits outside of physics. He is quite a character so if you want to know more about him then I recommend that you start with this book. So they have it there are tons more books I could have mentioned but I wanted to keep it short. I might do an extension of this at some point I'd also really like to talk about my favourite almost influential TV film program type things as well. If you have a favourite or influential book that I did not mention please leave it in the comments below. I'm always looking for more books to read to enter the pile of books that I have that I haven't got around to reading it but maybe you can persuade me that I should read that one next time. Anyway as always thank you for watching bye!