Top 25 science books

Discover is doing a "25 Greatest Science Books of All-Time" list. The great thing about stuff like this is it gets you thinking, talking, and exposes what your priorities are. There isn't a canonical list with a clear rank order. I mean, yeah, Principia is the bomb, but people can make a case for The Origin of Species. Below is the list from Discover, and below the fold my quick & dirty re-order. Hope it tells you something about me. 1. and 2. The Voyage of the Beagle (1845) and The Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin [tie] 3. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (1687) 4. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei (1632) 5. De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543) 6. Physica (Physics) by Aristotle (circa 330 B.C.) 7. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius (1543) 8. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1916) 9. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976) 10. One Two Three . . . Infinity by George Gamow (1947) 11. The Double Helix by James D. Watson (1968) 12. What Is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) 13. The Cosmic Connection by Carl Sagan (1973) 14. The Insect Societies by Edward O. Wilson (1971) 15. The First Three Minutes by Steven Weinberg (1977) 16. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) 17. The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould (1981) 18. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (1985) 19. The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1814) 20. The Feynman Lectures on Physics by* Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, and Matthew Sands (1963) 21. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred C. Kinsey et al. (1948) 22. Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey (1983) 23. Under a Lucky Star by Roy Chapman Andrews (1943) 24. Micrographia by Robert Hooke (1665) 25. Gaia by James Lovelock (1979) And now, switcheroo.... 1. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (1687) 2 The Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin 3. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei (1632) 4. De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543) 5. Physica (Physics) by Aristotle (circa 330 B.C.) 6. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius (1543) 7. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1916) 8. What Is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) 9. Micrographia by Robert Hooke (1665) 10. The Insect Societies by Edward O. Wilson (1971) 11. The Feynman Lectures on Physics by* Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, and Matthew Sands (1963) 12. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976) 13. The Double Helix by James D. Watson (1968) 14. The First Three Minutes by Steven Weinberg (1977) 15. The Cosmic Connection by Carl Sagan (1973) 16. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (1985) 17. Gaia by James Lovelock (1979) 18. and 2. The Voyage of the Beagle (1845) 19. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred C. Kinsey et al. (1948) 20. The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1814) 21. Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey (1983) 22. Under a Lucky Star by Roy Chapman Andrews (1943) 23. One Two Three . . . Infinity by George Gamow (1947) 24. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) 25. The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould (1981) Caveat, I haven't read all the books here, and a few I haven't even heard of (e.g., 'Under a Lucky Star'). My list is probably biased toward the books I have read.