So, what science books impressed you the most? What would be your top three (or top 10, or ...) science books that you'd recommend to pretty much anyone able to read? The ones kept on your personal "must-have" shelf, most likely read more than once already...?

Also, if you know of any science books that had success with young children I'd love to hear about them as well.

Thanks in advance!

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Before the Beginning by Sir Martin Rees

Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne.

i'm not really a science type of guy.
i'm more of the technical hands on type.
i don't have that many science books.
i do however have "hackh's chemical dictionary".
i also have "standard mathematical tables".
good reading:
"the double helix" by james watson.
"dark sun" by richard rhodes.

Fabric of Reality David Deutsch
Chaos James Gleick
Atom lawrence krauss
Beagle Diary Charles Darwin

Probably the one that had the greatest single impact on me was Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene. Once you've read and understood that, you can't help but either change your whole worldview or else stick your head in the sand and pretend it never happened. In fact, everything Dawkins has written for the general public is well worth a read.

A similar eye-opening book (on a somewhat different subject) is Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

Back when I was lot younger, I read virtually any science book I could lay my hands on by Isaac Asimov, who as well as writing science fiction also wrote a lot of non-fiction science books.

I have a whole shelf of skeptical literature. Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World is still an excellent introduction to science and skepticism.

I also have a shelf full of advanced technical books on physics and mathematics, but they are all very specialised and nobody but a professional or student would recognise the authors.

PS leopold's post has jogged my memory. Richard Rhodes' book The Making of the Atomic Bomb is fascinating if you're into the history of science (and this particular event in world history).

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

The Prince

The Art of War - Sun Tzu

Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World

The Intelligent Investor

The Selfish Gene

The Mating Mind

To pick one from the list...I'd have to say the Art of War by Sun Tzu, IMO the Samuel B. Griffith translation is the best, because of the selected commentaries. The Art of War is basically the bible for business and strategy...

I love medical books since it is somehow related with science

The Origin of Species

http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/

The Descent of Man

http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-descent-of-man/

Charles Darwin