145 of the Best Biology Books and Resources

The word biology is derived from the greek words (bios meaning life) and (logos meaning study) and is defined as the science of life and living organisms. An organism is a living entity consisting of one cell e.g. bacteria, or several cells e.g. animals, plants and fungi. There are three major branches of biology – botany, zoology and microbiology. Botany is the branch of biology which deals with the study of different aspects of plants.

Biologists help us to understand environmental issues, genetics and the biology of animals and plants by studying all manner of living things and the world around them. Biologists work across a wide variety of sectors, including: agriculture, where they might try to improve productivity in livestock or crops.

The resources you’ll find below are not entirely a database of free materials, but more of a list of reference or “what to read” within the biology world. This list will cover various aspects of biological science from the study of molecular mechanisms in cells, to the classification and behaviour of organisms, how species evolve and interaction between ecosystems.

General Reading

1. The Epic History of Biology by Serafini
2. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
3. What is Life by Erwin Schrodinger
4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
5. The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley
6. The Richness of Life by Stephen Jay Gould
7. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
8. The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski
9. Power, Sex and Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life by Nick Lane
10. Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
11. The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee
12. The Eighth Day of Creation by H. F. Judson
13. The Human Zoo by Desmond Morris
14. The Equation That Couldn’t be Solved by Mario Livio
15. The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio
16. The Complexity Paradox by Kenneth Mossman
17. The Vital Question by Nick Lane
18. On Growth and Form by D’Arcy Wentworth Thomsom
19. The Big Questions: Evolution by Francisco Ayala
20. The Making of a Fly by Peter Lawrence
21. Molecular Machines in Biology by Joachim Frank
22. Cell Motility from Molecules to Organisms by Ridley and Peckham
23. Random Walks in Biology by Howard Berg
24. Elephants on Acids and Other Bizarre Experiments by Alex Boese
25. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
26. Evolving Ourselves: Redesigning the Future of Humanity–One Gene at a Time
27. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
28. Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson
29. Soft Matter: the stuff that dreams are made of by Roberto Piazza

Videos

1. Life on Earth and The Living Planet by David Attenborough

General Biology

1. Ancestors in Our Genome by Eugene E. Harris
2. A Cartoon Guide to Genetics by Gonick and Wheelis
3. Campbell Biology
4. Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple
5. The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics by Davis S. Moore
6. The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision
7. The Many Phases of the Matter by Ganeshan Venkataraman
8. The Shaping of Life by Lionel G. Harrison
9. The Machinery of Life by David Goodsell

Biochemistry

1. Biochemistry by Berg

Biophysics

1. Feynman Lectures On Computation by Richard Feynman
2. Physics in Molecular Biology by Kim Sneppen
3. Physics of Living Systems by Fabrizio Cleri

Bioprocess Engineering

1. Bioprocess Engineering Principles by Pauline M. Doran