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Popular Science Collection: About the Collection

About The Collection

On the 2nd floor of the West Wing in the Geisel Library Building, the Popular Science (PopSci) Collection houses many of our popular and general-interest science books. Rather than scatter them throughout the collection, we have shelved them together to provide a richer browsing and discovery experience.

There are more than 500 titles in the collection, all available for borrowing faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates. You can also browse the latest books added to the collection and what has been ordered.


When ordering for this collection, we usually limit ordering to books published in the last 2-3 years. Topics include, but aren't restricted to, the list below. Books that don't fit this collection may still be good candidates for the regular collection. 

  • Current and/or "hot" topics: space exploration, climate change, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, robotics, big data. biotechnology, renewable energy, machine learning, etc.
  • Science and popular culture
  • Nature and natural history
  • Futurism, forecasting
  • Underrepresented groups in STEM 
  • Anthologies of science essays (Best of...)
  • Biographies and science history, including graphic novels
  • Science trivia
  • Puzzles and brain-twisters
  • Science and politics
  • Science literacy
  • Historical, philosophical or sociological aspects of science