🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Alan Lightman
Alan Lightman is an American physicist, essayist, novelist, educator, and social entrepreneur. He was born in 1948 and received his education while at Princeton as well as the California Institute of Technology. There he graduated and received his PhD in the field of theoretical physics. Alan also was able to receive five honorary doctoral degrees. The author has been able to serve on the faculties of both Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was also the first person at MIT to be able to get dual faculty appointments in both science and the humanities. He is a professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT.
All Book Series by Alan Lightman
Problem Book in Relativity and Gravitation
Series opener · book 1 of 20 · published 1975 Co-authored · Robert Henderson Price
A Modern-Day Yankee in a Connecticut Court and other essays on science
Book 3 of 20 · published 1986
Origins: The Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists
Book 4 of 20 · published 1990 Co-authored · Roberta Brawer
Living with the Genie
Book 8 of 20 · published 2003 Co-authored · Daniel Sarewitz
A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit
Book 9 of 20 · published 2005
What's the Matter?: Readings in Physics
Book 11 of 20 · published 2006 Co-authored · Donald Whitfield
The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew
Book 13 of 20 · published 2013
The Shape of Wonder
Latest in the series · book 20 of 20 · published 2025 Co-authored · Martin Rees
Ada and the Galaxies
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 2021 Co-authored · Olga Pastuchiv,Susanna Chapman
Isabel and the Invisible World
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2023 Co-authored · Ramona Kaulitzki
The Best American Science Writing 2003
Series opener · book 1 of 10 · published 2003 Anthology · Oliver Sacks,Joseph D'Agnese,Jesse Cohen
The Best American Science Writing 2004
Book 2 of 10 · published 2004 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Dava Sobel
The Best American Science Writing 2005
Book 3 of 10 · published 2005 Co-authored · Jesse Cohen
The Best American Science Writing 2006
Book 4 of 10 · published 2006 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Atul Gawande
The Best American Science Writing 2007
Book 5 of 10 · published 2007 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Gina Kolata
The Best American Science Writing 2008
Book 6 of 10 · published 2008 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Sylvia Nasar,Jerome Groopman
The Best American Science Writing 2009
Book 7 of 10 · published 2009 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Natalie Angier
The Best American Science Writing 2010
Book 8 of 10 · published 2010 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Jerome Groopman
The Best American Science Writing 2011
Book 9 of 10 · published 2011 Anthology · Rebecca Skloot
The Best American Science Writing 2012
Latest in the series · book 10 of 10 · published 2012 Anthology · Jesse Cohen,Michio Kaku
The Best American Science Writing 2002
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 2002
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Alan Lightman?
Alan Lightman is an American physicist, essayist, novelist, educator, and social entrepreneur. He was born in 1948 and received his education while at Princeton as well as the California Institute of Technology. There he graduated and received his PhD in the field of theoretical physics.
Which Alan Lightman series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Best American Science Writing series, the earliest of Alan Lightman's multi-book series: it opens with The Best American Science Writing 2003 (2003) and runs to 10 books across 2003–2012, ending with The Best American Science Writing 2012 (2012).
How many books has Alan Lightman written?
Alan Lightman has 41 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1975 and 2025. 10 of them belong to 1 named series — the largest being the Best American Science Writing series with 10 books — and 31 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Alan Lightman's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Alan Lightman's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Best American Science Writing (2003–2012, 10 books).
How are Alan Lightman's books organised into series?
This guide splits Alan Lightman's 41 books into 1 named series and 31 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Best American Science Writing (10 books, 2003–2012).