It has been a strange year for science books. Some authors have presented new ideas about science — there has been a tussle over string theory, for example, and in Moral Minds Marc Hauser has suggested that morality is as innate as language (see Nature 443, 909–910; 2006). But perhaps the dominant theme running through many of the popular science books published this year has been, surprisingly, religion.

The continuing debate about the teaching of creationism in schools has no doubt fuelled this preoccupation. Many scientists, particularly those in the United States, have been moved to take a stand against proponents of creationism and intelligent design. Intelligent Thought, edited by John Brockman, is a collection of essays from the likes of Jerry Coyne and Tim White who provide elegantly expressed scientific arguments to counter the claims of intelligent design. This book should appeal to “those who already see evolutionary biology as a science”, according to John Tyler Bonner (see Nature 442, 355–356; 2006). Michael Shermer's Why Darwin Matters is perhaps more accessible for the public, but neither book is likely to sway creationists from their belief.

Many of the scientists who made it to the top of the bestseller lists focused specifically on religion. Daniel Dennett's book Breaking the Spell provides essentially a natural history of religion but skirts around the cultural reasons why religion has developed and become such a dominant force in politics today, in the view of reviewer Michael Ruse (see Nature 439, 535; 2006). In Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast, Lewis Wolpert treads similar ground but provides a more succinct summary of the evolution of the 'need to believe' (see Nature 442, 137; 2006).

Francis Collins' The Language of God, an account of how his Christian faith is compatible with his work as a scientist, has sought to engage both sides in a less confrontational dialogue (see Nature 442, 110 and 114–115; 2006) — as has Owen Gingerich in God's Universe. But Richard Dawkins isn't interested in reconciling science and religion. In The God Delusion, which has topped the bestseller lists in both the United States and Britain this autumn, Dawkins argues with the fervour of a preacher that religion has no place in the modern world, and that atheism is the 'true path' (see Nature 443, 914–915; 2006).

Dawkins' domination of the genre of popular science books was celebrated earlier in the year with the publication by Oxford University Press of a thirtieth-anniversary edition of his book The Selfish Gene, and Richard Dawkins: How A Scientist Changed the Way We Think, a collection of comments and testimonials edited by Alan Grafen and Mark Ridley (see Nature 441, 151–152; 2006).

Physicists have also been questioning our place in the Universe. Cosmologist Alex Vilenkin's Many Worlds in One takes a look at the multiverse theory — the idea that many different universes exist and explanations for how we came to be in this one (see Nature 443, 145–146; 2006). Paul Davies' The Goldilocks Enigma gives the topic a more popular treatment (see Nature 444, 423–424; 2006). Playwright Michael Frayn also considers our relationship with the Universe, and much more, in his book The Human Touch, which will be reviewed in Nature next week.

After a spate of books on string theory in 2005, the hottest hope for a 'theory of everything' came in for criticism this year, with the appearance of Lee Smolin's The Trouble with Physics and Peter Woit's Not Even Wrong (see Nature 443, 482, 491 and 507–508; 2006).

Jane Goodall was the subject of one of the year's notable biographies, Jane Goodall by Dale Peterson (see Nature 443, 915; 2006). Philip Ball delved into history for The Devil's Doctor, his biography of Paracelsus (see Nature 441, 152–153; 2006). Broken Genius by Joel Shurkin is the first full biography of William Shockley (see Nature 442, 631–632; 2006). And Francis Crick was the focus of a short biography by Matt Ridley (Francis Crick; see Nature 443, 917–918; 2006) — a fuller treatment by Robert Olby is expected next year. This year's Pulitzer Prize for biography, meanwhile, went to Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin for American Prometheus, their portrait of Robert Oppenheimer.

While many scientists have been preoccupied with religion, some novelists have turned to science for inspiration. Allegra Goodwin's Intuition proved to be an exciting page-turner, examining the psychological motives for scientific fraud in a cancer-biology lab (see Nature 440, 996–997; 2006). Die Vermessung der Welt by Daniel Kehlmann, a fictionalized account of scientists Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss, was a bestseller in Germany last year. An English translation by Carol Brown Janeway, Measuring the World, is now available and will be reviewed in Nature next month.

See page 819, for a discussion about what makes the best popular science books so special.