Dava Sobel Books in Order
Dava Sobel has written 16 books, published between 1985 and 2024. The first book is Backache Relief (1985) and the newest is The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science (2024). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 16
- Published
- 1985–2024
- Pages on record
- 4,076 in 12 of 16 books
- Reading time
- 68–102 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 4,076 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 12 of 16 titles with a page count on record.
Dava Sobel, born June 15, 1947, is an American writer who explains scientific subjects for a general readership. Longitude (1995) tells the story of the English clockmaker John Harrison, and Galileo's Daughter (1999) concerns Maria Celeste, the daughter of Galileo. The Glass Universe covers the Harvard Computers, the women of the Harvard Observatory. Subject tags include astronomers, astronomy history and biography. The Elements of Marie Curie (2024) is the newest of Sobel's catalogued books.
How many Dava Sobel books are there?
Dava Sobel has 16 books, released between 1985 and 2024.
Dava Sobel Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 16 Dava Sobel books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Backache Relief1985 · 400 pages · confirmed 1/419854001/4
- 2Arthritis: What Exercises Work: Breakthrough Relief For The Rest Of Your Life, Even After Drugs & Surgery Have Failed1989 · confirmed 1/41989–1/4
- 3Is Anyone Out There?1992 · confirmed 1/41992–1/4
- 4The Incredible Planets: New Views of the Solar Family1993 · confirmed 1/41993–1/4
- 5Backache: What Exercises Work1994 · 200 pages · confirmed 1/419942001/4
- 6Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time1995 · 208 pages · confirmed 1/419952081/4
- 7Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love1999 · 432 pages · confirmed 1/419994321/4
- 8To Father: The Letters of Sister Maria Celeste to Galileo, 1623-16332001 · 355 pages · confirmed 1/420013551/4
- 9The Best American Science Writing 2004Best American Science Writing #22004 · 270 pages · confirmed 2/420042702/4
- 10The "Daily Telegraph" Arthritis2005 · 704 pages · confirmed 1/420057041/4
- 11The Planets2005 · 276 pages · confirmed 1/420052761/4
- 12Back Pain: What Really Works2006 · 544 pages · confirmed 1/420065441/4
- 13A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos2011 · 273 pages · confirmed 1/420112731/4
- 14And the Sun Stood Still2016 · 90 pages · confirmed 1/42016901/4
- 15The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars2016 · 324 pages · confirmed 1/420163241/4
- 16The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science2024 · confirmed 1/42024–1/4
Dava Sobel books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Best American Science Writing in order
1 bookStandalone books
15 books15 Dava Sobel titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Dava Sobel books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 16 Dava Sobel books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Dava Sobel
Start with Backache Relief (1985), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Dava Sobel book?
The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science (2024) is the newest Dava Sobel book released so far.
Is there a new Dava Sobel book coming?
No next Dava Sobel book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Dava Sobel at a glance
- Still publishing
- Dava Sobel published a book as recently as 2024.
- Release pace
- Dava Sobel books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 4,076 pages across the 12 of 16 books with a recorded length, a median of 300 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Dava Sobel books, 5 of 16, were published in the 2000s.
What the Dava Sobel books are about
14 of the 16 Dava Sobel books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: astronomers is tagged on 4 of 14. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Astronomers 4 of 14 books
- Exercise therapy 4 of 14 books
- Backache 3 of 14 books
- Alternative medicine 2 of 14 books
- Arthritis 2 of 14 books
- Astronomy 2 of 14 books
- Astronomy, history 2 of 14 books
- Back Pain 2 of 14 books
- Biography 2 of 14 books
- Galilei, galileo, 1564-1642 2 of 14 books
- History 2 of 14 books
- Nuns, biography 2 of 14 books