Richard Preston Books in Order
Richard Preston has written 9 books, published between 1987 and 2019. The first book is First Light (1987) and the newest is Crisis in the Red Zone (2019). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 9
- Published
- 1987–2019
- Pages on record
- 2,114 in 7 of 9 books
- Reading time
- 35–53 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,114 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 7 of 9 titles with a page count on record.
Richard Preston, born 1954, writes for The New Yorker and reports on infectious disease. The Hot Zone (1994) and Crisis in the Red Zone (2019) take up Ebola, molecular virology and epidemiology, and The Demon in the Freezer (2002) turns to bioterrorism. Preston also writes on astronomy in First Light (1987), on the steel trade in American Steel (1991) and on redwoods in The Wild Trees (2007), and writes fiction as well. Nine Preston titles are catalogued between 1987 and 2019.
How many Richard Preston books are there?
Richard Preston has 9 books, released between 1987 and 2019. 4 of them belong to the Dark Biology series.
Richard Preston Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 9 Richard Preston 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.
- 119873002/4
- 21991–2/4
- 319944222/4
- 419974322/4
- 520022922/4
- 620031082/4
- 720073202/4
- 820082402/4
- 92019–2/4
Richard Preston 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.
Richard Preston Non-Fiction
4 books4 titles published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Dark Biology in order
4 booksRichard Preston Short Stories/Novellas
1 book1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Do you have to read Richard Preston books in order?
You only need to read Richard Preston books in order within the Dark Biology series, which holds 4 of the 9 Richard Preston books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Richard Preston
Start with First Light (1987), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Richard Preston book?
Crisis in the Red Zone (2019) is the newest Richard Preston book released so far.
Is there a new Richard Preston book coming?
No next Richard Preston book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Richard Preston at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Richard Preston title on record dates from 2019, 7 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Richard Preston books have appeared about one every 4 years on average.
- Length
- 2,114 pages across the 7 of 9 books with a recorded length, a median of 300 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Richard Preston books, 4 of 9, were published in the 2000s.
What the Richard Preston books are about
8 of the 9 Richard Preston books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: nonfiction is tagged on 2 of 8. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Nonfiction 2 of 8 books
- Science 2 of 8 books