Scientists book series in reading order

by Randy Wayne White

by Phil Foglio

by Jeff VanderMeer

by James P. Blaylock

Doc Ford, a marine biologist in Florida, anchors most of Randy Wayne White's fiction. White's 62 catalogued books also hold the Hannah Smith novels, the Sharks Incorporated books, the Dusky MacMorgan thrillers written as Randy Striker and the Hawker series written as Carl Ramm. The list begins in 1981 with Key West Connection and reaches Tomlinson's Wake in 2025.

Clive Cussler

104 books• 9 series

Clive Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. Cussler founded and chaired the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), which has located more than 60 shipwreck sites. Cussler's thrillers, many of them featuring Dirk Pitt, reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 20 times. The catalogue lists 105 books under Cussler's name, beginning with The Mediterranean Caper (1973), with The Serpent's Eye due in 2027. Robin Burcell shares credit on 6 of them, Jack Du Brul on 5 and Grant Blackwood on 3. Series include Dirk Pitt, NUMA Files, Oregon Files and Sea Hunters.

James Rollins

48 books• 10 series

James Rollins is the pen name of James Paul Czajkowski, an American writer born August 20, 1961, who gave up a veterinary practice in Sacramento, California to write full time. Rollins writes action-adventure, mystery and techno-thriller novels, often set underground or underwater, drawing on experience as an amateur caver and certified scuba diver. The catalogue opens with Subterranean (1999) and Excavation (2000), counts 49 books through Trust No One (2026), and lists Into the Serpent's Nest for 2027. Series include Sigma Force, the Order of the Sanguines, Tucker Wayne and Jake Ransom. Under a second pen name, James Clemens, Czajkowski publishes fantasy.

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Dean Koontz, born on July 9, 1945, is an American novelist of suspense thrillers that mix in horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery and satire. Koontz published early work under pen names including Deanna Dwyer, K. R. Dwyer, Leigh Nichols, David Axton and Brian Coffey. The catalogue holds 164 books, from Star Quest / Doom of the Green Planet (1968) to The Friend of the Family (2026), with A Storm So Bright and Beautiful set for 2027. Jane Hawk, Nameless and Dean Koontz's Frankenstein are Koontz series, and Odd Thomas appears among the characters. Fourteen Koontz hardcovers and sixteen paperbacks reached number one on The New York Times list, and sales top 500 million copies.

Elly Griffiths

49 books• 6 series

Elly Griffiths is the pen name of Domenica de Rosa, a British crime novelist born in 1963. Three series appear under the Griffiths name: the Ruth Galloway books, a series featuring Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto, and the Harbinder Kaur novels. The catalogue lists 49 books from 2001 to 2026, the earliest being The Little Book of Shakespeare and Food, credited as Domenica de Rosa. The Crossing Places (2009) and The Janus Stone (2010) come later, and the Justice Jones and Ali Dawson series are also listed. Subjects include women forensic anthropologists and archaeologists.

Phil Foglio works in comics and graphic novels. Girl Genius, with its woman scientist at the centre, runs across three of the catalogued series, and Buck Godot, What's New and the adult XXXenophile Collection account for most of the rest. Foglio's 38 titles start with Myth Adventures One in 1984 and end with Volume 5: Sparks and Monsters in 2021, at a median of 112 pages. Science fiction, fantasy and romance all feed the work.

Terry Pratchett

148 books• 18 series

Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 to 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist and satirist. Discworld, a run of 41 comic fantasy novels published from 1983 to 2015, is the work most associated with Pratchett, together with Good Omens (1990), written with Neil Gaiman. The Carpet People (1971) was the first Pratchett novel, and The Colour of Magic (1983) opened Discworld. The Shepherd's Crown, the last Discworld novel, came out in August 2015, five months after Pratchett's death. The catalogue also lists the Long Earth, Bromeliad Trilogy and Johnny Maxwell series, with The Discworld Bestiary dated 2026.

Isaac Asimov

553 books• 31 series

Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer who also taught biochemistry at Boston University. Hard science fiction is the core of Asimov's reputation, and the Foundation series about a fallen space empire is the most famous work; Asimov ranked with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke as one of the "Big Three" of the genre. The output also covers mysteries, fantasy and popular science, with non-fiction lines such as How Did We Find Out and the Library of the Universe. Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 books. This catalogue opens with the story Marooned Off Vesta (1939) and names Asimov on 400 of the listed books.

Peter May

33 books• 5 series

Peter May, born 20 December 1951, is a Scottish novelist, crime writer and television screenwriter. The Blackhouse won the U.S. Barry Award for Crime Novel of the Year and France's Cezam Prix Litteraire, and The Lewis Man took Le Telegramme's Grand Prix des Lecteurs. Entry Island won two awards in 2014, and May received France's Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere in 2025. Sales exceed twelve million copies. The catalogue lists 33 books, from The Reporter (1978) to The Black Loch (2024), with the China Thrillers, the Enzo Files and the Lewis Tetralogy among the series.

Ben Bova

138 books• 17 series

Ben Bova, born Benjamin William Bova on November 8, 1932, was an American writer and editor whose career lasted 60 years; Bova died on November 29, 2020. As editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Bova won the Hugo Award six times, later served as editorial director of Omni, and was president of both the National Space Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America. The catalogue holds 138 books of science fiction and science fact, from The Star Conquerors (1959) to Pluto (2025). Non-fiction such as The Milky Way Galaxy (1961) sits beside series including Grand Tour, Orion, Kinsman, Sam Gunn, Jake Ross and the Star Quest Trilogy. Subjects name space opera, lunar bases, space stations and space colonies.

Lin Anderson, born in Greenock, Scotland, writes Tartan Noir crime fiction and screenplays. The Rhona MacLeod novels, which follow a forensic scientist, are the best known sequence, and were in development for ITV as of 2010. Twenty-nine titles are catalogued from Driftnet (2003) to The High Island (2026), with the Orcadia Mysteries, the Patrick de Courvoisier Mystery books and Blaze Dog Detective alongside, at a median length of 400 pages.

Jack Chabert writes horror stories for young readers, catalogued at a grades 1-3 level. Catalogue subjects record haunted schools, elementary schools, friendship, best friends, science projects and blizzards. Eerie Elementary is the series recorded under this name, and all 10 catalogued books carry the Chabert credit between 2014 and 2019: The School Is Alive! and The Locker Ate Lucy! in 2014, Recess Is a Jungle!, School Freezes Over! and The Science Fair is Freaky! in 2016, Classes Are Canceled! and Sam Battles the Machine! in 2017, The Art Show Attacks! and The Hall Monitors Are Fired! in 2018, and The End of Orson Eerie? in 2019.

Jeff Lindsay

19 books• 6 series

Jeff Lindsay is the pen name of Jeffry P. Freundlich, an American crime novelist and playwright. His best known creation is Dexter Morgan, a Miami police forensic analyst who is himself a psychopath and who kills serial killers. The Dexter novels begin with Darkly Dreaming Dexter in 2004, and the first of them became the Showtime television series that ran from 2006 to 2013 with Michael C. Hall in the role. Lindsay also wrote the Billy Knight novels and the Riley Wolfe thrillers. The catalogue holds 19 titles, running from Tropical Depression in 1994 to The Fourth Rule in 2023.

John Banville Books / Benjamin Black is the combined catalogue entry for 41 books dated 1970 to 2025. The list opens with Long Lankin (1970), Nightspawn (1971) and Birchwood (1973), then Doctor Copernicus (1976), Kepler (1981) and The Newton Letter (1982). The Book of Evidence (1989) and Ghosts (1993) follow. Subject tags include historical and psychological fiction, mystery, pathologists, scientists, Dublin and Ireland. Series include Quirke, Revolutions Trilogy, Frames: The Freddie Montgomery Trilogy, Cleave Trilogy and St. John Strafford, and Venetian Vespers (2025) is the newest title.

Emma E. L. Young carries the credit on 11 catalogued books published between 2007 and 2025. Catalogue subjects record genius, inventions, inventors, scientists, burglary and secret societies. The earlier titles are The Infinity Code (2007), The Ghostmaster / The Ghost Machine (2007), The Black Sphere (2008), The Viper Club (2008) and The Death Web (2009); Israel (2008) carries the name E.L. Young. Later entries run The Untold Kiss (2014), Sane (2015), She, Myself, and I (2017) and All The Strangers I've Ever Loved (2025). S.T.O.R.M. and Harlem are the series recorded here.

Jeffery Deaver, born May 6, 1950, is an American writer of mystery and crime fiction. Deaver holds a journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a J.D. from Fordham University, and worked as a journalist and then a lawyer before turning to novels. Awards include the Crime Writers' Association Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger, the Nero Award and three Ellery Queen Reader's Awards for Best Short Story of the Year. The catalogue counts 121 Deaver books from 1984 to The Collateral Heart (2026), with Freeze Frame due in 2027. Lincoln Rhyme, Kathryn Dance, Colter Shaw and John Pellam are recurring characters.

Jayne Ann Krentz, born Jayne Castle on 28 March 1948 in Cobb, California, is an American romance novelist with New York Times bestsellers under seven pseudonyms. Three names remain in use: Krentz for contemporary romantic suspense, Amanda Quick for historical romantic suspense and Jayne Ann Castle for futuristic and paranormal romantic suspense. More than 35 million copies are in print. The catalogue lists 205 books, from Vintage of Surrender (1979, as Jayne Castle) to Enter the Nightmare (2026), with The Book Hunter due in 2027. Early titles also appeared as Jayne Bentley, Jayne Taylor and Stephanie James. Series include Burning Cove, Eclipse Bay and the Dreamlight Trilogy.

Naval aviation and espionage define Stephen Coonts's thrillers. Jake Grafton leads the series that opens with Flight of the Intruder (1986), Tommy Carmellini heads a later one, and the Saucer books and Deep Black sit alongside. Terrorism, conspiracies, undercover operations and the Vietnam War are recurring subjects. Thirty-eight books run to Dragon's Jaw in 2019, and nothing new has appeared since.

Ted Bell, born Theodore Augustus Bell III (July 3, 1946 – January 20, 2023), was an American suspense novelist. Bell's New York Times bestselling spy thrillers feature Lord Alexander Hawke and include Hawke (2003), Assassin (2004), Pirate (2005), Spy (2006), Warlord (2010) and Phantom (2012). Nick of Time (2000) is the first catalogued book and Warmonger (2026) the newest; Nick McIver Adventures Through Time is a second series, and time travel appears in the subjects. Before writing novels, Bell served as president and chief creative officer of the Leo Burnett Company in Chicago and later as vice chairman and worldwide creative director of Young & Rubicam.

Jeremy Robinson mixes science, history and mythology across thrillers and science fiction, publishing also as Jeremy Bishop, Jeremiah Knight and other pen names. Born October 22, 1974, Robinson is known for the Nemesis Saga and the Chess Team books, and for the non-fiction Screenplay Workbook, which Lone Eagle Press issued in 2003 and which opens the catalogue's 90 titles. The novels have been adapted as comic books, optioned for film and television, and translated into thirteen languages. Other series listed include Antarktos Saga, Infinite, Cerberus Group and Jack Sigler: Continuum. Subjects include terrorism, special forces, scientists and horror.

Neal Stephenson

34 books• 8 series

Neal Stephenson (Neal Town Stephenson, born October 31, 1959) is an American writer of speculative fiction classed as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk and baroque. Mathematics, cryptography, linguistics, philosophy, currency and the history of science recur in the novels. The site lists 34 books from The Big U (1984) to D: Heavy Water (2026), including Snow Crash (1992) and Cryptonomicon (1999). Baroque Cycle and Foreworld Saga are series. Stephenson and George Jewsbury, an uncle, co-wrote novels as Stephen Bury.

H.G. Wells

152 books• 8 series

H.G. Wells, born Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946), was an English writer of more than forty novels and dozens of short stories. Science fiction novels are the work Wells is most known for today, and Wells shares the title of father of science fiction with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. The non-fiction covers social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. The catalogue opens with The Chronic Argonauts (1888) and includes The Time Machine (1895), The Wonderful Visit (1895) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896). Utopias, civilization and philosophy appear among the subjects.

Walter Isaacson

18 books• 1 series

Walter Isaacson is an American journalist and biographer, born on 20 May 1952, whose subjects have included Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Jennifer Doudna and Elon Musk. Isaacson has edited Time, chaired CNN and led the Aspen Institute, and was a professor at Tulane University as of 2024. Eighteen books are catalogued, from The Wise Men (1986) to The Greatest Sentence Ever Written (2025).