When people ask for book recommendations I say this: Do some math. If you read one book every week for the rest of your life, and if you’re lucky enough to live for 50 more years, you’re only going to get to 2,600 books. When you consider that the Boston Public Library’s collection is counted in the millions, or that hundreds of thousands of books are published every year, 2,600 sounds pretty meager. So be careful. Don’t finish something you don’t love. Herewith: my super-idiosyncratic best science-y titles of 2011. Use as inspiration.