Core reading recommendations

Our recommendations below, categorized by subject, satisfy all these criteria:

They are intellectually engaging and enriching.
They are accessible to intellectually curious high school students, and to highly precocious middle school students, who have interest in the subject.
They can be read without too much real-time intellectual effort. You do not need to use paper and pencil while reading these books. Of course, putting in intellectual effort can help you derive more value from the books.
They systematically cover important ideas related to the subject. We have refrained from listing books that cover ideas that are interesting but relatively unimportant in the subject.

In particular, you won't find any books here that we're recommending purely because they're fun. You also won't find any books here that we're recommending purely because they are difficult to read.

For reading recommendations of other types, see:

Statistics and applications to data analysis

Book	Author	ISBN and purchase links	Why we're recommending it
The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century	David Salsburg	ISBN 978-0805071344 Amazon link	Provides a historical overview of the important developments in statistics and the statistical way of thinking.
Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data	Charles Wheelan	ISBN 978-0393347777 (paperback), Amazon link	Explores statistics concepts through a number of simple real-world examples.
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't	Nate Silver	ISBN 978-0141975658 (paperback), Amazon link	Explores ideas from statistics and data analysis with the specific goal of understanding the art and science of predicting the future.

Economics

Book	Author	ISBN and purchase links	Why we're recommending it
Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science	Charles Wheelan	ISBN 978-0393337648, Amazon link,	This book uses real-world examples and a minimum of mathematical formalism to explain key economic concepts.
The Undercover Economist	Timothy Harford	ISBN 978-0345494016, Amazon paperback	This book uses real-world examples and a minimum of mathematical formalism to explain key economic concepts. Moreover, it systematically covers a significant fraction of the typical introductory college economics course, unlike some of the other pop economics literature.
The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life	Steven Landsburg	ISBN 978-1451651737, Amazon paperback	The original book was one of the first in the "pop economics" literature. It offers an excellent introduction to the economic way of thinking using real-world examples and purely verbal reasoning (with a minimum of mathematics). A revised edition in 2012 updated some of the numbers so that they make more sense to modern readers.

While Freakonomics and its sequel Superfreakonomics are much better known than the above books, we would not recommend Freakonomics or Superfreakonomics if your goal is to obtain an understanding of the economic way of thinking, because they do not systematically cover the core economic concepts.

History

Book	Author	ISBN and purchase links	Why we're recommending it
Master Of The Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson	Robert A. Caro	978-0394720951 http://www.amazon.com/Master-Of-The-Senate-Johnson/dp/0394720954 Amazon paperback]	This is the third part of a five part biography of President Lyndon Johnson. It describes how Johnson passed Civil Rights legislation as a Senator in the 1950's.
The Miracle: The Epic Story of Asia's Quest for Wealth	Michael Schuman	978-0394720951 http://www.amazon.com/The-Miracle-Story-Asias-Wealth/dp/0061346691 Amazon paperback]	This book describes the spectacular economic growth that occurred in Asia from the 1950's on.
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy	Ramachandra Guha	978-0060958589 http://www.amazon.com/India-After-Gandhi-History-Democracy/dp/0060958588 Amazon paperback]	India's population represents 15% of the world's population. This book describes India's recent history.

Biology

Book	Author	ISBN and purchase links	Why we're recommending it
Microbe Hunters	Paul de Kruif	Amazon Kindle	This is an inspirational history of early discoveries in microbiology.

Theoretical computer science

Book	Author	ISBN and purchase links	Why we're recommending it
The Golden Ticket: P, NP, and the Search for the Impossible	Lance Fortnow	[ISBN 0691156492 http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Ticket-Search-Impossible-ebook/dp/B00BKZYGUY/ Amazon Kindle]	This is a nontechnical introduction to P vs. NP, which is one of the central questions of theoretical computer science. The book places the problem in the context of society.
Quantum Computing since Democritus	Scott Aaronson	[ISBN 0521199565 http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Ticket-Search-Impossible-ebook/dp/B00BKZYGUY/ Amazon Kindle]	This book discusses the math and physics of computation, including quantum computation.

Physics

Book	Author	ISBN and purchase links	Why we're recommending it
General Relativity from A to B	Robert Geroch	[978-0226288642 http://www.amazon.com/General-Relativity-B-Robert-Geroch/dp/0226288641/ Amazon paperback]	This book is an introduction to Einstein's theories of special relativity and general relativity, requiring no more mathematical background than first year high school algebra. It differs from most non-technical books about modern physics in that it's unusually precise and accurate. Its discussion of general relativity is vague, but openly so, and still gives conveys some understanding of the theory.
The Structure and Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics	R.I.G. Hughes	[ISBN 978-0674843929 http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Ticket-Search-Impossible-ebook/dp/ISBN B00BKZYGUY/ Amazon paperback]	This book introduces quantum mechanics, requiring no more math than precalculus. It's precise and rigorous, giving the reader an authentic understanding of the basics of the subject. It also discusses the philosophical question of interpretations of quantum mechanics. We recommend using paper and pencil when reading the mathematical sections.