1: The Double Helix, James D. Watson

Hell, yeah! Drop some science on me right now!

This is not a science text. It's not even a pop science text. It is a history of science text, but a self-admittedly awfully subjective one. ("self-admittedly"? Jesus.) It's mostly an inspirational tale. It makes you (or me—I don't know what it makes any hypothetical yous do) want to go out and Do Some Science. Like, now. Gimme some science to do!

Two amusing bits to give you a taste of the writing:

Watson's fellowship was not meant for studying X-ray diffraction, and Washington balked when he tried to go to Cambridge to do so. He pretends to work on viruses instead, and needs a professor at the Cavendish to cover for him:

Markham took the news quite casually when I walked into his office and told him that he might acquire a model student who would never bother him by cluttering up his lab with experimental apparatus. He regarded the scheme as a perfect example of the inability of Americans to know how to behave. Nonetheless, he promised to go along with this nonsense.

On attending a garden party at the country home of a baroness:

Sol Spiegelman and I went straight for a butler carrying smoked salmon and champagne, and after a few minutes sensed the value of a cultivated aristocracy.

Anyway: it's funny, and plainly yet cleverly told, and it's short, and you want to read it. And then you want to go and do some science and win a Nobel prize or two.