Which academic book is the ‘most influential’ ever written? | Rebekah Higgitt

Darwin's Origin of Species was just crowned the most influential academic book ever written. Rebekah Higgitt makes the case for Newton's Principia instead, and a more imaginative approach to 'best of' lists.

The shortlist and winner of "most influential academic book ever written" was recently announced, kicking off the first Academic Book Week. It has, predictably, set academics' tongues a-wagging, or at least their virtual Twitter tongues have been busy. Because Darwin's Origin of Species topped the list, it has caught the attention of historians of science in particular. Does it deserve to be there? Is it an academic book? What on earth might we mean by "influential"? Who is missing from the list?

#AcBookWeek off to a bad start by an evident misunderstanding of what reasonably counts as an 'academic' book. https://t.co/vcGPkT2VKm