Author Guide · Lisanne Swart
Books Written by Maria Popova
Maria Popova has spent two decades reading almost everything so that the rest of us don’t have to, and her books are what happens when that reading gets distilled into her own work. Some are enormous — Figuring took years and connects Johannes Kepler to Emily Dickinson to Rachel Carson across four centuries. Some are tiny — a true story about a snail, told to children. All of them share the same instinct: find the improbable thread connecting two things that seem unrelated, and follow it until it becomes a book. Below is her complete bibliography, in order.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 books · 2018–2026 · Updated July 2026
Where to start
Her most acclaimed work
Figuring (2019) — LA Times Book Prize winner, and the book that made her name beyond her website.
If you want something shorter first
The Snail with the Right Heart (2021) — a true story told for children, and a gentle introduction to her voice.
A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader
Co-edited with Claudia Bedrick, this illustrated collection gathers letters from more than a hundred writers, scientists, and artists to young readers about why books and reading matter, paired with original art from more than 120 illustrators.
FiguringStart here
Popova’s best-known work traces the interconnected lives of historical figures across four centuries, from astronomer Johannes Kepler to marine biologist Rachel Carson, following a cast of mostly women and mostly queer artists, writers, and scientists whose private relationships shaped their public contributions to human understanding. It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology and was a finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
The Snail with the Right Heart: A True Story
Illustrated by Ping Zhu, this children’s book tells a true scientific story about a snail born with its shell coiled the “wrong” way, using it to gently introduce young readers to genetics, difference, and evolution. It was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2021.
Leave Me Alone with the Recipes: The Life, Art, and Cookbook of Cipe Pineles
Popova edited and curated this collection celebrating Cipe Pineles, the pioneering mid-century magazine art director and cookbook illustrator, combining biography, art, and recipes into a single volume.
The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder through Science & Poetry
Drawn from her long-running annual charitable celebration of science through poetry, hosted at the interdisciplinary cultural center Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, this illustrated book pairs scientific wonders with poems that illuminate them.
An Almanac of Birds: 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days
Presented as a deck of one hundred cards rather than a conventional book, each pairs a nineteenth-century ornithological illustration with a short poetic “divination” for daily living, originally conceived as a fortieth-birthday gift to friends.
The Coziest Place on the Moon
Published by Enchanted Lion, this is another of Popova’s shorter illustrated books for younger readers, continuing her practice of using scientific wonder as a doorway into imagination.
Traversal
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Traversal is described alongside Figuring as one of Popova’s longer, more ambitious works, continuing her exploration of meaning through interconnected lives and ideas.
Frequently asked questions about Maria Popova’s books
More from the shelf
