Books

Geosciences:

My favorite class I took while at UW was Great Geological Issues, taught by Eric Steig and Jody Bourgeois. It covered the history and development of geological and paleontological theories and controversies, as well as the philosophy and methodology of scientific inquiry in the earth sciences.

One of the texts we used, that I enjoyed and recommend, was Great Geological Controversies by Anthony Hallam.

Astrobiology:

In a recent graduate class at PSU, I wrote a review of the history of the habitable zone concept (Inhabited Worlds and the Circumstellar Habitable Zone), highlighting how interest in exoplanets has always been linked to debate over whether or not they were inhabited.

I used The Extraterrestrial Life Debate: Antiquity to 1915 edited by Michael J. Crowe as one of my references. It is a collection of primary sources on the subject throughout history, beginning with the Atomists of the 5th c. BCE, as well as helpful introductions and commentary. I highly recommend for those interested in how ideas about life beyond Earth have changed over the centuries.

Other

The Adler Planetarium has an awesome collection of telescopes, astrolabes, and other astronomy artifacts, and is worth visiting when in Chicago.

I also suggest visiting Serious Science, a non-profit focusing on science communication using content made by the researchers themselves. Several of the videos and articles cover topics in the history of science.

My post on Scotland.

An astrolabe from the collection of the Adler Planetarium