I love to read books about the history of science. I am currently reading a book called "Darwin's Ghosts" by Rebecca Stout.  When Charles Darwin wrote the first edition of "The Origin of Species", he was called out by several in the science field that he could not have been the first person to have the idea that species change over time.  This book describes some of the people Darwin felt laid the groundwork for his theory.
Here is a link to the review of the book on Goodreads.