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Newsletter Best of 2017
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American wolf : a true story of survival and obsession in the West
by Nate Blakeslee
An intimate account of the rise and rein of O-Six, the fabled Yellowstone wolf, describes how, after being hunted to near extinction by the 1920s, the species has managed to rebound through conservationists' efforts, in a book that discusses debates specifically affecting America's western regions.
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Heretics! : the wondrous (and dangerous) beginnings of modern philosophy
by Steven M. Nadler
A graphic narrative that charts the birth of modern thought during the 17th century, a time where thinkers challenged authority to lay the foundations of modern philosophy and science and help usher in a new world, tells the story of these early philosophers' ideas, lives and times.
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The death and life of the Great Lakes
by Dan Egan
An award-winning journalist traces the scientific, historical and ecological factors that are endangering the Great Lakes, discussing the late-19th century's effort to connect the lakes to the Atlantic, which unexpectedly introduced invasive species from the natural world.
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Why we sleep : unlocking the power of sleep and dreams
by Matthew P Walker
A first book by the director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab outlines a groundbreaking exploration of sleep that explains how to harness its transformative power to improve overall health and life quality, covering subjects ranging from caffeine and REM sleep to sleep patterns and the role of sleep in illness.
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The dialogues : conversations about the nature of the universe
by Clifford V. Johnson
In this graphic book/novel, readers eavesdrop on conversations about contemporary science and learn about how scientists uncover the secrets of the universe. Topics in the book range from black holes, to the multiverse, to string theory, to food science. The people in the conversations include non-experts and experts in physics, both adults and children, both male and female. These characters are fictional. The locations are in cities around the world, in cafes, train stations, on the street, buses, museums, libraries. The book is, uniquely for this subject matter, a fully graphic book. A graphic novel, but NOT science fiction. The science is real, and often concerns research topics that have been highlighted in general-interest media outlets.
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The songs of trees : stories from nature's great connectors
by David George Haskell
A professor of biology and environmental studies, and Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Forest Unseen, visits twelve trees around the world and discusses the biological relationships that sustain life, including bacterial communities, cooperative animals and fungal partners.
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Quackery : a brief history of the worst ways to cure everything
by Lydia Kang
A darkly whimsical chronicle of medicine's greatest mistakes incorporates vintage images and ads for historical cures, from morphine for colicky babies and strychnine for impotence to leeches for the common cold and liquefied gold for immortality.
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Where the water goes : life and death along the Colorado River
by David Owen
The author of The Conundrum presents a revelatory account of where our water comes from and where it goes, examining the complicated human-made ecosystem of waterways, reservoirs, power plants, fracking sites and farms that contribute to shortage issues in the western United States.
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World without mind : the existential threat of big tech
by Franklin Foer
A blistering and personal polemic against today's monolithic tech companies argues that in spite of the conveniences of their products, today's ambitious corporations are triggering consequences in the form of privacy compromises, intellectual property loss and the negative homogenization of social, political and intellectual arenas.
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Bonus: The Fiction of Science
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Chemistry : a novel
by Weike Wang
Losing her love for her major when her graduate studies become subject to research failures and high pressure, a Boston University student contemplates a marriage proposal from a more successful fellow scientist while she pursues an entirely different kind of chemistry.
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