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Nature and Science August 2018
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| Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything by Randi Hutter EpsteinWhat it is: a crash course in endocrinology, which illuminates the role of hormones in metabolism, the immune system, puberty, sex, and sleep.
Read it for: an eye-opening and engaging history involving resurrectionists, roosters, sideshow attractions, and horse urine.
For fans of: Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. |
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The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature's Secret Signs
by Peter Wohlleben
At what temperature do bees stay home? Why do southerly winds in winter often bring storms? How can birdsong or flower scents help you tell the time? These are among the many questions Wohlleben poses in his newly translated book. Full of the very latest discoveries, combined with ancient now-forgotten lore, The Weather Detective helps you read nature's secret signs and discover a rich new layer of meaning in the world around you.
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The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect
by Judea Pearl
Examines the study of causality, which had been eschewed for decades by scientists who believed that correlation did not imply causation and explains how cause and effect shows the essence of the human thought process and is the key to artificial intelligence.
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The Order of Time
by Carlo Rovelli
Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike.
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| Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth by Adam FrankWhat it's about: According to author Adam Frank, civilizations are "just another thing the universe does." By his calculations, there exist some 10 billion trillion planets with the potential for civilizations to develop. What can such planets tell us about ourselves -- and our fate?
About the author: Adam Frank is an astrophysicist and the founder of NPR's 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog. |
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| Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures by Nick PyensonWhat it's about: Paleontologist Nicholas Pyenson recounts the evolution of whales from four-legged, dog-sized, land-dwelling creatures to today's aquatic leviathans, while contemplating their uncertain future.
Why you might like it: part natural history, part travelogue, Spying on Whales offers a glimpse at a hidden underwater world.
You might also like: Philip Hoare's The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea. |
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Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System
by Natalie Starkey
Icy, rocky, sometimes dusty, always mysterious--comets and asteroids are among the Solar System's very oldest inhabitants, formed within a swirling cloud of gas and dust in the area of space that eventually hosted the Sun and its planets. Locked within each of these extra-terrestrial objects is the 4.6-billion-year wisdom of Solar System events, and by studying them at close quarters using spacecraft we can coerce them into revealing their closely-guarded secrets. This offers us the chance to answer some fundamental questions about our planet and its inhabitants.
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| Still Waters: The Secret World of Lakes by Curt StagerWhat it is: a deep dive into the ecology of lakes, ponds, and inland seas by science writer Curt Stager, who reveals the "secret worlds within worlds hiding in plain sight."
Read it for: a highly literate and philosophical tour of the world's lakes, from Walden Pond to Lake Victoria.
For fans of: Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. |
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A History of Birds
by Simon Wills
Wildlife photographer and history journalist Simon Wills explores the intriguing and at times bizarre stories behind our relationship with birds. Find out why robins feature on Christmas cards, and how Mozart was persuaded to keep a pet starling. What bird did Florence Nightingale carry around in her pocket? How did the blue tit get its name? Discover, for example, why Raleigh bicycles carry a heron logo and why some church lecterns are in the shape of an eagle. Pigeons were trained to carry messages in wartime, but could gulls be taught to hunt U-boats? And which American president's parrot started swearing at his funeral?
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The Curious Life of Krill: A Conservation Story from the Bottom of the World
by Stephen Nicol
Krill. It’s a familiar word that conjures oceans, whales, and swimming crustaceans. Scientists say they are one of most abundant animals on the planet. But few can accurately describe krill or explain their ecological importance. Eminent krill scientist Stephen Nicol wants us to know more about these enigmatic creatures and how we can protect them as Antarctic ice melts. This engaging account takes us to the Southern Ocean to learn firsthand the difficulties and rewards of studying krill in their habitat. From his early education about the sex lives of krill in the Bay of Fundy to a krill tattoo gone awry, Nicol uses humor and personal stories to bring the biology and beauty of krill alive.
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Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
by Elizabeth Rush
Harvey. Maria. Irma. Sandy. Katrina. We live in a time of unprecedented hurricanes and catastrophic weather events, a time when it is increasingly clear that climate change is neither imagined nor distant—and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. At once polyphonic and precise, Rising is a shimmering meditation on vulnerability and on vulnerable communities, both human and more than human, and on how to let go of the places we love.
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The Ashtray
by Errol Morris
In 1972, philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn threw an ashtray at Errol Morris. The Ashtray tells why—and in doing so, it makes a powerful case for Morris’s way of viewing the world, and the centrality to that view of a fundamental conception of the necessity of truth. “For me,” Morris writes, “truth is about the relationship between language and the world: a correspondence idea of truth.” Truth may be slippery, but that doesn’t mean we have to grease its path of escape through philosophical evasions. Rather, Morris argues powerfully, it is our duty to do everything we can to establish and support it.
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Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
by Sabine Hossenfelder
Though physicists from Newton to Einstein have prized mathematical beauty in theories, Hossenfelder sees this belief as a dangerous limitation. Elegant theories, she observes, don’t explain dark matter and dark energy, or how to find multiverses. Along the way, Hossenfelder introduces an array of important researchers, including stoic Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg and social media-savvy Australian astrophysicist Katherine “Astrokatie” Mack. This layreader-friendly, amusing treatise gives an enlightening look at a growing issue within physics.
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The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution
by Charles S. Cockell
We are all familiar with the popular idea of strange alien life wildly different from life on earth inhabiting other planets. Maybe it's made of silicon! Maybe it has wheels! Or maybe it doesn't. In The Equations of Life, biologist Charles S. Cockell makes the forceful argument that the laws of physics narrowly constrain how life can evolve, making evolution's outcomes predictable. If we were to find on a distant planet something very much like a lady bug eating something like an aphid, we shouldn't be surprised. The forms of life are guided by a limited set of rules, and as a result, there is a narrow set of solutions to the challenges of existence.
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Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator
by Jason M. Colby
Since the release of the documentary Blackfish in 2013, millions around the world have focused on the plight of the orca, the most profitable and controversial display animal in history. Yet, until now, no historical account has explained how we came to care about killer whales in the first place. This is the definitive history of how the feared and despised "killer" became the beloved "orca"--and what that has meant for our relationship with the ocean and its creatures.
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The Wonderful Mr. Willughby: The First True Ornithologist
by Tim Birkhead
Describes the too-short life and career of the man who helped found the Royal Society and accelerated science in the 1600s through his study of birds and his identification system that categorized them by distinguishing features.
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| The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund YoungWhat it's about: Author Rosamund Young of Kite's Nest farm in Worcestershire, England introduces readers to her cattle and their personalities, while advocating for the humane treatment of animals and sustainable farming practices.
Read it for: the friendly and conversational writing style, and a herd of charmingly named cows ("Baby Jane," "Red Rum," and "The Bishop of Durham," among others.)
You might also like: Alice Walker's The Chicken Chronicles, in which the award-winning writer chronicles life with a flock of hens. |
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Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence
by Nick Caruso
Dogs do it. Millipedes do it. Dinosaurs did it. You do it. I do it. Octopuses don't (and nor do octopi). Spiders might do it: more research is needed. Birds don't do it, but they could if they wanted to. Herrings do it to communicate with each other. Clearly, the public demands more information on animal farts. Does it Fart? fills that void: a fully authoritative, fully illustrated guide to animal flatulence, covering the habits of 80 animals in more detail than you ever knew you needed.
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| Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus DeanWhat it's about: Margaret Lazarus Dean travels to Florida's Space Coast to witness the final days of the Shuttle program and reflects on America's retreat from human spaceflight.
Why you might like it: Eschewing technical jargon, Dean's behind-the-scenes tour of NASA focuses on the people who made space exploration a reality.
Book buzz: Leaving Orbit won the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize in 2015. |
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| How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of... by Julian GuthrieWhat it's about: the new 21st-century space race, in which billionaires compete to launch rockets and reap the financial rewards of doing business in space.
Featuring: American entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and his $10 million XPrize; the eventual winning team and their experimental spaceplane SpaceShipOne.
You might also like: Joe Pappalardo's Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight, another optimistic book about the nascent commercial space industry. |
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| Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon... by Nathalia HoltIntroducing: Barby Canright, Macie Roberts, Helen Yee Chow, Barbara Lewis, Janez Lawson, Susan Finley, and others.
Why they matter: This talented group of women calculated rocket trajectories, designed satellites, and analyzed massive amounts of experimental data for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
For fans of: Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, another collective biography of the unsung heroines of the U.S. space program. |
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| Beyond: Our Future in Space by Chris ImpeyWhat it's about: Astronomer Chris Impey chronicles human space travel, from the Cold War "space race" to the rise of private space companies such as Space X and Virgin Galactic.
Why you might like it: In engaging fashion, Beyond describes our species' ongoing efforts to explore, colonize, and inhabit the final frontier.
You might also like: Neil deGrasse Tyson's Space Chronicles, which considers our future in space. |
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| Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space by Lynn SherrWhat it is: a biography of the first American woman astronaut to go to space, written by a journalist who followed Sally Ride's career for decades.
Did you know? That Ride was a nationally ranked college tennis player? That she was the first (known) gay astronaut? That on her famous first flight she suffered from space sickness?
Want a taste? "Sally was very good at keeping secrets." |
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Never be without a book you love! |
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