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Nature and Science October 2018
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| The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization by Vince BeiserWhat it is: the story of sand. (Yes, sand.)
Why you should read it: From concrete to glass to computer chips, sand is the "literal foundation of modern civilization."
Fun fact: Due to increasing demand and dwindling supply, there now exists a black market for sand, run by ruthless sand cartels who control the supply to industry. |
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Autonomy : the quest to build the driverless car and how it will reshape our world
by Lawrence D Burns
Autonomy is the story of the maverick engineers and computer nerds who are creating the revolution. Longtime advisor to the Google Self-Driving Car team and former GM research and development chief Lawrence D. Burns provides the perfectly-timed history of how we arrived at this point, in a character-driven and heavily reported account of the unlikely thinkers who accomplished what billion-dollar automakers never dared. Beginning with the way 9/11 spurred the U.S. government to set a million-dollar prize for a series of off-road robot races in the Mojave Desert up to the early 2016 stampede to develop driverless technology, Autonomy is a page-turner that represents a chronicle of the past, diagnosis of the present, and prediction of the future—the ultimate guide to understanding the driverless car and navigating the revolution it sparks.
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The Penguin book of outer space exploration : NASA and the incredible story of human spaceflight
by John M. Logsdon
Using items in the NASA archive together with expert narrative guidance, this history of how Americans got to space begins with Wernher von Braun's vision for voyaging to Mars and ends with Elon Musk's contemporary plan to get there. It covers the founding of NASA, the first American astronauts in space, the moon landings, the Challenger disaster, and the Hubble Telescope repairs
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| The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life by David QuammenWhat it's about: molecular phylogenetics, which uses biopolymers (DNA, RNA, and proteins) to study the evolutionary history of organisms and determine relationships between species.
Contains: three "big surprises" that will make you rethink your understanding of evolution: the domain of Archaea, the process of horizontal gene transfer, and a probable ancestor of humans previously unknown to science. |
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| Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis LangWhat it is: a thought-provoking examination of the long-standing relationship between science and the military-industrial complex, with a special focus on astrophysics and the aerospace industry.
Who it's for: readers interested in the intersection of science, industry, and politics; anyone who wonders what the proposed U.S. Space Force might look like.
Author alert: Well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson teams up with longtime editor and frequent collaborator Avis Lang for this eye-opening book. |
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| The Songs of Trees: Stories from Nature's Great Connectors by David George HaskellWhat it is: a fascinating literary tour of 12 trees from all over the world, ranging from a Callery pear in New York City to a ceibo tree in the Amazon rainforest.
About the author: David George Haskell is a professor of biology and environmental studies, as well as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Forest Unseen. |
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| Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape by Jill JonnesWhat it's about: Urban trees don't always get credit for all that they do -- for example, improving air quality, absorbing excess rainwater and surface runoff, saving energy, and inspiring cities' human inhabitants. This engaging natural history aims to change that perception.
Why it matters: From the stately specimens that grace the National Mall to the scrappy sapling of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, trees have always played an important role in American life. |
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| The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter by Colin TudgeWhat it's about: There are an estimated 60,000 species of tree worldwide. But what are these organisms, exactly? A British biologist explains -- and the answer isn't as straightforward as it appears.
Why you might like it: Author Colin Tudge distills an enormous amount of information into an accessible introduction to all things arboreal.
Don't miss: Thirty-three intricate line drawings of tree specimens. |
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| The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a... by Peter Wohlleben; translated by Jane BillinghurstDid you know? Trees have families and friends, memories, sophisticated communication systems, and even the ability to feel pain.
Why you might like it: Without sacrificing scientific accuracy, author Peter Wohlleben enchants readers with combination of lyrical vignettes and anecdotes about his experiences as a forester in Germany. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Morton Grove Public Library 6140 Lincoln Ave Morton Grove, Illinois 60053 (847) 965-4220www.mgpl.org/ |
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