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Nature and Science June 2019
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| Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear by Bryce AndrewsWho is she? Millie, a 500-pound grizzly sow (and mother of two cubs) from Montana's Mission Valley.
What does she want? Corn! Montana's grizzly bear population is addicted to the crop, which lures them from their isolated habitats into more populous areas, resulting in conflicts with local farmers.
You might also like: Nate Blakeslee's American Wolf, which similarly explores tensions between humans and wildlife by recounting the life and death of a charismatic animal. |
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| Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste by Nolan GasserWhat it's about: the science of music (what it is) and the sociology of musical taste (why we like what we like and what it says about us).
About the author: Musicologist Nolan Gasser is the architect of Pandora’s Music Genome Project.
Is it for you? Readers with some background in music theory or practice will get the most out of this eclectic and comprehensive book. |
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The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming
by David Wallace-Wells
What's it about: In his travelogue of our near future, David Wallace-Wells brings into stark relief the climate troubles that await--food shortages, refugee emergencies, and other crises that will reshape the globe.
Is it for you? Like An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring before it, The Uninhabitable Earth is both a meditation on the devastation we have brought upon ourselves and an impassioned call to action.
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| The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall by Mark W. MoffettWhat it's about: the development of human civilization from "individual recognition societies" characterized by small and intimate groups (think chimpanzees) to modern-day "collective marker" societies based on distinctions between in-groups and out-groups.
Further reading: For other recent perspectives on this topic, check out Edward O. Wilson's Genesis: The Deep Origins of Societies or Nicholas A. Christakis' Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. |
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Humanimal: How Homo Sapiens Became Nature's Most Paradoxical Creature...
by Adam Rutherford
What it is: a thought-provoking look at human evolution that examines similarities and differences between humans and other species.
Reviewers say: "a refreshing and perspective-altering view of the complex history of life on Earth" (Publishers Weekly).
About the author: Geneticist and science journalist Adam Rutherford is the author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived.
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| Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe by Steven StrogatzWhat it is: an applied mathematician's surprisingly accessible guide to calculus, which outlines its basic concepts while recounting its history.
Food for thought: "If anything deserves to be called the secret of the universe, calculus is it."
You might also like: Mathematician Amir Alexander's similarly engaging Infinitesimal, which also explores a world-changing concept. |
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| Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour From the Cranium to the Calcaneum by Gavin FrancisWhat it is: a head-to-toe survey of the human body by a physician.
Want a taste? "I was nineteen years old when I first held a human brain. It was heavier than I had anticipated; grey, firm, and laboratory-cold."
For fans of: the blend of medical writing and memoir in Henry Marsh's Do No Harm; the philosophical tone of F. Gonzalez-Crussi's Notes of an Anatomist. |
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| Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah HarariThe big question: So now that we've mitigated the effects of famine, plague, and war, what's next for human beings?
About the author: Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari is the author of the bestselling Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.
Is it for you? Believers in the march of human progress should be aware that Home Deus forecasts several possible futures for our species, most of them downright dystopian. |
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| Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, From Pointless Bones to Broken Genes by Nathan H. LentsWhat it is: an offbeat and entertaining catalog of the design flaws and anatomical oddities of the human body, courtesy of natural selection.
Such as? Knees ill-adapted to bipedal locomotion; DNA riddled with errors, redundancies, and extraneous material; and reproductive processes as scattershot as they are hazardous...to name just a few.
Words of wisdom: "Evolution is a constant game of trade-offs. Most innovations come at a cost." |
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Shapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body
by Gavin Francis
What it is: A physician and award-winning author discusses the transitions and experiences the human body goes through during a lifetime.
Such as? Changes to the body during puberty, childbirth and getting a tattoo.
Is it for you? Recommended for minds curious about the biological, psychological and philosophical natures of human identity.
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| Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. SapolskyWhat it is: an interdisciplinary study of human behavior by neurobiologist and primatologist Robert Sapolsky.
What it does: Behave explores human behavior by taking a single (re)action and examining what's going on in the brain and body in the seconds, minutes, hours, days, and even years before it occurs.
Don't miss: the author's top ten strategies for reducing violence in our species. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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