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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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| Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World by M.R. O'ConnorWhat it is: a multidisciplinary examination of wayfinding, which includes spatial orientation, navigation, perception, and culturally specific practices of interacting with one's environment.
What else it is: a thought-provoking book that frames maps, compasses, and other navigation technologies as tools of European imperialism.
Read it for: the author's interactions with experts in traditional navigation from the Arctic, Australia, and the South Pacific. |
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The weather detective : rediscovering nature's secret signs
by Peter Wohlleben
.The German ecologist and internationally best-selling author of The Hidden Life of Trees presents an English-language translation of a guide to better understanding environmental phenomena by recognizing clues in nature and the weather
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A Magical World: Superstition and Science from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
by Derek K. Wilson
What it's about: Richly detailed yet briskly paced, A Magical World surveys the profound intellectual and cultural shifts that occurred in Europe between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.
What sets it apart: Historian Derek K. Wilson rejects the notion of humanity's steady progress from barbarism to civilization and views great thinkers as products of their time, not anomalies.
Read it for: a thought-provoking meditation on the complementary roles of science and religion in Western civilization.
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American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation
by Eric Rutkow
What it's about: Environmental lawyer and historian Eric Rutkow demonstrates how the history -- and destiny -- of the United States is inextricably linked to its millions of acres of forest.
Did you know? Twenty percent of freshwater reserves originate in U.S. forests, which are threatened by the average American's annual consumption of 250 board feet of lumber and 700 pounds of paper.
You might also like: Martin Doyle's The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers.
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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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| 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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