Nature and Science
December 2022

Best of 2022
What reads, watches and listens have you loved this year? Tell us and you could win a prize pack!
We bring together the best of 2022 – from the picks of our staff and customers, to Best of the year lists published by magazines, newspapers and booksellers. Have your say!
 
Recent Releases
The joy of abstraction: An exploration of math, category theory, and life
by Eugenia Cheng

Mathematician and popular science author Eugenia Cheng is on a mission to show you that mathematics can be flexible, creative, and visual.
Taxi from another planet: Conversations with drivers about life in the universe
by Charles Cockell

Contains: accessible, informative essays inspired by astrobiologist Charles Cockell's conversations with taxi drivers on topics ranging from the rights of microbes to life on Mars to the meaning of existence.
 
Mother brain: How neuroscience is rewriting the story of parenthood
by Chelsea Conaboy

The big idea: There's no such thing as a "maternal instinct" -- anyone who becomes a caregiver, whether or not they physically give birth to their child, is subject to dramatic changes in the brain.

Why you might like it: science journalist Chelsea Conaboy reviews the latest research, interviews parents and medical practitioners, and examines the policy implications of myths and misconceptions about parenthood while reflecting on her own experiences as a mother of two.
The Ransomware Hunting Team: A band of misfits' improbable crusade to save the world from cybercrime
by Renee Dudley and Daniel Golden

What it's about: The "elite, invitation-only society" known as the Ransomware Hunting Team, whose members volunteer their hacking skills to assist victims of cybercrime all over the world.

Why you might like it: This "engrossing underdog story" (Publishers Weekly) by ProPublica tech reporter Renee Dudley and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Daniel Golden (The Price of Admission) examines the growing threat of ransomware by profiling the individuals who fight it.
Visual thinking: The hidden gifts of people who think in pictures, patterns, and abstractions
by Temple Grandin

What it's about: autistic animal science professor Temple Grandin (The Autistic Brain) talks about visual thinkers, their unique perspective, and what they can offer the world.

Is it for you? Readers who have recently traded Twitter for Mastodon may feel unsettled by Grandin's praise of billionaire Elon Musk.

 
The song of the cell: An exploration of medicine and the new human
by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Under the microscope: the tiny but immensely powerful cell, the basic structural unit of all living organisms.

Read it for: an accessible overview of cell biology, as well as a historical survey of cytology, which has spawned numerous fields of study and made possible many modern medical breakthroughs.

About the author: Oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies.
How to speak whale: A voyage into the future of animal communication
by Tom Mustill

A near-death experience: In 2015, a breaching humpback whale landed on the kayak of nature documentarian Tom Mustill, who subsequently became interested in human-cetacean encounters.

A quest for answers: To better understand his subject, Mustill dove into our shared history with whales, from the bloody past to the more hopeful present, in which scientists use hydrophones, oscilloscopes, and artificial intelligence to decode whale communication.


 
Fen, bog, and swamp: A short history of peatland destruction and its role in the climate crisis
by Annie Proulx

What it is: a history of the world's wetlands that explains what they do, why they're in danger, and what this means for the planet.

Why you might like it: In lyrical prose, author Annie Proulx discusses topics including Europe's Iron Age bog bodies, the 16th-century draining of England's fens, the degradation of Canada's Hudson Bay lowlands, and the promise of Georgia's Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

Reviewers say: a "powerful indictment of human complicity in environmental destruction" (The Guardian).
Breathless: The scientific race to defeat a deadly virus
by David Quammen

What it's about: the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the resulting Covid-19 pandemic, and the scientists working feverishly to understand it and control its spread.

What sets it apart: Science journalist David Quammen (Spillover) draws on interviews with more than 100 scientists as he traces the course of the pandemic and explains why we all should have seen it coming.

Book buzz: Breathless is a U.S. National Book Award finalist for nonfiction.
Sloth lemur's song: Madagascar from the deep past to the uncertain present
by Alison F. Richard


A moving account of Madagascar told by a researcher who has spent over fifty years investigating the mysteries of this remarkable island.
Beyond measure: The hidden history of measurement from cubits to quantum constants
by James Vincent

Full of mavericks and visionaries, adventure and breakthroughs, Beyond Measure shows that measurement has not only made the world we live in, it has made us too.
The cosmic oasis: The remarkable story of Earth's biosphere
by Mark Williams

The Cosmic Oasis examines life on Earth, from our earliest interactions with animals and plants to our absolute domination of biology.
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