Staff Picks
New in Science
- Bland L.
- Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Collection
Science writing has its own celebrities, and a few them have new books coming out. Astrophysicist Janna Levin is back with her fourth book, Black Hole Survival Guide, while famed biologist and #1 world “ant guy” Edward O. Wilson sums up a long lifetime of research and discovery with Tales from the Ant World.
Cosmologist and NC State professor Katie Mack, who has a sizeable social-media following in addition to publishing widely in popular magazines, is releasing her first book, The End of Everything, a look at five ways the universe could come to an end.
The print editions of most titles listed here are currently on order, but some are already available as e-books or e-audiobooks, so check format availability when searching the catalog.
The Fragile Earth
Writing from the New Yorker on Climate Change
Published in 2020
"A collection of the New Yorker's groundbreaking reporting from the front lines of climate change-including writing from Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, Ian Frazier, Kathryn Schulz, and more"-- Provided by publisher.
Handbook of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the World
Published in 2020
The most authoritative reference guide to every cetacean species and subspecies in the world Handbook of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the World is the most comprehensive and up-to-date guide to these popular mammals. With nearly 1,000 accurate color illustrations-complete with detailed annotations pointing out significant field marks-this outstanding book covers all 90 species and every subspecies of cetaceans around the globe. Leading cetacean biologists have collaborated with pioneering conservationist Mark Carwardine on the concise text, which is packed with helpful identification tips. From the blue whale to the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, the illuminating species accounts are accompanied by abundant distribution maps and photographs. Designed to ensure easy access to critical information, Handbook of Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the World is an indispensable resource that every whale watcher and cetacean seeker will find invaluable. Provides details on every species and subspecies of whale, dolphin, and porpoise Features nearly 1,000 meticulous color illustrations and 90 distribution maps Includes helpful facts about behavior, life history, and conservation.
Flight Lines
Across the Globe on a Journey With the Astonishing Ultramarathon Birds
Published in 2020
Analogia
The Emergence of Technology Beyond Programmable Control
Published in 2020
"In Analogia, technology historian George Dyson presents a startling look back at the analog age and life before the digital revolution--and an unsettling vision of what comes next"-- Provided by publisher.
Livewired
The Inside Story of the Ever-changing Brain
Published in 2020
"The magic of the brain is not found in the parts it's made of but in the way those parts unceasingly reweave themselves in an electric living fabric. And there is no more accomplished and accessible guide than renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman to help us understand the nature and changing texture of that fabric. With his hallmark clarity and enthusiasm he reveals the myriad ways that the brain absorbs experience: developing, redeploying, organizing, and arranging the data it receives from the body's own absorption of external stimuli, which enables us to gain the skills, the facilities, and the practices that make us who we are. Eagleman covers decades of the most important research into the functioning of the brain and presents new discoveries from his own research as well: about the nature of synesthesia, about dreaming, and about wearable devices that are revolutionizing how we think about the five human senses. Finally, Livewired is as deeply informative as it is accessible and brilliantly engaging"-- Provided by publisher.
The Light Ages
The Surprising Story of Medieval Science
Published in 2020
"An illuminating guide to the scientific and technological achievements of the Middle Ages through the life of a crusading astronomer-monk. Soaring Gothic cathedrals, violent crusades, the Black Death: these are the dramatic forces that shaped the medieval era. But the so-called Dark Ages also gave us the first universities, eyeglasses, and mechanical clocks, proving that the Middle Ages were home to a vibrant scientific culture. In The Light Ages, Cambridge science historian Seb Falk takes us on an immersive tour of medieval science through the story of one fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk. From multiplying Roman numerals to navigating by the stars, curing disease, and telling time with an ancient astrolabe, we learn emerging science alongside Westwyk, while following the gripping story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man in a precarious world. An enlightening history that argues that these times weren't so dark after all, The Light Ages shows how medieval ideas continue to color how we see the world today"-- Provided by publisher.
The Cancer Code
A Revolutionary New Understanding of a Medical Mystery
Published in 2020
"Author Dr. Jason Fung returns with a biography of cancer in which he offers a radical new paradigm for understanding cancer and issues a call to action for reducing risk moving forward"-- Provided by publisher.
Fathoms
The World in the Whale
Published in 2020
When writer Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales reflect the condition of our oceans.
Metazoa
Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind
Published in 2020
"A philosopher of science explains how the animal kingdom gave rise to human consciousness"-- Provided by publisher.
The Last Stargazers
The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers
Published in 2020
"For readers of Labgirl and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, The Last Stargazers combines the exciting travels of award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque with the misunderstood antics of a scrappy (and shrinking) crew of scientists working with stars and telescopes. She dissects both the romance and the real human curiosity that is so important to our exploration of space. Amidst the lonely quiet of stargazing to wild bears loose in the observatory, these love stories of astronomy show how scientists are going beyond the machines to infuse important creativity and intimate passion into the stars, inspiring future generations to peer skyward in pursuit of the universe's secrets"-- Provided by publisher.
Black Hole Survival Guide
Published in 2021
"From the acclaimed author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space--an authoritative, wholly accessible, fascinating guide to the most challenging phenomena of contemporary science, which is now the anchor of our understanding of the cosmos.Throughout her career, astrophysicist Janna Levin has focused, alongside her research, on making the science she studies not just accessible, but, perhaps more important, intriguing to the nonscientist. And that is what she has done again here, helping usto understand the black hole: perhaps the most opaque theoretical construct ever imagined by physicists. She explains how their existence came to be proven decades after they were first predicted in Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity. And she explores the ways in which what we know about them has changed our most basic understanding of the galaxy, the universe, the whole expanse of reality that we inhabit. Lively, engaging and utterly unique, Black Hole Survival Guide is not just informative. It is as well, a wonderful read from first to last"-- Provided by publisher.
The End of Everything
(astrophysically Speaking)
Published in 2020
A rising star in astrophysics presents an accessible and eye-opening look at five ways the universe could end, and the lessons each scenario reveals about the most important concepts in cosmology.
The Human Cosmos
Civilization and the Stars
Published in 2020
"An historically unprecedented disconnect between humanity and the heavens has opened. Jo Marchant's book can begin to heal it. For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are--our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost. Our relationship to the stars and planets has moved from one of awe, wonder and superstition to one where technology is king--the cosmos is now explored through data on our screens, not by the naked eye observing the natural world. Indeed, in most countries modern light pollution obscures much of the night sky from view. Jo Marchant's spellbinding parade of the ways different cultures celebrated the majesty and mysteries of the night sky is a journey to the most awe inspiring view you can ever see--looking up on a clear dark night. That experience and the thoughts it has engendered have radically shaped human civilization across millennia. The cosmos is the source of our greatest creativity in art, in science, in life. To show us how, Jo Marchant takes us to the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux in France, and to the summer solstice at a 5,000-year-old tomb at New Grange in England. We discover Chumash cosmology and visit medieval monks grappling with the nature of time and Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars. We discover how light reveals the chemical composition of the sun, and we are with Einstein as he works out that space and time are one and the same. A four-billion-year-old meteor inspires a search for extraterrestrial life. The cosmically liberating, summary revelation is that star-gazing made us human"-- Provided by publisher.
Bones
Inside and out
Published in 2020
"A lively, illustrated exploration of the 500-million-year history of bone, a touchstone for understanding vertebrate life and human culture. Bone is ubiquitous and versatile, and uniquely repairs itself without scarring. However, we rarely see bone in its living state-and even then, mostly in two-tone images that only hint at its marvels. After it serves and protects vertebrate lives, bone reveals itself in surprising ways, sometimes hundreds of millions of years later. In Bones, orthopedic surgeon Roy Meals explores and extols this amazing material that both supports and records vertebrate life. He demystifies the biological makeup of bones; how they grow, break, and heal; and how medical innovations-from the first X-rays to advanced surgical techniques-enhance our lives. With enthusiasm and humor, Meals also reveals the enduring presence of bone outside the body-as fossils, ossuaries, tools, musical instruments-and celebrates allusions to bone in history, religion, and idiom. Approachable and entertaining, Bones richly illuminates our bodies' essential framework"-- Provided by publisher.
The Butterfly Effect
Insects and the Making of the Modern World
Published in 2020
"An insightful, entertaining dive into the fruitful, centuries-long relationship between humans and insects, revealing the fascinating and surprising array of ways humans depend on these minute, six-legged pests"-- Provided by publisher.
The Secret Lives of Planets
Order, Chaos, and Uniqueness in the Solar System
Published in 2020
"We have the impression that the solar system is perfectly regular like a clock, or a planetarium instrument. On a short timescale it is. But, seen in a longer perspective, the planets, and their satellites, have exciting lives, full of events - for example, did you know that Saturn's moon, Titan, boasts lakes which contain liquid methane surrounded by soaring hills and valleys, exactly as the earth did before life evolved on our fragile planet? Or that Mercury is the shyest planet? Or, that Mars' biggest volcano is 100 times the size of Earth's, or that its biggest canyon is 10 times the depth of the Grand Canyon, or that it wasn't always red, but blue? The culmination of a lifetime of astronomy and wonder, Paul Murdin's enchanting new book reveals everything you ever wanted to know about the planets, their satellites, and our place in the solar system."--Publisher's description.
Star Settlers
The Billionaires, Geniuses, and Crazed Visionaries out to Conquer the Universe
Published in 2020
The story behind the elite scientists, technologists, SF enthusiasts, and billionaires who believe that humanity's destiny is to populate the stars.
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America
Published in 2020
"A new edition of the classic, best-selling field guide from Peterson Field Guides"-- Provided by publisher.
Ice Walker
A Polar Bear's Journey Through the Fragile Arctic
Published in 2020
"From the top of the world, Hudson Bay looks like an enormous paw print on the torso of the continent, and through a vast network of lakes and rivers, the water in this bay connects to oceans across the globe. Here, at the heart of everything, walks Nanurjuk, or Nanu, one polar bear among the six thousand that traverse the 1.23 million square kilometres of ice and snow covering the bay. For millennia, Nanu's ancestors have roamed this great expanse, living, evolving, and surviving alongside humans in one of the most challenging and unforgiving habitats on earth. But that world is changing. In the Arctic's lands and waters, oil has been extracted and spilled. As global temperatures have risen, the sea ice that Nanu and her young need to hunt seal and fish has melted, forcing them to wait on land where the delicate balance between them and their two-legged neighbours has now shifted. This is the icescape that author and geographer James Raffan invites us to inhabit in Ice Walker. In precise and provocative prose, he brings readers inside Nanu's world as she treks uncertainly around the heart of Hudson Bay, searching for nourishment for the children that grow inside her. She stops at nothing to protect her cubs from the dangers she can see,other bears, wolves, whales, humans and those she cannot. By focusing his lens on this bear family, Raffan closes the gap between humans and bears, showing us how, like the water of the Hudson Bay, our existence and our future is tied to Nanu's, and asks us to consider what might be done about this fragile world before it is gone for good. Masterful, vivid, and haunting, Ice Walker is an utterly unique piece of creative non-fiction and a deeply affecting call to action."-- Provided by publisher.
Science Fictions
How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
Published in 2020
"Science is how we understand the world. Yet critical flaws in peer review, statistical methods, and publication procedures have rendered a shocking number of scientific studies useless-or worse, badly misleading. Drawing on surprising new data from "meta-science" (the science of how science works), Science Fictions documents the errors that have distorted our knowledge on issues as varied as cancer biology, nutrition, genetics, immigration, education, and extraterrestrial life. Stuart Ritchie's own workchallenging an infamous psychology experiment helped spark what's now widely known as the "replication crisis," the realization that many supposed scientific truths cannot be relied upon. Now, he reveals the very human biases, mistakes, and deceptions that undermine the scientific endeavor: from contamination in science labs to the secret vaults of failed studies that nobody gets to see; from outright cheating with fake data to the more common but still ruinous temptation to exaggerate mediocre results for a shot at scientific fame. Yet Science Fictions is far from a counsel of despair. Rather, it's a defense of the scientific method against the pressures and perverse incentives that lead scientists to bend the rules. By illustrating the ways that sciencegoes wrong, Ritchie gives us the knowledge we need to spot dubious research, and points the way to reforms that might save science from itself"-- Provided by publisher.
Owls of the Eastern Ice
A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl
Published in 2020
"A young field scientist and conservationist tracks the elusive Blakiston's Fish Owl in the forbidding reaches of eastern Russia"-- Provided by publisher.
How to Astronaut
An Insider's Guide to Leaving Planet Earth
Published in 2020
Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts offers an insider's guide to astronauting--a behind-the-scenes look at the training, the basic rules, lessons, and procedures of space travel, including how to deal with a dead body in space, what it's like to film an IMAX movie in orbit, what exactly to do when nature calls, and much more.
Tales from the Ant World
Published in 2020
"Summary Edward O. Wilson recalls his lifetime with ants-from his first boyhood encounters in the woods of Alabama to perilous journeys into the Brazilian rainforest." Ants are the most warlike of all animals, with colony pitted against colony. ... Their clashes dwarf Waterloo and Gettysburg," writes Edward O. Wilson in his most finely observed work in decades. In a myrmecological tour to such far-flung destinations as Mozambique and New Guinea, the Gulf of Mexico's Dauphin Island and even his parents' overgrown yard back in Alabama, Wilson thrillingly evokes his nine-decade-long scientific obsession with more than 15,000 ant species. Wryly observing that "males are little more than flying sperm missiles" or that ants send their "little old ladies into battle," Wilson eloquently relays his brushes with fire, army, and leafcutter ants, as well as more exotic species: the Matabele, Africa's fiercest warrior ants; Costa Rica's Basiceros, the slowest ants in the world; and New Caledonia's Myrmecia apicalis, the most endangered of them all. A personal account by one of our greatest scientists, Tales from the Ant World is an indispensable volume for any lover of the natural world"-- Provided by publisher.