Nature and Science
August 2025

Recent Releases
Hidden in the heavens : how the Kepler mission's quest for new planets changed how we view our own
by Jason Steffen

This popular-level book offers an insider's account of NASA's Kepler Mission - a space telescope found nearly 1300 planets outside our solar system during its years of operation (2009-18) - including how it was conceived, operated, what it found, and how it forever changed what we know about planets in our galaxy.
Clamor : how noise took over the world - and how we can take it back
by Chris Berdik

Drawing on extensive research and original reporting, Berdik shows how a too-limited understanding of noise, focused on loud sounds and decibel counts, has undermined a century of noise control efforts and obscured the full toll noise exacts on us and the environment. Chronic exposure to noise that falls below decibel-based thresholds--sometimes even below our conscious awareness--is linked to spikes in the risk of heart disease and other serious health ailments that contribute to premature death. Berdik introduces us to the researchers, rock stars, architects, and many others who are finding surprising ways to make our world sound not only less bad, but better. Rising above the ever-increasing racket, Clamor is an urgent--and ultimately inspiring--call to finally take noise seriously and harness sound's great potential.
Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance
by Laura Delano

Laura Delano shares her experiences as an over-prescribed psychiatric patient. After being diagnosed with several psychiatric “conditions” starting in her teens, Delano came to the stark realization in her late twenties that the combination of psychotropic drugs that she was taking was causing a cascade of interrelated symptoms. Unshrunk is an emotionally powerful cautionary tale, suitable for readers who enjoyed Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne.
Is a river alive?
by Robert Macfarlane

The best-selling author of Underland explores the concept of rivers as living entities, weaving together travel writing, natural history and reporting from Ecuador, India and Canada to illuminate the interconnectedness of humans and rivers.
Slither: How Nature's Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World
by Stephen S. Hall

Science writer Stephen S. Hall has been fascinated by snakes since childhood, and his enthusiasm comes through in this sweeping overview of all things herpetological. Hall covers topics including people’s fear of snakes, snake venom, locomotion, evolutionary history, religious symbolism, and the ease with which snakes adapt to their surroundings. An enticing choice for snake lovers (and haters!).
Earthly materials : journeys through our bodies' emissions, excretions, and disintegrations
by Cutter Wood

The author of Love and Death in the Sunshine State looks at the materials our bodies shed, uncovering their historical and scientific significance and their profound impact on civilization and humanity's place in the world.
Nine Minds: Inner Lives on the Spectrum
by Daniel Tammet

Essayist and memoirist Daniel Tammet, a writer who is himself on the autism spectrum, focuses on the lives of nine autistic individuals, highlighting the diversity of their various talents. It’s a sweeping and inspiring own voices journey that “captures the unique modes of autistic thought with sensitivity and lyrical flair” (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation by Eric Garcia.
Treekeepers : race for a forested future
by Lauren Oakes

In recent years, planting a tree has become a catchall to represent "doing something good for the planet." Many companies commit to planting a tree with every purchase. But who plants those trees and where? Will they flourish and offer the benefits that people expect? Can all the individual efforts around the world help remedy the ever-looming climate crisis? In Treekeepers, Oakes takes us on a journey from the Scottish Highlands to the Panamanian jungle to meet the scientists, innovators, and local citizens who each offer part of the answer. Their work isn't just about planting lots of trees, but also about understanding what it takes to grow or regrow a forest and to protect what remains. Throughout, Oakes shows the complex roles of forests in the fight against climate change, and of the people who are giving trees a chance with hope for our mutual survival. Timely, meticulously reported, and ultimately optimistic, Treekeepers teaches us how to live with a sense of urgency in our warming world, to find beauty in the present for ourselves and our children, and to take action, big or small.
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