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A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold through Our Genes
by Adam Rutherford; foreword by Siddhartha Mukherjee
What it's about: "Geneticists have suddenly become historians," observes author Adam Rutherford, citing discoveries that have transformed our understanding of human evolution.
Contains: the (roughly) 2 million year history of the Homo genus, an accessible primer on genomics, and a discussion of what DNA can (and can't) tell us about ourselves.
About the author: Geneticist and journalist Adam Rutherford is the author of Humanimal: How Homo Sapiens Became Nature's Most Paradoxical Creature.
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| The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers by Emily LevesqueWhat it's about: an astronomer recounts her career in science while contemplating the past, present, and future of her field.
Don't miss: visits to Hawaii's Mauna Kea Observatories, Chile's Paranal Observatory, and the airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
Did you know? Professional astronomers spend relatively little time looking through giant telescopes (and a lot of time on laptops). |
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A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
by Jennifer A. Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg
What it's about: CRISPR-Cas9, a genome editing technique that makes possible permanent modifications within an organism's DNA.
Why you might like it: This balanced and accessible book describes the research that led to this groundbreaking discovery and examines the potential applications (and implications) of a revolutionary new technology.
What sets it apart: Written by the scientists who discovered this "molecular machine," A Crack in Creation argues that we shouldn't use it without first addressing the serious bioethical issues involved.
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| The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara SeagerWhat it is: the memoir of a planetary astrophysicist that weaves together her Canadian childhood, her career in physics, her marriage and widowhood, and her later-in-life autism diagnosis.
About the author: astrophysicist Sara Seager is a recipient of the Sackler International Prize in Physics and a MacArthur Fellowship.
You might also like: the intimate blend of science writing and memoir found in Sarah Stewart Johnson's The Sirens of Mars, Hope Jahren's Lab Girl, or Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz's The Dance of Life. |
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| Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan C. SlaghtWhat it's about: a conservationist's five-year study of the endangered Blakiston’s fish owl in its natural habitat, the Primorye region of Russia.
Read it for: an authentically detailed account of scientific fieldwork, vivid descriptions of the terrain and its inhabitants (both animal and human), and, of course, the quest for an elusive bird.
For fans of: ornithology-themed travelogues, such as Tim Gallagher's Imperial Dreams or Vernon R.L. Head's The Rarest Bird in the World. |
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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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Focus on: The Lighter Side of Science
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| Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death by Caitlin Doughty; illustrated by Dianne RuzThe premise: a mortician answers children's questions about death in an engaging and matter-of-fact style.
About the author: Funeral director Caitlin Doughty is the creator of the web series "Ask a Mortician" and the author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity.
So...will your cat eat your eyeballs? Not immediately. (Not when there are tastier tidbits like eyelids.) |
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A Wolf Called Romeo
by Nick Jans
When a lone black wolf appeared in Nick Jans' backyard in Juneau, Alaska, the author and photographer was fascinated but cautious. Well aware that wolves -- despite Romeo's well-documented love of dog toys -- are wild animals, not pets, Jans initially observed Romeo's comings and goings from a safe distance. Gradually, however, the gulf between man and beast narrowed, with Romeo becoming the town's unofficial mascot as well as a steadfast friend to a number of local pooches (including Jans' own Labrador). In addition to documenting Romeo's six-year relationship with Juneau's residents, Jans also discusses larger issues such as wildlife management policies, human incursions into wilderness areas, and the perils of habituation (i.e. when wild animals become accustomed to humans).
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Anatomies: A Cultural History of the Human Body
by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Is the human body a territory to be mapped? A machine to be maintained? A canvas to be decorated? No matter what metaphor one prefers, it's clear that the body is more than the sum of its parts and that anatomy is just one lens through which we view ourselves. As he did in Periodic Tales, science writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams draws as much from art and history as he does from science and medicine in this engaging head-to-toe examination of the human body.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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