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Nature and Science April 2021
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| The Mission: or: How a Disciple of Carl Sagan, an Ex-Motocross Racer, a Texas Tea Party... by David W. BrownWhat it is: an "extensively researched, humorous, raucous, dramatic, and pop-culture- and science-fiction-laced" (Booklist) chronicle of NASA’s quest to launch a fly-by mission to Jupiter's moon Europa.
Think: Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff meets Alan Stern and David Grinspoon's Chasing New Horizons.
Did you know? Author David W. Brown spent seven years interviewing the scientists, engineers, lawmakers, and NASA administrators profiled in this character-driven account. |
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| The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens... by Arik KershenbaumWhat it's about: Cambridge zoologist Arik Kershenbaum draws on Earth's evolutionary history to speculate about what forms extraterrestrial life might take.
You might also like: Imagined Life by James Trefil and Michael Summers, in which a pair of astronomers discuss what chemistry and physics can tell us about the potential for life on other planets. |
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| Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan KrossWhat it's about: an experimental psychologist examines the science behind "the most important conversations of our lives: the ones we have with ourselves."
Read it for: the practical tips on how to harness the positive aspects of "chatter" while minimizing the adverse effects of negative self-talk on mental health. |
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| An Anatomy of Pain: How the Body and the Mind Experience and Endure Physical Suffering by Dr. Abdul-Ghaaliq LalkhenWhat it is: an anesthesiologist's comprehensive multidisciplinary exploration of the science of pain, from the neurobiological mechanisms of pain, to the history of analgesics, to the pros and cons of current chronic pain treatments.
Food for thought: "With renewed knowledge and understanding, we can become active participants in caring, understanding, and coping with an experience that can become all-consuming." |
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| Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee NewitzWhat it does: explores four so-called "lost" (abandoned) cities and analyzes their "common point of failure" (political instability plus environmental disaster) while exploring the origins of this enduring trope.
Includes: the Neolithic Anatolian settlement of Çatalhöyük; the Roman town of Pompeii; Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire; and Cahokia, North America's largest city prior to European invasion.
About the author: Annalee Newitz is a journalist and science fiction writer who co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct with novelist Charlie Jane Anders. |
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A Lifetime in Galápagos
by Tui De Roy
Tui De Roy Galápagos grew up on the islands and returned to them often over the next five decades. Discovering photography at a young age, she has dedicated her life to recording the islands' natural history in infinite detail.
A Lifetime in Galápagos is De Roy's intimate portrait of one of the most spectacular places on Earth, presenting the wildlife and natural wonders of Galápagos as you have never seen them before.
She paints unforgettable portraits of her childhood in Galápagos--the islands at night under the stars of the Milky Way, sea lions at play and on the hunt, the diverse birdlife of Galápagos, and much more.
Blending striking images with vivid prose, A Lifetime in Galápagos also discusses the threats that global warming and other environmental challenges pose to the archipelago's unique wildlife and fragile habitats.
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| This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole PerlrothWhat it is: an "intricately detailed, deeply sourced and reported" (New York Times) exposé of the underground cyberarms industry -- and the critical role the United States played in creating it.
About the author: Nicole Perlroth is a journalist who covers cybersecurity for The New York Times.
Try these next: Andy Greenberg's Sandworm; Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake's The Fifth Domain; Kim Zetter's Countdown to Zero Day. |
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Life's edge : the search for what it means to be alive
by Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? If we can't answer that question here on earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds?
The question hangs over some of society's most charged conflicts--whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead. Life's Edge is an utterly fascinating investigation that no one but one of the most celebrated science writers of our generation could craft.
Zimmer journeys through the strange experiments that have attempted to re-create life. Literally hundreds of definitions of what that should look like now exist, but none has yet emerged as an obvious winner.
Lists of what living things have in common do not add up to a theory of life. It's never clear why some items on the list are essential and others not.
Coronaviruses have altered the course of history, and yet many scientists maintain they are not alive. Chemists are creating droplets that can swarm, sense their environment, and multiply. Have they made life in the lab?
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| The Bears Ears: A Human History of America's Most Endangered Wilderness by David RobertsWelcome to: the Bears Ears National Monument, 1.35 million acres in southeastern Utah sacred to the Hopi, Navajo, Ute, and Zuni peoples, and the focus of an ongoing battle between mining companies and environmental activists.
Further reading: archaeologist R.E. Burillo's Behind the Bears Ears: Exploring the Cultural and Natural Histories of a Sacred Landscape, Rebecca Robinson's beautifully illustrated Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Land. |
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| The Loneliest Polar Bear: A True Story of Survival and Peril on the Edge of a Warming... by Kale WilliamsIntroducing: Nora, the first surviving polar bear cub at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; and the "Nora Moms," a team of zoo employees that hand-raised the cub against steep odds after her mother abandoned her.
Media buzz: The Loneliest Polar Bear originated as a five-part multimedia story in The Oregonian.
You might also like: James Raffan's Ice Walker, which vividly depicts a polar bear family's struggle to survive in a world imperiled by climate change. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Carrollton Public Library 1700 Keller Springs Road, Carrollton Texas 75006 4220 North Josey Lane, Carrollton Texas 75010
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