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Nature and Science April 2018
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| The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade its Rivers by Martin DoyleWhat it's about: A river scientist makes a convincing case that much of U.S. history and culture is attributable to North America's waterways.
Did you know? The United States boasts more than 250,000 rivers that stretch out over some 3 million miles.
Further reading: Dan Egan's The Death and Life of the Great Lakes. |
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| Close Encounters with Humankind: A Paleoanthropologist Investigates Our... by Sang-Hee Lee with Shin-Young YoonWhat it's about: Korean paleoanthropologist Sang-Hee Lee discusses a variety of topics pertaining to human evolution in this eye-opening book.
Topics of note: cannibalism, fatherhood, lactose intolerance, and more.
You might also like: For another accessible introduction to paleoanthropology, try Lydia Pyne's Seven Skeletons, which examines human evolution through seven sets of ancient remains. |
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| The Earth Gazers: On Seeing Ourselves by Christopher PotterWhat it's about: Discover how human flight has transformed our perceptions of planet Earth in this history of aviation from World War I to the Space Age.
What's inside: Profiles of aviator Charles Lindbergh, inventor Robert Goddard, and engineer Wernher von Braun, plus the experiences of the Apollo astronauts who first saw the Earth from space. |
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| The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed... by Daniel StoneWhat it is: A biography of 19th-century botanist David Fairchild, who traveled the world in search of unusual plants with commercial potential.
For fans of: the Hass avocado, Egyptian cotton, pistachios, quinoa, or any of the hundreds of plants that Fairchild introduced to the U.S.
You might also like: Jane S. Smith's The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants, about another agricultural pioneer whose work changed the way America eats. |
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The rise of yeast : how the sugar fungus shaped civilization
by Nicholas P Money
What it's about: In The Rise of Yeast, the author argues that we cannot ascribe too much importance to yeast, and that its discovery and controlled use profoundly altered human history. Humans knew what yeast did long before they knew what it was. It was not until Louis Pasteur's experiments in the 1860s that scientists even acknowledged its classification as a fungus. A compelling blend of science, history, and sociology
Why you should read it: The Rise of Yeast explores the rich, strange, and utterly symbiotic relationship between people and yeast, a stunning and immensely readable account that takes us back to the roots of human history.
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| Leonardo da Vinci by Walter IsaacsonWhat it is: An engaging biography of Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci, which examines his extraordinary ability to think across disciplines.
About the author: As with his biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs, journalist Walter Isaacson conducts copious research to tell the story of "history's most creative genius."
You might also like: Toby Lester's Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image.
Read the eBook |
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| How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World by Steven JohnsonWhat it's about: This thought-provoking book explores six simple concepts -- glass, refrigeration, sound recordings, sanitation, clocks, and artificial light -- that paved the way for modern life.
About the author: Steven Johnson, author of The Invention of Air and Where Good Ideas Come From, is known for his accessible style and anecdote-rich approach to fascinating, yet overlooked, topics.
You might also like: James Burke's Connections. |
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| The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain... by Sam KeanWhat it is: A collection of historical case studies that attempts to answer the question, "Where does the brain stop and the mind start?"
Chapters include: "Cells, Senses, Circuits" (about neurotransmitters and biochemistry); "Beliefs and Delusions" (about brain disorders)
Why you might like it: This witty book by the author of The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist's Thumb provides a lively and accessible introduction to a complex subject. |
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| Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women... by Margot Lee ShetterlyWhat it is: An inspiring group biography of NASA's African American female mathematicians, whose work in the 1950s and '60s played a pivotal role in launching American astronauts into orbit.
For fans of: Nathalia Holt's Rise of the Rocket Girls, which also spotlights unseen heroines of the space race.
Media buzz: The 2016 film adaptation of Hidden Figures was a big hit with both audiences and critics.
Read the eBook |
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The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution
by David Wootton
What it's about: The Invention of Science explores not only the origins of scientific knowledge, but also the development of the thought processes that make science possible.
What reviewers say: Wootton hails science as a uniquely progressive force, one opening a truly reliable access to reality, not just one more socially constructed perspective. A bracing rediscovery of the marvel that is science.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2015 Booklist
For fans of: Seeing Further: the Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society By Bill Bryson and Steven Weinberg's To Explain the World: the Discovery of Modern Science.
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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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