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Nature and Science April 2026 |
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Cleaning House: The Fight to Rid Our Homes of Toxic Chemicals by Lindsay DahlContents: From the front lines of the movement for safer products, environmental health expert Lindsay Dahl takes us on her journey from skeptic to activist, exposing the secret forces that keep toxic chemicals in our homes, bodies, and environment, showing us how to fight back and keep our families safe.
What reviews say: This book should remind us—what and who we are fighting for—and to not back down when the going gets tough.” - Erin Brockovich
Similar reads: "The Problem With Plastic" by Judith Enck, "Slow Death by Rubber Duck" by Rick Smith and "Biography of Resistance" by Muhammad Zaman.
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Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon, the Untold Storyby Jeffrey KlugerWhat it's about: After we first launched Americans into space but before we touched down on the moon’s surface, there was the Gemini program. It was no easy jump from manned missions in low-Earth orbit to a successful moon landing, and the ten-flight, twenty-month celestial story of the Gemini program is an extraordinary one.
Did you know?: Gemini provided 4 crucial skills for Apollo. They were long-duration flight, rendezvous and docking, EVA (spacewalking), and precise reentry/landing.
For readers of: Jim Donovan's "Shoot for the Moon," Charles Fishman's "One Giant Leap" and Robert Kurson's "Rocket Man."
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Starlings: The Curious Odyssey of a Most Hated Bird by Mike StarkWhat's inside: Keen listeners recognize the starling as one of the world’s great vocal mimics, imitating everything from fellow birds and cell phones to barking dogs, car alarms, and TV commercials. And then there were their undeniable skills of adaptation and survival. What if there was more to these stubborn villains than once thought?
Read it for: The first-of-its-kind history of starlings in America, an oddball, love-hate story at the intersection of human folly, ornithology, and one bird’s tenacious will to endure.
You may also like: "Pests" by Bethany Brookshire, "Never Home Alone" by Rob Dunn and "Cuckoo" by N.B. Davies.
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99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Themby Ashely Alker, MDWhat it is: As a physician specializing in emergency services, Ashely Alker knows a thing or two about the myriad ways that humans can perish. The book includes pithy advice about how to avoid premature death and job-related anecdotes that are unsettling, funny, and flat-out scary.
Why you might like it: Dr. Alker manages to shock readers while making them laugh, educating them on how to outsmart a wide range of deadly situations and conditions.
Further reading: Steven Johnson's "Extra Life," Seamus O'Mahony's "The Way We Die Now" and Wes Ely's "Every Deep-Drawn Breath."
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The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle by Max TelfordContains: In the intellectually thrilling "The Tree of Life," Max Telford shows how reconstructing the web of relationships between all our planet’s species, from birds and butterflies to mushrooms and moose, allows us to unravel the epic history of life on our planet.
About the author: Max Telford is an evolutionary biologist at University College London. He has received a European Molecular Biology Organization Young Investigator award, the Linnean Society's Bicentenary Medal, and a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit award. He lives in London.
Try these next: "The Tangled Tree" by David Quammen, "Infinite Life" by Jules Howard and "What is Life?" by Paul Nurse.
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Everyday Intuition: What Psychology, Science, and Psychics Can Teach Us About Finding and Trusting Our Inner Voiceby Elizabeth GreenwoodWhat's inside: Explores how to develop and trust your inner voice by blending insights from psychology, neuroscience, and psychic traditions, offering practical exercises to distinguish intuition from anxiety or wishful thinking.
You'll learn: The science behind gut feelings, the history of "women's intuition" and how to use this skill for better decision-making, even touching on topics like psychedelics and the role of psychics, while providing actionable strategies for self-trust.
Other books by this author: " Becoming a Yoga Instructor," "Love Lockdown" and "Playing Dead."
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The Mental Health Contagion: Navigating Yourself Through a Loved One's Mental Well-Being Decline by Yvette MurrayWhat it's about: "The Mental Health Contagion" is for people who are challenged in their relationship with someone suffering from a mental problem, disorder, or crisis. It is an in-depth look at what we can do to prevent our own mental well-being decline while we care for our loved ones.
Line from the book: "This book incorporates many effective lessons and resources to help you remember to care for yourself and avoid your own physical and mental decline while navigating your way through a loved one's or someone else's mental health issues." - Yvette Murray
Similar reads: Daniel Amen's "The End of Mental Illness," Anna Paperny's "Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me" and Ron Powers' "No One Cares About Crazy People."
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Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living With Chronic Illnessby Julianne LeppWhat it is: Intended for people at any stage of their journey with chronic illness or chronic pain, to help you live a full, spiritually connected life—a life informed and shaped, but not defeated, by your illness.
What reviews say: “What a wonderful book! Through stories and practices, we are invited into the mysteries of our humanity in our most vulnerable moments. I recommend it to anyone, whether facing chronic illness, or simply the vicissitudes of life. "Tend to Your Spirit" gently and wisely invites us into the deeper places of the wise heart.” - author James Ishmael Ford
You may also like: "Becoming Yourself" by Shunryu Suzuki, "Wintering" by Katherine May and "The Invisible Kingdom" by Meghan O'Rourke.
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She's Just Spirited: Parenting a Neurodivergent Child and the Diagnosis That Changes Everything by Nefertiti AustinWhat's inside: With tips for navigating the mental health and educational systems, deciphering psychological jargon, advocating for your child, and encouraging family and friends to get on board, "She's Just Spirited" is an invaluable and relatable guide that empowers parents to fully love and support their neurodivergent child in all aspects of life.
Read it for: How Nefertiti captures the failures and triumphs of raising a neurodivergent child. Alongside relatable anecdotes from her own experiences, Nefertiti offers insight from experts and easy to digest strategies she wishes she had had from the start.
For readers of: Ross Greene's "The Explosive Child," Katie Pryal's "Your Kid Belongs Here" and Kim Gallo's "The Pivot for Parents & Educators."
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The Immune Mind: The Hidden Dialogue Between Your Brain and Immune Systemby Dr. Monty LymanContains: The fascinating connection between the mind, immune system and microbiome. A specialist in the cutting-edge field of immuno-psychiatry, Lyman argues that we need to change the way we treat disease and the way we see ourselves. For the first time, we have a new approach to medicine that treats the whole human being.
About the author: Monty Lyman is a medical doctor, author and research fellow at the University of Oxford. His clinical, research and writing interests focus on the relationship between mind and body.
Try these next: "The Man Who Tasted Words" by Guy Leschziner, "Successful Aging" by Daniel Levitin and "Your Brain on Art" by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross.
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Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665forsythlibrary.org |
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