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Nature and Science February 2026 |
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The Lucky Egg: Understanding Your Fertility and How to Get Pregnant Now by Lucky SekhonContains: "The Lucky Egg" is here to demystify the conception process. With evidence-based, accessible explanations and a voice that feels like a trusted ally, Dr. Lucky empowers readers with the knowledge they need to make confident decisions. Her goal is simple but profound: to replace confusion and fear with clarity, comfort, and hope.
Did you know?: One in six people struggle with infertility.
Further reading: "The expert guide to fertility" by Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo (and others), "Mayo Clinic guide to fertility and conception" by Zaraq Khan (and others), and "Baby making for everybody" by Ray Rachlin.
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Is a River Alive?by Robert MacFarlaneWhat it is: a joyful, mind-expanding exploration of an ancient, urgent idea: that rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law.
Line from the book: "Spring-water fell as snow. It settled, melted, seeped slow through the bedrock, then surfaced here as a spring - a sleepless flutter of silver movement, rippling the pool it has made with its whispers and mutters."
For readers of: Curt Stager's "Still Waters," Daniel Lewis' "Twelve Trees" and David Owen's "Where the Water Goes."
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| The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind by Simon WinchesterWhat it's about: Author and journalist Simon Winchester presents a celebration of wind. Drawing fascinating references from science, engineering, and literature, Winchester is clearly enraptured by this natural force, evidenced by his vivid depictions of its role in civilization’s destruction and salvation.
You’ll Learn: How wind influences our everyday live and how the prediction of increased speeds will impact our the future.
You may also like: "Rain" by Cynthia Barnett, "Over the Seawall" by Stephen Robert Miller and "Our Only Home" by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. |
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Off the Scales: The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesityby Aimee DonnellanWhat's inside: Aimee Donnellan illuminates the history of a medical breakthrough that is poised to change the world, while raising difficult social questions about inequality and morality. Through original reporting and rigorous research, she forecasts the future of GLP-1s and examines what their explosive popularity tells us about our ideals of beauty and the lengths to which people will go in order to become thin.
What reviews say: "Captures the many facets of this fast-moving story, including the decades of scientific research ... Donnellan is a gifted storyteller who brings complicated subjects to life and offers a hopeful vision for how these therapies are transforming lives and reshaping our approach to health care." - Leana Wen, M.D., Washington Post
Similar reads: David Kessler's "Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine," Johann Hari's "Magic Pill" and Suzanne O'Sullivan's "The Age of Diagnosis."
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When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World by Jordan ThomasWhat it is: The author recounts a single, brutal six-month fire season with Los Padres Hotshots. Thomas viscerally renders his crew’s attempts to battle flames that are often too destructive to contain. He uncovers the hidden cultural history of megafires, revealing how humanity’s symbiotic relationship with wildfire became a war—and what can be done to change it back.
About the author: Jordan Thomas is an anthropologist and former Los Padres Hotshot wildland firefighter. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Seattle Times, and The Drift. Thomas is a Marshall Scholar with graduate degrees from the University of Cambridge and Durham University.
Try these next: "Wildfire Days" by Kelly Ramsey, "Megafire" by Michael Kodas and "Firestorm" by Jacob Soboroff.
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The Private Lives of Public Birds: Learning to Listen to the Birds Where We Liveby Jack GedneyWhat it's about: Gedney shares his devotion to everyday Western birds in fifteen essays. Each essay illuminates the life of a single species and its relationship to humans, and how these species can help us understand birds in general.
Why you might like it: Gedney offers his expert’s ear to help us not only identify bird songs and calls but also understand what the birds are saying. The crowd at the suet feeder will never look quite the same again.
Similar reads: David Sibley's "What It's Like to be a Bird," Amy Tan's "The Backyard Bird Chronicles" and Jennifer Ackerman's "The Bird Way."
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| How Birds Fly: The Science and Art of Avian Flight by Peter CavanaghContains: Peter Cavanagh has dedicated a decade to crafting this remarkable book. Through awe-inspiring photography and conversational prose, he unveils the complex evolutions and physics of bird flight, making it accessible to bird lovers of all levels.
Read it for: Enjoying stunning photographs and enlightening illustrations. Uncover the stories of flight pioneers like Leonardo da Vinci and the Wright Brothers, and celebrate the artistry of bird flight.
Further reading: "A World on the Wing" by Scott Weidensaul, "Feathered Marvels" by Dominic Sherony and "Flight Paths" by Rebecca Heisman. |
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The Illuminated Book of Birdsby Robin Crofut-BrittinghamWhat's inside: A stunning, one-of-a-kind celebration of the birds of the world by award-winning painter Robin Crofut-Brittingham. It includes large-scale fine art paintings of the birds in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe, along with flightless birds, unusual birds, and extinct birds.
What reviews say: “This book explores species, both familiar and less so, to ignite a love of birds in budding naturalists and reignite the wonder of birds in seasoned birdwatchers." - Library Journal
You may also like: Fei Le Niao's "Chinese Brush Painting," Noah Strycker's "Birding Basics" and Sarah Winman's "Still Life."
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| Bird City: Adventures in New York's Urban Wilds by Ryan GoldbergWhat it is: Through the four seasons, Goldberg takes readers to all five boroughs, through the city's most famous parks and landmarks. He pursues rare and common species alike, increasing his count and deepening his understanding of how and why birds make their home in this smoggy, noisy, concrete-coated environment. Along the way, he meets many delightful and idiosyncratic characters, both human and feathered.
Did you know?: That starlings are though to be introduced to North America by Eugene Schieffelin in the 19th Century, because he wanted to bring the birds of Shakespeare to the "New World."
Try these next: "Better Living Through Birding" by Christian Cooper, "Birding to Change the World" by Trish O'Kane and "Bird and Us" by Tim Birkhead. |
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Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticingby Lili TaylorContains: Taylor encourages mindfulness, inviting readers to be present and fully engaged with the world around them. Taylor's lyrical prose and thoughtful meditations on both the art we make and the art we discover around us create a sense of intimacy and wonder, inviting readers to see the world through new eyes and to find joy in the most unexpected places.
About the author: Lili Taylor is an award-winning movie, television, and Broadway actress. You may know her from "Mystic Pizza" (1988), "The Haunting" (1999), and "The Conjuring" (2013). In the birding world, Lili is a board member of the National Audubon Society, the American Birding Association, and the New York City Audubon.
Turning to birds: Courtney Ellis' "Looking Up," Amy Stewart's "The Tree Collectors" and Erika Howsare's "The Age of Deer."
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665forsythlibrary.org |
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