|
|
Nature and Science August 2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
Arachnomania: Spiders and the Cultural Work They Do for Us
by Maria Tatar
In praise of spiders in all their inspirational glory, spiders are often found lurking in dusty corners, where we can observe them with interest or brush them away with disgust--or make a run for it, as the agitated Miss Muffet does. Spiders, Tatar reminds us, enable us to sustain our way of life on earth even as they continue to scare the living daylights out of us. With Arachnomania, Tatar offers up an anthem to the humble creatures that haunt our imaginations, reminding us of just how much we are the kindred spirits of the arachnids we should think of as some spiders.
|
|
|
|
The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss
by Robert MacFarlane
In this celebration of endangered birds by the duo behind The Lost Words and The Lost Spells, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris together conjure the unique spirit of nearly fifty once-common species: from avocet to yellowhammer, kestrel to kingfisher, skylark to nightingale. The Book of Birds is a love letter to the great variety and wild mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt their rapid depletion from our skies
|
|
| In Deep Water: A True Story of Sharks, Survival, and Courage by Michael J. TougiasNonfiction author Michael J. Tougias (Fatal Forecast) tells a terrifying cautionary tale of survival on the open ocean. In 2022, three friends in coastal Louisiana embark on a fishing trip on the Gulf of Mexico in a recently purchased boat that suddenly proves un-seaworthy. The vessel sinks so quickly that the fishermen barely have time to don life vests and cling to a cooler for dear life. They spend the next 28 hours facing down stinging jellyfish, circling sharks, and their own exhaustion before being rescued. For fans of: harrowing ocean rescue stories like A Speck in the Sea by John Aldridge. |
|
| The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, Deepmind, and the Quest for Superintelligence by Sebastian MallabyJournalist and author Sebastian Mallaby’s latest is both a rich examination of the innovations in artificial intelligence being created at Google’s DeepMind project and the story of its enigmatic genius co-founder, Demis Hassabis. Mallaby takes readers inside AI laboratories, filled with relentlessly ambitious researchers and investors chasing the exciting (and for some, terrifying) achievement of artificial general intelligence, or machine “superintelligence.” For fans of: Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World by Parmy Olson. |
|
| The Madness Pill: One Doctor's Quest to Understand Schizophrenia by Justin GarsonPhilosopher Justin Garson’s biography of Dr. Solomon Snyder, a pharmacology professor at Johns Hopkins University, examines Snyder’s research in the 1970s and '80s to isolate the cause of schizophrenia. Although Snyder’s research ultimately failed, he instead discovered the brain’s dopamine receptors, which would in turn lead to the development of a range of useful psychoactive drugs and forever change the practice of psychopharmacology. Read-alike: Lithium: A Doctor, a Drug, and a Breakthrough by Walter A. Brown. |
|
|
|
My World Is Melting: Living with Climate Change in Svalbard
by Line Nagell Ylvisåker
Norwegian journalist Line Nagell Ylvisåker lives with her family in Longyearbyen, the world's most northerly town. The settlement is in Svalbard, an archipelago in a region where temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on the planet. The recurring storms and mild weather begin to make Line feel worried. What is happening to her town and to the Arctic? Along the way, she records the changes Longyearbyen has been through and reflects on the paradoxes of a town built on coal mining and tourism.
|
|
|
|
Noticing: Intimate Encounters with the Natural World
by Richard Louv
Through personal essays, rich with descriptions of the California wilderness around his home in the most biodiverse county in the nation, Louv draws on wisdom from influences as far-reaching as neuroscience, nature photography, Indigenous traditions, and mindfulness to foster what he calls bioenchantment. He offers a new, deeper understanding of what it means to see a tree, know a fox, and to become fully human.
|
|
| A Pox on Fools: The True Believers, Grifters, and Cynics Who Convinced Us to Reject... by Thomas LevensonEven a glance at the data on vaccines -- increasing life expectancy by 30 years since 1900; an estimated 150+ million lives saved in the last 50 years -- would seem to negate any argument against their use. And yet… Science writer and MIT professor Thomas Levenson’s diatribe against modern-day antivaxxers reveals that the playbook hasn’t changed much since vaccines were introduced, except that today’s influencers often cynically accept payouts from powerful interests. Read-alike: Virus: Vaccinations, The CDC, and the Hijacking of America’s Response to the Pandemic by Nina Burleigh. |
|
|
|
|
|