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Nature and Science June 2024
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| Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World by Edward HumesPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes reveals the wasteful habits of modern life and offers numerous examples of communities pursuing more sustainable futures in this thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful book. Try these next: Tatiana Schlossberg's Inconspicuous Consumption; Oliver Franklin-Wallis' Wasteland. |
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| Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Lisa KalteneggerAstrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger, director of Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute to Search for Life in the Cosmos, describes the search for exoplanets that could support extraterrestrial life in this "stellar exploration" (Publishers Weekly). Further reading: Adam Frank's The Little Book of Aliens; Chris Impey's Worlds Without End; Michael Summers and James Trefil's Exoplanets. |
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| Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason RobertsScience writer Jason Roberts chronicles the efforts of rival 18th-century scientists Carl Linnaeus and George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon to classify living organisms in this "enthralling look at a pivotal period" (Publishers Weekly) in the history of science. You might also like: Gunnar Broberg's The Man Who Organized Nature; Andrea Wulf's The Invention of Nature. |
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| The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan; foreword by David Allen SibleyAcclaimed author Amy Tan presents her lovingly illustrated bird journal, which captures a parade of avian visitors to her northern California backyard. You might also like: Priyanka Kumar's Conversations with Birds; Susan Fox Rogers' Learning the Birds; Joan Strassman's Slow Birding. |
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| Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy TomlinsonThe author (The Elephant in the Room) and host of NPR’s SouthBound podcast embeds himself in the wild world of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, following handler Laura King and her Samoyed, Striker, as they compete for the top prize. For fans of: Jane and Michael Stern's Dog Eat Dog; Josh Dean's Show Dog; the mockumentary Best in Show. |
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| Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World by Dr. Rae Wynn-GrantIn this engaging memoir, wildlife ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant recounts her career journey and reflects on her experiences as a Black woman scientist in a field dominated by white men. You might also like: Cassandra Leah Quave's The Plant Hunter; Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka's Walking With Gorillas; Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's The Disordered Cosmos. |
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Metamorphosis : how insects are changing our world
by Erica McAlister
Investigating how modern entomological wonders contribute to the prosperity of humankind, this book covers contemporary topics emphasizing the intersections between insects, technology and the future of the planet, celebrating insect-driven progress and capturing its sense of possibility with up-to-date research and scientific storytelling. Illustrations.
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The Beauty of Falling : A Life in Pursuit of Gravity
by Claudia de Rham
Claudia de Rham has been playing with gravity her entire life. As a diver, experimenting with her body's buoyancy in the Indian Ocean. As a pilot, soaring over Canadian waterfalls on dark mornings before beginning her daily scientific research. As an astronaut candidate, dreaming of the experience of flying free from Earth's pull. And as a physicist, discovering new sides to gravity's irresistible personality by exploring the limits of Einstein's general theory of relativity.
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Relatively Recent Releases! |
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The asteroid hunter : a scientist's journey to the dawn of our solar system
by D. S. Lauretta
The Principal Investigator of NASA's historic OSIRIS-Rex Asteroid Sample Return Mission offers a behind-the-scenes account of his team's daring quest to retrieve an asteroid sample—one that held the potential to not only unlock the secrets of life's origins but also to avert an unprecedented disaster.
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Dispersals : on plants, borders, and belonging
by Jessica J. Lee
"A seed slips beyond a garden wall. A tree is planted on a precarious border. A shrub is stolen from its culture and its land. What happens when these plants leave their original homes and put down roots elsewhere? In fourteen essays, Dispersals exploresthe entanglements of the plant and human worlds: from species considered invasive, like giant hogweed; to those vilified but intimate, like soy; and those like kelp, on which our futures depend. Each of the plants considered in this collection are somehow perceived as being 'out of place'--weeds, samples collected through imperial science, crops introduced and transformed by our hand. Combining memoir, history, and scientific research in poetic prose, Jessica J. Lee meditates on the question of how both plants and people come to belong, why both cross borders, and how our futures are more entwined than we might imagine"
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Finding the fox : encounters with an enigmatic animal
by Andreas Tjernshaugen
This intimate portrait of the mysterious and misunderstood animal follows a nature enthusiast on long early morning walks with wildlife cameras and his dog as they encounter foxes near his small town in Norway. Illustrations.
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Wicked Problems : How to Engineer a Better World
by Guru Madhavan
In linked chapters focusing on key facets of systems engineering―efficiency, vagueness, vulnerability, safety, maintenance, and resilience―engineer Guru Madhavan illuminates how wicked problems have emerged throughout history and how best to address them in the future.
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Waves in an impossible sea : how everyday life emerges from the cosmic ocean
by Matt Strassler
Blending together daily experience and fundamental physics, a theoretical physicist tells an astonishing story of elementary particles, human experience and empty space, which he considers a strange, empty, sea, showing us how all things, familiar and unfamiliar, emerge from what seems like nothing at all. Illustrations.
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Twelve trees : the deep roots of our future
by Daniel Lewis
A compelling global exploration of nature and survival as seen via a dozen species of trees that represent the challenges facing our planet, and the ways that scientists are working urgently to save our forests and our future. Illustrations.
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Rochester Hills Public Library 500 Olde Towne Rd Rochester, Michigan 48307 248-656-2900www.rhpl.org/ |
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