Nature and Science
June 2025

Recent Releases
The Ocean's Menagerie: How Earth's Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life
by Drew Harvell

Marine biologist Drew Harvell amazes with a rich and descriptive catalog of ocean invertebrates, a group that outnumbers backboned species 30 to one and includes octopuses, jellies, crustaceans, and sea stars. Harvell details these creatures' superpowers, hardly an exaggeration given their potential benefits to the environment and human life. Those curious about exotic marine life should also check out The World Beneath by Richard Smith.
Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie
by Dave Hage

The North American prairie is an ecological marvel. One cubic yard of prairie sod contains so many organisms that it rivals the tropical rainforest for biological diversity. Veteran journalists and Midwesterners Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty follow the history of humanity's relationship with this incredible land, offering a vivid portrait of one of the world's most miraculous and significant ecosystems, making clear why the future of this region is of essential concern far beyond the heartland.
Ocean: Earth's Last Wilderness
by David Attenborough

Drawing a course across David Attenborough's own lifetime, Ocean takes readers on an adventure-laden voyage through eight unique ocean habitats, countless intriguing species, and the most astounding discoveries of the last 100 years, to a future vision of a fully restored marine world--one even more spectacular than we could possibly hope for. It is a book almost a century in the making, but one that has never been more urgently needed. For more oceanic reading, check out The Underworld by Susan Casey and Deep Water by James Bradley.
The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker
by Suzanne O'Sullivan

According to neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, a combination of expanding disease definitions and advances in medical screening is causing diagnoses to increase drastically, which taxes healthcare systems, feeds health anxiety in patients, and gives rise to the “nocebo effect,” where giving a patient a disease label can actually produce symptoms. Readers looking for other interesting books about physician-patient communication should try How Medicine Works and When It Doesn’t by F. Perry Wilson.
Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity
by Eric J. Topol

One of the most respected, celebrated, and influential medical researchers in the world gives a guided tour of the revolution in longevity science that is exploding now. A detailed guide to a revolution transforming human longevity explains how the present-day is a breakthrough moment in the history of human health care. For more reading on longevity, try The Great Age Reboot by Michael Roizen.
Is A River Alive?
by Robert Macfarlane

The best-selling author of Underland explores the concept of rivers as living entities, weaving together travel writing, natural history and reporting from Ecuador, India and Canada to illuminate the interconnectedness of humans and rivers. For more reading on the importance of our natural waterways, try Water is Everything by Simon Cleary or In Praise of Floods by James C. Scott.
Animal Communication
Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication
by Arik Kershenbaum

University of Cambridge zoologist Arik Kershenbaum has been in the field of animal communication for decades. His study of the speech-like sounds and songs emitted by creatures including wolves, parrots, dolphins, and chimpanzees runs afoul of the idea that humans are Earth’s sole language users, and posits that “animals have much to say to each other -- but also to us” (Kirkus Reviews).
Meet the Neighbors : Animal Minds and Life in a More-Than-Human World
by Brandon Keim

Inviting readers to discover an expanded sense of community and kindship beyond our own species, an acclaimed scientist, in this wide-ranging, wonder-filled exploration of animals' inner lives, shows the people — philosophers, ecologists, wildlife doctors — who are reimagining our relationships to the wild creatures populating our communities. Books on related topics include: Keggie Carew's Beastly; Adele Brand's The Hidden World of the Fox.
Beyond Words : What Animals Think and Feel
by Carl Safina

A well-respected conservationist takes readers around the world where he explores the lives of animals, focusing on their profound capacity for perception, thought and emotion and providing a thoughtful examination of how animals truly think and feel. Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain, Carl Safina's book offers an intimate view of animal behavior to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and nonhuman animals. 
Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes: The Science of Animal Personalities
by John A Shivik

Veteran wildlife expert Dr. John A. Shivik brings us stories from the front lines of the exciting new discipline of animal personalities. Drawing on his scientific training, as well as his storytelling gifts, Shivik serves as an accessible, humorous guide to the emerging body of research.
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