|
Nature and Science December 2020
|
|
|
|
| The Secret Lives of Planets: Order, Chaos, and Uniqueness in the Solar System by Paul MurdinWhat happens: Astronomer Paul Murdin takes readers on an accessible tour of the solar system.
Further reading: Mark Thompson's A Space Traveler's Guide to the Solar System or Erik Asphaug's When the Earth Had Two Moons.
Did you know? "The bottom line is that our solar system has no parallel among the known planetary systems. Astronomy has no fully accepted explanation for this yet." |
|
| The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change by David Remnick and Henry Finder (editors)What it is: an anthology of The New Yorker's climate change reporting.
Contains: works by Bill McKibben (The End of Nature), Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction), Kathryn Schulz ("Writers in the Storm"), Dexter Filkins ("The End of Ice"), and more.
Try these next: Coming of Age at the End of Nature (edited by Julie Dunlap and Susan A. Cohen) and Groundswell: Indigenous Wisdom and the Moral Revolution for Climate Change (edited by Joe Neidhardt). |
|
| Counting: How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters by Deborah StoneThe big idea: numbers can't be objective, argues political scientist Deborah Stone as she examines the cultural assumptions and social norms underlying the data we rely on to make policy decisions.
Topics include: how unemployment is measured; the ever-evolving race categories on the U.S. Census; the increasing role of automated systems in assessing everything from credit scores to recidivism rates.
Food for thought: "If every number begins with a judgment, and if we allow numbers to determine people's fates, we should hold numbers to the same ethical standards we hold our judges to." |
|
|
Fire in Paradise : an American tragedy
by Alastair Gee
An account of the 2018 Camp Fire that razed the town of Paradise, California draws on hundreds of interviews with residents, firefighters, police and scientific experts to document its horrific impact, including the establishment of an unfolding refugee crisis.
|
|
|
The Language of Butterflies: How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives...
by Wendy Williams
What it's about: the past, present, and future of butterflies, and the role of human obsession in discovering their secrets.
Don't miss: the profile of pioneering 17th-century naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, whose detailed illustrated studies of lepidopteran life cycles shaped the emerging field of entomology.
About the author: Wendy Williams' previous book was the bestselling The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion.
|
|
|
Eight Lessons on Infinity : A Mathematical Adventure
by Ph.D. Shapira, Haim
"In this book, best-selling author and mathematician Haim Shapira presents an introduction to mathematical theories which deal with the most beautiful concept ever invented by humankind: infinity. Written in clear, simple language and aimed at a lay audience, this book also offers some strategies that will allow readers to try their ability at solving truly fascinating mathematical problems. Infinity is a deeply counter-intuitive concept that has inspired many great thinkers. In this book we will meet many sages, both familiar and unfamiliar: Zeno and Pythagoras, Georg Cantor and Bertrand Russell, Sofia Kovalevskaya and Emmy Noether, al-Khwarizmi and Euclid, Sophie Germain and Srinivasa Ramanujan. The world of infinity is inhabited by many paradoxes, and so is this book: Zeno paradoxes, Hilbert's "Infinity Hotel", Achilles and the gods paradox, the paradox of heaven and hell, the Ross-Littlewood paradox involving tennis balls, the Galileo paradox and many more. Aimed at the curious but non-technical reader, this book refrains from using any fearsome mathematical symbols. It uses only the most basic operations of mathematics: adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, powers and roots - that is all. But that doesn't mean that a bit of deep thinking won't be necessary and rewarding. Writing with humour and lightness of touch, Haim Shapira banishes the chalky pallor of the schoolroom and offers instead a truly thrilling intellectual journey. Fasten your seatbelt - we are going to Infinity, and beyond!"
|
|
| Molly: The True Story of the Amazing Dog Who Rescues Cats by Colin ButcherMeet: Molly, a rescue dog trained to track down lost pets; Molly's human partner, Colin, the former police officer who started the UK Pet Detective Agency, which has so far reunited 74 cats, 6 dogs and one tortoise with their families.
Read it for: Molly and Colin's heartwarming bond, details of Molly's rigorous on-the-job training, and an eye-opening tale of how they tracked down an Eastern European dognapping ring.
Other working dogs: Cat Warren's What the Dog Knows, Susannah Charleson's Scent of the Missing, or Melissa Fay Greene's The Underdogs. |
|
| Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver by Jill HeinerthWho: Canadian cave diver, explorer, and filmmaker Jill Heinerth, who proudly claims that adventure is in her DNA.
Where she's been: Florida's extensive network of caverns; Mexico's Sistema Huautla, the Western Hemisphere's deepest cave network; the interior of Antarctic iceberg B-15, at the time the largest free-floating object on Earth.
You might also like: Julie Hauserman's Drawn to the Deep; William Stone's Beyond the Deep. |
|
| The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World's Rarest Species by Carlos MagdalenaMeet: Carlos Magdalena, dubbed "El Mesías de las Plantas" by the media, who travels the world to save rare plants from extinction by propagating them.
Read it for: the author's enthusiasm for tropical plants, his unconventional career path and his travels to Mauritius, the Nazca Plains of Peru, and the Australian outback.
About the author: Carlos Magdalena is a senior botanical horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, England. |
|
| How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery; illustrated by Rebecca GreenFeaturing: feisty Scottish terrier Molly; Christopher Hogwood, a pig with personality; a trio of emus; tarantula Clarabelle, friend to children in French Guiana; and more!
Is it for you? Author Sy Montgomery opens up about her difficult childhood and lifelong struggle with depression, which is exacerbated by the passing of some of the animals featured in the book.
Crossover alert: Fans of the author's National Book Award finalist The Soul of an Octopus will remember charismatic cephalopod Octavia, who makes an appearance here. |
|
| Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl; illustrated by Billy RenklWhat it is: a lyrical collection by New York Times contributor Margaret Renkl, containing 112 autobiographical vignettes about the natural world.
Reviewers say: "a jeweled patchwork of nature and culture" (NPR).
Want a taste? "The cycle of life might as well be called the cycle of death: everything that lives will die, and everything that dies will be eaten. Bluebirds eat insects, snakes eat bluebirds, hawks eat snakes, owls eat hawks. This is the way wildness works, and I know it." |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Patchogue-Medford Library 54-60 East Main Street Patchogue, New York 11772 (631) 654-4700www.pmlib.org/ |
|
|
|