Nature and Science
June 2025*

Recent Releases
Hope dies last : visionary people across the world, fighting to find us a future
by Alan Weisman

An award-winning environmental journalist examines humanity's resilience and creativity in facing climate change, showcasing global efforts to combat environmental devastation while exploring how we adapt, hope and act in the face of an uncertain future.
White Light: The Elemental Role of Phosphorus -- in Our Cells, in Our Food, and in Our World
by Jack Lohmann

In this debut scientific history, Jack Lohmann explores civilization’s interaction with phosphorus, from before humans were even aware of the element. Once people understood its use as a fertilizer, we unfortunately began to mine and then overuse it, leading to pollution, reduced biodiversity, and less nutritive crops, errors we are only now beginning to correct. Try this next: Carbon: The Book of Life by Paul Hawken.
Inside the Stargazer's Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century...
by Violet Moller

Historian Violet Moller’s tour of scientific innovation in the 1500s focuses on astronomy. Early stargazers Tycho Brahe and Nicolaus Copernicus laid the groundwork using curious new instruments of observation during a fascinating period when scientific inquiry still mingled with religion, mythology, and alchemy. It’s an atmospheric “run-up to the Scientific Revolution in expert hands” (Kirkus Reviews).
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.
A billion butterflies : a life in climate and chaos theory
by J. Shukla

The Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist's inspiring memoir details his journey from rural India to revolutionizing global weather prediction, saving lives, improving food security and advancing climate science while offering hope in the face of a warming planet. 75,000 first printing. Illustrations.
The explorer's gene : why we seek big challenges, new flavors, and the blank spots on the map
by Alex Hutchinson

Studies humanity's innate drive to seek the unknown, blending neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and stories of exploration to reveal how embracing uncertainty and challenge fosters fulfillment, productivity and resilience.
Animal Communication
Our wild calling : how connecting with animals can transform our lives; and save theirs
by Richard Louv

The acclaimed author of Last Child in the Woods redefines the future of human and animal coexistence while sharing insights into how companion animals can enrich life and imbue human empathy to preserve life on Earth. 50,000 first printing.
How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication
by Tom Mustill

A near-death experience: In 2015, a breaching humpback whale landed on the kayak of nature documentarian Tom Mustill, who subsequently became interested in human-cetacean encounters.

A quest for answers: To better understand his subject, Mustill dove into our shared history with whales, from the bloody past to the more hopeful present, in which scientists use hydrophones, oscilloscopes, and artificial intelligence to decode whale communication.

Did you know? Biologist Roger Payne's 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale, a collection of whale song recordings, galvanized the "Save the Whales" movement and helped end commercial whaling?
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).
The Voices of Nature: How and Why Animals Communicate
by Nicolas Mathevon; illustrations by Bernard Mathevon

In Nicolas Mathevon’s “exceptional” (Library Journal) debut, the biologist and neuroscientist looks at how different animal species decode the sounds made by creatures around them and respond (sometimes with sounds of their own) to aid in their survival. The result is a technical yet accessible panorama of ecological dynamics and cross-species interaction.
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