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Nature and Science August 2018
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| Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything by Randi Hutter EpsteinWhat it is: a crash course in endocrinology, which illuminates the role of hormones in metabolism, the immune system, puberty, sex, and sleep.
Read it for: an eye-opening and engaging history involving resurrectionists, roosters, sideshow attractions, and horse urine.
For fans of: Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. |
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| Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth by Adam FrankWhat it's about: According to author Adam Frank, civilizations are "just another thing the universe does." By his calculations, there exist some 10 billion trillion planets with the potential for civilizations to develop. What can such planets tell us about ourselves -- and our fate?
About the author: Adam Frank is an astrophysicist and the founder of NPR's 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog. |
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| Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures by Nick PyensonWhat it's about: Paleontologist Nicholas Pyenson recounts the evolution of whales from four-legged, dog-sized, land-dwelling creatures to today's aquatic leviathans, while contemplating their uncertain future.
Why you might like it: part natural history, part travelogue, Spying on Whales offers a glimpse at a hidden underwater world.
You might also like: Philip Hoare's The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea; Micheline Jenner's The Secret Life of Whales. |
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| How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of... by Julian GuthrieWhat it's about: the new 21st-century space race, in which billionaires compete to launch rockets and reap the financial rewards of doing business in space.
Featuring: American entrepreneur Peter Diamandis and his $10 million XPrize; the eventual winning team and their experimental spaceplane SpaceShipOne.
You might also like: Joe Pappalardo's Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight, another optimistic book about the nascent commercial space industry. |
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| Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, From Missiles to the Moon... by Nathalia HoltIntroducing: Barby Canright, Macie Roberts, Helen Yee Chow, Barbara Lewis, Janez Lawson, Susan Finley, and others.
Why they matter: This talented group of women calculated rocket trajectories, designed satellites, and analyzed massive amounts of experimental data for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
For fans of: Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, another collective biography of the unsung heroines of the U.S. space program. |
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Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery
by Scott Kelly
The veteran of four spaceflights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly hostile to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both life-threatening and mundane: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the catastrophic risks of colliding with space junk; and the still more haunting threat of being unable to help should tragedy strike at home--an agonizing situation Kelly faced when, on a previous mission, his twin brother's wife, American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space. Kelly's humanity, compassion, humor, and determination resonate throughout, as he recalls his rough-and-tumble New Jersey childhood and the youthful inspiration that sparked his astounding career, and as he makes clear his belief that Mars will be the next, ultimately challenging, step in spaceflight.
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Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her
by Rowland White
On April 12, 1981, NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It was the most advanced, state-of-the-art flying machine ever built, challenging the minds and imagination of America’s top engineers and pilots. On board were moonwalker John Young and test pilot Bob Crippen. Less than an hour after Young and Crippen’s spectacular departure from the Cape, tiles designed to protect the ship from the blowtorch burn of re-entry were missing from the heat shield. If the damage to Columbia was too great, the astronauts wouldn’t be able to return safely to earth. NASA turned to the National Reconnaissance Office, a spy agency hidden deep inside the Pentagon whose very existence was classified. Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material, Into the Black pieces together the dramatic untold story of the Columbia mission and the brave people who dedicated themselves to help the United States succeed in the age of space exploration.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library 100 E. 4th Street Michigan City, Indiana 46360 219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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