LibraryAware October 2025

Recent Releases

The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World...
by Samuel Arbesman

Scientist Samuel Arbesman waxes rhapsodic about the power and possibilities of code, the digital building block of intelligence, communication, and innovation. Arbesman looks back on what has been accomplished in the past several decades to inform his hopeful predictions for the future, concluding that code is a modern-day metaphor for magic and wizardry. Try this next: Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World by Clive Thompson.

Submersed: Wonder, Obsession, and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines
by Matthew Gavin Frank

Folded into author Matthew Gavin Frank’s thought-provoking survey of humankind’s urge to explore the ocean depths from deep-water submersibles lies a much darker obsession -- the “strong undercurrent of violence and misogyny” (Kirkus Reviews) running through the amateur sub community that arguably led to the 2017 murder of journalist Kim Wall. Readers who want more adventures beneath the waves can try The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey.

A year with the seals : unlocking the secrets of the sea's most charismatic and controversial creatures
by Alexandra Morris

"It might be their large, strangely human eyes or their dog-like playfulness, but seals have long captured people's interest and affection, making them the perfect candidate for an environmental cause, as well as the subject of decades of study. Alix Morris spends a year with these magnetic creatures and brings them to life on the page, season by season, as she learns about their intelligence, their relationships with each other, their ecosystems, and the changing climate. Morris also gets to know all ofthe competing interests in the intense debate about the newly recovered seal populations in our coastal waters, from local fishermen whose catch is often diminished by savvy seals, to tribes who once relied on seal-hunting for food, clothing, and medicine, to seal rescue workers and biologists, to surfers and swimmers now encountering seal-hunting sharks in coastal waters. A Year with the Seals is a rare look at what happens when conservation efforts actually work, and how human tampering with ecosystemscontinues to have unexpected consequences. But it's also a gripping adventure story of a journalist determined to understand seals and our relationship with them for herself"

The beast in the clouds : the Roosevelt brothers' deadly quest to find the mythical giant panda
by Nathalia Holt

Recounts the perilous expedition into the Himalayas to find the elusive panda undertaken by the two eldest sons of Theodore Roosevelt in 1928, chronicling their scientific achievements, physical hardships, and the broader impact of their journey on Western conservation efforts. Illustrations.

Sound affects : how sound shapes our lives, our well-being and our planet
by Julian Treasure

"Every day, the sounds around us affect every aspect of our human experience, and thus fundamentally alter our quality of life, for better or worse. It is only recently that scientists have realised that sounds connect us to the world in ways that are every bit as vivid and evocative as visual landscapes. Hearing is the first sense we develop, and as our primary warning sense it is hardwired into our brains. And yet, in an increasingly noisy and distracted world, most people pay scant attention to the sounds around them, causing them to lose contact with the essential skill of listening. Sound Affects is about rediscovering the wonder of sound, and understanding how powerfully it affects us, whether we are paying attention or not. It is also a manual fortaking back responsibility for the sounds we consume and the sounds we make, so we can enhance our own happiness, effectiveness and well-being"

Contact your librarian for more great books!