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Nature and Science June 2025 |
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Ocean : Earth's last wilderness
by David Attenborough
"Through personal stories, history and cutting-edge science, Ocean uncovers the mystery, the wonder, and the frailty of the most unexplored habitat on our planet--the one which shapes the land we live on, regulates our climate, and creates the air we breathe. This book showcase the oceans' remarkable resilience: they can, and in some cases have, recovered the fastest, if we only give them the chance. 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. Ocean reveals the past, present and potential future of our blue planet. It is a book almost a century in the making, but one that has never been more urgently needed"
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| White Light: The Elemental Role of Phosphorus -- in Our Cells, in Our Food, and in Our World by Jack LohmannIn 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. |
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Adaptable : how your unique body really works and why our biology unites us
by Herman Pontzer
"A new understanding of how our bodies work, how to keep them healthy, and how our biological diversity unites us rather than divides us. How does the body work-and why does it seem to work so differently for each of us? Why do we grow tall or short, obese or slim? Why do some of us stay healthy despite our bad habits while others who do all the right things fall ill? When we look around the planet, why do people vary in skin color, facial features, stature, body proportions, and disease risk? The answeris both simple and powerful: we're different because we're adaptable. Over the past 100,000 years, as humans expanded into every biome on the planet, our bodies were fine-tuned to our local environments. Adaptability is at the heart of being human and the engine of our diversity. Variation isn't a bug, it's a feature. As an evolutionary anthropologist working with human populations around the globe, Pontzer's research embraces our incredible diversity, documenting the connections between lifestyle, landscape, local adaptations, and health"-- Provided by publisher
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Waste wars : the afterlife of your trash
by Alexander Clapp
An investigative account that exposes the hidden realities of the multibillion-dollar global garbage trade, revealing how waste is smuggled and sold across continents, often with dire consequences for vulnerable communities.
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| Valley of Forgetting: Alzheimer's Families and the Search for a Cure by Jennie Erin SmithWhile researchers had long been aware of the alarmingly high rates of early-onset Alzheimer’s in one remote region of Colombia, the discovery that many of the patients were related sparked the search for a genetic cause. Journalist Jennie Erin Smith tells the moving story of how an inherited gene was eventually isolated, igniting hope for a cure. For other emotional narratives about genetics and disease, try My Father’s Brain by Sandeep Jauhar or A Fatal Inheritance by Lawrence Ingrassia. |
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| The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street by Mike TidwellTravel writer Mike Tidwell examines the impacts of climate change in his own Maryland suburb. Telling the story through interactions with his neighbors, all of whom had a stake in the die-off of their street’s stately old oaks, Tidwell inspires while sharing various neighborhood responses to problems both local and global. Other accessible reads about climate threats and activism include Adventures in the Anthropocene by Gaia Vince and California Against the Sea by Rosanna Xia. |
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A blessing of toads : a gardener's guide to living with nature
by Sharon Lovejoy
Sharing the delights of a country garden, the creator of Country Living's "Heart's Ease" column focuses on the animal life in the garden, including birds, caterpillars, and dragonflies, as well as offers tips on traditional plant care, in such essays as "The Bumble Bee Rumba," "Faeries in the Fuschias," and "Holiday Feasts for the Birds and the Beasts." Reprint.
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Chasing Doctor Dolittle : learning the language of animals
by C. N. Slobodchikoff
An expert in the field of animal communication behaviors discusses how animals are capable of interacting intelligently through various vocal and physical methods, drawing on the author's extensive work with prairie dogs to present startling evidence of animal communication methods and how they can be imitated by human researchers to expand current knowledge. 25,000 first printing.
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| Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication by Arik KershenbaumUniversity 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). |
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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?
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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