Nature and Science
December 2024
 

Recent Releases
Vanishing Treasures
by Katherine Rundell

What it's about: The world is more astonishing, more miraculous, and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In this brilliant and passionately persuasive book, Katherine Rundell takes us on a globe-spanning tour of the world's most awe-inspiring animals currently facing extinction.

You may also like: "Meet the Neighbors" by Brandon Keim; "What the Wild Sea Can Be" by Helen Scales and "A Most Remarkable Creature" by Jonathan Meiburg.

First line of the book: "A common swift, in its lifetime, flies about 1.2 million miles, enough to fly to the moon and back twice over, and then once more to the moon."
The Serviceberry
by Robin Wall Kimmerer

What it is: "The Serviceberry" evaluates how our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and how we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude.

For readers of: Margeret Renkl's "The Comfort of Crows;" Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass" and Jon Young's "What the Robin Knows."

Read it for: The vivid imagery that leaves you with a call to action to emulate the serviceberry's reciprocity with its environment.
Devil in the Stack: A Code Odyssey
by Andrew Smith

What's inside: "Devil in the Stack" follows Andrew Smith on his immersive trip into the world of coding, passing through the stories of logic, machine-learning and early computing, from Ada Lovelace to Alan Turing, and up to the present moment, behind the scenes into the lives—and minds—of the new frontierspeople of the 21st century: those who write code.

Try these next: "Bitwise" by David Auerbach; "AI 2041" by Kai-fu Lee and "Web3" by Alex Tapscott.

What reviews say: “A searing philosophical take on the ravages of the digital age, this is a must-read.”- Publishers Weekly
 
Puppy Kindergarten
by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods

What it's about: Applying the same games that psychologists use when exploring the development of young children, Hare and Woods uncover what happens in a puppy’s mind during their final stage of rapid brain development. Along the way, learn about when puppies finally start to retain memories for longer than just a few seconds, or when they finally develop some self-control.

Read these next: "The Genius of Dogs" by Hare and Woods; "Animals Make us Human" by Temple Grandin and "Inside of a Dog" by Alexandra Horowitz.

You'll learn: When do puppies sleep through the night? How do you stop them from eating poop? How can we help our puppies grow up to be the best dogs they can possibly be?
Pillars of Creation
by Richard Panek

What it is: The James Webb Space Telescope is transforming the universe right before our eyes—and here, for the first time, is the inside account of how the mission originated, how it performs its miracles of science and what its revolutionary images are revealing.

Similar reads: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's "The Disordered Cosmos;" Simon Singh's "Big Bang" and Nathalie A. Cabrol's "The Secret Life of the Universe."

About the author: Richard Panek is an American popular science writer, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of space, the universe, and gravity. He has published several books and has written articles for a number of news outlets and scientific organizations, including Scientific American, WIRED, New Scientist, and Discover.
Focus on: Medicine
The Cure for Women
by Lydia Reeder

What's inside: Mary Putnam Jacobi was the first woman to be accepted into the world-renowned Sorbonne medical school in Paris. As one of the best-educated doctors in the world, she returned to New York for the fight of her life. Aided by other prominent women physicians and suffragists, Jacobi conducted the first-ever data-backed, scientific research on women's reproductive biology. The results of her studies shook the foundations of medical science and higher education.

You might also like: "Madame Restell" by Jennifer Wright; "The Secret History of Home Economics" by Danielle Dreilinger and "All in her Head" by Dr. Elizabeth Comen.

Line from the book: "Back in 1820, an esteemed doctor form Boston wrote an essay so controversial that he decided to publish it under the name "Anonymous." He titled his work Remarks on the Employment of Females as Practitioners in Midwifery. 'The question is,' he wrote, 'can the practice of midwifery be carried on with equal safety by female as by male Practitioners?'" - Lydia Reeder 
Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight for Health Justice
by Ala Stanford, M.D.

What it's about: Physician Ala Stanford shares her inspiring story of overcoming numerous obstacles while becoming one of a very small number of Black women surgeons. She also addresses America’s racial health gap and recounts her founding of the Black Doctors Consortium.

For other inspiring medical narratives, try: "Legacy" by Uche Blackstock; "The Emergency" by Thomas Fisher and "How Medicine Works and When It Doesn't" by F. Perry Wilson, M.D.

Did you know: According to the CDC, in 2021, the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.6 times the rate for non-Hispanic white women at 26.6. Rates for Black women were significantly higher than rates for white and Hispanic women. 
Blind Spots
by Marty Makary, M.D.

What is it:  In "Blind Spots," Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining and jaw-dropping-but the truth is essential to our health.

Further reading: Jerome E. Groopman's "Your Medical Mind;" Otis Webb Brawley's "How We Do Harm" and Ricardo Nuila's "The People's Hospital."

Who might like it: Americans who have experienced misdiagnosis and gaslighting from the medical industry.
Random Acts of Medicine
by Anupam B. Jena, M.D.

What's inside: Why do kids born in the summer get diagnosed more often with ADHD? Do you choose the veteran doctor or the rookie? Do you take the appointment on Monday or on Friday? Do you get the procedure now or wait a week? These questions are rife with significance; their impact can be life-changing. In a style that's animated and enlightening, this book empowers you to see past the white coat and find out what really makes medicine work - and how it could work better.

Additional reading about healthcare: "The Healing of America" by T.R. Reid; "An American Sickness" by Elisabeth Rosenthal and "The Danger Within Us" by Jeanne Lenzer.

What reviews say: "What a brilliant book! 'Random Acts of Medicine' is science, but it is much more than that. It offers a set of profound lessons about learning, life, and health." - Cass R. Sunstein, author
Facing the unseen: the struggle to center mental health in medicine
by Damon Tweedy, M.D.

What it's about:  With psychiatry currently on the margins of health care, patients often don’t get the help they need. Practicing psychiatrist Damon Tweedy makes a compassionate call for change to the medical profession, allowing mental health to be better integrated into primary care treatments.

For readers of: Ron Powers' "No one cares about crazy people"; Thomas Insel's "Healing"; and "The myth of normal" Gabor Maté, M.D.

About the author: On top of being a writer of medical books and essays, Damon is a psychiatrist in the NC VA system in Durham. He is a father, husband, professor and faculty member at Duke University. Damon also has a law degree form Yale University and spends time researching Duke's history during the segregation area.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665
forsythlibrary.org