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Nature and Science December 2025 |
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| Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource by Sam BlochIt’s a simple, ancient idea whose time may have come again: if you want to cool down on a hot day, find some shade. Environmental journalist Sam Bloch argues for numerous strategies to use shade to offset the environmental impact of air conditioning in urban heat islands but also discusses the associated cost and policy barriers in this thoughtful, urgent book. For more on this topic, try After Cooling: On Freon, Global Warming, and the Terrible Cost of Comfort by Eric Dean Wilson. |
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| The Story of CO₂ Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World by Peter BrannenScience journalist Peter Brannen elucidates the role of carbon dioxide on Earth, explaining the paradox that this substance is both an essential part of the carbon life cycle and the reason that our climate is in trouble. Brannen’s book is both alarming and fascinating and makes clear that it is only in the last couple of centuries that human activity has pushed the CO₂ equation out of balance. Read-alike: Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Future by Stephen Porder. |
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| The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us About How to Live Well With the Rest of Life by Rob DunnThe evolution of life is mainly a story of competition. But this has caused scientists to miss the cooperation between organisms happening everywhere in nature. These “mutualisms” (mutually beneficial relationships between species) occur between animals and plants of all types on every continent, and biologist Rob Dunn’s vivid descriptions enable the reader to envision the complex interdependencies in nature’s ecosystems in his “triumph of popular science” (Publishers Weekly). |
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| The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs by Gerta KellerIn geologist Gerta Keller’s debut book, she shares her groundbreaking theory that the extinction of the dinosaurs did not stem from an asteroid colliding with Earth, but rather from extreme volcanic activity in present-day India. At first facing widespread criticism and now widely accepted as fact, her work is accessibly presented in a book that foregrounds women scientists and the difficulty of overturning entrenched theories. Try this next: Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth’s Extinct Worlds by Thomas Halliday. |
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| The Shape of Wonder: How Scientists Think, Work, and Live by Alan Lightman & Martin ReesPhysicist Alan Lightman and cosmologist Martin Rees mount a persuasive argument for trusting good science. By introducing readers to prominent scientists in various disciplines and showing the impact of the scientific method on everyday life, the authors hope to demonstrate the value of scientific research in policy-making and discourage the current rise in anti-science rhetoric. For fans of: The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis. |
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| The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics by Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH and Mark OlshakerNot to sound alarmist or anything, but authors Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker concede that COVID-19 may have been merely a warm-up for the next pandemic. To that end, they construct some chilling real-world scenarios that they hope will urge government leaders to take communicable disease as seriously as any national security issue. For readers fascinated by World War C: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic and How to Prepare for the Next One by Sanjay Gupta. |
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Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away
by Coltan Scrivner
Morbidly Curious explores humanity's fascination with the morbid and macabre. Scrivner argues that this curiosity is not a pathology but a survival strategy that helps us prepare for real-world threats through safe exposure to dark themes. He examines why people are drawn to horror films, true crime, and other dark subjects, blending pop culture with research from fields like psychology and evolutionary biology.
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The Genius Bat: The Secret Life of the Only Flying Mammal
by Yossi Yovel
The Genius Bat is an awe-inspiring tour of bat world by expert Yossi Yovel, covering bat diversity, unique features, and the scientists who study them through a blend of scientific inquiry, personal anecdotes from bat research, and a history of the study of these creatures.
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| If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate SoaresAI researchers Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares sound a strident alarm over the race to design the ultimate machine intelligence. While corporations and governments everywhere push relentlessly toward the development of “artificial superintelligence” (ASI), the authors warn that current industry safeguards are insufficient to contain a program that is “optimized for efficiency and unconstrained by human ethics” (Booklist). For further predictions of terrifying techno-disasters, check out X-Risk: How Humanity Discovered Its Own Extinction by Thomas Moynihan. |
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