Nature and ScienceFebruary 2025 Recent Releases The Blue Plate: A Food Lover's Guide to Climate Chaos by Mark J. Easter How many of us take the food we eat for granted? Ecologist Mark J. Easter corrects this oversight, using research and fact-finding trips to give a full understanding of our food products’ origins. Easter not only informs but guides our choices for eating more sustainably, “leaving readers with a sense of purpose and hope” (Booklist). For more about food and the environment, try The Fate of Food by Amanda Little or Eating to Extinction by Dan Saladino. Planet Aqua: Rethinking Our Home in the Universe by Jeremy Rifkin Social theorist Jeremy Rifkin frames climate change in terms of humanity’s recognizing the importance of our evolving hydrosphere and our ability to adapt with its changes, including making some wholesale lifestyle changes. Anybody interested in original and ambitious ideas for weathering the climate crisis should also check out The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg or Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie. Math Mind: The Simple Path to Loving Math by Shalinee Sharma Nonprofit founder Shalinee Sharma is enthusiastic about math, and insists in her debut book that “numeracy,” like literacy, should be accessible to all learners with proper instruction, and points out ways in which math skills are surprisingly similar to artistic and creative pursuits. Other fascinating books for math-phobic readers include Thinking Better by Marcus du Sautoy and How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg. The forgotten sense : the new science of smell--and the extraordinary power of the nose by Jonas Olofsson Explores the human sense of smell through the lens of neuroscience and psychology, revealing its extraordinary sensitivity and how it engages the brain, affects our perceptions, and shapes our experiences, while examining historical perspectives, the role of smell in evolution, and the potential for smell rehabilitation after illness. Artificial intelligence The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with Al by Ray Kurzweil In this follow-up to his 2005 work The Singularity Is Near, futurist Ray Kurzweil provides updates on the mounting evidence to support his claim that artificial intelligence will allow human brains and computers to interface directly by 2040! Intrigued? Look for more mind-blowing predictions in these books: The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku; Brave New Words by Salman Khan. Benny the Blue Whale: A Descent into Story, Language and the Madness of ChatGPT by Andy Stanton This offbeat book by children’s author Andy Stanton details his experiments using ChatGPT as a co-author in fiction writing. While it’s no match against human creativity, the program’s surprising (and often hilarious) ideas are sure to delight in this “thoughtful exploration” (Publishers Weekly) of where art and technology come together. Try this next: Literary Theory for Robots by Dennis Yi Tenen. The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the 21st Century's Greatest Dilemma by Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar In his sobering analysis of the sweeping societal changes that AI will bring, expert Mustafa Suleyman stresses the importance of careful regulation of any autonomous technologies, including built-in kill switches and other safeguards. Those interested in exploring the potential downsides of AI should also read A World Without Work by Daniel Susskind or The AI Dilemma by Juliette Powell and Art Kleiner. The AI Mirror: How To Reclaim Our Humanity in the Age of Machine Thinking by Shannon Vallor Philosopher Shannon Vallor explores the disturbing paradox that AI’s many shortcomings – bias, stereotyping, a lack of wisdom and creativity – are simply reflections of the data humans have been feeding it, and that real progress in AI will have to start with changes in human communities and behavior. Other books examining human-computer interactions include Mindless by Robert Skidelsky and Heart of the Machine by Richard Yonck. Contact your librarian for more great books! Oswego Public Library District Montgomery Campus - 1111 Reading Drive, 60538 Oswego Campus - 32 West Jefferson, 60543 (630) 554-3150 https://www.oswego.lib.il.us/