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Nature and Science June 2025 |
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| The Ocean's Menagerie: How Earth's Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life by Drew HarvellMarine biologist Drew Harvell amazes with a rich and descriptive catalog of ocean invertebrates, a group that outnumbers backboned species 30 to one and includes octopuses, jellies, crustaceans, and sea stars. Harvell details these creatures' superpowers, hardly an exaggeration given their potential benefits to the environment and human life. Those curious about exotic marine life should also check out The World Beneath by Richard Smith. |
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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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Science writer Stephen S. Hall presents a naturalistic, cultural, ecological, and scientific meditation on these loathed yet magnetic creatures. In each chapter, he explores a biological aspect of the snake, such as their cold blooded metabolism and venomous nature, alongside their mythology, artistic depictions, and cultural veneration. In doing so, he explores not only what neurologically triggers our wary fascination with these limbless creatures, but also how the current generation of snake scientists is using cutting-edge technologies to discover new truths about these evolutionarily ancient creatures.
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| The Age of Diagnosis: How Our Obsession with Medical Labels Is Making Us Sicker by Suzanne O'SullivanAccording to neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, a combination of expanding disease definitions and advances in medical screening is causing diagnoses to increase drastically, which taxes healthcare systems, feeds health anxiety in patients, and gives rise to the “nocebo effect,” where giving a patient a disease label can actually produce symptoms. Readers looking for other interesting books about physician-patient communication should try How Medicine Works and When It Doesn’t by F. Perry Wilson. |
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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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| Eavesdropping on Animals: What We Can Learn from Wildlife Conversations by George BumannGeorge Bumann, an observant Yellowstone wildlife ecologist and artist, encourages us to listen in on the lively chatter among animals that we might usually tune out. With enthusiastic guidance that can apply to backyards as well as national parks and runs from birds to insects to coyotes, Bumann reminds us that a big part of nature appreciation is paying attention. Try this next: Meet the Neighbors by Brandon Keim. |
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The Animal Mind : Profiles of Intelligence and Emotion by Marianne TaylorWe are only beginning to understand the ways in which the animal mind is as complex as our own. A prairie dog's vocal language is now the most sophisticated ever decoded, and gorillas use sign language to describe past events to researchers. The Animal Mind profiles 60 animals as it explores instances of remarkable cognition, communication, consciousness, and culture in the animal kingdom.
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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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Meet the neighbors : animal minds and life in a more-than-human world by Brandon KeimInviting readers to discover an expanded sense of community and kinship beyond our own species, an acclaimed scientist, in this wide-ranging, wonder-filled exploration of animals' inner lives, shows the people—philosophers, ecologists, wildlife doctors—who are re-imagining our relationships to the wild creatures populating our communities.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Cumberland County Library System
System Headquarters Office400 Bent Creek Blvd, Suite 150
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania 17050
(888) 697-0371, ext. 6175www.cumberlandcountylibraries.org/ |
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