Step into a world of discovery, exploration, and awe-inspiring knowledge with these noteworthy science and nature themed books published in 2024 and available with your Livingston Library card.
Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life by Ferris Jabr
Life did not evolve passively in response to its environment, as scientists have long assumed. Instead, it evolved with Earth, shaping its climate and terrain at every scale, one part in a great orchestra, in which non-living elements-the air, rocks, and water-are the instruments that life, in its multitudes, has emerged to play. Jabr transports the reader to some of the world’s most extraordinary places–an underwater kelp forest on the coast of California, a vertiginous tower above the Amazon rainforest, and a former gold mine two miles below the Earth’s surface–to explain how these symbiotic relationships evolved. He shows us how plants and other photosynthetic organisms help maintain the right level of atmospheric oxygen to support complex life. We see how microorganisms participate in many geological processes, producing new minerals and converting rock from one state to another; some scientists think they played a crucial role in forming the continents.
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster On the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
Like the assassination of JFK, the Challenger disaster is a defining moment in twentieth-century history—one that forever changed the way America thought of itself and its optimistic view of the future. Yet the full story of what happened, and why, has never been told. Based on extensive archival research and meticulous, original reporting, this book follows a handful of central protagonists—including each of the seven members of the doomed crew—through the years leading up to the accident, and offers a detailed account of the tragedy itself and the investigation afterward. It’s a compelling tale of ambition and ingenuity undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; of hubris and heroism; and of an investigation driven by leakers and whistleblowers determined to bring the truth to light. Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program and the lives of men and women whose stories have been overshadowed by the disaster, as well as the designers, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space.
Everything is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World by Tom Chivers
At its simplest, Bayes’s theorem describes the probability of an event, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event. But in Everything Is Predictable, Tom Chivers lays out how it affects every aspect of our lives. He explains why highly accurate screening tests can lead to false positives and how a failure to account for it in court has put innocent people in jail. But its influence goes far beyond practical applications. A cornerstone in rational thought, Bayesian principles are used in modeling and forecasting….And many argue that Bayes’ theorem is not just a useful tool, but a description of almost anything — that it is the underlying architecture of rationality.
Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor by Arielle Johnson
Author, PhD chemist, and science director for the Noma test kitchen, Johnson breaks down the science behind different flavors and suggests how readers can use that science to take their cooking to the next level. This book is broken up into two parts, with part one focusing on introducing readers to definitions of tastes and smells and part two explaining different flavors and how to bring them out in the best possible way. Johnson explains the hows and whys behind flavors’ effects on our senses, how to enhance the best components of those flavors, and what flavors pair well.
The High Seas: Greed, Power and the Battle for the Unclaimed Ocean by Olive Heffernan
Two thirds of the world’s oceans lie beyond national borders. Owned by all nations and no nation simultaneously, the high seas are home to some of the richest and most biodiverse environments on the planet. But they are also home to exploitation on a scale that few of us have imagined. Here, out of sight and out of mind, industry and economic progress rule and lax enforcement and apathy are the status quo, underscored by a battle to control, profit from, protect, or obliterate the world’s largest, wildest commons. In this book, Heffernan uncovers the truth behind deeply exploitative fishing practices, investigates the potentially devastating impact of deep-sea mining, and holds to task the Silicon Valley interventionists whose solutions to climate change are often wildly optimistic, radically irresponsible, or both.
How to Kill an Asteroid: The Real Science of Planetary Defense by Robin George Andrews
There are approximately 25,000 “city killer” asteroids in near-Earth orbit–and most are yet to be found. Small enough to evade detection, they are capable of large-scale destruction, and represent our greatest cosmic threat. But in September 2022, against all odds, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a carefully selected city killer, altering the asteroid’s orbit and proving that we stand a chance against them.
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine by Daniel J. Levitin
Neuroscientist Levitin explores the curative powers of music, showing us how and why it is one of the most potent therapies today. He brings together, for the first time, the results of numerous studies on music and the brain, demonstrating how music can contribute to the treatment of a host of ailments, from neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, to cognitive injury, depression, and pain. Levitin is not your typical scientist—he is also an award-winning musician and composer, and through lively interviews with some of today’s most celebrated musicians, from Sting to Kent Nagano and Mari Kodama, he shares their observations as to why music might be an effective therapy, in addition to plumbing scientific case studies, music theory, and music history.
The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved by Steven J. Mithen
Mithen puts forward a groundbreaking new account of the origins of language. Drawing from this work and synthesizing research across archaeology, psychology, linguistics, genetics, neuroscience, and more, Mithen details a step-by-step explanation of how our human ancestors transitioned from apelike calls to words, and from words to language as we use it today. He explores how language shaped our cognition and vice versa; how metaphor advanced Homo sapiens’ ability to formulate abstract concepts, develop agriculture, and–ultimately–shape the world.
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoe Schlanger
A deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.
Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark by Leigh Ann Henion
A lyrical, fascinating story about exploring the secret world of darkness and the remarkable creatures within it. In today’s hectic, digitally focused world, writes Henion, we have become too used to an excess of illumination: the unblinking screen, the persistent streetlight, the overbright room. Furthermore, we have lost a sense of the presence of darkness and an understanding of what happens there. She begins with fireflies, which are plentiful in the mountains of North Carolina, where she lives, as well as glow worms and night-traveling salamanders. She chronicles her travels through her area and further afield, encountering guides and naturalists who are studying nighttime creatures. The animals and birds that come out at night can be difficult to spot, but Henion finds that her eyes and spirit can slowly adapt to the darker, more natural world. She also describes the plants that bloom under the moonlight, often with strange structures and rich perfume to attract moths and insects. In a striking chapter, the author examines the luminous fungi known as foxfire, which has a beauty all its own.
Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future by Daniel Lewis
A compelling global exploration of nature and survival as seen via a dozen species of trees that represent the challenges facing our planet, and the ways that scientists are working urgently to save our forests and our future. Lewis, curator and historian at one of the world’s most renowned research libraries, travels the world to learn about these trees in their habitats. He takes us on a sweeping journey to plant breeding labs, botanical gardens, research facilities, deep inside museum collections, to the tops of tall trees, underwater, and around the Earth, journeying into the deserts of the American west and the deep jungles of Peru, to offer a globe-spanning perspective on the crucial impact trees have on our entire planet.
Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan
Ramakrishnan, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and former president of the Royal Society, takes us on a riveting journey to the frontiers of biology, asking whether we must be mortal. Covering the recent breakthroughs in scientific research, he examines the cutting edge of efforts to extend lifespan by altering our physiology. But might death serve a necessary biological purpose? What are the social and ethical costs of attempting to live forever?
Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold On To What Matters by Charan Ranganath
In this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, one of the world’s top memory researchers reveals the powerful role memory plays in nearly every aspect of our lives, from recalling faces and names, to learning, decision-making, trauma and healing. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future. Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What’s more, when we work with the brain’s ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness. Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath’s life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating read that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives.
—Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian