Winter Newsletter 2022 Science & Nature

Writing from the autobiographical perspective of the galaxy which we inhabit—the Milky Way—Moiya McTier’s playful approach to hard science makes complex ideas easily digestible. Much is explained by our sassy narrator, from the formation of our galaxy and the physics and chemistry within it to the very end of all things. A great read for people curious about science who don’t want to get bogged down by technical jargon.

—ELI

Tim Birkhead’s Birds and Us is an informative and personal journey through our relationship— cultural, scientific, and environmental—with birds. It does what my favorite bird books do: It makes the familiar fantastic. Birkhead’s book takes the reader from the first known written accounts of birds through the Middle Ages and on to the founding of birding and ornithology. He reminds us how relevant a role birds play in our history and our present, and looks at the ongoing threat we pose to birds and our responsibility to save them.

—Brooks

Do you remember the days of high school math and physics, when you were drowning in Byzantine equations that seemed to have no relevance to anything that mattered? The Biggest Ideas shows how those equations can help you better understand mind-bending topics like spacetime, black holes, and event horizons. If you’re interested in knowing how math describes our place in the universe, this book is well worth your time.

—Glenn

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Annie Proulx, best known for Brokeback Mountain and The Shipping News, has written an informative book about the history of the destruction of peatland, a wetland ecosystem found in every country in the world that provides one of the most effective means of removing some of the abundant carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For all the environmentalists and ecologists out there—professional or amateur—Fen, Bog and Swamp is a rallying cry.

—MJ

Julian Aguon is a lawyer and activist at the intersection of environmental and Indigenous rights, but more than that, he is a poet, a chronicler of history (particularly of his homeland Guam), and a bearer of hope. In the essays, poems, and speeches collected in this gift-sized package, he does not shy away from the ticking clock of climate catastrophe and disastrous effects of colonial might, but faces them with facts, love, and life. Which is surprisingly refreshing, and ultimately unifying.

—Melinda

Journalist Doug Bierend takes us on a world tour of fungi people, exploring unique fungi-focused subcultures, groups using mushrooms to transform ecology and medicine, and people in the big business of mushrooms. He invites readers to question our assumptions about social structures, biology, and the process of science. Citizen scientists and leftists looking to nature for more sustainable and less extractive models of living will find lots to ponder in In Search of Mycotopia. 
—CLARA

From a cardboard sign and Instagram to international action, Vanessa Nakate’s memoir is accessible and inspiring. One of Africa’s leading climate activists, Nakate simultaneously presents her own story with hard facts and numbers on climate change, calling attention to its outsized effects on the Global South, and offering resource lists and practical ways anyone can take action. With neither her fight nor the emergency anywhere near completion, this an important addition to the library of any aspiring or experienced activist.

—JOCELYN

If you are the type of person who goes on nature hikes only to stop and examine the different types of plants along the way, then this book is for you. The Wild Year melds together plant information, folklore, and foraging into one colorful and beautifully illustrated travel companion. Author Kristyna Baczynski is also a comic book artist and her drawings add a lighthearted and fun element to this guide. A great gift for yourself or the nature lovers in your life.

—Kristina