Thursday, May 23, 2024

iTunes Store: Top 25 Books in Science & Nature 2024-05-23

Rebecca Renner - Gator Country artwork Gator Country
Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades
Rebecca Renner
Genre: Nature
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: November 14, 2023
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Seller: Macmillan

A New York Times Editors' Choice "Delivers everything its title promises and much more." - NPR "Remarkable... Every species, and every person who fights for its continued existence, deserves a book like this." — The New York Times "This nail-biter account has the intensity of the best true crime... A high-def tale that ensnares you from the start." — People David Grann meets Susan Orlean in this page-turning true story of an underground operation into the mysterious world of alligator poaching and its larger than life Floridian characters To catch a Florida Man, you have to become one, and that’s what Officer Jeff Babauta did. As his ponytailed, whiskey-soaked alter ego, he established Sunshine Alligator Farm. His goal? Infiltrate the shady world of illegal poachers in the Florida Everglades in order to protect the natural world. A head-spinning adventure soon unfolds. Jeff deals with glow-in-the-dark alligators and high-speed airboat rides, but quickly learns that not all poachers are villains. They’re simply people trying to survive, fighting against the poverty and greed holding them down. Jeff wants to solve the mystery of alligator poachers, and in doing so he must venture deeper into a strange ecosystem where right is wrong, and justice comes at the cost of those who’ve welcomed him into their world. Gator Country is the twisting true story of the impossible choices individuals must make to stay afloat in this world. Through its wholly unique blend of reporting, nature writing, and personal narrative, this book transports readers to vibrant and dangerous Florida landscapes and offers intimate portraits of those who call the region home. Broad in scope and vivid in detail, Gator Country is a fast paced tale of the risks people will take to survive in one of the world's most beautiful yet formidable landscapes and the undercover investigation that threatens to topple the whole scheme.



Vaclav Smil - How the World Really Works artwork How the World Really Works
The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
Vaclav Smil
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $18.99
Publish Date: May 10, 2022
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A new masterpiece from one of my favorite authors… [ How The World Really Works] is a compelling and highly readable book that leaves readers with the fundamental grounding needed to help solve the world’s toughest challenges.” — Bill Gates   “Provocative but perceptive . . . You can agree or disagree with Smil—accept or doubt his ‘just the facts’ posture—but you probably shouldn’t ignore him.” —The Washington Post An essential analysis of the modern science and technology that makes our twenty-first century lives possible—a scientist's investigation into what science really does, and does not, accomplish. We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don’t know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check—because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.   In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn’t inevitable—the foolishness of allowing 70 per cent of the world’s rubber gloves to be made in just one factory became glaringly obvious in 2020—and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, such that any promises of decarbonization by 2050 are a fairy tale. For example, each greenhouse-grown supermarket-bought tomato has the equivalent of five tablespoons of diesel embedded in its production, and we have no way of producing steel, cement or plastics at required scales without huge carbon emissions.   Ultimately, Smil answers the most profound question of our age: are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead? Compelling, data-rich and revisionist, this wonderfully broad, interdisciplinary guide finds faults with both extremes. Looking at the world through this quantitative lens reveals hidden truths that change the way we see our past, present and uncertain future.



Jim Davies - Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are artwork Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are
The Science of a Better You
Jim Davies
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: February 02, 2021
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Seller: Simon & Schuster Canada

Why do we feel like in order to be productive, happy, or good, we must sacrifice everything else? Is it possible to feel all three  at once?  Without even knowing it, we’re doing things everyday to sabotage ourselves and our societies, habits that prevent us from optimizing long term happiness. Where most books imagine solutions that, when enacted, fail to fundamentally improve our lives, Jim Davies grounds his research in cognitive science to show you not only what works, but how much it works. Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are  shows us how we can use science to become our best selves, using   resources we already have within our own brains. Davies's book   challenges and inspires us to approach the big picture while also staying mindful of the everyday details in real life. Davies proves why multitasking is bad for you, when a little  un mindfulness can be good for you, how to best justify which charities to donate to, and how to hack your brain. The most surprising truth Davies offers us spreads across these pages like wildfire: you too can lead an optimally good life, not through uprooting your life from the ground up, but from adapting your mentality to your given present. A better life doesn’t need to look like a massive change—like our beloved dogs who already view us as our best selves, it’s already much closer than you think.



Jean-Pierre Bourassa - Le monde fascinant des insectes artwork Le monde fascinant des insectes
Jean-Pierre Bourassa
Genre: Nature
Price: $25.99
Publish Date: October 03, 2011
Publisher: Éditions MultiMondes
Seller: De Marque, Inc.

On connaît près d’un million d’espèces d’insectes, plus que tous les autres êtres vivants réunis. Il en resterait encore plus de 5 millions à découvrir. Quatre cents millions d’années d’évolution de ces dignes collaborateurs de notre propre destin n’est-ce suffisant pour qu’on s’y arrête le temps d’un livre, ne serait-ce que pour trouver réponse aux questions ou observations suivantes ? • Des ailes d’insectes battent plus de 600 coups à la seconde ; comment peuvent-elles atteindre une aussi grande efficacité ? • Pourquoi, en s’accouplant, les libellules dessinent-elles une figure nous rappelant celle d’un coeur ? • Quels sont les avantages pour des cigales de passer de 14 à 17 années dans le sol avant d’en sortir et de nous fasciner par leur musique ? • Pourquoi les signaux lumineux émis par la luciole ou « mouche à feu » ne dégagent-ils aucune chaleur ? • Comment le papillon monarque arrive-t-il à parcourir jusqu’à 4 000 km pour se rendre sur ses lieux d’hivernage ? • Par leur immobilisme, des phasmes arrivent à déjouer les prédateurs ; s’ils sont attaqués et perdent une patte, elle repousse ! • C’est la femelle moustique qui pique ; elle le fait pour développer ses oeufs. Son approche est si précise qu’elle ne peut manquer son « coup » ! • Des papillons mâles perçoivent leurs femelles à plus d’un kilomètre. • Comment la mouche domestique parvient-elle à marcher sur un plafond ou à demeurer sur le pare-brise d’une voiture en marche ? • Une abeille peut visiter plus de 1 000 fleurs en une seule journée. • Comment les fourmis empruntent-elles les mêmes chemins vers des sources de nourriture ? Ce livre décrit en détail la morphologie, la vie et le comportement d’insectes « coups de coeur» : libellule, sauterelle, grillon, mante, cigale, coccinelle, hanneton, puce, monarque, fourmi, guêpe, abeille, etc. Mieux les connaître permettra de saisir leurs rôles dans la protection de nos milieux naturels et leur contribution à notre propre vie.



Lawrence M. Krauss - The Edge of Knowledge artwork The Edge of Knowledge
Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos
Lawrence M. Krauss
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $19.99
Publish Date: May 09, 2023
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Seller: Simon & Schuster Canada

Lawrence Krauss explores the greatest unanswered questions at the forefront of science today, and likely for the coming century and beyond. Internationally known theoretical physicist and bestselling author Lawrence Krauss explores science’s greatest unanswered questions. Three of the most important words in science are “I don't know.” Not knowing implies a Universe of opportunities—the possibility of discovery and surprise. Our understanding of science has advanced immeasurably over the last five hundred years, yet many fundamental mysteries of existence persist: How did our Universe begin? How big is the Universe? Is time travel possible? What’s at the center of a black hole? How did life on Earth arise? Are we alone? What is consciousness, and can we create it? These mysteries define the scientific forefront—the threshold of the unknown. To explore that threshold is to gain a deeper understanding of just how far science has progressed. Covering time, space, matter, life, and consciousness, Krauss introduces readers to topics that will shape the state of science for the next century, providing us all passport to our own journeys of exploration and discovery.



Dr G E R Lloyd - Greek Science After Aristotle artwork Greek Science After Aristotle
Dr G E R Lloyd
Genre: Science History
Price: $17.99
Publish Date: August 31, 2013
Publisher: Random House
Seller: The Random House Group Limited

In his previous volume in this series, Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle , G. E. R. Lloyd pointed out that although there is no exact equivalent to our term ‘science’ in Greek, Western science may still be said to originate with the Greeks. In this second volume, Greek Science after Aristotle , the author continues his discussion of the fundamental Greek contributions to science, drawing on the richer literary and archaeological sources for the period after Aristotle. Particular attention is paid to the Greeks’ conception of the inquiries they were engaged in, and to the interrelations of science and technology. In the first part of the book the author considers the two hundred years after the death of Aristotle, devoting separate chapters to mathematics, astronomy and biology. He goes on to deal with Ptolemy and Galen and concludes with a discussion of later writers and of the problems raised by the question of the decline of ancient science.



Dr G E R Lloyd - Early Greek Science artwork Early Greek Science
Thales to Aristotle
Dr G E R Lloyd
Genre: Science History
Price: $5.99
Publish Date: September 30, 2012
Publisher: Random House
Seller: The Random House Group Limited

In this new series leading classical scholars interpret afresh the ancient world for the modern reader. They stress those questions and institutions that most concern us today: the interplay between economic factors and politics, the struggle to find a balance between the state and the individual, the role of the intellectual. Most of the books in this series centre on the great focal periods, those of great literature and art: the world of Herodotus and the tragedians, Plato and Aristotle, Cicero and Caesar, Virgil, Horace and Tacitus. This study traces Greek science through the work of the Pythagoreans, the Presocratic natural philosophers, the Hippocratic writers, Plato, the fourth-century B.C. astronomers and Aristotle. G. E. R. Lloyd also investigates the relationships between science and philosophy and science and medicine; he discusses the social and economic setting of Greek science; he analyses the motives and incentives of the different groups of writers.



Bill Bryson - Una breve historia de casi todo artwork Una breve historia de casi todo
Bill Bryson
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: April 20, 2023
Publisher: RBA Libros
Seller: RBA LIBROS, S.A.

¿Puede un solo libro convertirse en la perfecta introducción para adentrarse en disciplinas tan dispares como la astronomía, la geología, la física, la química y la biología? ¿Puede un trabajo de divulgación científica ofrecer razonamientos y datos precisos, y al mismo tiempo ser tremendamente entretenido? ¿Puede una única obra narrar la historia de los grandes descubrimientos de la ciencia y contarnos también divertidas anécdotas relacionadas con estos extraordinarios logros y con los hombres que los alcanzaron? Una breve historia de casi todo es, sin lugar a dudas, ese libro y mucho más. Viajero empedernido y divulgador brillante y entusiasta, Bill Bryson nos propone un fascinante recorrido por la historia del universo que nos rodea y los conocimientos que nos han llevado a comprenderlo un poco mejor. Con una curiosidad innata, una prosa fluida y una admirable capacidad de síntesis, Bryson logra explicar en Una breve historia de casi todo los grandes acontecimientos y las razones fundamentales que han llevado al cosmos, a nuestro planeta y a todos los seres vivos a ser como son.



James Nestor - Breath artwork Breath
The New Science of a Lost Art
James Nestor
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: May 26, 2020
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020 Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR   “A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.



Robert M. Sapolsky - Behave artwork Behave
The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Robert M. Sapolsky
Genre: Biology
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: May 02, 2017
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Why do we do the things we do? Over a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its genetic inheritance. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. What goes on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happens? Then he pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell triggers the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones act hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli which trigger the nervous system? By now, he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going--next to what features of the environment affected that person's brain, and then back to the childhood of the individual, and then to their genetic makeup. Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than that one individual. How culture has shaped that individual's group, what ecological factors helped shape that culture, and on and on, back to evolutionary factors thousands and even millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours de horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do...for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.



Neil de Grasse Tyson - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry artwork Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Neil de Grasse Tyson
Genre: Physics
Price: $21.99
Publish Date: May 02, 2017
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Seller: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Over a year on the New York Times bestseller list and more than a million copies sold. The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist. What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day. While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.



Rebecca Skloot - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks artwork The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
Genre: Biology
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: February 02, 2010
Publisher: Crown
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

#1  NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”— Entertainment Weekly NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” ( LITHUB ), AND “BEST” ( THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER ) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF  ESSENCE ’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE  CHICAGO TRIBUNE  HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  The New York Times Book Review  •  Entertainment Weekly  •  O: The Oprah Magazine  • NPR •  Financial Times  •  New York  •  Independent  (U.K.) •  Times  (U.K.) •  Publishers Weekly  •  Library Journal  •  Kirkus Reviews  •  Booklist  •  Globe and Mail Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.  Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.  Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?  Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down,  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.



Laurence Gonzales - Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why artwork Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
Laurence Gonzales
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: January 10, 2017
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Seller: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

"Unique among survival books…stunning…enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading." —Denver Post Laurence Gonzales’s bestselling Deep Survival has helped save lives from the deepest wildernesses, just as it has improved readers’ everyday lives. Its mix of adventure narrative, survival science, and practical advice has inspired everyone from business leaders to military officers, educators, and psychiatric professionals on how to take control of stress, learn to assess risk, and make better decisions under pressure.



Ron Aharoni - Arithmetic for Parents artwork Arithmetic for Parents
A Book for Grown-Ups About Children's Mathematics
Ron Aharoni
Genre: Mathematics
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: March 05, 2015
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Seller: Ingram DV LLC

This book is the result of a unique experience: a research mathematician teaching in an elementary school. It tells about a fascinating discovery made by the author — that elementary mathematics has a lot of depth and beauty, and that the secret to its teaching is in understanding its deep points. The first part of the book discusses the nature of mathematics and its beauty. The second part tells about the teaching principles the author distilled from his experience. The third part is an excursion through the arithmetic studied in elementary school, accompanied by personal stories, historical anecdotes and teaching suggestions. The appendix relates the fascinating story of modern day politics of mathematical education. The book was a bestseller in Israel, and has been translated into many languages. The extraordinary combination of mathematical and didactic insights makes it an essential guide for parents and teachers alike. Contents: Elements The Road to Abstraction — Principles of Teaching Arithmetic from First to Sixth Grades MeaningCalculationFractionsDecimalsRatios Readership: Parents whose children study elementary mathematics, practioners who provide mathematical learning, and the general public. Key Features: Modern day parents often wish to be involved in their children's education. This is a unique guide that can help them do itIt is an ideal aid for parents who choose home schooling. The book will also appeal to those grownups who wish to return to their childhood experience, and understand it from a mature point of view



Suzanne Simard - Finding the Mother Tree artwork Finding the Mother Tree
Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
Suzanne Simard
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: May 04, 2021
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *WINNER of the 2021 Banff Mountain Book Prize in Mountain Environment and Natural History* *WINNER of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature* *WINNER of the 2022 BC and Yukon Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award* *SHORTLISTED for the 2022 BC and Yukon Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Book Prize* *SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Award * A world-leading expert shares her amazing story of discovering the communication that exists between trees, and shares her own story of family and grief. Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she’s been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls in James Cameron’s Avatar ), and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Now, in her first book, Simard brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths—that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through underground networks by which trees communicate their vitality and vulnerabilities with communal lives not that different from our own. Simard describes up close—in revealing and accessible ways—how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved; how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about their future; how they elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication: characteristics previously ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies. And, at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.Simard, born and raised in the rain forests of British Columbia, spent her days as a child cataloging the trees from the forest; she came to love and respect them and embarked on a journey of discovery and struggle. Her powerful story is one of love and loss, of observation and change, of risk and reward. And it is a testament to how deeply human scientific inquiry exists beyond data and technology: it’s about understanding who we are and our place in the world. In her book, as in her groundbreaking research, Simard proves the true connectedness of the Mother Tree to the forest, nurturing it in the profound ways that families and humansocieties nurture one another, and how these inseparable bonds enable all our survival.



Steven Rinella - American Buffalo artwork American Buffalo
In Search of a Lost Icon
Steven Rinella
Genre: Nature
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: December 02, 2008
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

From the host of the Travel Channel’s “The Wild Within.” A hunt for the American buffalo—an adventurous, fascinating examination of an animal that has haunted the American imagination.   In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds—there’s only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful—Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Throughout these adventures, Rinella found himself contemplating his own place among the 14,000 years’ worth of buffalo hunters in North America, as well as the buffalo’s place in the American experience. At the time of the Revolutionary War, North America was home to approximately 40 million buffalo, the largest herd of big mammals on the planet, but by the mid-1890s only a few hundred remained. Now that the buffalo is on the verge of a dramatic ecological recovery across the West, Americans are faced with the challenge of how, and if, we can dare to share our land with a beast that is the embodiment of the American wilderness. American Buffalo is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future: to the Bering Land Bridge, where scientists search for buffalo bones amid artifacts of the New World’s earliest human inhabitants; to buffalo jumps where Native Americans once ran buffalo over cliffs by the thousands; to the Detroit Carbon works, a “bone charcoal” plant that made fortunes in the late 1800s by turning millions of tons of buffalo bones into bone meal, black dye, and fine china; and even to an abattoir turned fashion mecca in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, where a depressed buffalo named Black Diamond met his fate after serving as the model for the American nickel.  Rinella’s erudition and exuberance, combined with his gift for storytelling, make him the perfect guide for a book that combines outdoor adventure with a quirky blend of facts and observations about history, biology, and the natural world. Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.



Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton & Matthew Sands - Six Easy Pieces artwork Six Easy Pieces
Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton & Matthew Sands
Genre: Physics
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: January 03, 2012
Publisher: Basic Books
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

Learn how to think like a physicist from a Nobel laureate and "one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century" ( New York Review of Books ) with these six classic and beloved lessons  It was Richard Feynman's outrageous and scintillating method of teaching that earned him legendary status among students and professors of physics. From 1961 to 1963, Feynman delivered a series of lectures at the California Institute of Technology that revolutionized the teaching of physics around the world. Six Easy Pieces , taken from these famous Lectures on Physics, represent the most accessible material from the series. In these classic lessons, Feynman introduces the general reader to the following topics: atoms, basic physics, energy, gravitation, quantum mechanics, and the relationship of physics to other topics. With his dazzling and inimitable wit, Feynman presents each discussion with a minimum of jargon. Filled with wonderful examples and clever illustrations, Six Easy Pieces is the ideal introduction to the fundamentals of physics by one of the most admired and accessible physicists of modern times.  "If one book was all that could be passed on to the next generation of scientists it would undoubtedly have to be Six Easy Pieces. "- John Gribbin, New Scientist



Gwynne Dyer - Climate Wars artwork Climate Wars
How Peak Oil and the Climate Crisis Will Change Canada (and Our Lives)
Gwynne Dyer
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: October 28, 2008
Publisher: Random House of Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

From one of the world’s great geopolitical analysts, a terrifying glimpse of the none-too-distant future, when climate change will force the world’s powers into a desperate struggle for advantage and even survival. Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Spreading epidemics. Drought. Rising sea levels. Plummeting agricultural yields. Crashing economies. Political extremism. These are some of the expected consequences of runaway climate change in the decades ahead, and any of them could tip the world towards conflict. Prescient, unflinching, and based on exhaustive research and interviews, Climate Wars is one of the most important books of its years.



Venki Ramakrishnan - Why We Die artwork Why We Die
The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality
Venki Ramakrishnan
Genre: Biology
Price: $19.99
Publish Date: March 19, 2024
Publisher: William Morrow
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

"Utterly fascinating." —Bill Bryson "An incredible journey." —Siddhartha Mukherjee A groundbreaking exploration of the science of longevity and mortality—from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan The knowledge of death is so terrifying that we live most of our lives in denial of it. One of the most difficult moments of childhood must be when each of us first realizes that not only we but all our loved ones will die—and there is nothing we can do about it. Or at least, there hasn’t been. Today, we are living through a revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in understanding why we age—and why some species live longer than others. Could we eventually cheat disease and death and live for a very long time, possibly many times our current lifespan? Venki 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 Die is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals.



DK - The Chemistry Book artwork The Chemistry Book
Big Ideas Simply Explained
DK
Genre: Chemistry
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: August 09, 2022
Publisher: DK
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Learn about elements, molecules and compounds in The Chemistry Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Chemistry in this overview guide to the subject, great for beginners looking to learn and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Chemistry Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Chemistry, with: - More than 95 of the most important discoveries and theories in the history of chemistry - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Chemistry Book is the perfect introduction to the science, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover more than 95 of the most important theories and discoveries in the history of chemistry and the great minds behind them. If you've ever wondered about the key ideas that underpin the core science of chemistry and the pioneers who uncovered them, this is the perfect book for you. Your Chemistry Questions, Simply Explained What is the universe made of? How is matter created? What are the chemical bonds that make life possible? If you thought it was difficult to learn the many laws and concepts of this science, The Chemistry Book presents key information in a clear layout. Learn about the birth of atomic theory, the discovery of polyethylene and the development of new vaccine technologies to combat COVID-19, with fantastic mind maps and step-by-step summaries. And dive into the work of the scientists who have shaped the subject, like John Dalton, Marie Curie, Dmitri Mendeleev, Kathleen Lonsdale, and Stephanie Kwolek. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Chemistry Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.



Camille Dauphinais-Pelletier - Vivre avec une seule planète artwork Vivre avec une seule planète
Guide pour diminuer son empreinte écologique au quotidien
Camille Dauphinais-Pelletier
Genre: Nature
Price: $20.99
Publish Date: November 01, 2023
Publisher: Les Éditions du Journal
Seller: Messageries A.D.P. Inc.

PASSONS À L'ACTION ! Limiter son empreinte écologique est beaucoup plus accessible qu'on le croit. Au quotidien, chaque geste compte et améliore notre qualité de vie. Ce guide vous aidera à prendre conscience de votre consommation et vous montrera qu'il est possible de vivre une vie pleine et confortable avec les ressources d'une seule planète. Consommation Logement Alimentation Transport Gestion des déchets Voyages et activités D'un «budget transport» à l'achat de vêtements, en passant par les travaux de la maison, l'alimentation et les loisirs, cet ouvrage est un indispensable pour ceux et celles qui veulent en faire plus, qui veulent le faire mieux, ou qui veulent simplement savoir par où commencer!



Lawrence Weinstein & JOHN ADAM - Guesstimation artwork Guesstimation
Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin
Lawrence Weinstein & JOHN ADAM
Genre: Mathematics
Price: $20.99
Publish Date: February 09, 2009
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Seller: Princeton University Press

Guesstimation is a book that unlocks the power of approximation--it's popular mathematics rounded to the nearest power of ten! The ability to estimate is an important skill in daily life. More and more leading businesses today use estimation questions in interviews to test applicants' abilities to think on their feet. Guesstimation enables anyone with basic math and science skills to estimate virtually anything--quickly--using plausible assumptions and elementary arithmetic. Lawrence Weinstein and John Adam present an eclectic array of estimation problems that range from devilishly simple to quite sophisticated and from serious real-world concerns to downright silly ones. How long would it take a running faucet to fill the inverted dome of the Capitol? What is the total length of all the pickles consumed in the US in one year? What are the relative merits of internal-combustion and electric cars, of coal and nuclear energy? The problems are marvelously diverse, yet the skills to solve them are the same. The authors show how easy it is to derive useful ballpark estimates by breaking complex problems into simpler, more manageable ones--and how there can be many paths to the right answer. The book is written in a question-and-answer format with lots of hints along the way. It includes a handy appendix summarizing the few formulas and basic science concepts needed, and its small size and French-fold design make it conveniently portable. Illustrated with humorous pen-and-ink sketches, Guesstimation will delight popular-math enthusiasts and is ideal for the classroom.



Aaron Reed - Nclex® Review - Pharmacology artwork Nclex® Review - Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Aaron Reed
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: June 18, 2015
Publisher: Lulu.com
Seller: Lulu Enterprises, Inc.

150 Pharmacology & Parenteral Therapies Practice NCLEX® exam questions with rationales written by a Professional Board Prep Tutor, Nursing School Instructor, & CRNA. SIMULATION review questions mirror the Pharmacology & Parenteral Therapies test category and were written to reveal the style and composition of the NCLEX® Exam. PROVEN effective for nursing students across the country who pass the boards on their first attempt. RATIONALES with each question will help you grasp elusive concepts like never before. REPETITION will strengthen your approach to the Boards. LARGE number of questions will keep you studying. NOTECARD-like format displays question on one page, then answer and rationale on the next page for instant feedback and reinforcement. PASS the boards on the first attempt with this ultimate study guide covering Pharmacology & Parenteral Therapies. MASTER the concepts that may have stumped you throughout school with this comprehensive yet understandable volume.



O. Richard Norton & Lawrence Chitwood - Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites artwork Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites
O. Richard Norton & Lawrence Chitwood
Genre: Astronomy
Price: $29.99
Publish Date: May 25, 2008
Publisher: Springer London
Seller: Springer Nature B.V.

Imagine the unique experience of being the very first person to hold a newly-found meteorite in your hand – a rock from space, older than Earth! "Weekend meteorite hunting" with magnets and metal detectors is becoming ever more popular as a pastime, but of course you can’t just walk around and pick up meteorites in the same way that you can pick up seashells on the beach. Those fragments that survived the intense heat of re-entry tend to disguise themselves as natural rocks over time, and it takes a trained eye – along with the information in this book – to recognize them. Just as amateur astronomers are familiar with the telescopes and accessories needed to study a celestial object, amateur meteoriticists have to use equipment ranging from simple hand lenses to microscopes to study a specimen, to identify its type and origins. Equipment and techniques are covered in detail here of course, along with a complete and fully illustrated guide to what you might find and where you might find it. In fact, the Field Guide to Meteors and Meteorites contains pretty much everything an amateur astronomer – or geologist – needs to know about meteors and meteorites.



Dominique Bourg, Clémence Demay & Brian Favre - Désobéir pour la Terre artwork Désobéir pour la Terre
Défense de l'état de nécessité
Dominique Bourg, Clémence Demay & Brian Favre
Genre: Nature
Price: $24.99
Publish Date: May 05, 2021
Publisher: Humensis
Seller: FLAMMARION LIMITEE

Le livre fait le point sur la désobéissance civile et l’état de nécessité, juridiquement, historiquement et philosophiquement. Il rassemble des témoignages, des plaidoiries exemplaires et des jugements, des argumentaires et analyses en faveur de la désobéissance civile et des éclaircissements en matière de doctrine, tant en ce qui concerne l'engagement juridique de l’état de nécessité que le rôle du juge. Il permet de comprendre les limites, les raisons et la fonction des actions de désobéissance civile. Il met en lumière la pertinence de l’argument de l’état de nécessité dans le contexte qui nous échoit désormais. Dans un style précis mais accessible, il est utile à toute personne, qu’elle soit juriste, politiste, militante, journaliste, et à toute citoyenne ou citoyen qui veut réfléchir sur ces sujets.