Thursday, December 26, 2024

iTunes Store: Top 25 Books in Science & Nature 2024-12-27

John Vaillant - Fire Weather artwork Fire Weather
The Making of a Beast
John Vaillant
Genre: Nature
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: May 23, 2023
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Winner of the 2024 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing • Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction • Winner of the 2024 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize • Winner of the 2024 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize • Finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction • Finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction • One of the New York Times ’ Top Ten Books of The Year • Finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Non-Fiction • Finalist for the 2024 Lane Anderson Award A stunning account of the colossal wildfire at Fort McMurray, and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the award-winning, best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce . Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian • TIME • The Globe and Mail • The New Yorker • Financial Times • CBC • Smithsonian • Air Mail Weekly • Slate • NPR • Toronto Star • The Washington Post • The Times • Orion Magazine In May 2016, Fort McMurray, the hub of Canada's petroleum industry and America's biggest foreign supplier, was overrun by wildfire. The multi-billion-dollar disaster melted vehicles, turned entire neighborhoods into firebombs, and drove 88,000 people from their homes in a single afternoon. Through the lens of this apocalyptic conflagration—the wildfire equivalent of Hurricane Katrina—John Vaillant warns that this was not a unique event but a shocking preview of what we must prepare for in a hotter, more flammable world.     For hundreds of millennia, fire has been a partner in our evolution, shaping culture, civilization, and, very likely, our brains. Fire has enabled us to cook our food, defend and heat our homes, and power the machines that drive our titanic economy. Yet this volatile energy source has always threatened to elude our control, and in our new age of intensifying climate change, we are seeing its destructive power unleashed in previously unimaginable ways.     With masterly prose and a cinematic eye, Vaillant takes us on a riveting journey through the intertwined histories of North America's oil industry and the birth of climate science, to the unprecedented devastation wrought by modern forest fires, and into lives forever changed by these disasters. John Vaillant's urgent work is a book for—and from—our new century of fire, which has only just begun.



Frank A. von Hippel - The Chemical Age artwork The Chemical Age
How Chemists Fought Famine and Disease, Killed Millions, and Changed Our Relationship with the Earth
Frank A. von Hippel
Genre: Chemistry
Price: $3.99
Publish Date: September 04, 2020
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

This sweeping history reveals how the use of chemicals has saved lives, destroyed species, and radically changed our planet: “Remarkable . . . highly recommended.” — Choice In The Chemical Age , ecologist Frank A. von Hippel explores humanity’s long and uneasy coexistence with pests, and how the battles to exterminate them have shaped our modern world. He also tells the captivating story of the scientists who waged war on famine and disease with chemistry. Beginning with the potato blight tragedy of the 1840s, which led scientists on an urgent mission to prevent famine using pesticides, von Hippel traces the history of pesticide use to the 1960s, when Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring revealed that those same chemicals were insidiously damaging our health and driving species toward extinction. Telling the story in vivid detail, von Hippel showcases the thrills—and complex consequences—of scientific discovery. He describes the creation of chemicals used to kill pests—and people. And, finally, he shows how scientists turned those wartime chemicals on the landscape at a massive scale, prompting the vital environmental movement that continues today.



Adrian Bejan - The Physics of Life artwork The Physics of Life
The Evolution of Everything
Adrian Bejan
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: May 24, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

The renowned scientist examines the mysteries of life and evolution through the lens of physics in this “riveting and poetic” book ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review) In The Physics of Life , Adrien Bejan presents persuasive answers to such profound questions as “What is life, as physics?” and “Why do life, death, and evolution happen?” He argues that the phenomenon of evolution is much broader and older than the evolutionary designs that constitute the biosphere. It is rooted in the process of power production and distribution that facilitates all movement on Earth, animate or inanimate. Breaking down concepts such as desire and power, sports health and culture, the state of economy, water and energy, politics and distribution, Bejan uses the language of physics to explain how each system works in order to clarify the meaning of evolution in its broadest scientific sense, moving the reader towards a better understanding of the world’s systems and the natural evolution of cultural and political development. This is evolution explained loudly but also elegantly, forging a path that flows sustainability.



David Reich - Who We Are and How We Got Here artwork Who We Are and How We Got Here
Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
David Reich
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: March 27, 2018
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

A groundbreaking book about how ancient DNA has profoundly changed our understanding of human history.   Geneticists like David Reich have made astounding advances in the field of genomics, which is proving to be as important as archeology, linguistics, and written records as a means to understand our ancestry.    In  Who We Are and How We Got Here , Reich allows readers to discover how the human genome provides not only all the information a human embryo needs to develop but also the hidden story of our species. Reich delves into how the genomic revolution is transforming our understanding of modern humans and how DNA studies reveal deep inequalities among different populations, between the sexes, and among individuals. Provocatively, Reich’s book suggests that there might very well be biological differences among human populations but that these differences are unlikely to conform to common stereotypes.   Drawing upon revolutionary findings and unparalleled scientific studies,  Who We Are and How We Got Here  is a captivating glimpse into humankind—where we came from and what that says about our lives today.



Dr Ben Still & Hamlyn - The Secret Life of the Periodic Table artwork The Secret Life of the Periodic Table
Unlocking the mysteries of all 118 elements
Dr Ben Still & Hamlyn
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $9.99
Expected Publish Date: July 17, 2025
Publisher: Octopus
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

Every element has character, be it volatile, aloof, gregarious or enigmatic. They also have incredible stories of how they came to be, how they were discovered and how their qualities have been harnessed to make everything we have in the world. Dr Ben Still takes you through all the groups, revealing the fascinating circumstances of their discoveries and explaining their characteristics and behaviour, often delving inside the atom to explain their structure in a way easily accessible to everyone. Insightful illustrations help you to understand even the most complex-looking aspects of quantum physics, bringing the periodic table to life. Incredibly enlightening, The Secret Life of the Periodic Table will entertain and inform in equal measure. Take a trip through the ages of exploration, enjoying the story of how Mendeleev's table came to be; it is the story of one the greatest pattern-seeking accomplishments of humankind. Contents include: - Atomic physics - The quantum atom - Trends and patterns - Alkaline earth metals - Metalloids - Future elements



Michael Ruse & Robert J. Richards - The Cambridge Companion to the 'Origin of Species' artwork The Cambridge Companion to the 'Origin of Species'
Michael Ruse & Robert J. Richards
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $44.99
Publish Date: November 24, 2008
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Seller: Cambridge University Press

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is universally recognised as one of the most important science books ever written. The Origin of Species is also a work of great cultural and religious significance, in that Darwin maintained that all organisms, including humans, are part of a natural process of growth from simple forms. This Companion commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species and examines its main arguments. Drawing on the expertise of leading authorities in the field, it also provides the contexts – religious, social, political, literary, and philosophical – in which the Origin was composed. Written in a clear and friendly yet authoritative manner, this volume will be essential reading for both scholars and students More broadly, it will appeal to general readers who want to learn more about one of the most important and controversial books of modern times.



Étienne Guyon, Jose Bico, Etienne Reyssat & Benoit Roman - Hidden Wonders artwork Hidden Wonders
The Subtle Dialogue Between Physics and Elegance
Étienne Guyon, Jose Bico, Etienne Reyssat & Benoit Roman
Genre: Physics
Price: $29.99
Publish Date: February 23, 2021
Publisher: MIT Press
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Look through a psychist’s lens to revel in the hidden elegance of 200+ everyday objects and physical mechanisms, from crumpled paper to sandcastles. Includes 35 science experiments that bring to life physics concepts in your own kitchen! Hidden Wonders focuses on the objects that populate our everyday life—crumpled paper, woven fabric, a sand pile—but looks at them with a physicist’s eye, revealing a hidden elegance in mundane physical mechanisms. In 6 chapters and more than 200 illustrations, the authors present brief stories, set in locales ranging from the Eiffel Tower to a sandcastle, that illustrate the little wonders hidden in the ordinary. A simple experiment that readers can perform at home concludes each story. “A lovely reminder that amazing science needn’t be exotic or remote, but surrounds us every day . . .” —Philip Ball, author of Beyond Weird



Robert M. Sapolsky - Determined artwork Determined
A Science of Life without Free Will
Robert M. Sapolsky
Genre: Biology
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: October 17, 2023
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

The instant New York Times bestseller “Excellent . . . Outstanding for its breadth of research, the liveliness of the writing, and the depth of humanity it conveys.” – Wall Street Journal One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave , mounts a devastating scientific and philosophical case against free will—an argument with profound consequences Robert Sapolsky’s Behave , his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: we may not grasp exactly how nature and nurture create the physics and chemistry that cause all human behavior, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. In Determined , Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self who tells our biology what to do. Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about consciousness—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky takes out all the major arguments for free will, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos theory and quantum physics. But as Sapolsky acknowledges, it’s sometimes impossible to uncouple from our zeal to judge people, including ourselves. Determined applies this new understanding to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. Most of all, Sapolsky argues that while accepting the reality about free will is monumentally difficult, it will make for a much more humane world.



Rob DeSalle & Ian Tattersall - The Brain artwork The Brain
Big Bangs, Behaviors, and Beliefs
Rob DeSalle & Ian Tattersall
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: April 30, 2012
Publisher: Yale University Press
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

“An engaging and complex examination of the development of the human brain throughout its evolutionary history” ( Publishers Weekly ).   After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so.   In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system. Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss   • The development and uniqueness of human consciousness • How human and nonhuman brains work • The roles of different nerve cells • The importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more   Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history—an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags—that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.



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.



Hannah Ritchie - Not the End of the World artwork Not the End of the World
How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
Hannah Ritchie
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $19.99
Publish Date: January 09, 2024
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them. It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children. But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that: Carbon emissions per capita are actually down Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago? Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.       These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.  



Robert J. Nemiroff - Faster than Light artwork Faster than Light
How Your Shadow Can Do It but You Can't
Robert J. Nemiroff
Genre: Physics
Price: $3.99
Publish Date: September 09, 2023
Publisher: Betelgeuse Press
Seller: Gatekeeper Press

Albert Einstein knew already in the early 1900s, when he first published his famous paper about the constancy of the speed of light, that not only did this constancy imply that mass contains energy (E = m c squared), but that faster-than-light motion could lead to paradoxes -- some that seemed to involve backwards time travel. What are these paradoxes? Why is light and its speed relevant? This book will lead you through an obstacle course of conundrums and oddities, building up your understanding of how light's speed creates simple but mind-expanding paradoxes -- one conceptual riddle at a time. This is not your average popular science book. This is also not a textbook. This book takes one theme -- the universally constant speed of light -- and shows how it may appear compromised on scales from the quantum mechanics of the very small to the cosmology of the very large, and the resulting surprising implications can result. About the Author Dr. Robert Nemiroff is a Professor of Physics at Michigan Technological University. He is quite proud of his award as an “exceptional graduate student mentor.” He holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022. Dr. Nemiroff is perhaps best known as a creator and editor for one of NASA's most popular science websites: The Astronomy Picture of the Day at https://apod.nasa.gov/. This book is a humorous popularization of surprising research published in top physics and astrophysics journals. In his spare time, Robert likes to play basketball, read and watch science fiction, and think about concepts in science that are both very simple and very strange.



Daniel J. Levitin - This Is Your Brain on Music artwork This Is Your Brain on Music
The Science of a Human Obsession
Daniel J. Levitin
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: August 03, 2006
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. Taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, he reveals: • How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world • Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre • That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise • How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our head A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This Is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.



Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell & Erica Segre - Reality Is Not What It Seems artwork Reality Is Not What It Seems
The Journey to Quantum Gravity
Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell & Erica Segre
Genre: Physics
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: January 24, 2017
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

“The man who makes physics sexy . . . the scientist they’re calling the next Stephen Hawking.” — The Times Magazine From the New York Times –bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics , The Order of Time , Helgoland , and Anaximander , a closer look at the mind-bending nature of the universe. What are the elementary ingredients of the world? Do time and space exist? And what exactly is reality? Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has spent his life exploring these questions. He tells us how our understanding of reality has changed over the centuries and how physicists think about the structure of the universe today. In elegant and accessible prose, Rovelli takes us on a wondrous journey from Democritus to Albert Einstein, from Michael Faraday to gravitational waves, and from classical physics to his own work in quantum gravity. As he shows us how the idea of reality has evolved over time, Rovelli offers deeper explanations of the theories he introduced so concisely in Seven Brief Lessons on Physics . This book culminates in a lucid overview of quantum gravity, the field of research that explores the quantum nature of space and time, seeking to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity. Rovelli invites us to imagine a marvelous world where space breaks up into tiny grains, time disappears at the smallest scales, and black holes are waiting to explode—a vast universe still largely undiscovered.



Leonard Susskind - The Black Hole War artwork The Black Hole War
My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics
Leonard Susskind
Genre: Astronomy
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: July 07, 2008
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed it did, and in doing so put at risk everything we know about physics and the fundamental laws of the universe. Most scientists didn't recognize the import of Hawking's claims, but Leonard Susskind and Gerard t'Hooft realized the threat, and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. The Black Hole War is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's revolutionary theories of black holes with their own sense of reality -- effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong, paying up, and Susskind and t'Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space. A brilliant book about modern physics, quantum mechanics, the fate of stars and the deep mysteries of black holes, Leonard Susskind's account of the Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating reading.



Philipp Dettmer - Immune artwork Immune
A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive
Philipp Dettmer
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $18.99
Publish Date: November 02, 2021
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt—In a Nutshell   “Through wonderful analogies and a genius for clarifying complex ideas, Immune is a truly brilliant introduction to the human body’s vast system for fighting infections and other threats.”—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You’re mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door.    But most of us never really stop to ask: What even is our immune system? Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune , Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you’ve been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body. Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body’s defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself. Enlivened by engaging full-color graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects—immunology—into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.



Matt Ridley - Genome artwork Genome
The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
Matt Ridley
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: March 26, 2013
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

“Ridley leaps from chromosome to chromosome in a handy summation of our ever increasing understanding of the roles that genes play in disease, behavior, sexual differences, and even intelligence. . . . . He addresses not only the ethical quandaries faced by contemporary scientists but the reductionist danger in equating inheritability with inevitability.” — The New Yorker The genome's been mapped. But what does it mean? Matt Ridley’s Genome is the book that explains it all: what it is, how it works, and what it portends for the future Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life. Genome offers extraordinary insight into the ramifications of this incredible breakthrough. By picking one newly discovered gene from each pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. From Huntington's disease to cancer, from the applications of gene therapy to the horrors of eugenics, Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome. It will help you understand what this scientific milestone means for you, for your children, and for humankind.



Joe Schwarcz - Is That a Fact? artwork Is That a Fact?
Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life
Joe Schwarcz
Genre: Science & Nature Essays
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: May 01, 2014
Publisher: ECW Press
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

The bestselling “quackbuster” and “tireless tub-thumper against pseudoscience” fishes for the facts in a flood of misinformation ( Maclean’s ).   Eat this and live to 100. Don’t, and die. Today, hyperboles dominate the media, which makes parsing science from fiction an arduous task when deciding what to eat, what chemicals to avoid, and what’s best for the environment. In Is That a Fact? , bestselling author Dr. Joe Schwarcz carefully navigates through the storm of misinformation to help us separate fact from folly and shrewdness from foolishness.   Are GMOs really harmful? Or could they help developing countries? Which “miracle weight-loss foods” gained popularity through exuberant data dredging? Is BPA dangerous or just a victim of unforgiving media hype? Is organic better? Schwarcz questions the reliability and motives of “experts” in this “easy-to-understand yet critical look at what’s fact and what’s plain nonsense.   “Takes its readers through the carnival of pseudoscience, the morass of half-truths and, finally, the relatively safe road of reproducible scientific knowledge. This journey is made all the more enjoyable by Dr. Schwarcz’s surgical use of words and his mastery of public writing . . . [He] can always be counted on to write about the chemistry of the world in a way that is both entertaining and educational.” — Cracked Science   “Written with a light touch and refreshing humor, this book provides a solid, authoritative starting point for anyone beginning to look at the world with a skeptical eye and a refresher for those further along that path.” — Library Journal



Neil deGrasse Tyson & Lindsey Nyx Walker - To Infinity and Beyond artwork To Infinity and Beyond
A Journey of Cosmic Discovery
Neil deGrasse Tyson & Lindsey Nyx Walker
Genre: Astronomy
Price: $19.99
Publish Date: September 12, 2023
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Seller: Disney Electronic Content, Inc.

Linked to a special mini season of the award-winning StarTalk podcast, this enlightening illustrated narrative by the world's most celebrated astrophysicist explains the universe from the solar system to the farthest reaches of space with authority and humor. No one can make the mysteries of the universe more comprehensible—and fun—than Neil deGrasse Tyson. With wit, charm, and everyday analogies, he and StarTalk senior producer Lindsey Nyx Walker bring planetary science down to Earth and principles of astrophysics within reach. In this entertaining book, illustrated with vivid photographs and art, readers travel with him through space and time, starting with the Big Bang and voyaging to the far reaches of the universe and beyond. Along the way, science greets pop culture as Tyson explains the triumphs—and bloopers—in Hollywood's blockbusters: all part of an entertaining ride through the cosmos. The book begins as we leave Earth, encountering new truths about our planet's atmosphere, the nature of sunlight, and the many missions that have demystified our galactic neighbors. But the farther out we travel, the weirder things get. What's a void and what's a vacuum? How can light be a wave and a particle at the same time? When we finally arrive in the blackness of outer space, Tyson takes on the spookiest phenomena of the cosmos: parallel worlds, black holes, time travel, and more. For science junkies and fans of the conundrums that astrophysicists often ponder, To Infinity and Beyond is an enlightening adventure into the farthest reaches of the cosmos.



Rachel Carson - Silent Spring artwork Silent Spring
Rachel Carson
Genre: Environment
Price: $0.99
Publish Date: November 24, 2022
Publisher: Hum Books
Seller: Hum Books

Silent Spring is an environmental science book. The book documents the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry's marketing claims unquestioningly. The book appeared in September 1962 and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement.



Dr. Becky Smethurst - A Brief History of Black Holes artwork A Brief History of Black Holes
And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong
Dr. Becky Smethurst
Genre: Physics
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: September 01, 2022
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Seller: Macmillan Publishers International Limited

In A Brief History of Black Holes , award-winning University of Oxford researcher Dr Becky Smethurst charts five hundred years of scientific breakthroughs in astronomy and astrophysics. 'A jaunt through space history . . . with charming wit and many pop-culture references' – BBC Sky At Night Magazine Right now, you are orbiting a black hole. The Earth orbits the Sun, and the Sun orbits the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole, the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy. In this cosmic tale of discovery, Dr Becky Smethurst takes us from the earliest observations of the universe and the collapse of massive stars, to the iconic first photographs of a black hole and her own published findings. She explains why black holes aren’t really ‘black’, that you never ever want to be ‘spaghettified’, how black holes are more like sofa cushions than hoovers and why, beyond the event horizon, the future is a direction in space rather than in time. Told with humour and wisdom, this captivating book describes the secrets behind the most profound questions about our universe – all hidden inside black holes.



R. D. Lawrence - Secret Go the Wolves artwork Secret Go the Wolves
R. D. Lawrence
Genre: Nature
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: April 28, 2014
Publisher: Sharon Lawrence
Seller: Human Powered Design

They were pathetic bundles of fur when R.D. Lawrence pulled them from the gory sack stowed in a Cree Indian’s canoe. Wrapped in their dead mother’s hide, the two wolf pups were soaked in water and blood, barely ten inches long, and quite blind. Striking a bargain on the spot, Lawrence paid the Indian twenty-five dollars and a canoe paddle for the male and female cubs, whom he dubbed Matta and Wa (after Ontario’s Mattawa River, from which they had been rescued).Thus began an amazing adventure for Lawrence, his wife Joan, and the malamute dog Tundra in raising and caring for animals that Lawrence vowed would someday return to their wilderness habitat. Keeping the wolves a secret from neighbours in an area where wolves are trapped and hunted and establishing a position as “alpha male” (or leader) of the “pack,” were just some of the problems Lawrence faced. An experienced naturalist, Lawrence observed much about wolf behaviour never before documented and in the heart-warming account shares with us his love and fascination for these remarkable creatures.



DK - Bird, New Edition artwork Bird, New Edition
The Definitive Visual Guide
DK
Genre: Nature
Price: $26.99
Publish Date: April 05, 2022
Publisher: DK
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Bring the diversity and drama of the bird world to life with this encyclopedic new edition. A must-have for every avian enthusiast, this catalogue showcases thousands of bird species pictured in their native environment. Shot by photographers around the globe, the vivid images are accompanied by in-depth introductions to all 40 of the world's newly reclassified bird orders. Compiled by a team of experts and revised by BirdLife International, Bird provides the most up to date and comprehensive photographic tour of the wondrous world of birds. Dive in and you will find: -A bird by bird catalogue of more than 1,280 species, each with a description, data file, and distribution map -An introduction describing bird biology in beautiful visual detail. -Feature spreads showcasing the planet's most impressive sites for birdwatching -Photographic essays that display the best in bird photography Discover the world of the skies! Unrivaled in scope for a single-volume reference work, Bird's photographic catalogue features species from hummingbirds to monkey-eating eagles, organised in taxonomic order. Immerse yourself in the life of birds; read about their migrations, anatomy, feeding and breeding. All this, and special features on the world's most sought after bird watching locations, make this "A must-have reference for every bird enthusiast" - BBC Wildlife Magazine. Whether you're an avian expert who knows your Accipitriformes (birds of prey) from your Falconiformes (falcons and caracaras), or are simply a nature lover wanting to learn more, you won't find a more detailed or comprehensive photographic bird book than this. What's new? After a major reclassification of all birds, this new edition is the only guide currently in print covering the new system of 40 bird orders and 140+ families, including an updated catalogue with newly discovered species. Reviewed by the experts at BirdLife International, you can be sure that you are getting the latest knowledge of bird biology and classification.



DK - Earth artwork Earth
The Definitive Visual Guide, New Edition
DK
Genre: Geology
Price: $26.99
Publish Date: May 07, 2024
Publisher: DK
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Explore and understand the natural and human wonders of our planet Now in its third edition, this landmark encyclopedia both celebrates our planet and explains the science underpinning the forces and processes that have made and shaped it. Artworks, photographs, terrain models, and maps are used in combination to capture the beauty and power of landscapes and natural events and to show their hidden sides, explaining for example how an earthquake is triggered and how burning fossil fuels is driving a climate emergency. Directory sections placed throughout the book provide systematic and in-depth reference guides to core scientific information, such as more than 100 types of rocks and minerals. Similar sections contain visual profiles of some of the undisputed wonders of the natural world, from the Andes and Himalayas to the Grand Canyon, Sahara Desert, and Amazon Rainforest. Thoroughly revised and updated to include new and spectacular landscape photography and capture the latest developments in fast-changing areas of geology and Earth science—including Earth history, climate change, and urban geography—this is an indispensable visual reference book for anyone who wants to understand how our planet works.



Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World artwork The Demon-Haunted World
Science as a Candle In the Dark
Carl Sagan
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: February 25, 1997
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

"A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought." *Los Angeles Times "POWERFUL . . . A stirring defense of informed rationality. . . Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing." *The Washington Post Book World How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don't understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions. Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms. "COMPELLING." *USA Today "A clear vision of what good science means and why it makes a difference. . . . A testimonial to the power of science and a warning of the dangers of unrestrained credulity." *The Sciences "PASSIONATE." *San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle From the Trade Paperback edition.