Summer Learning 2026 for AdultsUnpublished

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A new history of Assyria, the ancient civilization that set the model for future empires    At its height in 660 BCE, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. It was the first empire the world had ever seen. Here,...

Scientists squabble over the locations and dates for human arrival in the New World. The first explorers were few, encampments fleeting. At some point in time, between twenty and forty thousand years ago, sea levels were low enough that a vast land bridge was exposed between Asia and North America....

The only world atlas updated annually, Oxford's Atlas of the World is the most authoritative atlas on the market. Full of crisp, clear cartography of urban areas and natural landscapes around the globe, the Atlas contains maps of cities and regions at carefully selected scales that give a striking...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A vivid account of a major shift in how we understand Earth, from an exceptionally talented new voice. Earth is not simply an inanimate planet on which life evolved, but rather a planet that came to life. "Glorious . . . full of achingly beautiful...

Thousands of years ago, in a part of the world we now call ancient Mesopotamia, people began writing things down for the very first time. What they left behind, in a vast region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, preserves leaps in human ingenuity, like the earliest depiction of a...

By the award-winning author of A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: a history of humanity on the brink of decline. A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Selection We are living through a period that is unique in human history. For the first time in more...

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Disappearing Spoon, a romp through the entire history of humankind-from 75,000 B.C. to the dawn of the modern age. From the mighty pyramids of Egypt to the majestic temples of the Aztec, we have a good idea of...

In this 2018 New York Times Notable Book,Paige Williams "does for fossils what Susan Orlean did for orchids" (Book Riot) in her account of one Florida man's attempt to sell a dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia--a story "steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science...

What if we woke up one morning all of the dinosaur bones in the world were gone? How would we know these iconic animals had a165-million year history on earth, and had adapted to all land-based environments from pole to pole? What clues would be left to discern not only their presence, but also to...

Michael Crichton, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park, returns to the world of paleontology in this recently discovered novel--a thrilling adventure set in the Wild West during the golden age of fossil hunting. The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still...

From one of Outside magazine's "Literary All-Stars" comes the thrilling true tale of the fastest boat ride ever through the Grand Canyon, atop the legendary Colorado River flood of 1983. In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River...

A blackly comic literary gem in which a broken man confronts a broken world on an uninhabited Pacific island, where a conservation assignment becomes a moral reckoning. "An instant classic." --The Washington Post * "Excellent " --The New York Times * "Urgent and lyrical...

A profound meditation on climate change and the Anthropocene and an urgent search for the fossils--industrial, chemical, geological--that humans are leaving behind What will the world look like in ten thousand years--or ten million? What kinds of stories will be told about...

With stunning images and an expert guide, explore the world of fossils to uncover the story of life on Earth, from the origins of new life to mass extinctions. Ancient Earth seems like an alien world. But the fossil record can help reveal the mysteries of the...

A Recommended Read from Yale Climate Connections "[Frostlines weaves] together natural history, indigenous perspective, and environmental transformation in the Arctic. The book helps bring a human story to the science of climate change."--Parade A...

Get a rock-solid grasp on geology Geology For Dummies is ideal reading for anyonewith an interest in the fundamental concepts of geology, whether they're lifelong learners with a fascination for the subject or college students interested in pursuing geology or earth sciences....

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of Timeline, Sphere, and Congo, this is the classic thriller of science run amok that took the world by storm. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's...

Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world, this book is a beautifully designed collection of true stories about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared history The earliest scientists ground and processed minerals in a centuries-long quest for a mythic stone...

Winner of the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books! "This is top-drawer science writing." --Publishers Weekly, starred review In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Riley Black walks readers through what happened in the days, the...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTELLER * A GOODREADS READER'S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST From the #1 bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God, a jaw-dropping discovery of an Egyptian tomb opens up a slew of archaeological mysteries and deadly tales...

From the author of the bestselling The Professor and the Madman comes the fascinating story of William Smith, the orphaned son of an English country blacksmith, who became obsessed with creating the world's first geological map and ultimately became the father of modern geology. ...

An "adventure tale for puzzle lovers and Indiana Jones fans alike" (The Washington Post) following three free-spirited Victorians on their twenty-year quest to decipher cuneiform, the oldest writing in the world--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bad-Ass...

In the dust of the Gilded Age Bone Wars, two vastly different men emerge with a mission to fill the empty halls of New York's struggling American Museum of Natural History: Henry Fairfield Osborn, a privileged socialite whose reputation rests on the museum's success, and intrepid Kansas-born...

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! From celebrated anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story--and fascinating mystery--of how humans migrated to the Americas. ORIGIN is the story of who the first peoples...

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES CROPPER WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING* *LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE* Shortlisted for Waterstones's "Book of the Year 2022" One of:The New Yorker's "The Best Books of 2022 So Far" ...

"THE ULTIMATE DINOSAUR BIOGRAPHY," hails Scientific American: A thrilling new history of the age of dinosaurs, from one of our finest young scientists. "A masterpiece of science writing." --Washington Post A New York Times Bestseller * Goodreads Choice Awards ...

By the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, a "brilliant" and "beautifully told" new natural history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of the extraordinary family tree that led to us [New Scientist; The Times UK] ...

A dangerous scheme could bury their long-held dreams forever. . . . From the time she was little, Martha Jankowski has been digging in the dirt, much to the dismay of her mother. Now she dreams of being a paleontologist and is determined to make her parents proud by uncovering the next big...

This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson's exciting, informative journey into the world of science. In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the bestselling author of A Walk in the...

An exciting and accessible new view of the evolution of human and animal life on Earth. From the author of national bestseller, Your Inner Fish, this extraordinary journey of discovery spans centuries, as explorers and scientists seek to understand the origins of life's immense diversity.<...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ​​​ From the renowned paleontologist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, a sweeping evolutionary history of birds, from their dinosaur origins to the 10,000+ extraordinary species...

A stolen dinosaur skull is at the center of a complex mystery laid at the feet of unofficial P.I. Rushmore McKenzie. There are two things that Rushmore McKenzie hates to turn down--a request from a friend and a challenge. Both of them show up in his wife's nightclub in the...

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT GOLDEN BEER BOOK PRIZE 2019** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE FOR HISTORY 2020** Julia Blackburn has always collected things that hold stories about the past, especially the very distant past- mammoth...

A spellbinding history of the hidden world below the Holy City-a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval "A sweeping tale of archaeological exploits and their cultural and political consequences told with a historian's penchant for detail and a...

What can extinct dinosaurs teach us about our future? Plenty, according to paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, who has discovered some of the largest creatures to ever walk the Earth. By tapping into the ubiquitous wonder that dinosaurs inspire, Lacovara weaves together the stories...