Science and Nature

Discover new and trending science and nature titles.
Updated May 2, 2024
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What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds
Jennifer Ackerman
An instant New York Times bestseller! A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 Named a Best Book of 2023 by Publishers Weekly From the author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific investigation into...
The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet
Jeff Goodell
New York Times best-selling journalist Jeff Goodell presents a "masterful, bracing" (David Wallace-Wells) examination of the impact that temperature rise will have on our lives and on our planet, offering a vital new perspective on where we are headed, how we can prepare, and what...
Of Time and Turtles: Mending a Stalled and Broken World, Shell by Shattered Shell
Sy Montgomery
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * AMAZON EDITOR'S PICK and BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * INDIE BESTSELLER * A SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE'S BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE WASHINGTON POST'S BEST NONFICTION OF THE YEAR PICK * A NEW SCIENTIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *THE PERFECT...
The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean
Susan Casey
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From bestselling author Susan Casey, an awe-inspiring portrait of the mysterious world beneath the waves, and the men and women who seek to uncover its secrets "An irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure...
To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery
Neil deGrasse Tyson
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...
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
Cat Bohannon
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION FINALIST * THE REAL ORIGIN OF OUR SPECIES: a myth-busting, eye-opening landmark account of how humans evolved, offering a paradigm shift in our thinking about what the female body is, how it came to be, and how this evolution...
The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works
Helen Czerski
A Financial Times Best Science Book of 2023 A scientist's exploration of the "ocean engine"--the physics behind the ocean's systems--and why it matters. All of Earth's oceans, from the equator to the poles, are a single engine powered by sunlight, driving huge...
Ten Birds That Changed the World
Stephen Moss
From "a captivating storyteller" (Wall Street Journal), the natural history of humankind told through our long relationship with birds  For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food;...
The Little Book of Exoplanets
Joshua N. Winn
A concise and accessible introduction to exoplanets that explains the cutting-edge science behind recent discoveries For centuries, people have speculated about the possibility of planets orbiting distant stars, but only since the 1990s has technology allowed astronomers to...
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
Christian Cooper
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up. "Wondrous . . ....
Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis
Michael E. Mann
In this sweeping work of science and history, the renowned climate scientist and author of The New Climate War shows us the conditions on Earth that allowed humans not only to exist but thrive, and how they are imperiled if we veer off course.   For the...
Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future
Gloria Dickie
Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory, from Indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to nineteenth-century fairytales and the modern toy shop. But as humans and bears come into ever-closer contact, our relationship nears a tipping point. Today, most of the eight remaining...
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
John Vaillant
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION * A stunning account of a colossal wildfire and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the award-winning, best-selling...
Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe
Carl Safina
When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they'd rescued, she'd be a temporary presence. But Alfie's feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a...
The Heartbeat of the Wild: Dispatches From Landscapes of Wonder, Peril, and Hope
David Quammen
In this inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed author David Quammen journeys to places where civilization meets raw nature and explores the challenge of balancing the needs of both. For more than two decades, award-winning science and nature writer David Quammen has traveled...
In a Flight of Starlings: How Nature Unlocks the Wonders of Physics
Giorgio Parisi
From the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, an enlightening and personal journey into the practice of groundbreaking science " Giorgio Parisi is an extraordinary scientist." -Carlo Rovelli With In a Flight of Starlings, celebrated physicist Giorgio Parisi...
Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet
Ben Goldfarb
Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they're practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings,...
The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather
Roland Ennos
What exactly made the earth round? How do boomerangs turn around mid-air? And why do cats always land on their feet? "A basic scientific concept receives long overdue attention" (Kirkus Reviews) in this "fascinating" (Wall Street Journal) new book from the masterful author of The...
The Deepest Map: The High-Stakes Race to Chart the World's Oceans
Laura Trethewey
"Should be required reading. . . . A gripping and all-too-timely account of what in more ways than one is turning out to be a very costly and questionably necessary race to the bottom. . . . Trethewey rises to the occasion here, relating in absorbing detail the ebb and flow of...
How Biology Works (How Things Work)
DK
Discover everything you need to know about biology, with the simplest most visual guide to the science of life. How do vaccines work? What is special about stem cells? How did we evolve from bacteria? The science of life can be dauntingly complex, and it can be hard to...
Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future
Oliver Franklin-Wallis
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 BY THE NEW YORKER, THE GUARDIAN, and KIRKUS REVIEWS An award-winning investigative journalist takes a deep dive into the global waste crisis, exposing the hidden world that enables our modern economy--and finds out...
Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World
Danna Staaf
It's time to pay attention to baby animals. From egg to tadpole, chick to fledgling, they offer scientists a window into questions of immense importance: How do genes influence health? Which environmental factors support--or obstruct--life? Entire ecosystems rest on the shoulders (or...
The Jewel Box: How Moths Illuminate Nature’s Hidden Rules
Tim Blackburn
A plastic box with a lightbulb attached may seem like an odd birthday present. But for ecologist Tim Blackburn, a moth trap is a captivating window into the world beyond the roof terrace of his London flat. Whether gaudy or drab, rare or common, each moth ensnared by the trap is a treasure with...
The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future
Peter Gleick
A revelatory account of how water has shaped the course of human life and history, and a positive vision of what the future can hold--if we act now   From the very creation of the planet billions of years ago to the present day, water has always been central to...
The Cat's Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa
Jonathan B. Losos
The past, present, and future of the world's most popular and beloved pet, from a leading evolutionary biologist and great cat lover. "Engaging and wide-ranging ... The Cat's Meow is a readable and informed exploration of the wildcat that lurks within Fluffy." --...
Chasing Shadows: My Life Tracking the Great White Shark
Greg Skomal
"At last: the story of tracking the ocean's most charismatic and controversial predator, compellingly told by the man who has learned more about the Atlantic great white shark than any other person alive. You must not miss this fantastic book!" --Sy Montgomery, New York Times...
The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth
Elizabeth Rush
A NPR Best Book of 2023 A Shelf Awareness Best Nonfiction Book of 2023 An August 2023 Indie Next Pick, selected by booksellersA Vogue Most Anticipated Book of 2023A WBUR Summer Reading RecommendationA Next Big Idea Club...
The Einstein Effect: How the World's Favorite Genius Got into Our Cars, Our Bathrooms, and Our Minds (Fascinating and Funny Pop Science Book for Adults)
Benyamin Cohen
A fascinating look into how Einstein's genius and science continues to show up in so many facets of our everyday lives and his enduring legacy as an unlikely pop culture icon. Albert Einstein was the first modern-day celebrity and, decades after his death, still has the world's most...
The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown
Adam Welz
New Yorker Best Book of the Year "Exquisite."--DAVID WALLACE-WELLS "At once an elegy and an exhortation."--ELIZABETH KOLBERT "A book that goes deeper than any before into the meaning of the climate breakdown for all the rest of creation."--BILL McKIBBEN...
Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars
Avi Loeb
"The world's leading alien hunter" -- New York Times Magazine From acclaimed Harvard astrophysicist and bestselling author of Extraterrestrial comes a mind-expanding new book explaining why becoming an interstellar species is imperative for humanity's survival and detailing a game plan for...
Eat, Poop, Die: How Animals Make Our World
Joe Roman
NAMED A TOP-TEN BEST BOOK OF 2023 BY SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN A "fascinating" exploration (Elizabeth Kolbert) of how ecosystems are sculpted and sustained by animals eating, pooping, and dying--and how these fundamental functions could help save us from climate...
Alien Worlds: How Insects Conquered the Earth, and Why Their Fate Will Determine Our Future
Steve Nicholls
A beautifully illustrated journey into the hidden realm of insects Life on Earth depends on the busy activities of insects, but global populations of these teeming creatures are currently under threat, with grave consequences for us all. Alien Worlds presents insects...
Blight: Fungi and the Coming Pandemic
Emily Monosson
Fungi are everywhere. Most are harmless; some are helpful. A few are killers. Collectively, infectious fungi are the most devastating agents of disease on earth, and a fungus that can persist in the environment without its host is here to stay. In Blight, Emily Monosson documents how trade,...
Life Sculpted: Tales of the Animals, Plants, and Fungi That Drill, Break, and Scrape to Shape the Earth
Anthony J. Martin
"There is much to love between this book's covers. . . . There are many eureka moments in Life Sculpted--and some truly beautiful ones."--Eugenia Bone, Wall Street Journal Meet the menagerie of lifeforms that dig, crunch, bore, and otherwise reshape our...
The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods
Greg King
The definitive story of the California redwoods, their discovery and their exploitation, as told by an activist who fought to protect their existence against those determined to cut them down. Every year millions of tourists from around the world visit California's famous...
Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe
Aomawa Shields PhD
A stunning and inspiring memoir charting a life as an astronomer, classically-trained actor, mother, and Black woman in STEM, searching for life in the universe while building a meaningful life here on Earth As a kid, Aomawa Shields was always bumping into things, her neck craned...
Kings of Their Own Ocean: A Tale of Tuna, Human Obsession, and the Future of Our Seas
Karen Pinchin
**THE INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER** This is a tale of human obsession, one intrepid tuna, the dedicated fisherman who caught and set her free, the promises and limits of ocean science, and the big truth of how our insatiable appetite for bluefin transformed a cottage industry...
Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks--a Cool History of a Hot Commodity
Amy Brady
The unexpected and unexplored ways that ice has transformed a nation--from the foods Americans eat, to the sports they play, to the way they live today--and what its future might look like on a swiftly warming planet. Ice is everywhere: in gas stations, in restaurants, in...
From One Cell: A Journey into Life's Origins and the Future of Medicine
Ben Stanger
Each of us began life as a single cell. From this humble origin, we embarked on a risky journey fraught with opportunities for disaster. Yet, amazingly, we reached our destination intact, emerging as dazzlingly complex, exquisitely engineered assemblages of trillions of cells. This metamorphosis...
The Little Book of Aliens
Adam Frank
"With wit and brio, Frank separates current nonsense about aliens from the serious and fascinating search for extraterrestrial life." --Carlo Rovelli, New York Times bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics From astrophysicist Adam Frank, a little book on the biggest questions...
The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions
Giselle Clarkson
A highly illustrated, playful field guide for budding natural scientists and curious observers of the world right under our noses.Observology is the study of looking. An observologist makes scientific expeditions, albeit very small ones, every day. They notice interesting details in the world around...
Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life
Predrag B. Slijepcevic
"A brilliant book [that] shows a way out of the destructive trap of Anthropocentric arrogance."--Vandana Shiva, author of Terra Viva "An unusually thought-provoking...
Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past And Will Shape Our Future
Stephen Porder
An ecologist explores how life itself shapes Earth using the elemental constituents we all share It is rare for life to change Earth, yet three organisms have profoundly transformed our planet over the long course of its history. Elemental reveals how microbes, plants,...

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