SJPL Picks: Science Writing (Non-fiction)Like this list

40 items

• Intraterrestrials

  Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth

  Lloyd, Karen G., 1978-

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  Life thrives in the deepest, darkest recesses of Earth’s crust—from methane seeps in the ocean floor to the highest reaches of Arctic permafrost—and it is unlike anything seen on the surface. Intraterrestrials shares what scientists are learning…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• So Very Small

  How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs--and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Desease

  Levenson, Thomas,

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  Scientists and enthusiastic amateurs first confirmed the existence of living things invisible to the human eye in the late sixteenth century. So why did it take two centuries to connect microbes to disease? As late as the Civil War in the 1860s,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Alive

  Our Bodies and the Richness and Brevity of Existence /

  Weston, Gabriel,

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  A thought-provoking exploration of the human body, blending medical insight with personal and literary perspectives to reveal the profound connections between our physical organs, lived experiences and the complex and fragile essence of being human.

• These Strange New Minds

  How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means

  Summerfield, Christopher,

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  In this accessible, up-to-date, and authoritative examination of the world’s most radical technology, neuroscientist and AI researcher Christopher Summerfield explores what it really takes to build a brain from scratch. We have entered a world in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Everything Is Tuberculosis

  the History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

  Green, John, 1977-

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  Tuberculosis has been entwined with hu­manity for millennia. Once romanticized as a malady of poets, today tuberculosis is seen as a disease of poverty that walks the trails of injustice and inequity we blazed for it. In 2019, author John Green met…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Air-borne

  the Hidden History of the Life We Breathe

  Zimmer, Carl, 1966-

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  Every day we draw in two thousand gallons of air—and thousands of living things. From the ground to the stratosphere, the air teems with invisible life. This last great biological frontier remains so mysterious that it took more than two years for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ends of the Earth

  Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future

  Shubin, Neil,

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  For three decades, renowned scientist Neil Shubin has made extraordinary discoveries by leading scientific expeditions to the sweeping ice landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic. He’s survived polar storms and faced the limits of human endurance to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Booster Shots

  the Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health

  Ratner, Adam J.,

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  Every single child diagnosed with measles represents a system failure—an inexcusable unforced error. The technology to prevent essentially 100 percent of measles cases has been in our hands since before the moon landing. But this serious airborne…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Grieving Body

  How the Stress of Loss Can Be An Opportunity for Healing

  O'Connor, Mary-Frances,

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  Coping with death and grief is one of the most painful human experiences. While we can speak to the psychological and emotional ramifications of loss and sorrow, we often overlook its impact on our physical bodies. Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• When the Earth Was Green

  Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance

  Black, Riley,

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  A gorgeously composed narrative nonfiction book about the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth. Immaculately framed by ancient stone, the leaves look as if they were pressed between the gray pages of a great…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Asteroid Hunter

  a Scientist's Journey to the Dawn of Our Solar System

  Lauretta, D. S. (Dante S.), 1970-

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  The Principal Investigator of NASA's historic OSIRIS-Rex Asteroid Sample Return Mission offers a behind-the-scenes account of his team's daring quest to retrieve an asteroid sample -- one that held the potential to not only unlock the secrets of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Why We Remember

  Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

  Ranganath, Charan,

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  Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, eye-opening studies and examples from pop culture, a pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives and how once we understand its power,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• All in Her Head

  the Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today

  Comen, Elizabeth,

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  Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist and medical historian Dr. Elizabeth Comen peels back the curtain on the collective medical history of women to reintroduce us to our whole bodies—how they work, the actual doctors and patients whose perspectives…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blood

  the Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menustration

  Gunter, Jen,

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  Most people who menstruate can expect to have hundreds of periods in a lifetime. So why is real information so hard to find? Despite its significance, most education about menstruation focuses either on increasing the chances of pregnancy or…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Our Moon

  How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are

  Boyle, Rebecca (Rebecca B.),

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  An acclaimed journalist takes us on a incredible cultural and scientific tour throughout history to reveal the intimate role our 4.5-billion-year-old cosmic companion has played in our biological and cultural evolution, showing us that the Moon…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Good Life

  Lessons From the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness

  Waldinger, Robert J., 1951-

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  What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. The invaluable insights in this book…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Awe

  the New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life

  Keltner, Dacher,

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  Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon, or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• What's Gotten Into You

  the Story of Your Body's Atoms, From the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner

  Levitt, Daniel,

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  Every one of us contains a billion times more atoms than all the grains of sand in the earth's deserts. If you weigh 150 pounds, you've got enough carbon to make 25 pounds of charcoal, enough salt to fill a saltshaker, enough chlorine to disinfect…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Matter of Everything

  How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World

  Sheehy, Suzie,

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  Celebrating human ingenuity, creativity and curiosity, an accelerator physicist introduces us to the people who, through a combination of genius, persistence and luck, staged the experiments that changed the course of history, giving rise to the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Eat & Flourish

  How Food Supports Emotional Well-being

  Albright, Mary Beth,

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  A lively and evidence-based argument that a whole food diet is essential for good mental health. Food has power to nourish your mind, supporting emotional wellness through both nutrients and pleasure. In this groundbreaking book, journalist Mary…Read moreRead more of this annotation