In Strange Harvests: the Hidden Histories of Seven Natural Objects, Edward Posnett disappears into the world in pursuit of the histories, traditions, myths, and wild-ass stories behind the commodification of specific objects in the natural world. It’s the sort of book that is probably the result of Posnett’s mother asking: “Modern financial trends and historical …
Craig Childs’s Atlas of a Lost World is out in paperback this week. Childs—who, like John McPhee, makes any field trip interesting—tackles the prehistory of the western hemisphere in this book. Where did the first settlers come from? Were they all eaten by megafauna? Did ancient shamans ride giant sloths? (Sorry. Different book.) What did the kids …
First, we have Mark O’Shea’s Big Book of I Don’t Think So. O’Shea is a herpetologist, which is someone who knows the difference between a stick and a snake. In fact, O’Shea is so good at telling the difference that he’s put together a comprehensive guide of over six hundred species of snakes. That’s right. Everything …
Grass Roots Books & Music in Corvallis, OR has two staff recommendations for life-long learners: books to spark and satisfy curiosity. The Edge of The Sky: All You Need to Know About the All-There-Is by Roberto Trotta This delightful little book, written by an enthusiastic astrophysicist, explores the gigantic questions and huge mysteries of the universe in …
