An astronaut wakes up with amnesia, and discovers he is on a mission to save the world. This book is a return to what made The Martian such a great read. There’s a sarcastic but earnest narrator, many a life-threatening disaster, and so very much clearly and cleverly explained science. Once I started reading it, I could …
Explore the eastern most reaches of the Russian wilderness and join in the hunt for the world’s largest (and possibly rarest) owl species, the Blakiston’s fish owl. These massive birds inhabit only the wildest places, feasting on salmon and trading eerie calls across the snow-covered landscape. Slaght makes you feel like you’re part of the …
From the Bookmarks e-newsletter from The Oregonian/ OregonLive April 17, 2021: Earth Day is Thursday, providing an ideal opportunity to read Plastic: An Autobiography by Allison Cobb. The Portland-based author grew up in Los Alamos. She works for an environmental advocacy organization. And she’s a poet — her collection After We All Died was a 2018 Oregon Book …
From a recent newsletter from Eagle Harbor Book Company on Bainbridge Island, WA: What experienced bookseller hasn’t heard this one: “I can’t remember the author or the title, but the cover is blue!” We rarely astonish our customers (or ourselves) by solving a mystery this difficult, but this week was our moment in the sun. The customer …
In the Don’t Eat the Dirt In Your Backyard Department, we have Steve Olson’s The Apocalypse Factory, which is about plutonium and Hanford and what’s still out there in Eastern Washington. Of course, this may be old news to long-time residents of this state, but if you’ve read Adam Higgingbotham’s Midnight in Chernobyl and Kate …
Arguably one of the most outstanding Americans of the 20th century, yet seemingly almost forgotten today, George Washington Carver gets an enlightening biographical treatment in this beautifully illustrated picture book. The book focuses on George’s childhood, as he tends a hidden garden and teaches himself botany through observation and experimentation, but his social and scientific …
Here’s a cool book. Donald R. Prothero is going to tell us how the world came to be with The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks. Each of the chapters in this book talk about an important discovery or realization in the history of geology, highlighting both a specific geological puzzle and the people who …
The slim volumes in the Zoey & Sassafras series have much more in them than you’d expect—mystery, fantasy, and actual science. In each book, Zoey and her feline sidekick come to the rescue of a new magical creature by using a combination of gumption and smarts, modeling the research and study practices scientists use in …
If you loved Susannah Cahalan’s Brain on Fire, get ready for another wild ride. In her newest book, The Great Pretender, Susannah discovers a doctor in the ’70s who convinced eight healthy people to commit themselves into mental hospitals. Little did they know they’d need to prove their sanity before being let out. This book …
This or That? What Will You Choose at the British Museum? by Pippa Goodhart Books take us places when we are staying home and This or That? is an up close, engaging and interactive trip to the British Museum. Flush with color and detail, you really can’t get any closer to the real thing right …
