In Buzz, Thor Hanson takes us through the fascinating lives and history of bees, from when the first bees split from the wasps to offering them protection now. Hanson’s narrative style makes the information flow in an easily digestible way, and readers will come away knowing and appreciating more about bees than they ever thought …
The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, a trade association of independent booksellers, publishers, authors, and librarians, announced the 2019 Northwest Book Awards Shortlist, selected by a committee of independent booksellers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. From more than 400 nominations, the committee chose the following 12 finalists, written or illustrated by creators from the …
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 …
This is a book framed by grief—Broks’s wife died of cancer in middle age—but it is not the usual memoir of loss. Broks has long been a scientist of consciousness, and he sees death, as well as the miracle of waking life, through a bracingly unsentimental lens of neural activity. Which might make for a …
A chatty and engaging read on the topic of “neuroaesthetics” and the science behind beauty and pleasure. I recommend this book for anyone who ever wondered whether or not we evolved to appreciate and make art. Or for someone asking themselves why beauty and aesthetics are so central to the human experience. –Elise, Browsers Bookshop, …
Did you know there are three kinds of orcas living in the Pacific Northwest waters? (Resident, transient, and offshore!) I had no idea until I read this book! It’s a perfect introduction to the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest for kids and adults alike, with realistic illustrations and mini lessons on how to …
Non-fiction for the cold, hard facts, fiction for flights of fancy. One grounds you while the other sets you spinning. Most of the time, maybe, but my experience this week perfectly inverts that paradigm. I’ve been reading a brand-new book from Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris, who is best known as the filmmaker behind such projects …
Regional environmentalism and approachable science. So well-written, I felt like I was right there planting a tree or watching a salmon spawn. The Freemans do a wonderful job reminding us that we can make a difference — a little at a time. –Melissa DeMotte, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d’Alene, ID When nice weather comes, you can get out into nature …
This one has obsessive fly-tiers who are willing to steal feathers from the British Museum of Natural History, a spin through naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace’s predilection for charting and collecting feathers, and a long-form discussion about the nature of beauty. Wallace, as you may know, was one of the first to propose the idea of …
This charming book is a collection of the essays from the popular NPR radio show/podcast BirdNote. The inestimable Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has had a vital role in this series from its inception. The “chapters” are short species accounts ranging from the general to the esoteric to the more scientific, each a different aspect about a bird …
