Paleobotanists and geologists faced injury, stiff winds, polar bears, and arduous daily climbs in the summer of 2002 as they collected thousands of fossilized plants from the... Read More

Dark matter, black holes, dark energy: with all this shadowy terminology in play, it’s no wonder when laypeople find cosmology off-putting, so What’s Eating the Universe?... Read More

In his informative, entertaining history book, "Gossip Men", Christopher M. Elias tracks the surveillance state of the latter half of the twentieth century to its roots in both... Read More

Deft and entertaining, Anthony J. Stuart’s "Vanished Giants" reveals the “hugest, fiercest, and strangest” Ice Age animals––mastodons, saber-toothed cats, immense... Read More

France’s Louis XIV, known as “The Sun King,” has long been an enigma. On the one hand, he was visionary, practical, and probably the greatest patron of the arts the world... Read More

In "Waters of the World", Sarah Dry profiles the lives of six brilliant scientists from the mid-nineteenth century to the present who made essential contributions to our... Read More

In "A Small Door Set in Concrete", Israeli activist Ilana Hammerman attests to the cruel and ever-worsening effects of the borders and policies that separate Israel and... Read More

Matthew L. Schuerman’s measured "Newcomers" examines gentrification and how it impacts cities for good and ill. Terms are defined with care in the text, which argues that new... Read More

In the internet age, struggles to protect personal privacy are all the more significant, claims Lawrence Cappello in "None of Your Damn Business", a thorough account of privacy... Read More

If so great a physicist as Richard Feynman once claimed that “nobody understands quantum mechanics,” what hope do we laypeople have? Luckily, Philip Ball, a freelance writer... Read More

"Ghosts in the Schoolyard" is a chilling must-read investigation of racism in Chicago’s education system. One might think the days of black students fighting for their right... Read More

“Some risks are worth taking, but it’s better not to ask why,” writes David Shulman. “Then there are the risks that you have to take if you want to feel human.” This... Read More