Reviews
- Health & Medicine
Two new books explore the science and history of the 1918 flu pandemic
One-hundred years after the Spanish flu, ‘Pandemic 1918’ and ‘Influenza’ provide a new look at the global outbreak.
- Particle Physics
Why a chemistry teacher started a science board game company
Subatomic is the latest game from John Coveyou, whose company Genius Games wants people to find the joy in science.
By Kyle Plantz - Paleontology
‘End of the Megafauna’ examines why so many giant Ice Age animals went extinct
‘End of the Megafauna’ ponders the mystery of what killed off so many of Earth’s big animals over the last 50,000 years.
By Erin Wayman - Animals
If you want to believe your home’s bug free, don’t read this book
‘Never Home Alone’ reveals the hidden world living in human-made spaces.
- Climate
‘18 Miles’ is full of interesting tales about Earth’s atmosphere
The new book ‘18 Miles’ takes readers on a journey through the atmosphere and the history of understanding climate and weather.
By Sid Perkins - Life
Explore the history of blood from vampires to the ‘Menstrual Man’
Rose George’s book ‘Nine Pints’ offers readers an engaging and insightful cultural and scientific history of blood.
- Astronomy
The Neil Armstrong biopic ‘First Man’ captures early spaceflight’s terror
At a time when NASA is considering how to return astronauts to the moon, ‘First Man’ is a sobering reminder of how risky the first giant leap was.
- Health & Medicine
‘Sawbones’ invites readers to laugh at the bizarre history of medicine
‘The Sawbones Book,’ based on the popular podcast by Dr. Sydnee and Justin McElroy, ties the strange history of modern medicine to modern pseudoscience.
By Mike Denison - Astronomy
‘Einstein’s Shadow’ explores what it takes to snap a black hole’s picture
The new book offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Event Horizon Telescope’s attempt to image a black hole.
- Plants
Smart plants can teach us a thing or two
‘The Revolutionary Genius of Plants’ challenges the brain-centered view of intelligence.
- Animals
‘Poached’ offers a deep, disturbing look into the illegal wildlife trade
In ‘Poached,’ a journalist reports from the front lines of the illegal wildlife trade and shows how conservationists are fighting back.
- Astronomy
‘Accessory to War’ probes the uneasy alliance between space science and the military
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang’s ‘Accessory to War’ grapples with the millennia-old partnership between space science and warfare.