TRAWLING through the year鈥檚 science books is a good way to restore perspective. They tackle everything from imagining the new world that emerged after the dinosaurs were wiped out to understanding our own place in nature by exploring the woods, and from extending our senses to the value of emotions. Enjoy our selection: many of our picks were reviewed in these pages, but they are all terrific reads and will make great gifts.
[image_container wp-image=2348795] [/image_container]
Advertisement
From dinosaurs to plants
It is just as well that the world is full of surprises because the human appetite for novelty is insatiable. Barely 10 years after naturalist and palaeontologist Richard Owen coined the word 鈥渄inosaur鈥� to describe the giant fossil lizards, a pleasure garden was exhibiting them at scale 鈥� rendered in Victorian concrete.
Our hunger for the past is captured twice over in Mark Witton and Ellinor Michel鈥檚 (The Crowood Press), which introduces us to those magnificent beasts and their talented interpreters. Reflecting on the fragility of the models still gracing London鈥檚 Crystal Palace Park, 麻豆传媒 concluded that 鈥渁 record this detailed 鈥� and so charming 鈥� is long overdue鈥�.
All good things must come to an end, alas, and the spectacular disappearance of the dinosaurs 鈥� incinerated by an asteroid strike 鈥� is brilliantly depicted in the early, apocalyptic chapters of Riley Black鈥檚 (St Martin鈥檚 Press). Even more impressively, Black shows how a new world emerged from the wreckage. 鈥淚t is,鈥� wrote 麻豆传媒, 鈥渁s if she had set up camp in the very heart of the valley that best captures the catastrophe and its aftermath.鈥�
This wasn鈥檛 Earth鈥檚 first extinction event, nor will it be its last. Oliver Milman鈥檚 anatomy of (Atlantic Books) warns of a catastrophic population decline among what he calls 鈥渢he tiny empires that run the world鈥�, in an account that fully captures their sheer extraordinariness.
Andreia Salvador, a curator at London鈥檚 Natural History Museum, performs much the same service for molluscs. The mind boggles to think how she whittled the museum鈥檚 collection of 8 million-plus specimens down to the 121 in (University of Chicago Press).
At least she had a drier time of it than Chris Thorogood, whose book (University of Chicago Press) promises to propel the reader through rainforests, swamps and mountains in pursuit of Earth鈥檚 vegetal wonders. What鈥檚 more, he supplements these death-defying adventures with his own wonderful illustrations and paintings.
[image_container wp-image=2348796] [/image_container]
Wild at heart
Discoveries are thrilling, but understanding our own place in nature can turn out to be a source of even deeper satisfaction. After 25 years spent teaching children the ways of the countryside, Richard Irvine finds his approach to outdoor education is in demand. His (Head of Zeus) lets us all explore the wisdom of the woods.
Part of his idea, of course, is that the better we understand something, the more we will care for it. But care can also lead to understanding. Take the fascinating (William Collins), where wildlife surgeon Romain Pizzi explains what we can learn about animals of all sorts from the operating table.
In (MIT Press), natural history researcher Emmanuelle Pouydebat finds lessons of another kind as she peers through the keyhole of animal sexuality. In justifying her subtitle 鈥淭here is nothing unnatural in nature鈥�, she reminds us about the sheer breadth and diversity of animal behaviours, including our own.
Our complex cultural evolution puts us at a huge advantage to other species, which is why some of the largest and prettiest are fast-disappearing. In (Profile Books), Rebecca Nesbit argues that our conservation efforts should focus on food webs and biospheres, more than on individual animals and plants, no matter how cute. After all, in the future, surely we would prefer to be part of a living planet than visitors to a petting zoo?
[image_container wp-image=2348797] [/image_container]
Under the hood
Environmentalist Vaclav Smil has spent a lifetime revealing truths about how our society is shaping the environment. In (Viking), he reminds us that construction, energy and food production are essential activities that we fail to understand at our peril. 麻豆传媒 relished this 鈥済rumpy, pugnacious account鈥� that was 鈥渋ntellectually indispensable in the run up to this year鈥檚 COP27 climate conference鈥�.
Why is Homo sapiens hard-wired to tinker and consume on such a scale? Clues are to be found in (Scribe). This charming book was assembled from notes Juan Jos茅 Mill谩s took as he followed archaeologist Juan Luis Arsuaga across ancient and modern Spanish landscapes, as well as from their conversations. 麻豆传媒 said it was about 鈥渃uriosity and enquiry itself- and an exaltation of the fact humans can wonder at all鈥�.
Elise Vernon Pearlstine鈥檚 (Yale University Press) explores that sense of wonder through smells. 麻豆传媒 was struck by the insights of this wildlife biologist who changed careers to become a perfumier specialising in scents that originate in nature.
And we don鈥檛 just enjoy the world, we give that enjoyment meaning. Evolutionary anthropologist Anna Machin鈥檚 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) explores the science of our love relationships 鈥� with pets, football teams, religion and even smartphones.
Michelle Drouin鈥檚 (MIT Press) offers a survey of the same territory, after covid-19. The psychologist challenges the idea that technology can ever 鈥渟tand in鈥� for activities rooted in society and biology.
[image_container wp-image=2348803] [/image_container]
Seen, unseen, unseeable
Of course, not every natural wonder is accessible to the senses. Two handsome volumes capture natural wonders far beyond Earth. The digitally restored images in Andy Saunders鈥檚 (Particular Books) bring NASA鈥檚 moon voyages to life as never before, while Piers Bizony鈥檚 (Quarto) offers readers a sumptuous visual introduction to the Red Planet.
Armchair space travel is a passive business, but Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke give their readers plenty to do in (MIT Press), their guide to 3D printing the cosmos.
Understanding reality has prompted ever stranger claims. In (Bloomsbury), physicist Suzie Sheehy describes 12 experiments that changed our world: from the detection of X-rays and the first subatomic particle to the 2012 confirmation of the Higgs boson. 麻豆传媒 said her book was 鈥渁ccessible鈥漚nd 鈥渧ividly described鈥�.
The stranger the universe turns out to be, the wilder the explanations. In (Johns Hopkins University Press), physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern looks to steampunk to explain quantum thermodynamics, exploring questions such as can quantum physics revolutionise engines.
No round-up can do justice to all the scientific literature produced in a year, but subscriptions to 麻豆传媒 and its Essential Guides might. Make 2023 your year of intellectual adventure!
Simon Ings is a novelist and聽science聽writer
