Science & Nature

Texts in this collection explore topics like climate change, energy, and humanity's place in the environment through a variety of genres, whether the science fiction of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake or the scientific journalism of Dan Egan's The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.

Publication year 2016

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Hope, Appearance & Reality, Perseverance, Conflict, Family

Tags Free Verse, Parenting, Science & Nature, Gender & Feminism

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Environment, Plants, Nature Versus Nurture, Family, Power & Greed

Tags Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Science & Nature, Modern Classic Fiction, World History

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Chinese Literature, Asian Literature, Leadership, Science & Nature, Business & Economics, Parenting, Psychology, Psychology, Self-Improvement

Angela Duckworth’s best-selling 2016 book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance describes how persistent practice, and not mere talent, is the key to success among students and professionals. Duckworth’s extensive research demonstrates that young people do best in activities that hold their interest and give them a sense of purpose. This encourages them to practice hard and overcome obstacles until they achieve mastery and success in school and, later, in their professional lives. The... Read Grit Summary

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Death, Animals, Education

Tags Humor, Science & Nature, Food, Health

Publication year 1997

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Community

Tags Anthropology, World History, Anthropology, Science & Nature, Business & Economics, Sociology, Politics & Government

Historian and anthropologist Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) is a multidisciplinary study that uses anthropological, biological, evolutionary, and socio-economic analysis to chart the fates of different peoples throughout human history. Subtitled first as A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years, and later as The Fates of Human Societies, the book seeks to understand why some groups of people have prospered while others have failed to advance to the same extent... Read Guns, Germs, and Steel Summary

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Science & Nature, Climate Change

Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life (2016) is Pulitzer Prize-winning author, biologist, and environmental advocate Edward O. Wilson’s in-depth look at the planetary threat of mass extinction, known as the Sixth Extinction, taking place at humanity’s own hands. The current rate of extinction is nearly 1,000 times higher than during the pre-human era, and traditional conservation movements will not work fast enough to save the natural world. However, Wilson argues that there is still time... Read Half-Earth Summary

Publication year 2016

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Gender Identity, Space

Tags Gender & Feminism, US History, Women`s Studies, Science & Nature, World History, Biography

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race is a 2016 nonfiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly. Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where her father worked at Langley Research Center, on which the book is centered. Thus, she knew firsthand both the story and many of the people involved. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the business school at the University of... Read Hidden Figures Summary

Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Self Discovery, Education, Equality

Tags Psychology, Self-Improvement, Business & Economics, Leadership, Education, Education, Science & Nature, Psychology

Publication year 1995

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Family, Community, Animals, Plants, Place, Literature

Tags Creative Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Military & War, Parenting, Iraq War, Biography

High Tide in Tucson is a series of essays by heralded American novelist Barbara Kingsolver, collected and published in 1995. The essays are wide-ranging in subject matter, addressing topics from politics, to nature, to midcentury domestic life, but all reflect Kingsolver’s observations about herself and the people around her. Prior to her writing career, Kingsolver had a wide range of other professional experiences that influence essays in the book.Most of the essays in High Tide... Read High Tide in Tucson Summary

Publication year 2014

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Sexual Identity, Death, Grief

Tags Animals, Science & Nature, Grief & Death, Biography

H Is for Hawk (2014) is British author Helen MacDonald’s award-winning memoir about her attempts to train a goshawk named Mabel in the wake of her father’s death. It is a memoir of grief, self-discovery, and the healing power of nature. MacDonald intersperses her descriptions of training Mabel with references to the memoirs of T.H. White, who writes about his own hapless attempts at falconry in the 1930s. The memoir was an instant bestseller and... Read H Is For Hawk Summary

Publication year 1977

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Good & Evil, Art

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Science & Nature, Philosophy, Philosophy

SummaryHoly the Firm is a 1977 book on Christian spirituality by American naturalist and author Annie Dillard. Dillard, whose 1974 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, is often championed for her ability to describe and narrativize the natural world. In Holy the Firm, Dillard applies this ability to what happened during a three-day period on an island in Puget Sound. Dillard ultimately stayed on this Island for two years... Read Holy the Firm Summary

Publication year 2015

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Science & Technology, Environment, Future, Appearance & Reality

Tags Science & Nature, World History, Philosophy, Anthropology, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Politics & Government

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2015) is a work of popular science by Israeli writer, professor, and futurist Yuval Noah Harari. Published in multiple languages, it is a continuation of the work of Harari’s previous book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. While Sapiens contextualized the advents of modernity within humans’ evolutionary legacy, Homo Deus speculates about what lies in wait for humanity in the distant future. Harari grounds his discussion in an... Read Homo Deus Summary

Publication year 2013

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics

Tags Business & Economics, Psychology, Self-Improvement, Technology, Philosophy, Leadership, Science & Nature, Psychology, Arts & Culture

Publication year 2012

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Nature Versus Nurture, Mental Health, Race, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Daughters & Sons, Social Class, Education, Equality

Tags Education, Psychology, Parenting, Children`s Literature, Education, Science & Nature, Sociology, Psychology, Self-Improvement