An oral history of the atomic bomb’s development and deployment at the end of World War II, built from interviews, diaries, letters, and official records. It weaves together perspectives from political leaders, scientists, bomber crews, survivors, and rescuers to examine the scientific breakthroughs, military choices, and moral questions surrounding the weapon and its aftermath.

A young naturalist's obsessive search for a missing historic bird specimen becomes a doorway into a hidden world of feather collecting, illegal trade, and the fragile archives of museums; mixing personal sleuthing with forensic science and historical detective work, the narrative uncovers how colonialism, Victorian collecting habits, and modern hobbyists have shaped—and sometimes shattered—the study and survival of birds.

The novel is an expansive exploration of humanity's journey into space, weaving together the lives of fictional characters with historical events to depict the development of the American space program. It delves into the personal and professional challenges faced by astronauts, engineers, and politicians, highlighting the ambition, sacrifice, and innovation required to reach the stars. Through a blend of drama and meticulous research, the story captures the excitement and tension of the space race, reflecting on the broader implications of space exploration for society and the human spirit.

Joe Dunthorne investigates his great‑grandfather Siegfried Merzbacher’s hidden past after uncovering a long, unpublished memoir. Merzbacher was a German‑Jewish chemist who created radioactive household products and later became involved in military chemical work in 1930s Germany. Dunthorne follows archival clues and travels across Europe and Turkey to confront the moral complexity and lasting consequences of his family’s history.

Jonas Olofsson explores the human sense of smell, explaining how olfaction shapes memory, emotion and perception and how it engages the brain even before odor molecules hit receptors. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, linguistics and history, the book shows why smell has been overlooked, why people can experience the same scent differently, and how smell can be assessed, trained and sometimes recovered after loss. It’s a concise, curiosity-driven look at the science and everyday importance of our often-neglected sense.

Lili Taylor recounts how a pause from her acting career led her to notice the rich, everyday world of birds. In a series of intimate, spoiler-free essays she shares encounters—from city rooftops to backyard nests—and reflects on how paying attention to birds deepened her sense of wonder, connection, and the importance of small moments.

Tigers Between Empires tells the story of efforts to study and protect the Amur (Siberian) tiger in Northeast Asia. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, increased poaching and logging pushed the population to the brink, prompting an international team to form the Siberian Tiger Project and spend decades capturing, tracking, and observing tigers to learn about their behavior and territory. The book follows both researchers and tigers across changing forests and political landscapes, showing how human history and activity have shaped the species and its conservation.

The Arrogant Ape challenges the idea of human exceptionalism, arguing it’s a cultural belief rather than a biological fact. Drawing on primatology and research across animals, plants, and fungi, Christine E. Webb highlights the social, emotional, and cognitive complexity of other species, critiques biases in scientific study, and suggests that recognizing nonhuman lives on their own terms can deepen our sense of belonging and promote more sustainable ways of living.

Rob Dunn explores the history and importance of mutualisms—cooperative relationships between species—using the African honeyguide’s partnership with people as a starting point. He shows how cooperation, from microbes to animals, has shaped evolution and challenges the idea that nature is only competitive. The book invites readers to rethink human connections with other species and imagine a more interconnected future.

Forest Euphoria, by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, blends memoir and natural history as the author traces how childhood explorations of wetlands shaped her identities as a queer, neurodivergent scientist. Through encounters with fungi, amphibians, and other overlooked organisms, she explores the diversity and fluidity of sex, gender, and belonging in nature, offering a lyrical, curiosity-driven reflection on connection to the living world.

When journalist Amanda Hess becomes pregnant, a routine ultrasound and her online searches pull her into the fraught landscape of digital parenting. She examines how apps, prenatal tests, social media groups, and algorithmic attention amplify fear, judgment, and choices, and connects those experiences to longer histories like eugenics and surveillance. The book is a personal, clear-eyed look at how the internet reshapes pregnancy and early parenthood.

They Poisoned the World investigates how “forever chemicals” (PFAS) came to contaminate drinking water across the United States. Starting with a 2014 discovery of toxic levels in Hoosick Falls, New York, Mariah Blake traces the chemicals’ history—from wartime research to decades of industry knowledge and internal testing linking PFAS to health problems—and examines how regulatory failures allowed widespread exposure. The book combines document-based investigative reporting with the story of local residents who fought to reveal the contamination and seek accountability.

A neurologist examines how the modern drive to label conditions—fueled by genetic testing, online information, and patient‑led categories like Long Covid—can both help and harm patients. Using case histories and clinical insight, she explores when a diagnosis brings clarity and treatment, and when labels may mislead, stigmatize, or obscure suffering. The book argues for more careful, nuanced ways of understanding illness and supporting people in pain.

Neil Shubin recounts decades of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic, blending travel narrative and scientific explanation to show how the polar regions record Earth’s past and shape its future. He explores how life adapts to extreme environments, how melting ice affects ecosystems and communities, and how discoveries—from fossils to meteorites—link the poles to global climate and planetary history.

Gemini recounts NASA’s crucial intermediate program that bridged early orbital flights and the Apollo moon landings. Across ten missions in twenty months, engineers and astronauts solved rendezvous, docking, and long-duration flight challenges while facing safety setbacks, political and budget pressures, and Cold War rivalry—work that provided the technical foundation for Apollo.

The Thinking Machine traces Nvidia’s transformation from a maker of video-game graphics chips into the dominant supplier of AI hardware. Stephen Witt follows CEO Jensen Huang, the engineers and business decisions that repurposed GPUs for AI and high-performance computing, and how that shift reshaped industries and practical applications—from supercomputers and robotics to AI-generated media—without revealing key plot points or surprises.

Helen Lewis examines the myth of the lone "genius," arguing that cultural bias, collaboration, and historical context shape who we label exceptional. Using examples from science, music, and technology, she highlights overlooked contributors, questions whether inventions were inevitable, and reassesses celebrated figures. A concise, provocative look at how we understand creativity and achievement.

In 2011 a GPS-collared wolf named Slavc crossed the Alps from Slovenia into Italy and helped re-establish wolves in the Italian Alps. Journalist Adam Weymouth retraces Slavc’s route on foot, using the wolf’s return to explore local reactions, human–nature conflicts, migration, political tensions, and environmental change. The book uses Slavc’s journey as a lens to consider how movement across borders reshapes communities and landscapes.

This book explains the idea of common knowledge—how people form layered beliefs about what others know and what others know they know—and shows how that shared awareness shapes coordination, social rituals, politics, markets, and everyday interactions. Using clear examples from humor, art, and real-world events, it explores the signals that create or mask common knowledge and how those dynamics produce phenomena like panic buying, viral outrage, diplomatic posturing, and awkward personal moments.

A concise biography of physicist Luis W. Alvarez that follows his wide-ranging career—from wartime research and work on the Manhattan Project to innovations in particle physics, archaeological probing, and the development of the asteroid-impact theory for the dinosaurs’ extinction. The book also examines his forceful personality, mentorship, and the scientific controversies and collaborations that shaped his life.

An inside account of how vaccines have been developed and delivered worldwide. Drawing on his experience leading global vaccination efforts — including co‑creating COVAX during COVID‑19 — Seth Berkley explains the scientific, political, and logistical challenges of getting vaccines to people and outlines ideas for improving equity and preparedness for future pandemics.

Food Intelligence explores the biological reasons we eat and explains how different diets affect the body over the short and long term. It examines popular plans (keto, vegan, pescatarian), the roles of calories, micronutrients, and the microbiome, and clarifies that calorie balance drives weight change while overall health depends on more than just calories. The book presents these findings in clear, accessible language without technical jargon.

Adam Becker critiques Silicon Valley’s fixation on space colonization, digital immortality, and superintelligent AI, arguing these visions lack strong scientific grounding and often serve power-seeking interests. He shows how such fantasies distract attention from urgent social and environmental problems and rest on shallow futurism and harmful assumptions.

Flashes of Brilliance traces the experiments and eccentric figures who shaped photography from the 1830s to the early 20th century. It covers daring technical breakthroughs and projects—from underground and night photography to underwater, aerial, and microscopic imaging—and profiles innovators such as Anna Atkins, Eadweard Muybridge, and Étienne-Jules Marey. The book also looks at early challenges that endure today, including image manipulation, surveillance of suffragists, and how Black figures like Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass used self-portraiture to claim identity. A compact, spoiler-free survey of how early photographic experiments changed the way we see the world.

Dinner with King Tut follows experimental archaeologists who recreate ancient foods, tools, technologies, and rituals to recover the sensory details of past lives. Sam Kean joins their hands-on experiments—firing catapults, building Roman-style roads, trying ancient surgery and tattooing, and sailing reconstructed boats—to evoke how people looked, sounded, and tasted across eras and cultures. The book offers a lively, research-based tour of everyday experience in history without revealing specific plot details.