SciFri Book Club Previous Selections

When the Earth Was Green

Author: Riley Black ; [illustrations by Kory Bing]
Year: 2025
ISBN: 9781250288998

Abstract: "Winner, A Friend of Darwin Award, 2024. A gorgeously composed look at the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth Fossils plants allow us to touch the lost worlds from billions of years of evolutionary backstory. Each petrified leaf and root show us that dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and even humans would not exist without the evolutionary efforts of their leafy counterparts. It has been the constant growth of plants that have allowed so many of our favorite, fascinating prehistoric creatures to evolve, oxygenating the atmosphere, coaxing animals onto land, and forming the forests that shaped our ancestors' anatomy. It is impossible to understand our history without them. Or, our future. Using the same scientifically-informed narrative technique that readers loved in the award-winning The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, in When the Earth Was Green, Riley Black brings readers back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Each chapter stars plants and animals alike, underscoring how the interactions between species have helped shape the world we call home. As the chapters move upwards in time, Black guides readers along the burgeoning trunk of the Tree of Life, stopping to appreciate branches of an evolutionary story that links the world we know with one we can only just perceive now through the silent stone, from ancient roots to the present"-- Provided by publisher.

Prodigal Summer

Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Year: 2000
ISBN: 9780060199654

Abstract: Wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud.

Origin

Author: Jennifer Raff
Year: 2022
ISBN: 9781538749715

Abstract: "From celebrated genetic anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story-and fascinating mystery-of how humans migrated to the Americas"-- Provided by publisher.

Crossings

Author: Ben Goldfarb
Year: 2023
ISBN: 9781324005896

Abstract: "An eye-opening and witty account of the global ecological transformations wrought by roads, from an award-winning author. Some 40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, but we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. In Crossings, Ben Goldfarb delves into the new science of road ecology to explore how roads have transformed our world. Millions of animals are killed by cars each day in the US alone, and roads fragment wildlife populations into inbred clusters, disrupt migration for creatures from antelope to salmon, allow invasive plants to spread and even bend the arc of evolution itself. But road ecologists are also seeking innovative solutions: Goldfarb meets with conservationists building bridges for mountain lions and tunnels for toads, engineers deconstructing logging roads, and citizens working to undo the havoc highways have wreaked upon cities. A sweeping, spirited and timely investigation into how humans have altered the natural world, Crossings also shows us how to create a better future for all living beings" -- Provided by publisher.

Sand County

Author: by Aldo Leopold ; illustrated by Charles W. Schwartz ; introduction by Robert Finch
Year: 1987
ISBN: 9780195053050

What If We Get it Right

Author: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Year: 2024
ISBN: 9780593229361

Abstract: "Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side. This provocative and joyous book maps an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures. Through clear-eyed essays and vibrant conversations, infused with data, poetry, and art, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson guides us through solutions and possibilities at the nexus of science, policy, culture, and justice. Visionary farmers and financiers, architects and advocates help us conjure a flourishing future, one worth the effort it will take-from all of us, with whatever we have to offer-to create. If you haven't yet been able to picture a transformed and replenished world-or see yourself, your loved ones, and your community in it- this book is for you. If you haven't yet found your role in shaping this new world, or you're not sure how we can actually get there, this book is for you. With grace, humor, and humanity, Ayana invites readers to ask and answer this ultimate question, together: What if we get it right?"-- Provided by publisher.

Forest Walking

Author: Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst
Year: 2022
ISBN: 9781771643313

Abstract: "When you walk in the woods, do you use all five senses to explore your surroundings? For most of us, the answer is no--but when we do engage all our senses, a walk in the woods can go from pleasant to immersive and restorative. Forest Walking teaches you how to get the most out of your next adventure by becoming a forest detective, decoding nature's signs and awakening to the ancient past and thrilling present of the ecosystem around you. What can you learn by following the spread of a root, by tasting the tip of a branch, by searching out that bitter almond smell? What creatures can be found in a stream if you turn over a rock--and what is the best way to cross a forest stream, anyway? How can you understand a forest's history by the feel of the path underfoot, the scars on the trees along the trail, or the play of sunlight through the branches? How can we safely explore the forest at night? What activities can we use to engage children with the forest? Throughout Forest Walking, the authors share experiences and observations from visiting forests across North America: from the rainforests and redwoods of the west coast to the towering white pines of the east, and down to the cypress swamps of the south and up to the boreal forests of the north. With Forest Walking, German forester Peter Wohlleben teams up with his longtime editor, Jane Billinghurst, as the two write their first book together, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. Together, they will teach you how to listen to what the forest is saying, no matter where you live or which trees you plan to visit next."-- Provided by publisher.

The Invention of Nature

Author: by Andrea Wulf
Year: 2015
ISBN: 9780385350662

Abstract: Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age. In North America, his name still graces counties, towns, a river, parks, bays, lakes, and mountains. His restless life was packed with adventure and discovery, whether he was climbing volcanoes, racing through Siberia, or translating his research into bestselling publications that changed science. Among Humboldt's most revolutionary ideas was a radical vision of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone. Now Andrea Wulf brings the man and his achievements back into focus: his daring expeditions and investigation of wild environments around the world and his discoveries of similarities between climate and vegetation zones on different continents. She also discusses his prediction of human-induced climate change, his remarkable ability to fashion poetic narrative out of scientific observation, and his relationships with iconic figures such as Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson. Wulf examines how Humboldt's writings inspired other naturalists and poets such as Darwin, Wordsworth, and Goethe, and she makes the case that it was Humboldt's influence that led John Muir to his ideas of natural preservation and that shaped Thoreau's Walden. Wulf shows how Humboldt created our understanding of the natural world, and champions a renewed interest in this vital player in environmental history and science.