Book Review
In the Circle of Ancient Trees
by Isaac Randel
The essays from leading tree scientists collected in "In the Circle of Ancient Trees" read like fervent love letters to ten of the most ancient and important tree species on the planet. Dendrochronology, or the study of tree rings to...
Book Review
Anna Atkins
by Isaac Randel
Establishing a place in the scientific annals for one of photography’s most underappreciated pioneers, Corey Keller’s intimate biography of Anna Atkins reveals a remarkable, unorthodox Victorian scientist. Atkins, the creator of the...
Book Review
The Pale Blue Data Point
by Isaac Randel
Astrobiologist Jon Willis’s "The Pale Blue Data Point" investigates the diverse paths through which scientists have attempted to discover extraterrestrial life. Beginning with the ancient question of the existence of life-forms beyond...
Book Review
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean
by Isaac Randel
Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean, Dagomar Degroot’s sweeping history of human encounters with the solar system, is an unconventional, moving account of how Earth’s cosmic neighborhood shaped human existence. A mixture of intertwined...
Book Review
The Last Extinction
by Isaac Randel
Challenging the popular conception that asteroid impacts caused the extinction of dinosaurs, "The Last Extinction" is Gerta Keller’s reflection on one of the nastiest controversies in the modern history of the earth sciences. Equal...
Book Review
Law and Order Leviathan
by Isaac Randel
In "Law and Order Leviathan", David Garland advocates for a holistic approach to understanding and fixing American penal policy. Garland begins his measured and stinging analysis of American penal policy with an overview of the police...
Book Review
Get It Out
by Isaac Randel
In Get It Out, Andréa Becker investigates the consequences of cultural ignorance about one of the least-studied organs of the human body and the multilayered experiences of those who seek to remove it. Because of the uterus’s...
Book Review
The Great White Hoax
by Isaac Randel
Philip Kadish’s "The Great White Hoax" is a fresh history of American racial discourse centered on the cynical ways in which fraudulent narratives and outright hoaxes have manipulated public perceptions of race. Told through a series...