Certain imported ingredients are now so commonplace that it’s difficult to imagine life without them. For many, bananas, coffee, chocolate, and sugar are no longer occasional treats, but daily supplies. Nettie Cronish’s "The Fair... Read More

"Baobab" is photographer Beth Moon’s tribute to the magnificent, threatened trees upon which cultures and ecosystems depend. When word came of a sacred baobab falling in Madagascar, Moon set aside several weeks to capture the trees’... Read More

In poet Mona Arshi’s debut novel "Somebody Loves You", Ruby, who was born to Indian parents in England, stopped talking at school. She goes to see various therapists. Her older sister, Rania, is artistic but morbid. The girls’ mother... Read More

In "Our Oldest Companions", Pat Shipman delves into the history of canine domestication, marveling that dogs have chosen to associate with humans. Focusing on coevolution and the dingoes of Australia, she illuminates “how mutually... Read More

When seeking to understand how the universe works, “we have to let go of instincts, intuitions and simple explanations,” science teacher Tim James writes. In "Astronomical", he revels in the oddness of planetary behavior and quantum... Read More

“To walk at night” creates “a night twice lived,” Matt Gaw declares in "Under the Stars", which is structured around a series of night walks to delve into the science of the night sky. The pull of the moon is undeniable, Gaw... Read More

Bill Schutt’s "Pump" is an entertaining survey of the evolution of the circulatory system. From grasshoppers to whales, it explains how hearts and other analogous structures work. Zeroing in on the human heart, the book contrasts the... Read More

“Planets are born from the chaos of countless collisions,” Simone Marchi writes in "Colliding Worlds", which cites everything from lunar craters to gold seams as evidence of interplanetary impacts. Space rocks have not existed from... Read More