NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 7, 2013
"Empowering, motivating and just a tad self-indulgent."
A former mayor of San Francisco introduces methodology to improve citizens' interaction with their government through the Internet.
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NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 5, 2013
"Irmscher makes a convincing case that this egotistical, often wrongheaded figure deserves his reputation as a founder and first great popularizer of American science."
A thoroughly satisfying biography of the almost but not quite forgotten Swiss-born Louis Agassiz (1807–1873), who moved to the United States in 1846 to become a combination of educator, media star and beloved science guru.
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NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 5, 2013
"A well-presented investigation into how dogs came to be."
Hare (Evolutionary Anthropology/Duke Univ.) and Woods (
Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo, 2010) delve into the rich cognitive world of dogs and how they domesticated themselves through natural selection.
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NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 5, 2013
"More text than younger readers will want to wade through, yet framed in a way that might seem silly to older readers."
A serviceable graphic summary of Darwin's life and achievement, pegged somewhere between educational use for preteens and a primer for adult readers.
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NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 1, 2013
"The author's storytelling is clear, crisp and emotive, and he brings Euclid's little-known life alive."
A playful yet deep excursus through Euclid's
Elements, from veteran mathematician Berlinski (
One, Two, Three: Absolutely Elementary Mathematics, 2011, etc.).
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NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 1, 2013
"A fine introduction to cosmology but rich enough to inform readers familiar with other introductions."
NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 29, 2013
"Walter never explains precisely why our species stands alone, but few readers will complain at the end of this engrossing, up-to-date account of human evolution."
About 27 humanoid species roamed the Earth since splitting off from their ape ancestors 7 million years ago; more are turning up, but only one remains. Science journalist and former CNN bureau chief Walter (
Thumbs, Toes, and Tears: And Other Traits That Make Us Human, 2006) delivers a mixture of fact, research and conjecture that describes how this happened.
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NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 29, 2013
"A well-written extension of the reach of reason in an area fraught with phobia and hysteria."
A leading expert in nuclear medicine and in dealing with the aftermath of nuclear disasters offers a basis for assessing the risks associated with radiation.
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NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 29, 2013
"Provocative, smart, densely argued--and deserving of a wide audience and wider discussion."
A tour de force of Big Picture thinking in which the former vice president gets his inner wonk on.
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NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 24, 2013
"An enjoyable exploration of the evolution and implications of online dating."
NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 22, 2013
"A smorgasbord of ideas, best when judiciously sampled."
From a broad array of thinkers come answers to the question: "What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?"
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NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 15, 2013
"An intelligent, eloquent account of our relations with the inanimate universe."
In a follow-up to
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (2008), Shubin (Biological Sciences/Univ. of Chicago) delivers an equally engrossing history of life's connections to everything else.
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