National Geographic Bird-watcher's Bible
A Complete Treasury
Edited by Jonathan Alderfer

Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Publisher: National Geographic
On Sale: October 2, 2012
Price: $40.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0964-2 (1-4262-0964-9)

A lighthearted and broadly cultural and visual approach to learning everything there is to know about birds, bird-watching, birds in history and the arts, and life on the wing. Short narrative pieces are interspersed with sidebars, quotes, top-ten lists, and how-to instructions. Illustrated with photographs, contemporary and archival art, maps, and... Read more >

Dictionary of Geological Terms
Third Edition
Written by American Geological Institute

Format: Trade Paperback, 576 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: April 11, 1984
Price: $18.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-18101-3 (0-385-18101-9)

From Aa toZweikanter, this popular dictionary has now been revised and updated. This edition includes over 1,000 new terms plus: accurate definitions without technical jargon; many word origins; hyphenation and pronunciation guide; commonly used abbreviations; a geologic time and life chart. The definitions in this book are drawn largely from the... Read more >

The Call of Everest
The History, Science, and Future of the World's Tallest Peak
Written by Conrad Anker, Bernadette McDonald, David Breashears and Broughton Coburn
Foreword by Thomas Hornbein

Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: National Geographic
On Sale: May 14, 2013
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-1016-7 (1-4262-1016-7)

This is the definitive book on the history, mystique, and science of Mount Everest, including how climate change is impacting the world’s tallest mountain.

In 1963, the American Mount Everest Expedition made mountaineering history. It was the first American venture to successfully scale the legendary peak and the first successful... Read more >

Nature's Second Chance
Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm
Written by Steven Apfelbaum

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: February 1, 2010
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-8596-7 (0-8070-8596-0)

Renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold once wrote, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it does otherwise.”

Few have taken Leopold’s vision more to heart than Steven I. Apfelbaum, who has, over the last thirty years, transformed his... Read more >

Riddle of the Ice
A Scientific Adventure into the Arctic
Written by Myron Arms

Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: January 19, 1999
Price: $12.95
ISBN: 978-0-385-49093-1 (0-385-49093-3)

By any account, the impenetrable barrier of sea ice that blocked the Brendan's Isle halfway up the Labrador Coast should not have been there in late July, in what was one of the hottest summers in memory a few hundred miles to the south. Frustrated and mystified at having to turn... Read more >

Leonardo's Universe
The Renaissance World of Leonardo DaVinci
Written by Bulent Atalay and Keith Wamsley

Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Publisher: National Geographic
On Sale: January 6, 2009
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0285-8 (1-4262-0285-7)

A veritable rock star in the book world some five centuries after his birth, Leonardo Da Vinci is a man for the ages. Millions of readers hungrily ponder the mysteries behind his sketch-filled notebooks, radical inventions, and enigmatic paintings. This stunning book, like no other on the market, explores the master’s... Read more >

Genetics in the Wild

Written by John C. Avise

Format: Trade Paperback, 270 pages
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
On Sale: July 6, 2010
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-58834-293-5 (1-58834-293-X)

Award-winning geneticist John C. Avise guides us on a voyage around the planet in search of answers to nature’s mysteries. He demonstrates how scientists directly examine DNA to address long-standing questions about wild animals, plants, and microbes. Through dozens of stories that span the world, nature emerges as a realm where... Read more >

Extreme Ice Now
Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report
Written by James Balog

Format: Hardcover, 120 pages
Publisher: Focal Point
On Sale: March 24, 2009
Price: $24.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0401-2 (1-4262-0401-9)

Using both time-lapse and conventional photography as well as digital video, the Extreme Ice Survey is the most extensive visual study ever conducted to illustrate the catastrophic melting of glacial ice. The result is a dramatic and timely demonstration of global warming’s dangerous consequences from Alaska to Iceland to the Alps... Read more >

Arctic Voices
Resistance at the Tipping Point
Written by Subhankar Banerjee

Format: Hardcover, 560 pages
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
On Sale: July 3, 2012
Price: $35.95
ISBN: 978-1-60980-385-8 (1-60980-385-X)

A powerful collection of voices and images from the frontlines of the war against ecological devastation in the Arctic.

World-renowned photographer, writer, and activist Subhankar Banerjee brings together first-person narratives from nearly thirty of the world’s most recognized activists, writers, and researchers who address issues of climate change, resource war, and human... Read more >

Blue Revolution
Unmaking America's Water Crisis
Written by Cynthia Barnett

Format: Trade Paperback, 296 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: September 4, 2012
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0328-2 (0-8070-0328-X)

Selected for Summit County (Colorado) Reads

Americans see water as abundant and cheap: we turn on the faucet and out it gushes, for less than a penny a gallon. We use more water than any other culture in the world, much to quench what’s now our largest crop–the lawn. Yet most Americans... Read more >

Blue Revolution
Unmaking America's Water Crisis
Written by Cynthia Barnett

Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: September 20, 2011
Price: $26.95
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0317-6 (0-8070-0317-4)

Blue Revolution’s positive message: We have enough water to go around, if we quickly learn to live within our water means.

An award-winning journalist reports on the many ways one of the most water-rich nations on the planet has squandered its way to scarcity, and argues the best solution is also the... Read more >

Tornado Hunter
Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth
Written by Stefan Bechtel and Tim Samaras
Foreword by Greg Forbes

Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
Publisher: National Geographic
On Sale: May 19, 2009
Price: $24.00
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0302-2 (1-4262-0302-0)

Like the deadly tornadoes it documents, this potent combination of high adventure and hard science is terrifyingly timely in our era of global warming and climate change. The Weather Channel, now America's most watched programming, has in recent years shown us a relentless series of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and eruptions killing... Read more >

Heliconia
An Identification Guide
Written by Fred Berry and John Kress

Format: Trade Paperback, 344 pages
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
On Sale: March 17, 1991
Price: $27.95
ISBN: 978-1-56098-007-0 (1-56098-007-9)

Heliconia, large tropical flowers native to Central and South America and some islands of the South Pacific, have become favorite horticultural subjects throughout the world. Many cultivated varieties are available from florists as cut flowers or potted plants in regions where they cannot be grown outdoors and others are commonly used... Read more >

Meteorites
A Journey through Space and Time
Written by Alex Bevan and John De Laeter

Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
On Sale: April 17, 2002
Price: $35.95
ISBN: 978-1-58834-021-4 (1-58834-021-X)

The authors trace the formation and breakup of the planets, asteroids, and comets where meteorites originated, their long journey through space, their fall to Earth, their recovery, and what scientists are learning from them. The book contains a great deal of material about the “84001 Martian meteorite,” which has raised provocative... Read more >

A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition

Written by Bill Bryson

Format: Trade Paperback, 624 pages
Publisher: Broadway
On Sale: October 5, 2010
Price: $28.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-88515-9 (0-307-88515-1)

This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science.

In A Short History of Nearly Everything, beloved author Bill Bryson confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we... Read more >

Letters from the Hive
An Intimate History of Bees, Honey, and Humankind
Written by Stephen Buchmann and Banning Repplier

Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Bantam
On Sale: May 30, 2006
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-553-38266-2 (0-553-38266-7)

They work hard, are devoted to family, love sex, and know the importance of a good piece of real estate. Honey bees, and the daily workings of their close-knit colonies, are one of nature's great miracles. And they produce one of nature's greatest edible bounties: honey. More than just a palate... Read more >

Dirt Work
An Education in the Woods
Written by Christine Byl

Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: April 16, 2013
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0100-4 (0-8070-0100-7)

Christine Byl first encountered the national parks the way most people do: on vacation. But after she graduated from college, broke and ready for a new challenge, she joined a Glacier National Park trail crew as a seasonal “traildog” maintaining mountain trails for the millions of visitors Glacier draws every year... Read more >

The Wave
In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
Written by Susan Casey

Format: Trade Paperback, 432 pages
Publisher: Anchor
On Sale: May 31, 2011
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-0-7679-2885-4 (0-7679-2885-7)

A New York Times Notable Book
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year

In her astonishing new book Susan Casey captures colossal, ship-swallowing waves, and the surfers and scientists who seek them out.

For legendary surfer Laird Hamilton, hundred foot waves represent the ultimate challenge. As Susan Casey travels... Read more >

The Wave
In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean
Written by Susan Casey

Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Publisher: Doubleday
On Sale: September 14, 2010
Price: $27.95
ISBN: 978-0-7679-2884-7 (0-7679-2884-9)

For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dis­missed these stories—waves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged, oceanographers realized something scary... Read more >

Agnes Chase's First Book of Grasses
The Structure of Grasses Explained for Beginners, Fourth Edition
Written by Lynn G. Clark and Richard W. Pohl

Format: Trade Paperback, 152 pages
Publisher: Smithsonian Books
On Sale: April 17, 1996
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-56098-656-0 (1-56098-656-5)

For almost seventy-five years, Agnes Chase’s First Book of Grasses has been the classic guide to the structure of this complex group of plants. Clearly written and copiously illustrated with line drawings, the book is accessible to those with little or no botanical training, yet it also is respected by botanists... Read more >

Global Weirdness
Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas and the Weather of the Future
Written by Climate Central

Format: Trade Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: May 7, 2013
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-74336-7 (0-307-74336-5)

Global Weirdness summarizes everything we know about the science of climate change, explains what is likely to happen to the climate in the future, and lays out, in practical terms, what we can do to avoid further shifts. In fifty easy-to-read entries, Climate Central tackles basic questions such as:
-Is climate... Read more >

Scott of the Antarctic
A Biography
Written by David Crane

Format: Trade Paperback, 608 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: November 6, 2007
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 978-1-4000-3141-2 (1-4000-3141-9)

Historian David Crane, with full access to the explorer’s papers, diaries, and expedition records, gives us an illuminating portrait of Robert Falcon Scott that is more nuanced and balanced than any we have had before.

In reassessing Scott’s life, Crane is able to provide a fresh perspective on not only the... Read more >

The Prism and the Pendulum
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science
Written by Robert Crease

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
On Sale: October 12, 2004
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-8129-7062-3 (0-8129-7062-4)

Is science beautiful? Yes, argues acclaimed philosopher and historian of science Robert P. Crease in this engaging exploration of history’s most beautiful experiments. The result is an engrossing journey through nearly 2,500 years of scientific innovation. Along the way, he encounters the personalities and creative thinking of some of the field’s... Read more >

Biocidal
Confronting the Poisonous Legacy of PCBs
Written by Theodore Michael Dracos

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: Beacon Press
On Sale: March 6, 2012
Price: $24.00
ISBN: 978-0-8070-0632-0 (0-8070-0632-7)

Whether or not you’ve heard of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), it’s likely that this toxic chemical can be found in your cells. PCBs were invented in 1920 for the electronics industry, fueled the WWII military machine, then were put to domestic uses, and finally came to be present in every corner of... Read more >

The Deep Ecology Movement
An Introductory Anthology
Edited by Alan Drengson and Yuichi Inoue
Contribution by Arne Naess and Gary Snyder

Format: Trade Paperback, 328 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
On Sale: February 2, 1995
Price: $20.00
ISBN: 978-1-55643-198-2 (1-55643-198-8)

The Deep Ecology Movement, a name introduced by noted Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, is a worldwide grassroots environmental movement that seeks to redress the shallow and piecemeal approach of technology-based ecology. Its followers share a profound respect for the Earth's interrelated natural communities and a sense of urgency about the need... Read more >