Medusa brittlestem, hawthorn twiglet, olive earthtongue—welcome to the weird and wonderful world of fungi, where the species have names that sound as though they could have been plucked from the pages of Harry Potter. Gorgeous color photographs, handy distribution maps and chatty descriptions celebrate edible and poisonous fungal varieties from around the globe.
Statues That Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo. Free Press, 2011 Recent discoveries suggest that the inhabitants of Easter Island were actually devoted stewards of their island’s natural resources. Archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo describe how they solved the mystery of the society’s collapse.
Lip Service: Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex and Politics by Marianne LaFrance. W. W. Norton, 2011 There are many kinds of smiles, from knowing and joyful to pleading and fake. Smile expert Marianne LaFrance of Yale University discusses the latest science and shows that there is much more to a pair of upturned lips than meets the eye.
The End of Country by Seamus McGraw. Random House, 2011 Journalist Seamus McGraw tells the story of what happened to a small town in rural Pennsylvania after one of the richest natural gas deposits on earth—the Marcellus shale deposit—was discovered there. McGraw’s own mother was among the first residents to receive an offer from the gas company to lease her property.
Eruptions That Shook the World by Clive Oppenheimer. Cambridge University Press, 2011 Volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer of the University of Cambridge surveys the biggest eruptions of the past quarter of a billion years to illustrate how profoundly volcanoes have shaped our world and how we might apply the lessons of the past to managing disastrous eruptions in the future.
ALSO NOTABLE
Fiction Heaven’s Shadow, by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt. Ace, 2011
Abyss, by David Hagberg. Forge, 2011
Rule 34, by Charles Stross. Ace, 2011
The Silicon Jungle: A Novel of Deception, Power, and Internet Intrigue, by Shumeet Baluja. Princeton University Press, 2011
For Kids Me … Jane, by Patrick McDonnell. Little, Brown, 2011
The Lucy Man: The Scientist Who Found the Most Famous Fossil Ever! by CAP Saucier. Prometheus, 2011
Storm Runners, by Roland Smith. Scholastic, 2011
The Klutz Guide to the Galaxy, by Pat Murphy and the Scientists of Klutz Labs. Klutz, 2011
