Top 10
AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter
Josh Tyrangiel. Simon & Schuster, May 12 ($29, ISBN 978-1-6680-8250-8)
Journalist Tyrangiel demonstrates how doctors, teachers, bureaucrats, and others are using AI to enhance human judgment, not replace it.
The AI Illusion: Why Machines Aren’t Creative
Luc Julia. Wiley, Apr. 7 ($31.95, ISBN 978-1-394-41217-4)
Debunking myths about artificial intelligence, Siri co-creator Julia explains how generative AI produces derivative outputs that lack creativity.
The Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness
Andrew Moore. Mariner, June 2 ($32, ISBN 978-0-06-300122-0)
Once on the brink of disappearing from the eastern U.S., elk, bison, wolves, and other large mammals are making an unlikely comeback, explains environmental writer Moore.
The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. Pantheon, Apr. 7 ($32, ISBN 978-0-593-70168-3)
Particle physicist Prescod-Weinstein guides readers through the wonders of the universe, explaining black holes, dark matter, quantum gravity, and more, and urging an anticolonial approach to space exploration.
Forest of the Sea: The Remarkable Life and Imperiled Future of Kelp
David Helvarg. Island, May 5 ($30, ISBN 978-1-64283-382-9)
Helvarg, a journalist and scuba diver, documents the impact of warming oceans on kelp forests and what’s at stake if they disappear.
How the Internet Disrupted Science
Kent Anderson and Joy Moore. Prometheus, July 21 ($32.95, ISBN 978-1-4930-9440-0)
This treatise analyzes the ways digital information, politics, and profit motives have corrupted scientific endeavors, which have historically relied on accountability and transparency.
Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food—and Our Future
Bruce Friedrich. BenBella, Feb. 3 ($29.95, ISBN 978-1-63774-793-3)
The president of the Good Food Institute makes the case for plant-based and lab-grown meat, arguing they are healthier, more affordable, and better for the planet than conventional meat.
Morbid: Debunking Modern Longevity Science
Saul Justin Newman. MIT, June 9 ($29.95, ISBN 978-0-262-05271-9)
Oxford research fellow Newman exposes how anti-aging science is awash in misleading claims, false assumptions, and scandal.
The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet
Scott Weidensaul. Norton, Apr. 21 ($32.99, ISBN 978-1-324-03678-4)
Spotlighting bird conservation efforts around the world, ornithologist Weidensaul reveals the ripple effects of their success on large-scale ecosystems.
When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World
Suzanne Simard. Knopf, Mar. 31 ($30, ISBN 978-0-593-31868-3)
Honoring forests’ natural cycles of regeneration is key to protecting their longevity, according to ecologist Simard.
longlist
Avery
The Hidden Nations of Animals: A Grand Tour of Earth’s Wild Civilizations by Ryan Huling, illus. by Oliver Uberti (June 2, $32, ISBN 978-0-593-71684-7), explores bustling animal communities around the world, such as in Canada’s “beaver belt” and the no-man’s land that separates North and South Korea.
Ballantine
Why Do We Exist? The Nine Realms of the Universe That Make You Possible by Hakeem Oluseyi, with Nils Johnson-Shelton (Apr. 21, $32, ISBN 978-1-9848-1912-3). An astrophysicist tells the story of existence through nine realms, from the “Middle Realm,” where humans live, to the “Realm of Imagination,” where curiosity exists.
Basic
The Echoing Universe: How Radio Astronomy Helps Us See the Invisible Cosmos by Emma Chapman (May 19, $32, ISBN 978-1-5416-0185-7) reveals how radio waves have allowed scientists to observe otherwise unreachable parts of the universe.
Belknap
A World of Resistance: India and the Global Antibiotic Crisis by Assa Doron and Alex Broom (Mar. 10, $32.95, ISBN 978-0-674-29561-2) analyzes the causes of and solutions to the antibiotic resistance exploding in India.
Bloomsbury Wildlife
Beauty of the Beasts: Rethinking Nature’s Least Loved Animals by Jo Wimpenny (Apr. 28, $28, ISBN 978-1-3994-1761-7) explains how creatures typically seen as pests, like wasps and snakes, benefit humans and are more sentient than previously thought.
Chelsea Green
Africulture: How the Principles, Practices, Plants, and People of African Descent Have Shaped American Agriculture by Michael Carter Jr. (May 12, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-64502-301-2). The author, a Black farmer, sheds light on the African expertise and innovations that have contributed to the development of U.S. agriculture.
Cool Springs
Concrete Botany: The Ecology of Plants in the Age of Human Disturbance by Joey Santore (Apr. 7, $28, ISBN 978-0-7603-9188-4) looks at how plants have remained resilient in the face of human-caused ecological destruction.
Greystone
A Bird’s IQ: Innovation, Intelligence, and Problem Solving in the Avian World by Louis Lefebvre, trans. by Pablo Strauss (May 12, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-77840-264-7). Animal behavior scientist Lefebvre describes the ingenuity and creativity of bird species.
Harvard Univ.
What Are the Odds? A Statistical Guide to Certainty in an Uncertain World by Mark Prell (Apr. 14, $32.95, ISBN 978-0-674-29636-7) demonstrates how statistical thinking can help people navigate uncertainty.
Holt
The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind by Tom Griffiths (Feb. 10, $31.99, ISBN 978-1-250-35835-6). The head of Princeton’s AI Lab shares how mathematics has been used to study the human mind.
Island
Bitter Honey: Big Ag’s Threat to Bees and the Fight to Save Them (May 5, $30, ISBN 978-1-64283-400-0) sheds light on how industrial farming threatens bees and highlights the work of farmers and activists working to protect them.
Johns Hopkins Univ.
After Covid: The Health Impacts That Will Last Generations by Jason Gale (Mar. 3, $34.95, ISBN 978-1-4214-5424-5) recounts the ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the increase in chronic illness, the erosion of health care systems, and a decline in trust in science.
Inescapable: Facing Up to Forever Chemicals by F. Marina Schauffler (Mar. 17, $32.95, ISBN 978-1-4214-5399-6) spotlights people fighting for regulations on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), synthetic chemicals used in consumer products and building supplies that can seep into people’s bodies and the environment.
It’s (Just) Rocket Science: Exploring Physics Through Spaceflight Missions by Trisha Muro (May 12, $32.95, ISBN 978-1-4214-5426-9) unravels the science behind space exploration, explaining how rockets, satellites, and space telescopes reach their destinations.
Knopf
Open Space: From Earth to Eternity—the Global Race to Explore and Conquer the Cosmos by David Ariosto (Mar. 24, $35, ISBN 978-0-593-53503-5). Journalist Ariosto delves into the key players and technologies behind the modern space race.
Liveright
In Search of Now: The Science of the Present Moment by Jo Marchant (Mar. 17, $32.99, ISBN 978-1-324-09748-8) mixes science and philosophy to explain the essence of time and how people experience it.
Mariner
Chain Reaction: How Chemistry Shapes Us and Our World by Ijeoma Uchegbu (May 12, $30, ISBN 978-0-06-339462-9) explains the world through a chemist’s eyes, describing how bonds between molecules hold together everything from lengthy DNA strands to egg yolks.
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present by Steve Brusatte (May 5, $35, ISBN 978-0-06-334971-1) traces the evolution of birds to the 14,000 species that now exist.
MIT
Augmented: Life and Death as a Cyborg by Candi K. Cann (Mar. 10, $29.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-262-05111-8) examines how technology is altering people’s understanding of what it means to be human, particularly as medical devices lengthen lifespans.
Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds by Scott Solomon (Feb. 17, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-262-05151-4) investigates how migrating to space would impact the evolution of humans.
Raising AI: An Essential Guide to Parenting Our Future by De Kai (June 3, $32.95, ISBN 978-0-262-05432-4) probes the history and possibilities of artificial intelligence, framing the technology as “children” and its users as “parents” who should approach it with care.
Morrow
A Brief History of the Universe (and Our Place in It) by Sarah Alam Malik (May 5, $28, ISBN 978-0-06-347652-3). The author, a particle physicist, outlines humanity’s efforts to understand the cosmos and how the resulting discoveries have shaped human identity.
Norton
Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History by Caroline Tracey (Mar. 17, $31.99, ISBN 978-1-324-12985-1) blends environmental reporting and memoir to document imperiled salt lakes and the author’s path to finding queer love and a sense of home.
Snake Men: Rebels, Reptiles, and the Race to Name Earth’s Creatures by Zach St. George (July 7, $29.99, ISBN 978-1-324-02168-1) profiles Raymond Hoser, the Australian who became famous in the 2010s for naming thousands of new snake species, but whom some have accused of “taxonomic vandalism.”
Portfolio
A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future by Robert Wachter (Feb. 3, $32, ISBN 979-8-217-04424-5) details the healthcare industry’s efforts to utilize artificial intelligence.
Princeton Univ.
Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works by Helen Pearson (Apr. 28, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-691-20707-0) demonstrates how the global movement promoting evidence-based thinking can help humanity, particularly in an age of rampant misinformation.
Earth and Life: A Four Billion Year Conversation by Andrew H. Knoll (Mar. 31, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-691-18223-0) explains the geological and biological forces that shaped Earth and how understanding this history can help people navigate the challenges of the present.
Thinking AI: How Artificial Intelligence Emulates Human Understanding by John MacCormick (Apr. 21, $29.95, ISBN 978-0-691-19173-7) describes how AI systems work and how they compare to human brain processes.
Prometheus
Grub: Why We Eat, Why It Matters, and the Seven Forces That Shape Our Food by Lee Cadesky (June 16, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4930-9335-9) traces the cultural and scientific influences that have defined humanity’s relationship with food.
Quanta
The Proof in the Code: How a Truth Machine Is Transforming Math and AI by Kevin Hartnett (June 9, $30, ISBN 978-0-374-62005-9) chronicles the history and influence of Lean, the computer program that helps mathematicians verify the accuracy of theorems, and explores whether computers can reveal universal truths.
Random House
Original Sin: On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness by Kathryn Paige Harden (Mar. 3, $30, ISBN 978-0-593-44762-8) reveals how genetics unsettles our ideas about wrongdoing and choice.
Riverhead
Beyond Inheritance: Our Ever-Mutating Cells and a New Understanding of Health by Roxanne Khamsi (Apr. 21, $30, ISBN 978-0-593-54191-3) explains how cells change over the course of a person’s life, knowledge that’s helping scientists develop vaccines and address cancer.
Skipstone
The Bird with Flaming Red Feet: Seasons with an Uncommonly Common Seabird by Maria Ruth (Apr. 1, $24.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-68051-725-5) relates the history of the pigeon guillemot, a seabird found along the coast from southeast Alaska to Southern California that plays a significant role in the health of marine ecosystems.
Skyhorse
Hidden Wonders: New Species and Rediscoveries in an Age of Extinction by David Alderton (May 26, $32.99, ISBN 978-1-5107-8241-9) shows how scientists continue to discover new species, even in a time of great environmental loss.
St. Martin’s
I Told You So! Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right by Matt Kaplan (Feb. 24, $30, ISBN 978-1-250-37227-7) shares examples throughout history of the scientific community forcefully rejecting new ideas, from Galileo’s heliocentric view of the universe to the work of a present-day biochemist on the brink of a vital Covid-19 vaccine discovery.
Tarcher
Romp! A Journey Through the Natural History of Otters and Why They Matter by Heide Island (Apr. 28, $29, ISBN 978-0-593-85503-4). Tracking a family of river otters in Puget Sound, animal behaviorist Island discusses how these creatures face an uncertain future amid climate change and habitat destruction.
Univ. of Chicago
Quantum 2.0: The Weird Physics Driving a New Revolution in Technology by Paul Davies (Feb. 6, $26, ISBN 978-0-226-84932-4) explores the burgeoning field of quantum information science, which merges quantum physics with information theory and computer science to create new technologies.
Univ. of Florida
The Kite and the Snail: An Endangered Bird, Its Unlikely Prey, and a Story of Hope in a Changing World by Hilary Flower (Mar. 17, $28 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-8130-8149-6) recounts how the endangered Everglades snail kite made a rare comeback by adapting to a new food source.
Wiley
Intelligent Health: The Movement to Unify Data, Harness AI, and Empower People to Thrive by Nasim Afsar (Mar. 3, $40, ISBN 978-1-394-40826-9) lays out how individualized health data can make health care more personalized, participatory, and prevention-focused.
