Book picks similar to
Rabbits with Horns and Other Astounding Viruses by Carl Zimmer
biology
science
non-fiction
night-of-the-notyetread
The Chronic Cough Enigma: How to recognize, diagnose and treat neurogenic and reflux related cough
Jamie A. Koufman - 2014
The Chronic Cough Enigma is written for people who have been coughing for months or years and cannot get useful answers from their doctors.More than 20 million Americans suffer from what is known as enigmatic chronic cough. This book provides insights from Dr. Jamie Koufman’s almost forty years of successfully managing thousands of long-suffering cough patients. Indeed, the typical chronic cough patient who comes to her office has been coughing for more than a decade. This book provides the many who suffer from chronic cough new and potentially life-changing information and the potential to be cured.
The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary
Caspar Henderson - 2012
Ranging from the depths of the ocean to the most arid corners of the land, Caspar Henderson captures the beauty and bizzareness of the many living forms we thought we knew and some we could never have contemplated, inviting us to better imagine the precarious world we inhabit.A witty, vivid blend of cutting edge natural history and meditative reflections, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings is infectious and celebratory about the sheer ingenuity and variety of life.
Hope for the Heart of the Homeschool Mom: Encouragement for the Days When Sanity is Limited
Jamerrill Stewart - 2015
Encouragement. Sanity. On any number of homeschooling days, I've needed all three. It's not that homeschooling is an unwanted chore. Homeschooling my children is one of my greatest joys. It's a privilege. I'm so incredibly blessed by this undertaking. And I'm challenged. I'm pulled. I'm stretched. I'm growing. I'm finding my reheated coffee in the microwave at 2 p.m. wondering where the morning went. Trying hard to soak up the sweet and sacred moments with these souls and miss stepping on the Lego pile in the process. Friend, I'm sure you've felt the same. The pages of Hope for the Heart of the Homeschool Mom is a collection of encouragement to prayerfully strengthen your soul for this God-given journey. A journey that's beyond stretching and beyond worth it.
The Midnight Dog Walkers: Positive Training and Practical Advice for Living With Reactive and Aggressive Dogs
Annie Phenix - 2016
Statistics show that aggression is not only the most serious problem in dogs but also the top reason for owners to seek out professional help for their pets. Left unchecked, an aggressive dog can become a dangerous dog, and this informative volume comes to the aid of many heartbroken owners who feel that they have tried everything to correct their dogs’ unpredictable and inappropriate behavior. Author and certified dog trainer Annie Phenix shares her belief that many reactive dogs can be rehabilitated with the right training, and she offers her expertise in positive, force-free training methods to desperate owners who have resorted to extreme measures to keep their dogs away from other people and animals.Inside The Midnight Dog Walkers:Stories and practical examples from the author based on aggressive dogs she’s trained and ownedBehavioral warning signs that owners should recognizeDefinitions of different types of aggression and why they occurTips on how to handle a potentially aggressive or aggressive dogThe author’s force-free training philosophy and how she applies it with her clients to effect positive changesPopular myths and misconceptions about training these "grumpy growlers"
Blueprint: How DNA makes us who we are
Robert Plomin - 2018
Our intellectual capacity, our introversion or extraversion, our vulnerability to mental illness, even whether we are a morning person - all of these aspects of our personality are profoundly shaped by our inherited DNA differences.In Blueprint, Robert Plomin, a pioneer in the field of behavioural genetics, draws on a lifetime's worth of research to make the case that DNA is the most important factor shaping who we are. Our families, schools and the environment around us are important, but they are not as influential as our genes. This is why, he argues, teachers and parents should accept children for who they are, rather than trying to mould them in certain directions. Even the environments we choose and the signal events that impact our lives, from divorce to addiction, are influenced by our genetic predispositions. Now, thanks to the DNA revolution, it is becoming possible to predict who we will become, at birth, from our DNA alone. As Plomin shows us, these developments have sweeping implications for how we think about parenting, education, and social mobility.A game-changing book by a leader in the field, Blueprint shows how the DNA present in the single cell with which we all begin our lives can impact our behaviour as adults.
The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves
Arik Kershenbaum - 2020
Scientists are confident that there is alien life across the universe yet we have not moved beyond our perception of 'aliens' as Hollywood stereotypes. The time has come to abandon our fixation on alien monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing.Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin's theory of evolution - which applies throughout the universe - Cambridge zoologist Dr Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like: how these creatures will move, socialise and communicate.For example, by observing fishes whose electrical pulses indicate social status, we can see that other planets might allow for communication by electricity. As there was evolutionary pressure to wriggle along a sea floor, Earthling animals tend to have left/right symmetry; on planets where creatures evolved mid-air or in soupy tar they might be lacking any symmetry at all.Might there be an alien planet with supersonic animals? Will they scream with fear, act honestly, or have technology? Is the universe swarming with robots? Dr Kershenbaum uses cutting-edge science to paint an entertaining and compelling picture of extra-terrestrial life.The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy is the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.***'If you don't want to be surprised by extraterrestrial life, look no further than this lively overview of the laws of evolution that have produced life on earth' - Frans de Waal, author of Mama's Last Hug - Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves'A fun, and thoroughly biological, exploration of possible and impossible alien beings. If you'd love to know what real aliens from other planets might really be like, this is the book for you' - Susan Blackmore, author of Seeing Myself'Surveying the deep-time of evolution on Earth and his own cutting-edge research into animal communication, Kershenbaum provides a fascinating insight into the deepest of questions: what might an alien actually look like'- Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins'Arik Kershenbaum takes us on a joyous voyage of animal diversity and illustrates the singular importance of natural selection in explaining life - here on Earth - and what will likely be discovered throughout the galaxy. A stimulating read!' - Daniel T. Blumstein, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles
Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures
Nick Pyenson - 2018
They evolved from land-roaming, dog-like creatures into animals that move like fish, breathe like us, can grow to 300,000 pounds, live 200 years and roam entire ocean basins. Whales fill us with terror, awe, and affection--yet we know hardly anything about them, and they only enter our awareness when they die, struck by a ship or stranded in the surf. Why did it take whales over 50 million years to evolve to such big sizes, and how do they eat enough to stay that big? How did their ancestors return from land to the sea? Why do they beach themselves? What do their lives tell us about our oceans, and evolution as a whole? Importantly, in the sweepstakes of human-driven habitat and climate change, will whales survive?Nick Pyenson's research has given us the answers to some of our biggest questions about whales. Nick's rich storytelling takes us to the cool halls deep inside the Smithsonian's priceless fossil collection, to the frigid fishing decks on Antarctic whaling stations, and to the blazing hot desert of Chile where scientists race against time to document the largest fossil whalebone site on earth. Spying on Whales is science writing at its best: an author who is an incredible, passionate writer, at the forefront of his field, on a topic that invokes deep fascination.
Mindfulness Without Meditation: Creating Mindful Habits That Actually Stick
Shea Matthew Fisher - 2015
Do you want the calm, clarity, and focus of mindfulness without the trappings of formal meditation practice? This book will provide you with a set of tips and techniques that can guide you in infusing your daily life, as it already is, with exactly that.
So You've Retired: A Practical Guide For Your Happy Retirement
Olivia Greenwell - 2016
Approaching or beginning retirement is a milestone event. For most of our lives retirement feels like it’s on the distant horizon, something to think about tomorrow rather than today. When the day finally does arrive, for many it can feel a little daunting and overwhelming – how should one spend all this new found free time? Olivia Greenwell has the answers, with friendly advice on: How to navigate your way through the questions you may have New opportunities that could present themselves in retirement How to find further information on the exciting opportunities presented As you experience the wonderful peace and contentment of retirement, this book will help you discover what makes you happy, and how to enjoy your life to the fullest. What are you waiting for? Start living the retirement you always dreamt of, by uncovering all the tools you need today!
Once a Wolf: The Science Behind Our Dogs' Astonishing Genetic Evolution
Bryan Sykes - 2019
How is it that Homo sapiens formed such a special relationship with what, on the face of it, is a most unlikely ally? It is more than just a story of domestication but an astonishing example of the co-evolution of two species, man and wolf, to each others' mutual benefit. This co-evolution was a vital step in helping Homo sapiens overcome competition from other human species and to expand in numbers from relative obscurity on the margins towards the overwhelming numerical superiority and influence that we enjoy today. The book draws on the rich scientific detail of the genomes, both dog and human, that has accumulated over the past two decades. In each case we see a clear pattern of the origins of both species, resolving questions that have puzzled scientists for centuries. Sykes explores the breadth of this `special relationship' between man and dog. We know that dogs descend from wolves. We know that their domesticated descendants form close bonds with ourselves and there are a multitude of theories to account for our compatible social organisations. But to a geneticist, this is nowhere near powerful enough to explain this most peculiar situation. Many theories explore what it was that propelled Homo sapiens from the position of a scarce, medium-sized primate to the position of complete domination that we enjoy today. The ability to control fire, the evolution of language and the invention of agriculture are three prominent examples. Sykes crucially adds a fourth: our transformation of the wolf into the multi-purpose helpmate that is the dog. We owe our dominance and our survival to the dog.
Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious
António R. Damásio - 2021
In the forty-eight brief chapters of Feeling & Knowing, and in writing that remains faithful to our intuitive sense of what feeling and experiencing are about, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large. He combines the latest discoveries in various sciences with philosophy and discusses his original research, which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding how we experience the world within and around us and find our place in the universe.
Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction
Judith Grisel - 2019
With more than one in every five people over the age of fourteen addicted, drug abuse has been called the most formidable health problem worldwide. If we are not victims ourselves, we all know someone struggling with the merciless compulsion to alter their experience by changing how their brain functions.Drawing on years of research--as well as personal experience as a recovered addict--researcher and professor Judy Grisel has reached a fundamental conclusion: for the addict, there will never be enough drugs. The brain's capacity to learn and adapt is seemingly infinite, allowing it to counteract any regular disruption, including that caused by drugs. What begins as a normal state punctuated by periods of being high transforms over time into a state of desperate craving that is only temporarily subdued by a fix, explaining why addicts are unable to live either with or without their drug. One by one, Grisel shows how different drugs act on the brain, the kind of experiential effects they generate, and the specific reasons why each is so hard to kick.Grisel's insights lead to a better understanding of the brain's critical contributions to addictive behavior, and will help inform a more rational, coherent, and compassionate response to the epidemic in our homes and communities.
How to Bullsh*t Your Way to Number 1: An Unorthodox Guide to 21st Century Success
Oobah Butler - 2019
Its safe to say that he hadn't achieved much with his life. Yet just a year on, on the back of three documentaries that have been viewed over 150m times, hes won awards, been featured on TV all over the world and has been lauded by critics, commentators and serial achievers across the globe. How did everything turn for him? With an idea.
Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
Richard Fortey - 2008
1' is an intimate biography of the Natural History Museum, celebrating the eccentric personalities who have peopled it and capturing the wonders of scientific endeavour, academic rigour and imagination.
Why Birds Sing: A Journey Into the Mystery of Bird Song
David Rothenberg - 2005
Evolutionists have never been able to completely explain why birdsong is so inventive and why many species devote so many hours to singing. The standard explanations of defending territories and attracting mates don't begin to account for the variety and energy that the commonest birds exhibit. Is it possible that birds sing because they like to? This seemingly naive explanation is starting to look more and more like the truth. Why Birds Sing is a lyric exploration of birdsong that blends the latest scientific research with a deep understanding of musical beauty and form. Drawing on conversations with neuroscientists, ecologists, and composers, it is the first book to investigate the elusive question of why birds sing and what their song means to both avian and human ears. Whether playing his clarinet with the whitecrested laughing thrush in Pittsburgh, or jamming in the Australian winter breeding grounds of the Albert's lyrebird, Rothenberg immerses himself in the heart and soul of birdsong. He approaches the subject as a naturalist, philosopher, musician, and investigator. An intimate look at the mostlovely of natural phenomena, Why Birds Sing is a beautifully written exploration of a phenomenon that's at once familiar and profoundly alien.