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Monday, January 12, 2015

Stop by the Devereaux Library and pick up one of these new bestsellers.

Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation by Bill Nye

A sweeping tour of the mechanics of evolution from the Science Guy. "Science is the way we know nature and our place within it," writes Nye, who is open-minded and curious but also someone who likes the best explanations devised by the human project: "In science, a hypothesis should not only explain the evidence we have found," he writes, "it should also make predictions about things not yet discovered....Science is inherently work in progress." … While he has no trouble sinking his teeth into the creationists and anti-evolution activists, Nye really takes flight when he is trying to puzzle out how we get here from there or considering the strangeness of sexual selection ("Consider the peacock, the epitome of costly signaling"). In addition to Darwin, the author examines the contributions of a host of scientists from a variety of disciplines, including biology, geology and genetics. With the smoothness and encouragement that mark his writing, Nye suggests that "[t]he only way to get the answers is to keep looking at living things and learning more about the process by which we all came to be." Proof positive that evolutionary theory can be popular and inviting.




One Nation Under Taught: Solving America's Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Crisis by Dr. Vince M. Bertram and Steve Forbes

One Nation Under Taught offers a clear solution, providing a blueprint for helping students fall in love with STEM subjects, and giving them the tools they need to succeed and go on for further study in these fields. The book challenges our whole way of thinking about education, and encourages educators and policy-makers at all levels to work together to make our schools places that promote curiosity and inspire a love of learning. If we do not change course, we will set our students and our country on the path to a lifetime of poverty. But if we can implement the reforms Dr. Bertram suggests, we can achieve long-lasting prosperity for our children and our nation as a whole.

The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne with Foreword by Christopher Nolan

… Thorne is even-handed in his treatment of the film’s science, admitting where artistic license was substantial and where it was used barely at all. If you enjoyed the film, but found parts of it confusing or puzzling, The Science of Interstellar and the perspectives it provides might be for you.

Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington by Sharyl Attkisson

With more than 30 years in broadcast journalism, Attkisson has received five Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award for her work. She makes the claim that she was as doggedly the scourge of Republican administrations as Democratic ones. But with unrelenting coverage of the flubbed healthcare.gov rollout, Benghazi, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Operation Fast and Furious, the flawed gun-running operation, the author argues that the convergence of a thin-skinned Obama administration’s reaction to her work and “skittish,” liberal ideological news managers at CBS made the climate for her investigative work untenable… Finding it increasingly difficult to get her segments aired as she conceived of them, Attkisson eventually negotiated a departure from the network… The fact that Attkisson joined the staff of the Daily Signal, the news site funded by the Heritage Foundation, after leaving CBS may indicate she’s conservative by nature, but she doesn’t blindly repeat Republican talking points. Instead, she’s more concerned that politicians on both sides of the aisle often forget that they serve everyday citizens rather than the rich and powerful. “[The politicians] think they own your tax dollars,” she writes. “They think they own the information their agencies gather on the public’s behalf. They think they’re entitled to keep that information from the rest of us and…they’re bloody incensed that we want it.”


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