Nonfiction News The Ridgefield Library’s Nonfiction Newsletter May 2021

The Best American Science and Nature Writing Nature 2020 edited by Michio Kaku A collection of the best science and nature writing published in North America in 2019, The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our guest-edited by best-selling author and Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature groundbreaking physicist Michio Kaku. by Peter Wohlleben A powerful return to the forest, where trees have heartbeats and roots are like brains that extend New England Nature: Centuries of Writing on underground. Where the color green calms us, the Wonder and Beauty of the Land and the forest sharpens our senses. From the by David K. Leff and Eric D. Lehman bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees. Nature writing cultivates our sense of beauty,

inflaming curiosity and the passion to explore. The Hummingbirds’ Gift: Wonder, Beauty, Sixty entries from voices including Noah and Renewal on Wings Webster, Lydia Sigourney, Helen Keller, Mark by Sy Montgomery Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne and more. Montgomery rescues abandoned hummingbirds

and nurses them back to health until they can A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life fly away and live in the wild. A charming book and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest about the most exquisite and extraordinary Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg winged creatures. This is a hybrid of science writing, travelogue, and biography, as generous and accessible as it is sophisticated, and absolutely riveting. Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard The world's leading forest ecologist, draws us into the intimate world of trees where she Blue: In Search of Nature’s Rarest Color brilliantly illuminates the fascinating truth by Kai Kupferschmidt that trees are a complex, interdependent From the rain forest’s morpho butterfly to the circle of life. blue jay flitting past your window, few living things are blue. A globe-trotting quest to find blue

in the natural world and to understand our Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, collective obsession with this bewitching color. Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer Kimmerer, an indigenous scientist, shows how The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild living beings such as asters and goldenrod, by Enric Sala strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, In this inspiring manifesto, an internationally and sweetgrass, offer us gifts and lessons. renowned ecologist makes a clear case for why Updated edition. protecting nature is our best health insurance, and why it makes economic sense.

Dancing With Bees: A Journey Back to Nature by Brigit Strawbridge Howard A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of With special care and attention to the plight of Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul pollinators and what we can do to help them, How billions of birds circumnavigate the globe, Strawbridge Howard shares the natural world in flying tens of thousands of miles between her own backyard. Shortlisted for the 2020 hemispheres on an annual basis is nothing short of extraordinary. This in an exhilarating look at Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing.

the science and wonder of global bird migration.

Seed to Dust: Life, Nature, and a Country Bicycling With Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Garden by Marc Hamer Journey Following the Monarch Migration This meditative memoir explores the wisdom of by Sara Dykman plants, the joys of manual labor, and the natural An outdoor educator and field researcher recounts cycle of growth and decay that runs through her incredible round-trip journey from Mexico, both the garden’s life and our own, from the across the United States, into Canada and to acclaimed author of How to Catch a Mole. New York and back. 472 Main St., Ridgefield, CT 06877—203/438-2282—www.ridgefieldlibrary.org The Ridgefield Library’s NONFICTION Newsletter – Page 2

The Reviewed: Essays on a NEW NONFICTION Human-Centered Planet by John Green The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in SAMPLER which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. John Green’s gift for Facing the Mountain: A True Story of storytelling shines throughout this masterful Japanese American Heroes in World War II collection adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking . by Daniel James Brown A gripping World War II saga based on extensive interviews with the families as well as deep archival research, chronicling the The Secret to Superhuman Strength special Japanese-American Army unit that by Alison Bechdel overcame brutal odds in Europe. From the From the author of Fun Home, a bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat. profoundly affecting graphic memoir of Bechdel's lifelong love affair with exercise, set against a hilarious chronicle of fitness fads How to Be Human: An Autistic Man’s in our times. Guide to Life by Jory Fleming An unforgettable, unconventional narrative that examines the many ways to be fully Everyday Dinners: Real-Life Recipes to Set human, told by the first young adult with Your Family Up for a Week of Success autism to attend Oxford University as a by Jessica Merchant Rhodes Scholar. As life gets busier, it’s increasingly harder to set aside time to put a nourishing meal on the table after a long day. Jessica Merchant gives

us the tools and tricks to make that possible. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein A revolutionary exploration of why people You Will Get Through This Night make bad judgments and how to make better by Daniel Howell ones. Kahneman is the Nobel Prize-winning A guide to taking control of your mental health for today, tomorrow, and the days after, from the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow. bestselling author and beloved entertainer. You will laugh and learn and this book will assure you that even in your darkest times, there is always hope. Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters by Steven E. Koonin Design the Home You Love Fascinating, clear-headed, and full of by Lee Mayer and Emily Motayed surprises, this book gives readers the tools to Havenly co-founders break down the world of both understand the climate issue and be home design. You will learn how to identify savvier consumers of science media in your own style and then how to incorporate general. furniture that matches your style and fits your budget to achieve your design goals.

Greenfeast: Spring, Summer by Nigel Slater Peaceful on Purpose: The Power to Remain 110 vegetarian spring and summer recipes that provide nourishing and simple plant- Calm, Strong, and Confident in Every Season based suppers while paying homage to the by Joel Osteen The opposite of peace is worry and stress. Both warm seasons—from the beloved author of Tender. are thieves that rob you of your sleep, joy, creativity, and good decisions. Instead, live from a place of abundant peace in the midst of

everyday worries and stress.

And Now I Spill the Family Secrets: An

Illustrated Memoir by Margaret Kimball The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold Both a coming-of-age story about family War by Louis Menand dysfunction and a reflection on mental health, In his follow-up to the Pulitzer this is a funny, poignant, and deeply inspiring Prize–winning The Metaphysical Club, Louis portrayal of what drives a family apart and Menand offers a new intellectual and cultural what keeps them together. history of the postwar years.