Hi! I run a book club at work and I've gotten good suggestions here before for books to feature. We like to have a science focus, and in the past we've read books about botany, animals, and psychology.
I'm specifically looking for something that is not depressing! Honestly, the world right now is depressing enough. Do you have any recs for science-y nonfiction that avoid a close focus on topics like science denialism, death, or yawning uncertainty?
We have read and enjoyed The Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. A further suggestion like these books, which are interesting and positive, would be very welcome (does not have to be plant/fungi-focused).
(No self-help or religious books, please!)
by agent-of-asgard
4 Comments
Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau
*An immense world* by Ed Yong
*The light eaters* by Zoe Schlanger
Not sure if this is the exact vibe you were thinking of, but Cherry Ingram by Naoko Abe was an interesting read.
Ingram was a British man who went to Japan in 1902 and became absolutely obsessed with cherry trees. He then spent the rest of his life collecting, conserving and breeding them. He single-handedly saved and spread a couple of cherry species that had gone extinct elsewhere. The book is about his life/work, and the history and culture of cherry trees in Japan. As a horticulture/botany nerd, I really enjoyed it.
Mary Roach ( she has many that are fun to read science type books).