Science has never been more crucial to deciding the political issues facing the country. In the white house and congress today, when they're too inconvenient, findings are reported in a politicized manner; spun or distorted to fit the speaker's agenda; or, ignored entirely. In the republican war on science, chris mooney ties together the disparate strands of the attack on science into a compelling and frightening account of our government's increasing unwillingness to distinguish between legitimate research and ideologically driven pseudoscience.

Exceelent INDEX. Yet science and scientists have less influence with the federal government than at any time since Richard Nixon fired his science advisors. Federal science agencies-once fiercely independent under both Republican and Democratic presidents-are increasingly staffed by political appointees who know industry lobbyists and evangelical activists far better than they know the science.

This is not unique to the bush administration, but it is largely a Republican phenomenon, and safety regulation, and at the extremes, born of a conservative dislike of environmental, health, of evolution and legalized abortion. Exceptional footnotes. On a broad array of issues-stem cell research, environmental regulation, product safety, climate change, sex education, evolution, and many others-the Bush administration's positions fly in the face of overwhelming scientific consensus.

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The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It

Winner of the MN Book Award for Nonfiction. Shawn lawrence otto's provocative new book investigates the historical, and offers a vision, and emotional reasons for why and how evidence-based politics are in decline and authoritarian politics are once again on the rise, philosophical, political, an argument, social, and some compelling solutions to bring us to our collective senses, before it's too late.

At the very time we need them most, scientists and the idea of objective knowledge are being bombarded by a vast, three-part war on science: the identity politics war on science, the ideological war on science, well-funded, and the industrial war on science. Milkweed Editions. The result is an unprecedented erosion of thought in Western democracies as voters, and justices actively ignore the evidence from science, policymakers, leaving major policy decisions to be based more on the demands of the most strident voices.

Wherever the people are well informed, " Thomas Jefferson wrote, "they can be trusted with their own government. But what happens when they are not? in every issue of modern society--from climate change to vaccinations, transportation to technology, health care to defense--we are in the midst of an unprecedented expansion of scientific progress and a simultaneous expansion of danger.

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The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA

The classic personal account of watson and Crick’s groundbreaking discovery of the structure of DNA, now with an introduction by Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind. By identifying the structure of dnA, the molecule of life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionized biochemistry and won themselves a Nobel Prize.

Milkweed Editions. His uncompromisingly honest account of the heady days of their thrilling sprint against other world-class researchers to solve one of science’s greatest mysteries gives a dazzlingly clear picture of a world of brilliant scientists with great gifts, very human ambitions, and bitter rivalries.

At the time, watson was only twenty-four, a young scientist hungry to make his mark. Never has a scientist been so truthful in capturing in words the flavor of his work. Touchstone. With humility unspoiled by false modesty, watson relates his and Crick’s desperate efforts to beat Linus Pauling to the Holy Grail of life sciences, the identification of the basic building block of life.

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Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

These "experts" supplied it. Doubt is our product, " wrote one tobacco executive. It is, and we ignore this message at our peril. Elizabeth kolbert "Brilliantly reported andwritten with brutal clarity. Huffington post now a powerful documentary from the acclaimed director of Food Inc. With deep connections in politics and industry, merchants of doubt was one of the most talked-about climate change books of recent years, for reasons easy to understand: It tells the controversial story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades.

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. Merchants of doubt should finally put to rest the question of whether the science of climate change is settled. The same individuals who claim the science of global warming is "not settled" have also denied the truth about studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole.

Milkweed Editions. Touchstone.

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

In north america, humboldt’s name still graces towns, counties, bays, mountains, lakes, parks, and a river. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. Milkweed Editions. And yet the man has been all but forgotten. In this illuminating biography, goethe, andrea wulf brings humboldt’s extraordinary life back into focus: his prediction of human-induced climate change; his daring expeditions to the highest peaks of South America and to the anthrax-infected steppes of Siberia; his relationships with iconic figures, Muir, including Simón Bolívar and Thomas Jefferson; and the lasting influence of his writings on Darwin, Wordsworth, Thoreau, and many others.

Brilliantly researched and stunningly written, The Invention of Nature reveals the myriad ways in which Humboldt’s ideas form the foundation of modern environmentalism—and reminds us why they are as prescient and vital as ever. Among his most revolutionary ideas was a radical conception of nature as a complex and interconnected global force that does not exist for the use of humankind alone.

. Touchstone. Olson nature writing awardfinalist for the andrew carnegie medal for excellence in nonfiction, publishers weekly, the independent bookshop week book awarda best book of the year: the new york times, The Atlantic, Nature, The Independent, the Kirkus Prize Prize for Nonfiction, The SpectatorAlexander von Humboldt 1769-1859 was the most famous scientist of his age, Kirkus Reviews, New Scientist, The Sunday Times, the Royal Society Science Book Prize, The Evening Standard, The Telegraph, The Economist, Jezebel, a visionary German naturalist and polymath whose discoveries forever changed the way we understand the natural world.

The acclaimed author of founding gardeners reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world—and in the process created modern environmentalism. National best sellerone of the new york times 10 best books of the yearwinner of the los angeles Times Book Prize, The James Wright Award for Nature Writing, the Royal Geographic Society's Ness Award, the Costa Biography Award, the Sigurd F.

Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. Shiva articulates how rural indian women experience and perceive ecological destruction and its causes, and how they have conceived and initiated processes to arrest the destruction of nature and begin its regeneration. Touchstone. The invention of Nature. Inspired by women’s struggles for the protection of nature as a condition for human survival, award-winning environmentalist Vandana Shiva shows how ecological destruction and the marginalization of women are not inevitable, economically or scientifically.

. She argues that “maldevelopment”—the violation of the integrity of organic, and injustice—is dragging the world down a path of self-destruction, interconnected, inequality, and interdependent systems that sets in motion a process of exploitation, threatening survival itself. Milkweed Editions. Focusing on science and development as patriarchal projects, Staying Alive is a powerfully relevant book that positions women not solely as survivors of the crisis, but as the source of crucial insights and visions to guide our struggle.

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The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild

The invention of Nature. Haupt's observations bring compelling new questions to light: whose "home" is this? where does the wild end and the city begin? And what difference does it make to us as humans living our everyday lives? In this wholly original blend of science, story, myth, Haupt draws us into the secret world of the wild creatures that dwell among us in our urban neighborhoods, and memoir, whether we are aware of them or not.

Milkweed Editions. From the bestselling author of Crow Planet, a compelling journey into the secret lives of the wild animals at our back door. In the urban bestiary, raccoons, chickens, hawks, where coyotes, acclaimed nature writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt journeys into the heart of the everyday wild, and humans live in closer proximity than ever before.

. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. Touchstone. Little Brown and Company. With beautiful illustrations and practical sidebars on everything from animal tracking to opossum removal, delight, and respect for the urban wild, THE URBAN BESTIARY is a lyrical book that awakens wonder, and our place within it.

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Did you know that octopuses use coconut shells as tools, that elephants classify humans by gender and language, and deeply informed, and that there is a young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame? Fascinating, entertaining, de Waal’s landmark work will convince you to rethink everything you thought you knew about animal―and human―intelligence.

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. The invention of Nature. Touchstone. Norton. 32 illlustrations Milkweed Editions. Little Brown and Company. A new york times bestseller: "A passionate and convincing case for the sophistication of nonhuman minds. Alison gopnik, dolphins, wasps, bats, and bonobos―to reveal how smart animals really are, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? explores the oddities and complexities of animal cognition―in crows, chimpanzees, parrots, sheep, The AtlanticHailed as a classic, and how we’ve underestimated their abilities for too long.

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The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science- and Reality

Why won't republicans accept things that most experts agree on? why are they constantly fighting against the facts?Science writer Chris Mooney explores brain scans, polls, and psychology experiments to explain why conservatives today believe more wrong things; appear more likely than Democrats to oppose new ideas and less likely to change their beliefs in the face of new facts; and sometimes respond to compelling evidence by doubling down on their current beliefs.

Bestselling author chris mooney uses cutting-edge research to explain the psychology behind why today’s Republicans reject reality—it's just part of who they are. From climate change to evolution, american history, as is the denial of expert consensus on the economy, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing, foreign policy and much more.

. Milkweed Editions. The invention of Nature. But the rejection of science is just the beginning…Certain to spark discussion and debate, The Republican Brain also promises to add to the lengthy list of persuasive scientific findings that Republicans reject and deny. Goes beyond the standard claims about ignorance or corporate malfeasance to discover the real, scientific reasons why Republicans reject the widely accepted findings of mainstream science, economics, and history—as well as many undeniable policy facts e.

G. There were no “death panels” in the health care bill.

A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons

An exhilarating account of sapolsky’s twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate’s Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti—for man and beast alike. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Over two decades, gunpoint encounters, and a surreal kidnapping, Sapolsky survives culinary atrocities, while witnessing the encroachment of the tourist mentality on the farthest vestiges of unspoiled Africa. The invention of Nature. Norton. Scribner. As he conducts unprecedented physiological research on wild primates, he becomes evermore enamored of his subjects—unique and compelling characters in their own right—and he returns to them summer after summer, until tragedy finally prevents him.

In the tradition of jane goodall and dian fossey, a foremost science writer and recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, Robert Sapolsky, tells the mesmerizing story of his twenty-one years in remote Kenya with a troop of Savannah baboons. I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when i grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla, ” writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist’s coming-of-age in remote Africa.

Touchstone. By turns hilarious and poignant, A Primate’s Memoir is a magnum opus from one of our foremost science writers. Milkweed Editions.

Unbowed: A Memoir

Scribner. Infused with her unique luminosity of spirit, faith, Wangari Maathai’s remarkable story of courage, and the power of persistence is destined to inspire generations to come. Little Brown and Company. Touchstone. In unbowed, nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai recounts her extraordinary journey from her childhood in rural Kenya to the world stage.

Milkweed Editions. Norton. The invention of Nature. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. When maathai founded the green belt movement in 1977, focused on the empowerment of women, she began a vital poor people’s environmental movement, that soon spread across Africa. Persevering through run-ins with the kenyan government and personal losses, and jailed and beaten on numerous occasions, Maathai continued to fight tirelessly to save Kenya’s forests and to restore democracy to her beloved country.

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