{"id":38111,"date":"2025-08-01T00:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/38111\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T00:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:27:16","slug":"4-science-book-recommendations-we-loved-reading-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/38111\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Science Book Recommendations We Loved Reading in July"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Books Scientific American Read in July<\/p>\n

Check out Scientific American\u2019s fiction and nonfiction book recommendations for July<\/p>\n

By Brianne Kane<\/a> edited by Andrea Gawrylewski<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Open <\/p>\n

Fernando Trabanco Fotograf\u00eda\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

July 2025 has been a sweltering month, but we at Scientific American have still squeezed in some fun in the sun and a hot dog or two, all while choosing the best books to read poolside. We\u2019ve been busy exploring new science books. This month we read science-backed advice from one parent to another; met a robot with seriously snarky sentience; uncovered the global black market for trash; and traveled to the ends of the Earth, where scientists are discovering the history of the planet\u2014and a glimpse into our future.<\/p>\n

What are you reading this summer? Sign up for our daily newsletter Today in Science<\/a> to get exclusive weekly reading recommendations and share your booklist.<\/p>\n

\"CoverOn supporting science journalism<\/p>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n

Hello, Cruel World! Science-Based Strategies for Raising Terrific Kids in Terrifying Times<\/a>
by Melinda Wenner Moyer
G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons, May 2025<\/p>\n

The world seems to have gotten meaner\u2014or just harder to raise kids in. Ensuring they\u2019re ready to combat escalating climate change, growing political turmoil and dangerous online misinformation hasn\u2019t made things any easier. Thankfully, parents can turn to science-backed strategies to help prepare their kids for a complicated future. For her new book, Hello, Cruel World! science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer talked to experts for evidence-backed tips for helping young people cope with challenges<\/a>, connect to others and cultivate strong character. In an interview with Scientific American, Moyer said that to help children develop savvy news judgment, nearly \u201cevery media literacy expert\u201d recommended this approach: ask them open-ended questions about the media they watch\u2014such as \u201cWhat do you like about this show?\u201d\u2014or, for bigger kids, more complex queries\u2014such as \u201cWho might benefit from this? Who might be harmed by it?\u201d And how should parents respond when kids actually answer these big questions? Drop everything and just listen, even when you disagree, Moyer said. \u2014Brianne Kane<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/p>\n

The Murderbot Diaries series<\/a>
by Martha Wells
Tor Books, 2017\u2013present<\/p>\n

The season finale of the television series Murderbot aired in early July<\/a> on Apple TV+, concluding the first season of the buzzworthy adaptation of Martha Wells\u2019s beloved science-fiction novella series The Murderbot Diaries. But I couldn\u2019t help but wonder: Would the titular Murderbot enjoy the TV show? In Wells\u2019s books, Murderbot (a cyborg security unit assigned to scientists on a dangerous planet) is a connoisseur of soap operas and saccharine romantic subplots, which the TV version smartly highlights. Apple TV+ surprised me with a thoughtful and creative adaptation of the books, diving deep into the group dynamics of the planetary research team\u2014the TV writers even created, and solved, some messy \u201cthrouple\u201d drama surprisingly well. In the books, Wells creates a believable and lovable cyborg with her creative exploration of neuroscience\u2014\u201cmixing brains and computer circuitry is not only science fiction,\u201d there’s real science behind it<\/a>, wrote Scientific American\u2019s associate editor of mind and brain Allison Parshall in a recent article. Of course, the books are better than the show (aren\u2019t they usually?). But the TV adaptation of these internal-dialogue-heavy novellas does Murderbot justice\u2014or at least as much justice as can be expected within the Corporation Rim space sector. The online magazine Reactor published a brand-new Murderbot short story by Martha Wells on the same day the finale aired. \u2014B.K.<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/p>\n

Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future<\/a>
by Neil Shubin
Dutton, February 2025<\/p>\n

The North and South Poles couldn\u2019t feel more remote. But for Neil Shubin, a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist, they are both familiar and intricately connected to the story of planet Earth. Shubin, who co-discovered Tiktaalik roseae<\/a>, a 375-million-year-old fossil of a hybrid creature, something between a fish and a land-living animal, has made a career of hunting for ancient signs of life at the poles. In his latest book, Ends of the Earth, Shubin gives a sweeping overview of how ice tells our cosmic history. For instance, geochemical analyses of the more than 50,000 meteorites gathered in Antarctica helped pinpoint the timing of the formation of the solar system. And fluctuating glacier size has dictated global weather and sea levels for millions of years. In fact, polar ice established ocean currents and wind patterns that led to variable weather conditions across East Africa millions of years ago. Some anthropologists believe that in adapting to such different environments, our ancestors developed larger brains and cognitive abilities. Most striking, though, is how quickly polar ice is currently changing<\/a>, he says. \u201cOur fragile window for understanding the cosmos, the planet, and ourselves is closing,\u201d Shubin writes. \u2014Andrea Gawrylewski<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/p>\n

Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife of Your Trash<\/a>
by Alexander Clapp
Little, Brown and Company, February 2025<\/p>\n

Billions of dollars are spent every year moving countless tons of trash all around the world in a waste black market\u2014and no one knows exactly where it all goes or who is making a profit. Science journalist Alexander Clapp spent two years living out of a backpack in search of toxic dump sites hidden deep in unmapped jungles and traversing mountains of trash visible from space for his new book Waste Wars. \u201cA lot of global trash over the last 30 to 40 years has been going to poor countries under the guise that it\u2019s being recycled<\/a>,\u201d Clapp told Scientific American in a recent interview. But humans break down that waste in a lethal and dangerous process that releases toxic chemicals into the air and water, he said, and those chemicals disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. \u201cIf you\u2019re sending waste to another country, you\u2019re not calling it trash on any export document\u2014you\u2019re calling it recyclable material<\/a>,\u201d Clapp added. \u201cOne thing that I hope my book encourages or leads people to question is how much of our waste is actually moving around the world.\u201d \u2014B.K.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What Books Scientific American Read in July Check out Scientific American\u2019s fiction and nonfiction book recommendations for July…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-38111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}