Okay this one requires some convolution to get from point A to point B, given that I've deviated rather far from the initial prompts but in my brain it goes like this: I got a little too close to this topic last week with the visiting places prompt (where I very much went for the fantasy worlds angle) and I just kind of felt like spotlighting some of my favourites from the current actual world where I reside at the moment.
1. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin: this was, I think, the full-length popular science book that I ever made my way through?
2. At the Water's Edge by Carl Zimmer: the whales bits were my favourite, whale evolution is fascinating
3. Lone Survivors by Chris Stringer: biological anthropology remains one of my favourite areas of study ever and this was such a fantastic overview (although it's probably a wee bit dated now, there have been a few new developments in the past few years!)
4. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte: confession: I haven't actually finished this one yet, but I really enjoyed what I have read. Modern paleontology!
5. Evolution: the Whole Story edited by Steve Parker: another one that I haven't read cover-to-cover, I just like to pull it down of the shelf and look at it from time to time, there are some lovely photos and it's more profile-style than a linear progression of information so picking it up for a bit at a time works.
6. The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner: long term vertebrate evolution research! It's on my shelf right now, I bought a copy when I had to return the library's copy before finishing it, I'm really looking forward to picking it up again.
7. Paradise Lot by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates: this one made me look at food-gardening differently, especially from an ecosystem lens!
8. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman: I don't actually remember finishing this one because I was pretty young when I picked it up... my father was reading it and I sometimes just picked up whatever my parents were reading, I think?
9. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer: I've gushed quite a lot about this one already but I think it bears repeating: this is such a valuable experience, especially in audiobook form.
10. The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing: this one was nice because it was interesting and also because it made me look at social anthropology in a less frustration-filled light than I tend to regard social anthropology with? I have complicated feelings about social anthropology.
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is one I definitely want to read. Whenever I see it I'm reminded how much I want to get to it. The World Without Us sounds fascinating too!
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to finishing The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs! (Contrary to the what the title suggests, it actually touches on a lot of non-dinosaur denizens of the prehistoric world, which is really great.) The World Without Us is one I should really reread due to the fact that I was pretty young and can't remember the particulars...
DeleteI don't read a lot of non fiction, but these books do look fascinating. My TTT
ReplyDeleteI've been picking up more and more nonfiction lately! Audiobook nonfiction has been a revelation for me.
DeleteI wouldn't mind seeing some dinosaurs (from a holodeck, not IRL). I guess it kinda ties into this week after all! ;-)
ReplyDeleteParadise Lot sounds kinda interesting.
I mean, birds are technically dinosaurs, so you can see them any old time. As for the non-avian ones... I think I'd like to see those too. Possibly not even remotely...
DeleteParadise Lot is a really good read! It was kind of eye opening for me for how different the approach to food gardening is in permaculture (which was, itself, something I hadn't heard of before starting the book).
Very interesting spin to put on this weeks prompt! The Mushroom at the End of the World sounds really interesting (and has an amazing title).
ReplyDeleteMy TTT this week.
The title and cover were a huge draw for me for The Mushroom at the End of the World! It wound up being a really good experience for me to listen to.
DeleteI enjoy reading about biological anthropology as well. It's such a fascinating topic. What other extinct homo species do you wish you could meet? I've always wished I could meet a few Neanderthals.
ReplyDeleteMy Top Ten Tuesday post.
All of them, probably. Although I'd probably be weird and scary looking to all of them. Modern humans are really, really weird looking when you think about it?
DeleteIt is really incredible to me that, in the geological blink of an eye, modern humans became the only representatives of the genus on the planet. It wasn't that long ago (in the grand scheme of things) that there were others...
What a great post! I for sure am going to have to check out The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Love me some paleontology/anthropology books!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT post
Paleontology and anthropology are kind pretty much among my favourite things... they have been for a really long time (I never got the dinosaur fixation I had at the age of 4...).
DeleteI didn’t do great at anthropology in college, but it is a fascinating subject. Last year, I read Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History and loved it. It has some anthropology in it. Great list!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
The thing about anthropology is that I'm kind of polar about it. I don't like classical social anthropology, and my first ever anthro class was taught like that... so for my first semester I kind of loathed it. But I adore biological anthropology.
DeleteI don't read a lot of nonfiction, but my husband would love this post! He's big on scientific and thought-provoking books, so I'll be sure to share this list with him. :)
ReplyDeleteLindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬
Non-fiction is kind of a growing part of my reading diet? Fiction is still most of what I read but there's some really lovely non-fiction out there!
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