4 Nonfiction Books Scientific American Recommended In June

See The 4 Books Scientific American Loved Reading In June

By Brianne Kane edited by Andrea Gawrylewski

Summer reading is a time-honored tradition. The experience of diving into a captivating thriller or a new spicy romance is beloved by many lifelong readers. But what is there for curious, scientifically inclined readers to enjoy? There are new books out this year about all sorts of fascinating science topics, such as science’s attempts to understand the “sensory smog” that we’re creating in nature’s backyard, the terrifying, slithering snakes that are teaching us about climate change, and even the sentience, power and importance of rivers.

Below is a collection of exclusive book reviews from our Today in Science newsletter for those looking to learn something new while relaxing by the pool this summer. Each Friday this summer, we’ll give you a recommended read to bring to the pool, to the airport or just to your porch.

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Clamor: How Noise Took Over the World and How We Can Take It Back

by Chris Berdik

W. W. Norton, 2025

Sometimes the lights are too bright, there’s too much noise, and it’s all way too distracting. Conservationists have dubbed this particular blight a “sensory smog,” and it’s happening more and more as humans introduce mechanized, loud and jarring sounds into everyday life. In Clamor, science journalist Chris Berdik journeys into the soundscape of our lives, aiming a wide lens on what the origin of sounds is, how they’re affecting our health and how they might shape our collective future. The latest research shows that years of hearing damage can silence quieter tones, such as the purr of a cat settling on your lap. Animals can tell the world around them has gotten louder, too. Amid the human-made underwater racket from cargo ships and seabed exploration, whales seem to be acting like people in a loud bar—staying closer together, talking louder and less often, or not bothering at all. We must protect our own eardrums, yes, but “auditory anxiety” (too many noises keeping heart rates and stress elevated is also a problem to solve for future generations and nearly all other life on this planet. —Brianne Kane

Slither: How Nature’s Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World

by Stephen S. Hall.

Grand Central Publishing, April, 2025

Snakes creep most people out: they slither in and out of sight, hide in startling places and sometimes inflict deadly bites on unsuspecting prey. But science writer Stephen S. Hall, whose latest book is called Slither, is a lifelong snake admirer. For him, snakes are more than menacing. They are incredibly diverse and capable of surviving on every continent except Antarctica, Hall said in a recent appearance on our podcast Science Quickly. The snake’s ability to endure a range of conditions caught his attention, “not just because of the cleverness of the evolution or the selective process, but also, it’s a warning to us in terms of climate change and changes in the global meteorological systems,” he explained. “Snakes have a way of adapting to [such changes] that we don’t have, and maybe we can learn something from them.” Snakes may have directly influenced human evolution as well, he added. “Snake detection theory” posits that our ancient ancestors’ ability to spot snakes in the wild may have helped contribute to larger primate brains. Check out the full interview here. —B.K.

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

by John Green

Crash Course Books, March 2025

Tuberculosis (TB) is thousands of years old and has been cured since the 1950s. Yet, globally, about 10 million people contract it every year, and some 1.25 million die of the disease. TB is a bacterial infection. We have good antibiotics to fight it, thanks in part to a forgotten group of Black nurses on Staten Island, who cared for TB patients during the early 20th century and participated in drug trials: the nurses meticulously recorded patient data, which was essential for the development of a cure. In his latest book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, author John Green argues that TB is very much still a modern-day crisis. He follows the case of a boy with TB in Sierra Leone whose years-long struggle became an emblem of how such diseases thrive in poverty and inequitable societies. “We do not live up to our promise that all people have been created equal. And that’s why we still have tuberculosis,” he said in an interview on our podcast Science Quickly. —B.K.

Is a River Alive?

by Robert Macfarlane

W. W. Norton, May 2025

In 2008 Ecuador startled the world. Articles 71 to 74 of the nation’s then newly ratified constitution stated that nature had rights—rights to be respected for its existence and the crucial, life-giving services it provided and rights to be restored when damaged. Further, it asserted that the government could intervene when human activities might disrupt these inherent rights. In his latest book, Is a River Alive?, Macfarlane travels to three very different rivers (in Ecuador, India and Quebec) to examine the question of a river’s sovereignty. He discovers that rivers create interconnected (and often fragile) worlds of plant and animal species—confirming they are life-giving wherever they run, as many Indigenous populations throughout the world have recognized for thousands of years. Now rivers are fighting for their lives as corporations, governments, pollution and climate change violate their vitalizing flow. “Muscular, wilful, worshipped and mistreated, rivers have long existed in the threshold space between geology and theology,” Macfarlane writes. “Rivers are—I have found—potent presences with which to imagine water differently. We will never think like a river, but perhaps we can think with them.” —Andrea Gawrylewski