Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The books just keep on coming!

Another large shipment of new books brings many more possibilities for your summer reading list. Continuing the garden theme, we offer Gods and goddesses in the garden : Greco-Roman mythology and the scientific names of plants, by Peter Bernhardt. There is something for everyone on the new book shelf, whether you're looking for an explanation of the placebo effect or want to explore the color of butterfly wings or are anxious to identify a spotted tail quoll (see color plate 1 of Trees, truffles, and beasts for a close up of that carnivorous marsupial). The universe and solar system are featured in several new titles, as is sedimentary geology. Not to be missed is Bonk: the curious coupling of science and sex, by Mary Roach, best-selling author of Stiff. Alternative reproductive tactics provides a rather drier but no less fascinating approach to studying sexual behavior. Do stop by and find a book for yourself. Gracious, it is nearly the end of June! So many options, so little time ...before required reading takes over students' lives.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Summer Reading is Here!

Our newest shipment of books includes great titles to see you through the summer. Chemistry in the garden by James Hanson, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, is a fine introduction to natural products chemistry in common plants possibly growing in your own backyard.

The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter "is at once a history of ideas and an exploration of modern science and the frontiers of human knowledge" [from the publisher, Princeton Univ. Press].

There are dozens more on the new book list! Selected keywords from the list will whet your appetite for good reading: Archimedes, Hiroshima, stem cell ethics, feminist science, DNA & evolution, nanosilicon, death in the Cretaceous, seashells, parasitoids, sexual behavior, synergy, biomass combustion, hydrogen future, neuroeconomics, Amazon, stream ecology...

stop in and check out a few. Heard of a good book we should order? Tell us! email aricker at oberlin.edu. Thanks.