More Non-Fiction Pleasures

We lately read a terrific little book about geology, Reading the rocks : the autobiography of the earth by Marcia Bjornerud. It's gracefully written, the author is a working scientist who knows what she is writing about, it's short, and for the non-specialist it offers new thoughts on almost every page.
       There's a particular pleasure in reading science written (clearly and well) by scientists. Other examples in recent years include Craig Stanford's Upright : the evolutionary key to becoming human, or Ants at work : how an insect society is organized by Deborah M. Gordon.
       And though James Gleick is a science writer, not a working scientist, in the realm of learning things you otherwise might have no idea about, you might also consider his brief biography of Isaac Newton. Or New Mexico essayist Sharman Apt Russell's An obsession with butterflies : our long love affair with a singular insect. Or, moving on to slightly longer books, almost any of anthropologist Brian Fagan's books about archaeology; two recent titles which might work for any serious general reader are The long summer : how climate changed civilization and Chaco Canyon : archaeologists explore the lives of an ancient society.
       PS. The list of recently ordered non-fiction has just been updated. In fact, all the What's New lists are refreshed.