The First Adirondackers challenges the widespread, long-standing belief that the Adirondack uplands of northern New York were uninhabited before the arrival of European colonizers. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Through local indigenous traditions and supporting findings by natural science, authors David Fadden and Curt Stager expose, document, and honor the long human presence in the Adirondacks, helping not only to redefine what it means to be an Adirondacker, but also...

With the same humor and personable ease that characterizes the popular weekly nature program that he coproduces on North Country Public Radio, Curt Stager draws on scientific literature and on his own observations to share his curiosity about the natural world alongside illustrations by Lake Placid naturalist Anne E. Lacy. These twenty natural science essays take us down to ground level to explore the lives of animals, plants, and fungi commonly encountered in the conifer, hardwood, and mi...

A fascinating exploration of lakes around the world, from Walden Pond to the Dead Sea.More than a century and a half have passed since Walden was first published, and the world is now a very different place. Lakes are changing rapidly, not because we are separate from nature but because we are so much a part of it. While many of our effects on the natural world today are new, from climate change to nuclear fallout, our connections to it are ancient, as cor...

"Delightful alchemy: Curt Stager transforms atomic science into lustrous, golden stories about the hidden connections that unite us all." —David George Haskell, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Forest UnseenWhat do atoms have to do with your life? In Your Atomic Self, scientist Curt Stager reveals how they connect you to some of the most amazing things in the universe.You will follow your oxygen atoms through fire and water...

A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction of 2011 titleA bold, far-reaching look at how our actions will decide the planet's future for millennia to come.Imagine a planet where North American and Eurasian navies are squaring off over shipping lanes through an acidified, ice-free Arctic. Centuries later, their northern descendants retreat southward as the recovering sea freezes over again. And later still, future nations plan how to avert an approaching Ice Age... by burning w...

Lakes are changing rapidly today, not because we are separate from nature but because we are so connected to it. But while many of our effects on the natural world are new, from climate change to nuclear fallout, our connections to it are ancient, as core samples from lake beds reveal. In Still Waters, Curt Stager introduces us to the secret worlds hidden within lakes as he travels from the Adirondack wilderness to the wilds of Siberia, from Massachusetts to the Middle East. For h...

Once upon a time, philosophy was a dangerous business—and for no one more so than for Baruch Spinoza, the seventeenth-century philosopher vilified by theologians and political authorities everywhere as "the atheist Jew." As his inflammatory manuscripts circulated underground, Spinoza lived a humble existence in The Hague, grinding optical lenses to make ends meet. Meanwhile, in the glittering salons of Paris, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was climbing the ladder of courtly success. In between ...

THE REALITY OF SPACE SETTLEMENT: An astrophysicist ponders the ethics of living in space for anyone interested in space exploration and the philosophy of science.Before we embark on Star Trek-type missions, we must first ask: Can we truly do better in space than we’ve done here on Earth?We’ve pinpointed the destination, refined the technology, designed the habitat, outfitted our space residents. Are we forgetting something...

"Fascinating and beautiful . . . if only chemistry had been like this at school." —Matt Ridley, New York Times–bestselling author of Genome, in Prospect magazineLike the alphabet, the calendar, or the zodiac, the periodic table of the chemical elements has a permanent place in our imagination. But aside from the handful of common ones (iron, carbon, copper, gold), the elements themselves remain wrapped in mystery. We do not know what most ...

A fresh, fascinating, up-to-the-moment appraisal of black holes—the massive astronomical objects with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing can escape them, not even light—situating them at the center of our understanding of our place on Earth and in the universeHumanity’s relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if there are objects in space that are so large and heav...

**A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEARSeven Deadly Sins will explore the underlying nature of the seven deadly sins, their neuroscientific and psychological basis, and their origin in our genes.**Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Pride. Envy. Lust. Anger. These are The Seven Deadly Sins, the vices of humankind that define immorality. But do these sins really represent moral failings, or are they simply important and useful biological functions that humans need to...

"[This] work is a call not just for leaders to better communicate with their teams but for the everyday person to humanize those they disagree with." —Cy Wakeman, New York Times–bestselling author of The Reality-Based Rules of the WorkplaceStart building bridges instead of barriers! This essential guide offers a simple five-part framework that will help you have honest and enlightening conversations despite deep and fundamental disagreements....