There’s no better vacation for the mind than a great book. At Nautilus, we’re lucky to come across multitudes each year—whether it’s a meditation on noise, a dive into new theories of life, or a fresh look at our familiar moon. Many of these we feature in our pages, as conversations with the authors, musings on their “3 Greatest Revelations” in writing their book, or a short selection from the book itself.
We assembled some of our favorites from the past year—a curated, expansive, and sometimes-quirky reading list for your summer. Enjoy!
1. How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology by Philip Ball
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You can read more from Philip Ball about the nature of life here.
2. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
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Read an interview with Eve author Cat Bohannon by fellow author Lucy Cooke.
3. Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle
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Read an excerpt from Our Moon and check out author Rebecca Boyle’s “3 Greatest Revelations” while writing.
4. Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
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Read the “3 Greatest Revelations” author Ben Goldfarb experienced while writing it.
5. Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous by Caspar Henderson
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Read an excerpt from Book of Noises about onomatopoeia and the origin of language.
6. Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure by Maggie Jackson
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Read the “3 Greatest Revelations” author Maggie Jackson experienced while writing it.
7. We Loved It All: A Memory of Life by Lydia Millet
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Read an excerpt from We Loved it All.
8. Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath
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Read our article, “Your Memories Are Like Paintings,” based on Charan Ranganath’s work.
9. Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts
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Read an excerpt from Every Living Thing.
10. Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will by Robert Sapolsky
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Read more about the thorny issue of free will here.
Lead image: KindheartedStock / Shutterstock