New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

Patrick Brodie and Darin Barney eds., "Media Rurality" (Duke UP, 2026)

03 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Media Rurality (Duke UP, 2026), edited by Darin Barney and Patrick Brodie, investigates the centrality of rural places and people within the media ...

Scott Solomon, "Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds" (MIT Press, 2026)

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How living in space will affect future generations—and what the potential unintended consequences of space settlements are.We are on the cusp of a g...

Deirdre Loughridge & Thomas Patteson, "The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments" (Reaktion, 2026)

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments (Reaktion, 2026) by Dr. Deirdre Loughridge & Dr. Thomas Patteson is a guided tour through centuries of in...

Vindhya Buthpitiya, "A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka" (U Washington Press, 2026)

29 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A Volatile Picture: War and the Political Work of Photography in Sri Lanka (U Washington Press, 2026) by Dr. Vindhya Buthpitiya is a groundbreaking ...

Raffaele Danna, "The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals: How Practical Arithmetic Shaped Commerce and Mathematics in Western Europe, 1200–1600" (Harvard UP, 2026)

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the thirteenth-century Mediterranean, commerce transformed as merchants shifted from Roman to Indo-Arabic numerals—an alternative that better fac...

Karen Hao, "Empire of AI: Inside the Race for Total Domination" (Allan Lane, 2025)

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hello! Thanks for reaching out. I'm glad you're here! Do you have any questions or thoughts about the recent discussion with Karen Hao on AI and its s...

A Shakeup Is Coming for the Nation-State: A Conversation with Stephen Sims

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Sims’ New Atlantis essay examines how emerging technologies are reshaping the structure and authority of the modern nation-state. He argue...

Roland Betancourt, "Disneyland and the Rise of Automation: How Technology Created the Happiest Place on Earth" (Princeton UP, 2026)

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When Disneyland opened to the public in 1955, it demystified the hidden world of factory automation through its extraordinary new attractions. In Dis...

Sarah Murray, "Powered by Smart: A Prehistory of Everyday AI" (NYU Press, 2026)

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Powered by Smart traces the techno-cultural evolutions that made artificial intelligence feel more familiar than futuristic. From wearables and strea...

The Information State: How is the State Surveilling and Manipulating us These Days?

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of International Horizons, RBI Acting Director Eli Karetny interviews Jacob Siegel, writer, Army veteran, and author of The Informat...

David Blumenthal and James A. Morone, "Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science" (Yale UP, 2026)

21 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For nearly a century, every Democratic president—and many Republicans—entered office promising to restructure America’s health care system. Bara...

Generic

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of High Theory, Kim talks to Ben Mangrum about Generic. A curious term that denotes both the conventions and rules of genre, and the i...

Adrian Woolfson, "On the Future of Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence" (MIT Press, 2026)

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a future where we grow houses rather than build them. Where smartphones are alive, clothing has opinions and all human knowledge fits into a s...

Kristan Stoddart, "Russia's Hybrid Warfare Offensive Against the West" (de Gruyter, 2025)

19 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kristan Stoddart's Russia's Hybrid Warfare Offensive Against the West (de Gruyter, 2025) is a timely and systematic analysis of Russian hybrid warfa...

Ibrahim J. Gedeon and Kyle Murray, "Automata: The Power of AI Integrated with Advanced Robotics" (U Toronto Press, 2026)

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Automata examines how AI and advanced robotics are rapidly surpassing human abilities in fields once thought uniquely ours – from playing chess to d...

Keith Cooper, "Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact" (Reaktion, 2025)

15 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a double sunset on Tatooine, stand among the sand dunes of Arrakis or gaze at the gas-giant plan...

Nabil Ali, "Gold from Newton's Apple Tree: Historical Recipes for Natural Inks, Paints, and Dyes" (Princeton UP, 2026)

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Flowering currant, ivy, Portuguese laurel, and woad might all have grown in a medieval garden, but it would have taken special expertise to extract an...

David Kirsch on the Dot Com Bubble and Bust

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We chat with historian David Kirsch, Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School, about ...

Alberto Galasso, "The Management of Innovation: Managing and Creating Technology Capital" (Rotman-UTP Publishing, 2024)

12 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Despite the importance of innovation for the growth of firms, industries, and the national economy, the strategic tools available to effectively manag...

Flower Darby, "The Joyful Online Teacher: Finding Our Fizz in Asynchronous Classes" (U Oklahoma Press, 2026)

12 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The happier the teacher, the better the learning experience--for instructor and student alike. With this equation at its core, The Joyful Online Teac...

Peter D. McDonald, "The Impossible Reversal: A History of How We Play" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

11 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Tracing the cultural history of play--from Fluxus to SimCity Games and gamified activities have become ubiquitous in many adults' lives, and play is w...

The Green Transition and the Politics of Lithium Extraction

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Lithium is necessary for the green transition but its mining comes with significant environmental and social harms. This is the conundrum at the core ...

David Arditi, "Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok" (Anthem Press, 2026)

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Who makes a living from the music industry? In Music Technology Panic Narratives Beyond Piracy: From Taping to Napster to TikTok (Anthem Press, 2...

Douglas H. Erwin, "The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology" (Princeton UP, 2026)

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Origins of the New (Princeton University Press, 2026) presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this g...

Tim Altenhof, "Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings" (Zone Books, 2026)

05 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Breathing Space: The Architecture of Pneumatic Beings (Zone Books, 2026) is a compelling and wide-ranging analysis of pneumatic phenomena in modern c...

Eivind Røssaak, "The Cory Arcangel Hack: Digital Culture and Aesthetic Practice" (MIT Press, 2025)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The first in-depth exploration of the work of artist Cory Arcangel, a pioneer of DIY-new media art whose influential “hacks” subvert the confines ...

Wout Saelens, "Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries" (Leuven UP, 2026)

04 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Fossil Consumerism: Energy, Ecology and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Low Countries (Leuven UP, 2026) by Dr. Wout Saelens explores how the homes ...

Isabelle Held, "Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies" (Duke UP, 2026)

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Bullet bras, bazookas, bombshells, bikinis. In Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies (Duke UP, 2026), Dr. Isabelle Held challenges t...

Ben Collier on Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Ben Co...

Vojta Hybl, "Rocks: A Guide to the Stones Around Us and the Stories They Tell" (Frances Lincoln, 2026)

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What is that rock you’ve just picked up? Which minerals is it made of, what’s unique about it and what can it reveal about Earth’s deeper story?...

Caste and Tech with Murali Shanmugavelan and Sareeta Amrute

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode features a conversation with Murali Shanmugavelan and Sareeta Amrute about how caste structures IT workspaces and communication infrastru...

Steffan Blayney, "Health and Efficiency: Fatigue, the Science of Work, and the Making of the Working-Class Body" (Activist Studies of Science, 2022)

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Our guest today is Steffan Blayney, the author of Health & Efficiency: Fatigue, the Science of Work, and the Making of the Working-Class Body. In H...

Sidra Hamidi, "After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomic Age" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

21 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Nuclear status is typically treated as a stable feature of a state's capacity to possess, use, or build nuclear weapons. Challenging this view, After...

Karima Moyer-Nocchi, "The Epic History of Macaroni and Cheese: From Ancient Rome to Modern America" (Columbia UP, 2026)

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today, macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, a staple of weeknight dinners, family gatherings, and Soul Food restaurants. Humble though th...

Charles G. Curtin, "Place-Based Solutions: The Power of Regenerative Thinking in the Face of Crisis" (JHU Press, 2026)

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Place-Based Solutions (JHU Press, 2026) offers a bold and practical response, charting a path toward what Charles G. Curtin calls "prosilience"—th...

Lisa Nakamura, "The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Inattention Economy: How Women of Color Built the Internet (U Minnesota Press, 2026) by Dr. Lisa Nakamura challenges the widespread myth that the...

P. Thirumal and K. A. Nuaiman eds., "Inhabiting Technologies/Modernities: Media and Cultural Practices in South Asia" (Orient BlackSwan, 2025)

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Studies of forms of media have focused on either political or cultural histories of media. Political histories study media growth and literacy, and th...

Sam Illingworth and Rachel Forsyth, "GenAI in Higher Education: Redefining Teaching and Learning" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

GenAI in Higher Education: Redefining Teaching and Learning (Bloomsbury, 2026) provides practical guidance for higher education professionals lookin...

Courtney Humphries, "Climate Change and the Future of Boston" (Anthem Press, 2026)

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Like many of the world’s iconic coastal cities, Boston faces potentially severe impacts from climate change. Depending on global emissions, Boston c...

César A. Hidalgo, "The Infinite Alphabet: And the Laws of Knowledge" (Allen Lane, 2026)

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We all understand that knowledge shapes the fate of business and the growth of nations, but few of us are aware of the principles that govern its moti...

Susannah B. Mintz, "Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story" (Reaktion, 2026)

15 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Hypochondria: In Sickness and in Story (Reaktion, 2026) proposes a bold reimagining of a frequently dismissed condition. Dr. Susannah B. Mintz refram...

Marianna Dudley, "Electric Wind: An Energy History of Modern Britain by Marianna Dudley" (Manchester UP, 2025)

14 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Electric Wind: An Energy History of Modern Britain by Marianna Dudley (Manchester University Press, 2025) is a cutting-edge history of wind power in...

Michael Bycroft, "Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution (U Chicago Press, 2026), Dr. Michael Bycroft argues that gems were connec...

Britt Paris, "Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up" (U California Press, 2025)

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We are glad to talk to Britt Paris about her book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up (U California Press, 2025). ...

Christiane Tristl, "Turning Water into Commodity: Digital Innovation and the Private Sector as Development Agent" (Bristol UP, 2025)

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, I am in conversation with Dr Christiane Tristl, an economic geographer interested in heterodox economic geography. Their scholarship...

Rebecca Sharpless, "People of the Wheat: Culture and Cultivation in North Texas" (U Texas Press, 2026)

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever wondered where your wheat flour is coming from, who is milling it (and how), or how it came to be such an important staple, then this...

Patrick Chung, "Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Standardizing Empire: The US Military, Korea, and the Origins of Military-Industrial Capitalism (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026) by Dr. Patrick Chung tr...

Amelia Acker, "Archiving Machines: From Punch Cards to Platforms" (MIT Press, 2025)

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We're so pleased to welcome Dr. Amelia Acker, author of Archiving Machines: From Punch Cards to Platforms (MIT Press, 2025) to the New Books Netw...

Miguel Sicart, "Playing Software: Homo Ludens in Computational Culture" (MIT Press, 2023)

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The play element at the heart of our interactions with computers—and how it drives the best and the worst manifestations of the information age. Whe...

Jieun Kiaer, "Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Emoji Speak: Communication and Behaviours on Social Media (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Dr. Jieun Kiaer provides an in-depth discussion of emoji use in a glo...

Honghong Tinn, "Island Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan's Computing Industry" (MIT Press, 2024)

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world's leading chip manufacturer. How did Taiwan, a for...

Fred Turner on Countercultures, Cybercultures, and Californian and Texan Ideologies

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Peoples & Things host, Lee Vinsel, and guest host, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor of Digital Sociology at University of St. Gallen, talk to Fred T...

Subodhana Wijeyeratne, "The Islands and the Stars: A History of Japan's Space Programs" (Stanford UP, 2026)

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is among the six largest national space agencies in the world, along with China's CNSA, US's NASA, and R...

Marc Masters, "High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape" (UNC Press, 2023)

22 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The cassette tape was revolutionary. Cheap, portable, and reusable, this small plastic rectangle changed music history. Make your own tapes! Trade the...

Joe Williams, "Inequality in the Digital Economy: The Case for a Universal Basic Income" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)

21 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Joe Williams speaks with Andrew White about how the digital economy is reshaping inequality, work, and the social contract. Drawing o...

W. Patrick McCray, "README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines" (MIT Press, 2025)

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In README: A Bookish History of Computing from Electronic Brains to Everything Machines (MIT Press, 2025), historian Dr. Patrick McCray argues that ...

David King Dunaway, "A Four-Eyed World: How Glasses Changed the Way We See" (Bloomsbury, 2026)

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Eyeglasses have become so commonplace we hardly think about them—unless we can’t find them. Yet glasses have been controversial throughout history...

Ted Striphas, "Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet" (Columbia UP, 2023)

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Ted Striphas, Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera and Alex Rivera Cartagena discuss Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet (Columbia University Pr...

Vanessa Rampton, "Making Medical Progress: History of a Contested Idea" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

15 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Answers to the question 'what is medical progress?' have always been contested, and any one response is always bound up with contextual ideas of perso...

Javiera Barandiaran, "Living Minerals: Nature, Trade, and Power in the Race for Lithium" (MIT Press, 2026)

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A sobering investigation of the rush for lithium for electric vehicles, the problematic history of lithium mining, and the consequences for sustainabi...

Howard Alan Israel, "Nazi Anatomy Lessons: A Dissection of Evil" (Vallentine Mitchell, 2026)

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if the tools that shaped your life’s work were rooted in unimaginable evil? In this haunting episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with Dr. Howar...

Yi-Ling Liu, "The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom and Connection on the Chinese Internet" (Knopf, 2026)

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Not too long ago, in the 2000s and 2010s, many felt that the internet–even one behind the Great Firewall–would bring about a more open China. As P...

Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo, "Governing Digital China" (Cambridge UP, 2025)

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China (Camb...

Tom Bolton, "Atomic Albion: Journeys Around Britain’s Nuclear Power Stations" (Strange Attractor, 2025)

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The United Kingdom has sixteen nuclear power stations. Most go under the radar, but their presence is enormous, both physically and culturally. They d...

Jacob Mchangama, "Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media" (Basic Books, 2022)

08 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jacob Mchangama, founder and director of the think tank Justitia, has written a one-volume history of freedom of thought, which ranges from the lon...

Jon R. Lindsay "Age of Deception: Cybersecurity as Secret Statecraft" (Cornell UP, 2025)

07 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

At the heart of cybersecurity lies a paradox: Cooperation makes conflict possible. In Age of Deception (Cornell University Press 2025), Jon R. Lind...

Rob Gallagher, "Artgames after GamerGate" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Videogame culture is obsessed with development. But gaming is still widely associated with wasted time, squandered potential and backwards attitudes. ...

Polina Dimova, "At the Crossroads of the Senses: The Synaesthetic Metaphor Across the Arts in European Modernism" (Penn State UP, 2024)

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Inspired by Richard Wagner’s idea of the total artwork, European modernist artists began to pursue multimedia projects that mixed colors, sounds, an...

Tom Griffiths, "The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind" (Henry Holt and Co., 2026)

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of the Mind (Henry Holt and Co., 2026) is an exploration of the quest to use mathematic...

Jennifer Vail, "Friction: A Biography" (Harvard UP, 2026)

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Friction, the force that resists motion, is synonymous with difficulty and complication. If you’ve ever replaced tires worn smooth by the road or re...

John L. Rudolph, "Why We Teach Science (and Why We Should)" (Oxford UP, 2023)

31 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today I talked to John L. Rudolph about his book Why We Teach Science (and Why We Should) (Oxford UP, 2023). Few people question the importance of ...

LiLi Johnson, "Technologies of Kinship: Asian American Racialization and the Making of Family" (NYU Press, 2025)

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Delving into the complex interplay of race, kinship, and technology, Technologies of Kinship: Asian American Racialization and the Making of Family ...

Gershom Gorenberg, "War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East" (Public Affairs, 2021)

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As World War II raged in North Africa, General Erwin Rommel was guided by an uncanny sense of his enemies' plans and weaknesses. In the summer of 1942...

Michelle Henning, "A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog, and Empire" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog, and Empire (U Chicago Press, 2026), Professor Michelle Henning presents an environmental history...

Alex Wellerstein, "The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age" (Harper, 2025)

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Dropping the atomic bombs on Japan during World War II was, arguably, the most controversial decision of the 20th century. The responsibility for that...

Giuseppe Longo and Adam Nocek, "The Organism Is a Theory: Giuseppe Longo on Biology, Mathematics, and AI" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A bold reimagining of life that bridges science, philosophy, cybernetics, and the complexities of biological existence The Organism Is a Theory: Gius...

The Friends of Attention, "Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement" (Crown, 2026)

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“You are correct: something is seriously wrong.” So begins Attensity: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement (Crown, 2026) writte...

Robert Dorschel, "The Social Codes of Tech Workers: Class Identity in Digital Capitalism" (MIT Press, 2025)

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Who are the people staffing the digital economy? In The Social Codes of Tech Workers: Class Identity in Digital Capitalism (MIT Press, 2025) Rob...

Malcolm Harris, "Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World" (Little, Brown, 2023)

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Palo Alto is nice. The weather is temperate, the people are educated, rich, healthy, enterprising. Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesize...

Steve Ramirez, "How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist’s Quest to Alter the Past" (Princeton UP, 2025)

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

As a graduate student at MIT, Steve Ramirez successfully created false memories in the lab. Now, as a neuroscientist working at the frontiers of brain...

Emily Hund, "The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media" (Princeton UP, 2023)

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Before there were Instagram likes, Twitter hashtags, or TikTok trends, there were bloggers who seemed to have the passion and authenticity that tradit...

Elizabeth Kelly Gray, "Habit Forming: Drug Addiction in America, 1776-1914" (Oxford UP, 2023)

18 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Habitual drug use in the United States is at least as old as the nation itself. Elizabeth Kelly Gray's book Habit Forming: Drug Addiction in America,...

Ines Prodöhl, "Globalizing the Soybean: Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900–1950" (Routledge, 2023)

18 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ines Prodöhl’s Globalizing the Soybean: Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900-1950 (Routledge, 2023) is a history of how, why, and where the soy...

Caroline Peyton, "Radioactive Dixie: A Nuclear History of the American South" (U Georgia Press, 2025)

17 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How and why did the South’s history, culture, and politics shape the region’s nuclear and energy industries? And how is that history linked to bro...

Bruno J. Strasser and Thomas Schlich, "The Mask: A History of Breathing Bad Air" (Yale UP, 2025)

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Mask: A History of Breathing Bad Air (Yale UP, 2025) by Dr. Bruno J. Strasser and Dr. Thomas Schlich presents a history of masks protecting again...

Alison Bashford, "Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

10 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why did Isaac Newton read books on chiromancy, the occult science of hand reading that revealed the secrets of the soul? Why did Charles Darwin claim ...

Heino Falcke and Jörg Römer, "Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, the Universe, and Us" (HarperCollins, 2021)

09 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An astrophysicist chronicles his quest to photograph a black hole and reflects on its spiritual ramifications in this international-bestselling memoir...

Marc Berman, "Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Marc Berman, the pioneering creator of the field of environmental neuroscience, has discovered the surprising connection between mind, body, and e...

Peter Frankopan, "The Earth Transformed: An Untold History" (Knopf, 2023)

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Earth Transformed. An Untold History (Knopf, 2023) is a captivating and informative book that reveals how climate change has been a driving forc...

Rachel Midura, "Postal Intelligence: The Tassis Family and Communications Revolution in Early Modern Europe" (Cornell UP, 2025)

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Rachel Midura joins Jana Byars to talk about Postal Intelligence: The Tassis Family and Communications Revolution in Early Modern Europe (Cornell UP...

Aaron Bateman. "Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative" (MIT Press, 2024)

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A new and provocative take on the formerly classified history of accelerating superpower military competition in space in the late Cold War and beyond...

Alexa Hagerty, "Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains" (Crown, 2023)

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains (Crown, 2023), anthropologist Alexa Hagerty learns to see the dead body with a foren...

David Morris, "Stealing The Future: Sam Bankman-Fried, Elite Fraud, and the Cult of Techno-Utopia" (Watkins Media, 2025)

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Stealing the Future is the first book to tell the true and full story of Sam Bankman-Fried and his historic crimes. It chronicles the $11 billion FTX...

Florentine Koppenborg, "Japan's Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance" (Cornell UP, 2023)

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Florentine Koppenborg’s Japan’s Nuclear Disaster and the Politics of Safety Governance (Cornell UP, 2023) begins with the understated observatio...

Henry Grabar, "Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World" (Penguin, 2023)

01 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a handful of Americans are tragically killed by their fellow citizens over parking sp...

Dagmar Schafer, "Ownership of Knowledge: Beyond Intellectual Property" (MIT Press, 2023)

01 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ownership of Knowledge: Beyond Intellectual Property (MIT Press, 2023) provides a framework for knowledge ownership that challenges the mechanisms of...

Jordan Frith, "Barcode" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Barcodes are about as ordinary as an object can be. Billions of them are scanned each day and they impact everything from how we shop to how we travel...

James Welsh et al., "Weathering Space" (American Scientist 114:1 2026)

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Past human space missions were protected by Earth’s magnetic field and a measure of luck, but future missions beyond the Earth–Moon system will fa...

Jeremy Black, "A History of Artillery" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Black's book A History of Artillery (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) traces the development of artillery through the ages, providing a thorough s...

Colin Williamson, "Drawn to Nature: American Animation in the Age of Science" (U Minnesota Press, 2025)

25 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do technical renderings of plant cells in trees have to do with Disney’s animated opus Fantasia? Quite a bit, as it turns out: such emergent sc...