Nature & Travel Book Reviews

HISTORY
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A text both evocative and provocative for readers who like to think."
As our geography has long insulated us from foreign invasion, so has it shaped our temperament and enabled us to become a world power, a category we must modify but continue to inhabit. Read full book review >
THE BOOK THAT CHANGED AMERICA by Randall Fuller
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A fresh, invigorating history of philosophical and political struggles."
A vibrant history of the reception of Charles Darwin's ideas by American minds and spirits. Read full book review >

UNBOUND by Steph Jagger
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 24, 2017

"A middling memoir of self-discovery."
On a skiing trip around the world, the author loses herself in order to find herself and unexpectedly finds love in the process. Read full book review >
AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Lawrence Millman
NATURE & TRAVEL
Released: Jan. 17, 2017

"Even those who find the jeremiad too strident should be impressed with the manner by which Millman connects the dots."
A true-crime account of an Arctic mass murder in the 1940s blends subtly with a prophecy about the dangers of cyberaddiction. Read full book review >
THE UNSETTLERS by Mark Sundeen
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"Provocative reading for anyone who has ever yearned for a life of radical simplicity."
Bright update on the perennial back-to-the-land movement. Read full book review >

THE CYCLIST WHO WENT OUT IN THE COLD by Tim Moore
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"An enjoyable account of an amazing human accomplishment."
A gung-ho English cyclist tackles the Iron Curtain Trail, aka the Euro Velo 13. Read full book review >
BRING BACK THE KING by Helen Pilcher
NATURE & TRAVEL
Released: Jan. 10, 2017

"A unique perspective on our responsibility to preserve the chain of being of which we are only a part."
An intriguing look at the possibilities of bringing the passenger pigeon and other currently extinct species back to life. Read full book review >
EXPECT GREAT THINGS by Kevin Dann
BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"Thoreau emerges from this admiring portrait as a man richly connected to the cosmos."
A sympathetic biography of the famed 19th-century transcendentalist. Read full book review >
BIRDS ART LIFE by Kyo Maclear
NATURE & TRAVEL
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"Writers and others will find inspiration in the advice to stop and hear the birds."
A meditation on freedom and confinement and the creative tension between the two. Read full book review >
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"Couch potatoes take warning: the experiences described in this testimonial are often tough to read about, and the conclusions, while sometimes convincing, might best be taken with a touch of skepticism."
On the heels of the paleo diet comes a new claim: taking on the physical challenges of the environment faced by our prehistoric ancestors can undo what easy calories and effortless comfort have done to our bodies—made them fat, lazy, and weak. Read full book review >
THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD by Douglas Preston
NATURE & TRAVEL
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"A story that moves from thrilling to sobering, fascinating to downright scary—trademark Preston, in other words, and another winner."
"Once again I had the strong feeling, when flying into the valley, that I was leaving the twenty-first century entirely": another perilous Preston (The Kraken Project, 2014, etc.) prestidigitation. Read full book review >
THE DRUG HUNTERS by Donald R. Kirsch
HEALTH & MEDICINE
Released: Jan. 3, 2017

"Highly informative and accessible for general readers."
Biopharmaceutical consultant Kirsch debuts with a popular account of the search for new drugs, from prehistory through the rise of big pharma. Read full book review >
Kirkus Interview
Clinton Kelly
January 9, 2017

Bestselling author and television host Clinton Kelly’s memoir I Hate Everyone Except You is a candid, deliciously snarky collection of essays about his journey from awkward kid to slightly-less-awkward adult. Clinton Kelly is probably best known for teaching women how to make their butts look smaller. But in I Hate Everyone, Except You, he reveals some heretofore-unknown secrets about himself, like that he’s a finicky connoisseur of 1980s pornography, a disillusioned critic of New Jersey’s premier water parks, and perhaps the world’s least enthused high-school commencement speaker. Whether he’s throwing his baby sister in the air to jumpstart her cheerleading career or heroically rescuing his best friend from death by mud bath, Clinton leaps life’s social hurdles with aplomb. With his signature wit, he shares his unique ability to navigate the stickiest of situations, like deciding whether it’s acceptable to eat chicken wings with a fork on live television (spoiler: it’s not). “A thoroughly light and entertaining memoir,” our critic writes. View video >