Second Nature by Michael Pollan In his articles and in best-selling books such as The Botany of Desire,
Michael Pollan has established himself as one of our most important and
beloved writers on modern man's place in the natural world. A new
literary classic, Second Nature has become a manifesto not just for
gardeners but for environmentalists everywhere. Chosen by the American
Horticultural Society as one of the seventy-five greatest books ever
written about gardening, Second Nature captures the rhythms of our
everyday engagement with the outdoors in all its glory and exasperation.
With chapters ranging from a reconsideration of the Great American
Lawn, a dispatch from one man's war with a woodchuck, to an essay about
the sexual politics of roses, Pollan has created a passionate and
eloquent argument for reconceiving our relationship with nature.
Stiff by Mary Roach Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the
strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years,
cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in
science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested
France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been
crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the
Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For
every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender
reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons,
making history in their quiet way.
In this fascinating,
ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the
centuries—from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of
medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research
facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a
Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her
droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies
when we are no longer with them.
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