Nonfiction Science

With three hearts and blue blood, its gelatinous body unconstrained by jointed limbs or gravity, the octopus seems to be an alien, an inhabitant of another world. It’s baggy, boneless body sprouts eight arms covered with thousands of suckers—suckers that can taste as well as feel. The octopus also has the powers of a superhero: it can shape-shift, change color, squirt ink, pour itself through the tiniest of openings, or jet away through the sea faster than a swimmer can follow.

Visit the Nation's Capital! Learn about Washington, D.C.'s, history, geography, weather, people, and more in this book that's all about our nation's capital.

Giant anteaters spend their day sniffing the ground. Learn all about these bug catchers and their habitats in Giant Anteaters.

Toucans fill the rain forests with chatter. Learn all about these colorful birds and their habitats in Toucans.

A Boston terrier could fit into a regular sized backpack, but there is nothing little about this dog's personality. Discover more about this entertaining breed.

Explore colorful animals across the globe!

American Indians remain familiar as icons, yet poorly understood as historical agents. In this ambitious book that ranges across Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, and eastern California (a region known as the Great Basin), Ned Blackhawk places Native peoples squarely at the center of a dynamic and complex story as he chronicles two centuries of Indian and imperial history that profoundly shaped the American West.

What do insects eat? Do insects have bones? Buzz through the chapters of this book to learn all about insects.

Long-limbed spider monkeys are noisy members of the monkey family. From food to homes to behaviors, learn the facts on these tree-swinging primates.

In 1982, Professors Sagan and Turco made known their discovery of the concept "nuclear winter", a widespread cold and dark, resulting in agricultural collapse and world famine, that would be generated in even a "small" nuclear war. It was a landmark discovery that revealed in the starkest terms how vulnerable our civilization is to the long-term environmental effects of nuclear war.

A lizard that runs on water! A snake that looks like a twig! Reptiles have fascinating ways of adapting to their environments. Discover some of the most interesting and unusual reptile adaptations that have allow them to survive in many different habitats throughout the world.

Charlotte Runcie has always felt pulled to the sea, lured by its soothing, calming qualities but also enlivened and inspired by its salty wildness. When she loses her beloved grandmother and becomes pregnant with her first child, she feels its pull even more intensely. In Salt on Your Tongue Charlotte explores what the sea means to us and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist: a pathbreaking examination of our huge crime and incarceration problem that looks at the influence of the family - specifically one Oregon family with a generations-long legacy of lawlessness. Examining the long history of the Bogles, a white family, Butterfield offers a revelatory look at criminality that forces us to disentangle race from our ideas about crime and, in doing so, strikes at the heart of our deepest stereotypes.

Have you ever seen a bird nest? Birds make all kinds of different nests! Nests are made from lots of different kinds of materials and are shaped differently. Learn about the different kinds of nests that are made by different species of birds!

Eggs come in many colors, shapes, and sizes. Some eggs are hard. Other eggs are soft. Can you match each egg to its owner?

Alan loves animals, but the great cat house at the Bronx Zoo makes him sad. Why are they all alone in empty cages? Are they being punished? More than anything, he wants to be their champion--their voice--but he stutters uncontrollably. Except when he talks to animals... Then he is fluent. Follow the life of the man Time Magazine calls, "the Indiana Jones of wildlife conservation" as he searches for his voice and fulfills a promise to speak for animals, and people, who cannot speak for themselves.

An instinctual pull as old as time - a grandmother wanting to hold her newborn grandchild - bring readers into an unbelievable ordeal. Author Tina Fumo travels to a small town in Canada and finds herself in the most stressful situation of her life. The 'authorities' have apprehended her two week old granddaughter. What her and her family go through to get back their baby will absolutely shock you. You'll wonder if this is really Canada. You will surely cry. You may even laugh. But make no mistake...what you find out in the end will make your jaw drop.

Director Solomon gives a guided tour of Star City Planetarium, where he explains such things as what equipment is used in a planetarium show and what some of the different objects in the night sky are.

Capuchins are cute and clever members of the monkey family. From food to homes to behavior, learn the facts on these pink-faced primates.

In Anima, Kapka Kassabova introduces us to the "pastiri" people—the shepherds struggling to hold on to an ancient way of life in which humans and animals exist in profound interdependence. Following her three previous books set in the Balkans, and with an increasing interest in the degraded state of our planet and culture, Kassabova reaches further into the spirit of place than she ever has before. In this extraordinary portrayal of pastoral life, she investigates the heroic efforts to sustain the oldest surviving breeds of our domesticated animals,.