Nonfiction Science

In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope team unveiled the first ever image of a super massive black hole. This inspiring scientific breakthrough took years of hard work, innovative thinking, and a level of global cooperation never seen before. A multinational team of scientists, lead by Dr. Shep Doeleman and Dr. Heino Falkem, used eight of the largest telescopes from around the world to collect more than four million billion bytes of data, which was flown to teams of computer scientists and mathematicians.

Both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford started off as insatiably curious tinkerers. That curiosity led them to become inventors - with very different results. As Edison invented hit after commercial hit, gaining fame and fortune, Henry struggled to make a single invention (an affordable car) work. Witnessing Thomas' glorious career from afar, a frustrated Henry wondered about the secret to his success.

Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and radical visions of freedom. But at the root of this mythology is a rich history of pirate societies—vibrant, imaginative experiments in self-governance and alternative social formations at the edges of European empire. David Graeber explores how the proto-democratic, even libertarian practices of the Zana-Malata—an ethnic group made up of mixed descendants of pirates who settled on Madagascar at the beginning of the eighteenth century—came to shape the Enlightenment project.

Butterflies soar in the sunlight. While moths flutter under the moon and stars. Find out more about these mysterious and majestic insects similarities and differences, and their awestriking metamorphosis!

Simple science text gives a close-up account of the fascinating world of the dung beetle. When an animal lightens its load, dung beetles race to the scene. They battle over, devour, hoard, and lay their eggs in the precious poop. Dung is food, drink, and fuel for new life - as crucial to these beetles as the beetles are to many habitats, including our own.

Sloths spend most of their lives in trees, and until recently, scientists didn’t know very much about them. But Dr. Rebecca Cliffe was determined to discover their secrets. To find out more, she fitted sloths with special backpacks containing a device to track their activity. She learned how to climb trees in the Costa Rican jungle so she could take sloth hair samples and test their DNA. And she’s helped create sloth crossings and plant trees to ensure the sloths aren’t trapped in shrinking territories. Along the way, she earned the nickname Dr. Sloth.

Parachutes can be used for emergency landings. But they can also be used for flying fun! Who packs a parachute? And how does its light fabric keep you afloat? Discover the answers inside this audiobook!

Did you know that a polar bear's fur looks white only because it reflects the light around it, and that its skin is jet-black underneath? How about that a polar bear can swim constantly for days at a time? Or that male polar bears can weigh as much as ten men? Perfect for all animal lovers—and polar bear fans in particular—this audiobook is filled with all the facts you need to know to become a polar bear expert!

In early 2013 same-sex marriage was legal in only 10 states and the District of Columbia. That year the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor appeared to open the door to marriage equality. In Texas, Mark Phariss and Vic Holmes, together for 16 years and deeply in love, wondered why no one had stepped across the threshold to challenge their state's 2005 constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. They agreed to join a lawsuit being put together by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLD.

What does it mean to migrate? Discover which animals migrate and why they migrate through detailed, simple text.

Did you know that a rattlesnake’s rattle is made up of segments of keratin? These segments knock against each other to produce a buzzing or rattle-like sound. Rattlesnakes use their rattles to distract their prey or to warn a predator to stay away! Each time a rattlesnake sheds its skin, it adds another segment to their rattle. Have you ever wondered why snakes stick out their tongues? They use their tongues to pick up scents. As they move their tongues back inside their mouths, a special “taste-smell” organ helps them locate their next meal.

Does your child love dinosaurs? Then this lively, fast-paced and informative audiobook will enchant them! Dinosaurs are endlessly fascinating. Their ferocity, size and speed, and the fact that they once roamed the earth before mysteriously disappearing, enchant kids and adults alike.

Everyone loves rockets - especially kids! In this lively, fast-paced audiobook, you’ll find 51 Fabulous Facts about rockets and space rockets: the world’s first rocket: built in 1232; how fast a rocket must travel to escape the Earth’s gravitational pull; meet Laika, the space dog, and Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and much more!

What do you know about starfish? Beginning listeners will get their feet wet with these literacy-building introductions to ocean animals.

What exactly is a robot? How do they talk and move? And what does it take to build one? Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files is the perfect nonfiction resource for all these questions and more. Based on the bestselling Questioneers series and the Ada Twist, Scientist Netflix show, this nonfiction series is perfect for the youngest scientists of tomorrow as they learn along with Ada.

Did you know that the male sea horse is the only animal species on Earth that carries and delivers the babies? Kids will learn about amazing creatures that live in the sea like the gigantic blue whale, shy octopus, and dancing sea horse. From learning that blue whales are the loudest animals on the planet to the clever way an octopus defends itself against predators, young learners will remain curious about life in the ocean.

Bernard Goldberg takes dead aim at the America Bashers (the cultural elites who look down their snobby noses at "ordinary" Americans and detest so much of what this country is about); the Hollywood Blowhards (incredibly ditzy celebrities who think they're smart just because they're famous); the TV Schlockmeisters (including the one whose show has been compared to a churning mass of maggots devouring rotten meat); the Intellectual Thugs, and many more.

There was a time when few knew what dinosaurs looked like. This is the story of how Waterhouse Hawkins built the first life-sized dinosaur models and stunned the world with his awe-inspiring creations.

In a time when people believed flying was impossible, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier proved that the sky wasn’t the limit. When most thought horseback was the only way to race, Bertha and Karl Benz fired up their engines. From the invention of the bicycle and the passenger steam locomotive to the first liquid-fuel propelled rocket and industrial robot, inventors across the world have redefined travel. Informative and celebratory, this collective biography tells the story of the experiments, failures, and successes of visionaries who changed the way the world moves.

Raccoons are comfortable deep in the forest or in the big city! These clever creatures find ways to adapt to any environment. This beginning title introduces raccoons to young students with easy, predictable text.