Books Worth A Read

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Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Elizabeth Kolbert's landmark book argues that Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction, and that this one is caused by humans. Blending field reporting with scientific history, Kolbert travels from the rainforests of Panama and the Amazon to the Great Barrier Reef and the Andes.

Each chapter centers on a species, including the Panamanian golden frog, the great auk and the Sumatran rhino. She traces how scientists from Cuvier to Darwin came to accept that species can vanish. She then shows how human activity is driving extinctions at an alarming pace through climate change, ocean acidification, habitat loss and the global spread of invasive species and diseases.

Lucid, unsettling and often darkly witty, the book asks readers to confront humanity's role as a geological force and what our choices mean for life on Earth.

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Shawn Otto's The War on Science unfolds as a sweeping account of how modern society - despite unprecedented scientific progress - has become increasingly vulnerable to organized denialism. Otto traces this crisis to what he describes as a "three-part war on science": identity-based attacks, ideological assaults, and industrial campaigns designed to obscure evidence for profit. The result, he argues, is a dangerous erosion of objective knowledge at the very moment we need it most.

The narrative moves through history, politics, philosophy, and media culture to show how scientific reasoning gradually lost ground to louder, more emotionally charged forces. Otto highlights how religious fundamentalism, partisan polarization, and corporate disinformation each play a role in undermining public trust in evidence-based decision-making. He warns that when voters and policymakers ignore scientific findings - from climate change to public health - the consequences ripple across democratic institutions themselves.

Yet the book is not simply a lament. Otto writes with the urgency of someone who believes the tide can still turn. He calls for renewed civic engagement, stronger science communication, and a recommitment to the values of inquiry and transparency. In his telling, defending science becomes inseparable from defending democracy - a shared responsibility that cannot be outsourced or delayed.