National Network for Equitable Library Service

SpaceX has grown rapidly in the past decade, but this would not have been possible without SpaceX's first four flight tests. Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current employees, including Elon Musk, Eric Berger tells the complete story of this foundational generation that transformed SpaceX into the world's leading space company.

A New York Times bestselling writer explores what our unique sonic signature reveals about our species, our culture, and each one of us. Finally, a vital topic that has never had its own book gets its due. There's no shortage of books about public speaking or language or song. But until now, there has been no book about the miracle that underlies them all-the human voice itself. And there are few writers who could take on this surprisingly vast topic with more artistry and expertise than John Colapinto.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER   Alexandra Morton has been called "the Jane Goodall of Canada" because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia's wild salmon. Her account of that fight is both inspiring in its own right and a roadmap of resistance. Alexandra Morton came north from California in the early 1980s, following her first love-the northern resident orca. In remote Echo Bay, in the Broughton Archipelago, she found the perfect place to settle into all she had ever dreamed of: a lifetime of observing and learning what these big-brained mammals are saying to each other.

“ The Map of Knowledge  is an endlessly fascinating book, rich in detail, capacious and humane in vision.” —Stephen Greenblatt, author of  The Swerve: How the World Became Modern , winner of the Pulitzer Prize After the Fall of Rome, when many of the great ideas of the ancient world were lost to the ravages of the Dark Ages, three crucial manuscripts passed hand to hand through seven Mediterranean cities and survived to fuel the revival of the Renaissance-an exciting debut history.

Your alarm goes off, and you head to the kitchen to make yourself some toast and a cup of coffee. Little do you know, as you savor the aroma of the steam rising from your cup, that your ordinary morning routine depends on some of the weirdest phenomena ever discovered. The world of quantum physics is generally thought of as hopelessly esoteric. While classical physics gives us the laws governing why a ball rolls downhill, how a plane is able to fly, and so on, its quantum cousin gives us particles that are actually waves, spooky action at a distance, and Schrodinger's unlucky cat.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest—a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she's been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES and LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER "Brilliant… riveting, scary, cogent, and cleverly argued."-Beth Macy, author of Dopesick As heard on Fresh Air. This book is about pleasure. It's also about pain. Most important, it's about how to find the delicate balance between the two, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential.

Now a Netflix Film, Starring and Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor of 12 Years a Slave William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only 2 percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him misala-crazy-but William refused to let go of his dreams.

Six years ago, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti spent 200 days orbiting around Earth on the International Space Station. In this riveting memoir, she tells the story of her extraordinary journey: from gruelling years of training to daily life in space, from great events to small discoveries, from old rituals to jokes about the meaning of life. With honesty and warmth, Cristoforetti chronicles her journey to becoming an astronaut - the many years spent travelling around the world, from Star City to Houston, always between languages and cultures, technology and nature.

As we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised to redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating insight into AI, robotics, and their extraordinary implications for our species. "If you only read just one book about the AI revolution, make it this one" (John Mackey, cofounder and CEO, Whole Foods Market).