BOOK SCIENCE

Send us Fan Mail Everyday Naturalist with Rebecca Lexa In this episode of Book Science, host Tripp Collins sits down with tour guide, educator, and naturalist Rebecca Lexa to discuss her book, Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go. This is a guide to how to get started as a naturalist including tools and resources. We also explore why learning the names of our living neighbors deepens our connection to the broader community of life. Key Hi...

Send us Fan Mail Special Episode - The D-Day Surf Report In this special standalone episode, host Tripp Collins steps out of the standard author interview format to share a story from his own field: ocean wave science. Learn how a 1913 storm in Casablanca, WWII Higgins landing craft, and two Scripps oceanographers led to the mathematical breakthroughs in surf forecasting that made the D-Day landings possible. Key Highlights: The origin of the world's first operational swell forecast in Casabl...

Send us Fan Mail Carl Zimmer, science journalist and author, discusses his fifteenth book, Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe. Zimmer’s career includes two decades of science reporting for the New York Times and early editorial work at Discover magazine. ​ Airborne documents the science of aerobiology and the historical refusal by public health institutions to recognize airborne disease transmission. The conversation highlights the neglected epidemiological research of Willi...

Send us Fan Mail In this epsiode I had the pleasure of talking with Chelsea Wood, an Associate Professor at the University of Washington and a dedicated parasitologist. We talk about her middle-grade book, Power to the Parasites. The book provides a comprehensive, scientifically rigorous look at the oft-misunderstood creatures living in, on, and around us. Wood shares how her academic focus shifted from marine conservation to parasitology after discovering the intricate and vital roles these ...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Book Science Podcast, I talk with science and environmental journalist Laura Poppick about her book, Strata: Stories from Deep Time (Illustrations by Sarah Gilman). We explore the geologic lens, a way of seeing the world that transforms ordinary landscapes into a 4.5-billion-year narrative. From the Great Oxygenation Event to the surprising role of mud in Earth history, Laura explains how geologists decode the Earth through layered rock. We also discuss...