New year, new books on my reading list—some released a few years ago, others hot off the press. I’m so excited to read these works, which all explore some aspect of historical exploration, discovery and philosophical challenge. Basically, if the title of the book is followed by a colon and then three nouns separated by an Oxford comma, I’m hooked.
After I finish reading each book, I’ll post a short review of its contribution to the history of natural philosophy, exploration and environmental politics.
Fur, Fortune and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
By Eric Jay Dolin
Darwin’s Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution
By Rebecca Stott
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
By Nathaniel Philbrick
A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War
By Amanda Foreman
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
By Dava Sobel
Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit
By Joyce E. Chaplin
Hoosh: Roast Penguin, Scurvy Day, and Other Stories of Antarctic Cuisine
By Jason C. Anthony
Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure
By Arthur Conan Doyle
On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature
By Melanie Challenger
The Ice Balloon: S. A. Andree and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration
By Alec Wilkinson