74 Scientific American, June 2019
RECOMMENDED
By Andrea Gawrylewski
ULET IFANSASTIGetty ImagesUnderland: A Deep Time Journey
by Robert Macfarlane. W. W. Norton, 2019 ($27.95)Learning is often symbolized
by light and height—a bulb
switching on, a bird’s-eye view
or a flashlight carving away
shadow. Writer Macfarlane
takes the opposite tack, searching for answers in
the deep and the dark. In this visceral, haunting
travelogue through caves and catacombs and into
glaciers and underground rivers across Europe and
the Arctic, the author illustrates how humans have
long relied on the underworld “to shelter what is
precious, to yield what is valuable, and to dispose
of what is harmful.” From burial rituals and ghost
cities to deep-sea oil rigs and tombs for nuclear
waste, Macfarlane explores how societies have
been molded by the subterranean landscapes on
which they are built—and how humans are poised
to stamp an unprecedented legacy deep into the
earth’s geologic memory. — Frankie SchembriThe Universe Speaks in Numbers:
How Modern Math Reveals Nature’s
Deepest Secrets
by Graham Farmelo. Basic Books, 2019 ($30)Mathematics supplies in -
valuable clues to our under-
standing of the universe. Like-
wise, physics discoveries have
often revealed new concepts
in math. Yet not all physicists agree about how
central math should be—some prefer the less
ab stract method of experiment and observation.
Physicist Farmelo argues for placing math at the
forefront, citing a legacy that goes back to Newton.
For ex ample, Einstein realized he needed to em -
brace ad vanced differential geometry to work on
4-D space time. And Emmy Noether discovered a
connec tion that linked mathema tical descriptions
of nature and experi mental results. Far melo shows
that theoretical physics and pure math e matics
thrive best together. — Sunya BhuttaCribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide
to Better, More Relaxed Parenting,
from Birth to Preschool
by Emily Oster. Penguin Press, 2019 ($28)
To swaddle or not to swaddle?
Just one of the questions that
comes up for parents of small
children. Amid thousands of
tomes, few offer such data-
driven advice with so little agenda. Economist
Os ter evaluates the research on such hot-button
is sues as nursing, baby sleep and feeding to help
parents make evidence-based decisions. For in-
stance, breastfeeding is bene ficial but perhaps less
so than many claim; letting infants cry it out will
not cause long-term damage; and there are good
reasons to choose a nanny or day care, depending
on your situation. Oster aims to “take some of the
stress out of the early years by arming you with
good information and a method for making the
best decisions for your family.” — Clara Moskowitz
Asian elephants go where roads cannot. Their talent for navigating difficult terrain, coupled with their strength and smarts, has led humans to
seek them out as cavalry and work animals for centuries. In rich detail, geographer Shell recounts this history and describes all the ways pachyderms
collaborate with humans—for example, as draught animals for logging companies along the Indian-Burmese border and with Kachin Independence
Army fighters, who run the world’s only existing bureaucratically administered elephant-based transportation network. Shell meets Indian mahouts —
or elephant keepers—and the animals themselves, which have unique personalities and striking intelligence. Ultimately Asian elephants’ numbers
are declining, primarily as a result of human activity—through either poaching or habitat destruction. Shell calls for a conservation strategy that
involves the very people who engage with the creatures in the remote forests they call home. — Jim DaleyGiants of the
Monsoon
Forest:
Living and Working
with Elephants
by Jacob Shell.
W. W. Norton,
2019 ($26.95)TRAINER works with a Sumatran elephant
in Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia.