Sun, sea and science

The summer holidays have started again. Will it be a campsite in France, a cottage in Italy or a nice stay in your own country this year? The editors of NEMO Kennislink recommend popular science books that are guaranteed to get you through this summer!

Why wild nature no longer exists

By Emma Marris

Are wolves equipped with GPS trackers really still wild? In 'Why wild nature no longer exists', American journalist and environmental activist Emma Marris wonders what moral obligations humans have towards wild animals. We often think simply:animals in the wilderness should be left alone. The problem is that that wilderness no longer exists, man controls the entire planet. Marris wants the reader to think carefully about our own place in nature and immediately hits the spot with a fascinating story about the akekee, a songbird in Hawaii. To save this rare creature, conservationists set traps to kill rats. Is that okay? What is the value of individual animals with their needs, desires and plans in relation to the value of biodiversity and ecosystems? This book is guaranteed to change your view of wild nature.

- Mariska van Sprundel, editor Brain &Behavior -

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Seven languages in seven days. An adventure book

By Gaston Dorren

How nice is it when you are in another country, but can still decipher a strange word in that sea of new impressions? If you can suddenly read a street name sign in Denmark (many street names end in vej, meaning 'way'), or in Italy just picks up some words from il Giornale. Suddenly that new world is much more for your life. Or as the author of this book says:'The environment talks to you. You are a bit absorbed in it, you are more there.’ Very zen actually. And learning language is also just plain satisfying, because it triggers a reward response in the brain, like we can read in a note. Those notes are, incidentally, very loosely draped in the margin, just like the rest of the text, packaged in a pleasant design. In this book you will learn 7 languages in 7 days, which are not too far from Dutch. Dorren teaches you to 'tame' these languages with handy conversion rules and of course many fine examples, also pointing out 'false friends':words that are similar, but not the same (Swedish kind is not a child). Bonus point if you go to one of these 7 destinations!

- Mathilde Jansen, editor-in-chief and editor Linguistics -

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A cyborg manifest

By Donna Haraway

The line between you and your fridge is fairly clear. But if you look at the theme Building Life with Molecules, you will see how the boundary between 'we' and 'technology' is becoming increasingly blurred. Artificial cells, computers that look like our brains… And there are more mundane examples too. Because where do you end, and does your mobile begin? Can you imagine a life without it?

We are intimately entwined with technology, but in 1985 that was still a crazy thought. Nevertheless, philosopher Donna Haraway published A cyborg manifesto in that year, in which she investigates this interweaving. And she does more. It's called a manifesto. The cyborg symbolizes blurring boundaries – between 'artificial' and 'organic', but equally between straight or gay, nature and culture, man and woman, normal and crazy... In this way she anticipates the identity discussions that have now erupted in all intensity. . Her message:don't think in boxes. This classic – translated and introduced by Karin Spaink – will be republished this summer by ISVW publishers.

- Leon Heuts, editor-in-chief -

A life on our planet

By David Attenborough

As the trusted voice and host of the BBC's wildlife documentaries, David Attenborough puts a personal spin on climate change and biodiversity loss in this book. The British filmmaker, now 96, has witnessed the wonders of nature and its steady loss. While this story of the demise of the wilderness is largely well known, the book offers a new perspective, as Attenborough intertwines natural history with his memories. For example, he tells how as an eleven-year-old he searched for fossils on the beach, or forgot time for happiness in the 1970s among the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. After the darkest middle part of the book, in which the author sketches the specters that await us if we do nothing, in the last part he plays a grateful role for science. A clever summary of all kinds of hopeful social and technological developments. It makes the whole thing a balanced story of wonder, loss and hope.

- Stijn Schreven, climate editor -

Pocket guide Pavement plants – recognize 104 pavement plants, identification key and species descriptions

By Hortus Botanicus Leiden

Once you pay attention to them, you see them everywhere:sidewalk plants. These tough rascals grow between tiles, along walls and around lampposts. One loves it, the other finds the weeds. A shame, because these wild plants are very useful and good for biodiversity in the city. Go on a sidewalk plant safari with the Pocket Guide Sidewalk Plants from the Hortus botanicus Leiden and explore your own neighbourhood. With this booklet in your pocket, you will never look at the sidewalk the same again. You will be surprised how many different types of plants grow and bloom between the tiles. This compact plant guide clearly shows 104 common sidewalk plants with clear photos. The pocket guide is categorized by color, making tracking down thriving urban wildlife a breeze. Even if you are not a biologist.

- Nathalie Winkster, editor Health -

Want to know more about sidewalk plants? PhD candidate Nienke Beets blogs about the sidewalk plant research

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Wild year – 365 nights outside

By Koen Arts

Many people dream away at the idea of a holiday by a rippling lake with a view of a setting sun. With the car crammed with camping gear, they travel this summer in the hope of sun, sea, mountain or beach within walking distance of their tent. The practice is usually a lot more unruly. Struggled with tent poles, buzzing mosquitoes around the tent canvas and cooking food on a rickety gas stove. Anyone who has a bit of bad luck will return from vacation with a leak. How brave is scientist Koen Arts. Together with his wife Gina Maffey, he slept under the open sky for a whole year. He endured bitter cold and wet blankets and where many campers then go home screaming, Arts enjoyed the special moments in his tipi. In Wild Jaar he knows how to convey his enthusiasm for the outdoors and nature to the reader, while at the same time remaining critical of himself and his environment. Such a wild year outside is not so crazy!

- Martine Zeijlstra, editor Faces of Sciences -

Read the extensive review of Wild Jaar here.

Language Mysteries – Enigmatic Facts of Languages Major and Minor

By Alla Peeters and Petra Sleeman (eds.)

Losing yourself in a nice book or chatting on a sunny terrace, you don't realize how effortlessly you use sounds, words and sentences. We are all expert language users, but how well do you really understand language? In this book, various linguists from the University of Amsterdam show in forty short chapters how wonderful and versatile the phenomenon is. Do the movement and emotion lines in comics form their own language? How are runes constructed? How do sign languages come into being? How many colors do you need in a language? Some of the language mysteries have already been unraveled, others offer fine conversation material for that terrace in the sun.

- Erica Renckens, editor-in-chief and editor Talking about language -

Ten Billion Mouths – How We Will Feed the World in 2050

By Ingrid de Zwarte &Jeroen Candel (eds.)

Whether you're dining with friends at a restaurant, barbecuing at the campground, or heading into the mountains with a freeze-dried lightweight meal this summer, you'll eat. And more and more people are wondering where that food comes from. In 2050 the world will have ten billion mouths, two billion more than today. At the same time, everyone knows from the headlines that we face major challenges related to the environment, climate and health. How are we going to feed the future world population without completely depleting our planet?

If you don't want to go nuts during a good conversation about this at the table, you should read this book. Eighty Wageningen scientists shed light on this major subject from all sides. Nevertheless, the book remains a pleasure to read, and provides a wealth of insights and nuances. From hunger in Africa to the role of supermarkets, and from better soil management to eating algae, everything is covered.

- Joris Tielens, Climate editor -

Hidden lives, public figures. Roman women outside Rome

By Emily Hemelrijk

Power-hungry empresses, vestal virgins and pious wives who make sure their man lacks nothing. When you think of the women in the Roman Empire, chances are this is what comes to mind. These are the images of women we know from ancient texts and as they were depicted by rich men. These images seriously do them justice, as emeritus professor of Ancient History Emily Hemelrijk shows in her book 'Hidden lives, public figures'. In it, she lets many women speak for themselves. They left messages on epitaphs and inscriptions on statues. It is a well written book, with an original subject. Hemelrijk provides a more versatile image of women in antiquity. It is ideal to take with you on holiday if you are going to a place where the Roman Empire used to be and you want to dream about what it was like to live in bygone times.

- Robert Visscher, editor-in-chief and editor of Technology -

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Intertwined life – the hidden world of fungi

By Merlin Sheldrake

Mold may give you eerie thoughts of damp basements, or the Tupperware container that sat in the back of the fridge for weeks. The British biologist Merlin Sheldrake proves that fungi are more than that in his book Interwoven Life. The micro-organisms are indispensable for all life on earth. For example, for plants, which get minerals underground through very fine but enormous fungal networks. Fungi are the neglected child in science. Sheldrake says that researchers have trouble describing fungi. Sometimes the microorganisms mock existing ideas about evolution, ecosystems and intelligence.

Sheldrake approaches fungal life narratively and almost philosophically, for example by describing it from an LSD trip (a substance extracted from fungi). His writing is flowery and the tempo is slow. The book is full of beautiful pictures (drawn with ink from fungi) and fascinating facts. For example, there is a fungus that 'hijacks' the body of ants and sends the insect on its way involuntarily. The ant dies and the fungus continues to grow from its body. That way you still get a horror story.

- Roel van der Heijden, editor Astrology, Physics and Technology -