Recommended Reading

Edited by Ada Limón, the twenty-fourth poet laureate of the United States, this anthology showcases fifty never-before-published poems by contemporary award-winning poets. It presents odes to trees, reflections on ancestors, and love and loss within diverse landscapes, all challenging traditional ideas of “nature poetry”—creating a new map of sorts for all who long to be more rooted in the here and now.

Critically acclaimed science writer David Toomey examines the intersections of play, culture, and evolution among animals. As he reports on the range of experimental research—conducted by fascinating characters in their own right—Toomey expertly weaves rigorous journalism with wide-eyed wonder, raising profound questions about life and arguing that play is no mere pastime but is essential.