DNA USA: A Genetic Portrait of America

  • Bryan Sykes
W. W. Norton 320 pp. £19.99 (2012)

The US human population is a bouillabaisse of DNA. Geneticist Bryan Sykes took on the challenge of identifying its ingredients on an epic cross-country trip. He recounts the detective work — including interviews with genealogists and fellow geneticists — and methodology behind the findings. How did European genes appear in the DNA of Native Americans some 10,000 years ago, for instance? And why does the southwestern Hispanic population contain genes typically found in Jewish people? Ultimately, Sykes suggests, the country is an even richer human mix than we thought.

The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live — And How You Can Change Them

Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley. Hudson Street Press 279 pp. $25.95 (2012)

Why do some people plod stoically through crises while others collapse? Science writer Sharon Begley and neuropsychologist Richard Davidson argue that each of us has an 'emotional style': a pattern of responses to life's events that is allied to underlying brain systems. Looking at dimensions from social intuition to context sensitivity, the authors suggest that we can achieve better equilibrium by rewiring our emotional style through research-inspired exercises.

Game Changer: Animal Rights and the Fate of Africa's Wildlife

  • Glen Martin
University of California Press 243 pp. £20.95 (2012)

Africa's wild megafauna are caught in the crossfire between animal-welfare campaigners and conservationists, argues environmental reporter Glen Martin. In this pacy, unsentimental account, Martin interviews seasoned conservation biologists, zoologists and game wardens, focusing on practice in Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania. He concludes that holistic strategies incorporating habitat conservation, controlled hunting and respect for local people's needs are workable — and points out that measures such as ecotourism and protection for iconic species have backfired dramatically.

The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers — How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death

  • Dick Teresi
Pantheon 368 pp. $26.95 (2012)

The moment of death, suggests science writer Dick Teresi, is harder to pin down than ever. He introduces us to those who work at this borderline: cell biologists, specialist doctors, undertakers and people who have recovered from comas. Charting historical definitions of death, the thinking of research greats and debates over near-death experiences, Teresi notes that the ethical challenges are immense, asking, for instance, whether all organ donors are unrevivable.

The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature

  • David George Haskell
Viking 288 pp. $25.95 (2012)

Training a biologist's eye on ecology, geology and climate, David Haskell visited a square metre of old-growth forest in southeastern Tennessee nearly every day for a year. His observations — of lichens, snowflakes, salamanders and more — are deftly interwoven with the science. His account is fascinating, whether he's stripping off in January to experience the physiological effects of severe cold, describing the symphonic sounds of trees in a high wind, or wondering at the bacteriocidal properties of a vulture's digestive tract.