Science + Fiction

There’s a new display in the Teen Space at the library – all about science and science fiction. If you’re into sci fi, you will know that while it is fiction and thus “made up” most of it has as its basis real science. Cold, hard science. Usually, even if the sci fi is based in a far future (which much sci fi is) and thus the author must rely on their imaginations to present the science that will be prevalent at that future time, what happens is not  too different from things we see today. Climate change, natural disasters, pandemics, genetic engineering, computer hacking, cyber-terrorism, and more: sounds like sci fi. And these are things you can hear, see and read in the news every day.

Delve into the science behind science fiction with these lists of non-fiction about real science, coupled with fiction which explores that real science in a made-up world. Whether you’re a bio geek, a hacker, an engineer or just a fan of a good story, you’ll find a book on this list to suit you.

Natural Disasters & Climate Change

• Storm Kings: The Untold History of America’s First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin (Adult Non-Fiction 551.553 S217)

• We are the Weather Makers: The History of Climate Change by Tim Flannery (Youth Non-Fiction 363.73874 F585)

• Washed Away: How the Great Flood of 1913, America’s Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed it Forever by Geoff Williams (Adult Non-Fiction 551.589 W723)

• The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown (YA Graphic BROWN)

• The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd (YA Fiction LLOYD)

• Ashfall by Mike Mullin (YA Fiction MULLIN)

• Life As We Knew It series by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA Fiction PFEFFER)

• Solstice by P.J. Hoover (YA Fiction HOOVER)

• The Living by Matt de la Pena (YA NEW Fiction DELAPEN)

• Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston (YA Fiction DELACRU)

 Pandemics

• The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age by Nathan Wolfe (Adult Non-Fiction 614.4 W855)

• Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen (Adult Non-Fiction 614.43 Q1)

• The Passage by Justin Cronin (Adult Fiction CRONIN)

• A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer (YA Fiction KIZER)

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer (YA Fiction MEYER)

• Blackout by Robison Wells (YA NEW Fiction WELLS)

• The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson (YA Graphic NELSON)

• The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (YA Fiction BRACKEN)

• Orleans by Sherri L. Smith (YA Fiction SMITH)

• Sick by Tom Leveen (YA NEW Fiction LEVEEN)

• Inhuman by Kat Falls (YA NEW Fiction FALLS)

 Genetic Engineering

• Food: The New Gold by Kathlyn Gay (YA Non-Fiction 338.19 G285)

• Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist’s View of Genetically Modified Foods by Nina V. Fedoroff and Nancy Marie Brown (Adult Non-Fiction 363.192 F294)

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Adult Non-Fiction 616.027 S628)

• The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (YA Fiction PEARSON)

• When We Wake by Karen Healy (YA Fiction HEALY)

• Matched by Allie Condie (YA Fiction CONDIE)

• Fever by Lauren DeStefano (YA Fiction DESTEFA)

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Adult Fiction HUXLEY)

• The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (YA Fiction FARMER)

• Maximum Ride series by James Patterson (YA Fiction PATTERS)

 Computers

• Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum (Adult Non-Fiction 004.67 B658)

• Big Data: a Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier (Adult Non-Fiction 658.834 M468)

• You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier (Adult Non-Fiction 303.4833 L287)

• Feed by M. T. Anderson (YA Fiction ANDERSO

• Doomed by Tracy Deebs (YA Fiction DEEBS)

• Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow (YA Fiction DOCTORO)

• Bubble World by Carol Snow (YA NEW Fiction SNOW)

• iBoy by Kevin Brooks (YA Fiction BROOKS)

• The Eye of Minds by James Dashner (YA NEW Fiction DASHNER)