Human Nature

A captivating exploration of climate change that uses nine different emotions to better understand the science, history, and future of our evolving planet.

Scientist Kate Marvel has seen the world end before, sometimes several times a day. In the computer models she uses to study climate change, it's easy to simulate rising temperatures, catastrophic outcomes, and bleak futures. But climate change isn't just happening in those models. It's happening here, to the only good planet in the universe. It's happening to us. And she has feelings about that.

Human Nature is a deeply felt inquiry into our rapidly changing Earth. In each chapter, Marvel uses a different emotion to explore the science and stories behind climate change. As expected, there is anger, fear, and grief - but also wonder, hope, and love. With her singular voice, Marvel takes us on a soaring journey, one filled with mythology, physics, witchcraft, bad movies, volcanoes, Roman emperors, sequoia groves, and the many small miracles of nature we usually take for granted.

Hopeful, heartbreaking, and surprisingly funny, Human Nature is a vital, wondrous exploration of how it feels to live in a changing world.

'Few books I've encountered have felt more immediately timely. Over and over again I was, and remain, struck and challenged by the fierce, wise beauty in these pages. Reading and feeling these words now - as scientists are silenced and defunded, and as our climate convulses - gives it the heft of a forbidden samizdat text, making the sharing of it that much more urgent.'
- John Vaillant, bestselling author of The Tiger and Pulitzer Prize finalist Fire Weather

'This is the best climate book I've ever read. It's magnificent - both planetary and personal, saturated with electric metaphors, incisive vignettes, legitimately funny jokes, and an unflappable, knowing love for Earth, our home.'
- Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of What If We Get It Right? and co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab

'This is the book we've been waiting for. Both brilliant and hard-won, Marvel's Human Nature gives us ways not only to think about our planet in crisis but also to honour the powerful connection we have to this place we call home. Deeply personal and scientifically wise, this book will serve as a guide and an anchor for years to come.'
- Ada Limón, 24th US Poet Laureate and author of Startlement- new and selected poems