Speaking in the Air: A History of the Idea of Communication

  • John Durham Peters
University of Chicago Press, $16, £10.50

Air Apparent: How Meteorologists Learned to Map, Predict, and Dramatize Weather

  • Mark Monmonier
University of Chicago Press, £11, $17

“The targeted readership includes both cartographic historians and weather enthusiasts drawn predominantly from the United States. Monmonier's approach is that of the academic cartographer, and this particular slant both gives the book its charm and defines its weaknesses.” Huw C. Davies, Nature 400, 523–524 (1999)

Classification of Mammals: Above the Species Level

  • Malcolm McKenna &
  • Susan K. Bell
Columbia University Press, $50, £31

“The classification of extant and fossil mammals by McKenna and Bell will be the classic reference work for all investigators interested in mammalian evolutionary biology.” Jean-Louis Hartenberger, Nature 392, 350–351 ( 1998)

The Search for Life on Mars

  • Malcolm Walter
Perseus Books, $15

“Throughout, Walter expresses his feelings about the joy of science, the thrill of the hunt, the difficulty of being sure about anything in the complex geobiological setting, and the frustrations of being half-right, or even wrong, as the work has proceeded.” Kenneth Nealson, Nature 406, 936–937 ( 2000)