The Universe is an intangible sea of information, suggests physicist Vlatko Vedral in his book Decoding Reality (Oxford Univ. Press, 2010). Everything around us can be explained through ephemeral statistics. Moreover, much of modern physics, he says, is attributable to the fact that information can be created out of nothing. Vedral challenges our concepts of matter, time, determinism and reality — from the concepts of entropy in thermodynamics to quantum entanglement, and from advances in quantum computing to the Universe itself.

Tech Transfer (CreateSpace, 2010) marks the first foray into fiction for veteran science-policy reporter Daniel Greenberg. Writing of research life at the mythical Kershaw University, he pokes fun at the machinations of academic institutions. As the book's feuding faculty members plot to disguise their somnolence and to profit from spin-off companies and unethical research, cheating students party on campus. Greenberg's exposé is tongue-in-cheek and his portrayal harsh, but his messages are serious.

More than 80 richly detailed maps of worldwide environmental data are presented in The Atlas of Global Conservation (Univ. California Press, 2010). This compilation is written and edited by Jennifer Molnar of The Nature Conservancy and her colleagues, along with journalist Katherine Ellison. The collection highlights the geographical variation of the effects of climate change, water use, habitat protection, deforestation and overfishing, conveyed by sophisticated graphics and informative text.