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Brian David Johnson in Conversation With Cory Doctorow

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

If you’re like most people, thinking about tomorrow makes you anxious. You may have dreams of what you want to do or where you want to be in the next few months, years, or decade, but you’re fearful because you don’t know what may await. Unfortunately, this apprehension affects how you make decisions today — the kind of decisions that will impact your life tomorrow. Acclaimed futurist Brian David Johnson has spent a quarter century helping governments, Fortune 500 corporations, and other organizations chart successful paths forward by showing them what the world will soon look like. Now, he uses his prognosticator’s skill to help you be your best self — to help you see the future, and your place in it, in a new…

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Jonathan Meiburg in Conversation With Michael Azerrad

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In 1833, Charles Darwin was astonished by an animal he met in the Falkland Islands: handsome, social, and oddly crow-like falcons that were “tame and inquisitive… quarrelsome and passionate,” and so insatiably curious that they stole hats, compasses, and other valuables from the crew of the Beagle. Darwin wondered why these birds were confined to remote islands at the tip of South America, sensing a larger story, but he set this mystery aside and never returned to it. Almost 200 years later, Jonathan Meiburg takes up this chase. He takes us through South America, from the fog-bound coasts of Tierra del Fuego to the tropical forests of Guyana, in search of these birds: striated caracaras, which still exist, though they’re very rare. He reveals the…

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Michio Kaku

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Michio Kaku, renowned theoretical physicist and New York Times bestselling author of Hyperspace and The Future of Humanity, tells the story of the greatest quest in all of science. When Newton discovered the laws of motion and gravity, he unified the rules of heaven and earth. From then on, physicists have been discovering new forces and incorporating them into ever-greater theories. But the major breakthroughs of the 20th century — relativity and quantum mechanics — are incompatible, and so since then, physicists have been endeavoring to combine these two theories. This would ultimately tie all the forces in the universe together into one beautiful equation that can unlock the deepest mysteries of space and time. That epic journey is the story of Kaku’s new book,…

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Suzanne Simard in Conversation With Aaron Scott

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she’s been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Now, in her first book, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (Knopf), the world’s leading forest ecologist brings us into her world, the intimate world of the trees, in which she brilliantly illuminates the fascinating and vital truths — that trees are not simply the source of timber or pulp, but are a complicated, interdependent circle of life; that forests are social, cooperative creatures connected through…

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Leigh Cowart in Conversation With Jess Zimmerman

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Masochism is sexy, human, reviled, worshipped, and can be delightfully bizarre. Deliberate and consensual pain has been with us for millennia, encompassing everyone from Black Plague flagellants to ballerinas dancing on broken bones to competitive eaters choking down hot peppers while they cry. Masochism is a part of us. It lives inside workaholics, tattoo enthusiasts, and all manner of garden variety pain-seekers. At its core, masochism is about feeling bad, then better — a phenomenon that is long overdue for a heartfelt and hilarious investigation. And Leigh Cowart would know: they are not just a researcher and science writer — they’re an inveterate, high-sensation-seeking masochist. And they have a few questions: Why do people engage in masochism? What are the benefits and the costs? And…

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Thor Hanson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

In Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid (Basic), beloved natural historian and biologist Thor Hanson — author of Buzz, The Triumph of Seeds, and Feathers — tells the remarkable story of how plants and animals are responding to climate change: adjusting, evolving, and sometimes dying out. Anole lizards have grown larger toe pads, to grip more tightly in frequent hurricanes. Warm waters have caused the development of Humboldt squid to alter so dramatically that fishermen mistake them for different species. Brown pelicans move north, and long-spined sea urchins south, to find cooler homes. And when coral reefs sicken, they leave no territory worth fighting for, so aggressive butterfly fish transform instantly into pacifists. A story of hope, resilience, and risk, Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is natural…

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Livestream Reading: Sarah Foster: STEM Like a Girl

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Annie Bloom's welcomes Portland author Sarah Foster for a livestream reading from her new book, STEM Like a Girl: Empowering Knowledge and Confidence to Lead, Innovate, and Create. Please register in advance for this Zoom event: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIsce2qqzIuE9GFF5SRdbDEWzwwKfWthbEZ If you would like a signed or personalized copy of this book, please leave a note in the comments section of your order! About STEM Like a Girl: STEM Like a Girl empowers girls, 8-12, with the knowledge and confidence to become future problem solvers and leaders in the scientific world and beyond. This fully illustrated and photographic book profiles 35 inspiring girls and offers 15 hands-on, STEM-based experiments that they can do at home. While leading a hands-on engineering project in her son's elementary school, researcher and biotech…

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FROM KNOWLEDGE TO POWER Launch Party

Lucky Labrador Beer Hall 1945 NW Quimby St, Portland, OR, United States

We're hosting a party to celebrate the launch of FROM KNOWLEDGE TO POWER by John Perona! Join us in celebrating K2P's release with food, drinks, and by spending the evening with other climate advocates. The launch party will include a discussion between author John Perona and climate advocate and actress K.B. Mercer, a brief talk by John Perona about several of his favorite chapters from the book, and an author signing with Q&A. Mark your calendars, this is an event you won't want to miss!

Free

Robin George Andrews in Conversation With Steve Olson

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Volcanoes are capable of acts of pyrotechnical prowess verging on magic: they spout black magma more fluid than water, create shimmering cities of glass at the bottom of the ocean and frozen lakes of lava on the moon, and can even tip entire planets over. Between lava that melts and reforms the landscape, and noxious volcanic gases that poison the atmosphere, volcanoes have threatened life on Earth countless times in our planet’s history. Yet despite their reputation for destruction, volcanoes are inseparable from the creation of our planet. A lively and utterly fascinating guide to these geologic wonders, Super Volcanoes (W. W. Norton) revels in the incomparable power of volcanic eruptions past and present, earthbound and otherwise — and recounts the daring and sometimes death-defying…

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Dan Lambe

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR, United States

Timed to the organization's 150th anniversary, Dan Lambe’s Now Is the Time for Trees (Timber Press), written with Lorene Edwards Forkner, celebrates the Arbor Day Foundation’s important role in conservation and energizes readers to plant trees as a means of individual climate activism. Trees and forests are the number one nature-based solution for revers­ing the negative effects of a changing climate. If ever there was a time to be planting trees, that time is now. Inspired by a collective sense of urgency, a global movement to plant trees is gaining momentum. To move the needle, we need to act on a massive scale and plant millions of trees today to have a measurable and lasting impact on billions of lives tomorrow. In Now Is the…

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