Jeremy Mynott Oxford University Press (2018)įrom nightingales trilling in ancient Rome’s suburbs to the migrating cranes minutely observed by Aristotle in his fourth-century-bc History of Animals, birds pervaded early Mediterranean civilizations. He draws on research and compelling examples, from George Eliot’s 1871 novel Middlemarch (which examines the “threadlike pressure” on the deciding mind) to the supercomputer-based climate models now influencing climate-relevant decisions across the globe. Now, science writer Steven Johnson has his decisive moment, looking at the deep deliberations - mapping of variables, predictions of outcomes and balancing of aims and possibilities - that underpin life-changing choices.

Many researchers (notably psychologist Daniel Kahneman) have wrestled with the subtle mechanics of decision-making.

In this trenchant study, Bjornerud calls for a new geological literacy to instil deeper knowledge of planetary rhythms and processes - “thinking like a mountain”, as ecologist Aldo Leopold put it.

That layered perspective has made her aware of the short-term thinking common in a society wedded to political terms of office and the news cycle - all of which has, she argues, contributed to our inadequate, sometimes wrongheaded response to climate change. Marcia Bjornerud Princeton University Press (2018)Īs a geologist, Marcia Bjornerud works in many time frames: the 4.5-billion-year history of Earth, the academic year, the daily grind.

Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud