On her deathbed, Sue asked her sister for one thing: to write about the connection between the industrial pollution in their hometown and the rare cancer that was killing her. Fulfilling that promise has been Nancy Nichols’ mission for more than a decade. Lake Effect is the story of her investigation. It reaches back to their childhood in Waukegan, Illinois, an industrial town on Lake Michigan once known for good factory jobs and great fishing. Now Waukegan is famous for its Superfund sites: as one resident put it, asbestos to the north, PCBs to the south. Drawing on her experience as a journalist, Nichols interviewed dozens of scientists, doctors, and environmentalists to determine if these pollutants could have played a role in her sister’s death. While researching Sue’s cancer, she discovered her own: a vicious though treatable form of pancreatic cancer. Doctors and even family urged her to forget causes and concentrate on cures, but Nichols knew that it was relentless questioning that had led to her diagnosis. And that it is questioning—by government as well as individuals—that could save other lives. Lake Effect challenges us to ask why. It is the fulfillment of a sister’s promise. And it is a call to stop the pollution that is endangering the health of all our families.

The question didn't seem to be so much why we swim, as where and how we swim, and with whom. Also, where we fail to swim, water threatening to flood our lungs or the lungs of others, as well as where we rise and float. Ingrid Horrocks had few aspirations to swimming mastery, but she had always loved being in the water. She set out on a solo swimming journey, then abandoned it for a different kind of immersion altogether – one which led her to more deeply examine relationships, our ecological crisis, and responsibilities to those around us. Where We Swim ranges from solitary swims in polluted rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand, to dips in pools in Arizona and the Peruvian Amazon, and in the ocean off Western Australia and the south coast of England. Part memoir, part travel and nature writing, this generous and absorbing book is about being a daughter, sister, partner, mother, and above all a human being living among other animals on this watery planet.

Dive into the most mysterious waters around the world (if you dare) in Spooky Lakes, an illustrated nonfiction book from TikTok star and educator Geo Rutherford From Geo Rutherford—the creator of the hit series Spooky Lake Month (over 65 million likes!)—comes this thrilling nonfiction book that plumbs the depths of 25 unusual lakes around the world. Backed by extensive research and packed with all-new content—including eerie and eye-popping watercolor illustrations in full color—Spooky Lakes takes readers on an adventure through weird and wild waters. Some of Earth’s strangest—and creepiest—wonders lie deep below the surface... There’s Lake Natron, a Tanzanian lake so briny that its waters can mummify any creature that touches its surface; Lake Maracaibo, a Venezuelan tidal bay where a constantly brewing storm sends an average of 28 lightning bolts per second into the water; and at the bottom of Lake Superior, the crew of the USS Kamloops—which mysteriously disappeared in 1921—remains somehow almost perfectly preserved to this day. Readers will learn not only about the science of hydrology, but why understanding the natural world is crucial to protecting it from pollution and climate change. Includes a glossary, bibliography, author’s note, and index. Includes These Spooky Lakes: Lake Superior (United States and Canada) Roopkund Lake (India) Lake Karachay (Russia) Lake Nicaragua (Nicaragua) Nyiragongo Lava Lake (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Toxic Lake (Romania) Yellowstone Hot Springs (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, United States) Kaindy Lake (Kazakhstan) Cenotes (Mexico) Jellyfish Lake (Palau) Kaali Crater Lake (Estonia) Kawah-Ijen (Indonesia) Lake Vostok (Antarctica) Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela) Lake Nyos (Cameroon) Pitch Lake (Trinidad) Spirit Lake (Washington, United States) Qiandao Lake (China) Lake Chagan (Kazakhstan) Underwater Brine Lakes (Gulf of Mexico) Lake Natron (Tanzania) Crater Lake (Oregon, United States) Lake Guatavita (Colombia) The Shaft (Australia/near Mount Gambier) Lake Baikal (Russia)