UChicagoReads: Nature

UChicagoReads features books written by UChicago staff, faculty, students, and alumni or those written about University topics. Do you know of a book we should feature? Do you have a book of your own? Email us at uchicagointranet@uchicago.edu.

Will the groundhog see his shadow this year? Whether we’re in for six more weeks of winter or spring is just around the corner, we invite you to delve into the wonders of the natural world through the eyes of University of Chicago faculty and alumni authors. This edition of UChicagoReads celebrates the wonders of nature, from avian communication to the stories embedded in oak trees to explorations of Earth's most distant reaches.

Bird Talk: An Exploration of Avian Communication

Barbara Ballentine, Jeremy Hyman, Mike Webster
© 2021 | 192 pages

Synopsis

Bird Talk delves into recent scientific developments to reveal the complexities of how birds make, learn, and use sound in a bewildering array of songs and calls. The beauty of birdsong is one of the joys of nature, and this book reveals how songs are learned and performed, why the quality of a male's repertoire can affect his mating success, and how birds use song-matching and countersinging in territorial disputes.

Bird Talk illustrates how birds communicate through visual signals too, from the dazzling feathers of a Peacock to the jumping displays a Jackson's Widowbird performs to show off his long tail. Plumage features such as the red bill shield of a Pukeko can indicate dominance, and how aggressive wing-waving is used to ward off impostors.

Bird Talk will help you understand how birds communicate in a range of situations, whether in harmony or in conflict, providing essential new insight into avian intelligence.

About the authors

Jeremy Hyman (AB’93) is a Professor and Assistant Department Chair of Biology at Western Carolina University. Before joining WCU, Hyman earned a BA in Biology at the University of Chicago and a PhD in Biology at UNC-Chapel Hill. Hyman’s research focuses on Animal Behavior, particularly in birds. He studies “personality,” or individual variation in behaviors like territorial aggression, trying to understand why some individuals are highly aggressive and others are not. He is also interested in how variation in aggression correlates with variation in other behaviors, such as anti-predator behavior, how variation in personality can influence communication, and how changes in habitat, such as urbanization, can influence the behavior of animals.

Oak Origins

Andrew L. Hipp
© 2024 | 288 pages

Synopsis

From ancient acorns to future forests, the story of how oaks evolved and the many ways they shape our world.

Oak Origins takes us through a sweeping evolutionary history, stretching back to a population of trees that lived more than 50 million years ago when the ancestors of the oaks evolved side by side with the dinosaurs. The book also dives into current research on oak genomes to see how scientists study genes’ movement between species and how oaks evolve over generations—spanning tens of millions of years.

Oaks are familiar to almost everyone, and beloved. They are embedded in our mythology. They have fed us, housed us, provided wood for our ships and wine barrels and homes and halls, planked our roads, and kept us warm. Every oak also has the potential to feed thousands of birds, squirrels, and mice and host countless insects, mosses, fungi, and lichens. But as Oak Origins makes clear, the story of the oaks’ evolution is not just the story of one important tree. It is the story of the Tree of Life, connecting all organisms that have ever lived on Earth, from oaks’ last common ancestor to us.

About the author

Andrew L. Hipp is a lecturer from the Morton Arboretum for the University of Chicago’s Committee on Evolutionary Biology. At the Morton Arboretum, Hipp directs research into the evolution and ecological implications of plant diversity. His current research focuses on oaks (Quercus, Fagaceae), sedges (Carex, Cyperaceae), and the use of phylogenetic and trait diversity to inform questions in ecological restoration and community ecology.

Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future

Neil Shubin
© 2025 | 288 pages

Synopsis

Ends of the Earth is an epic adventure to the North and South Poles to uncover the secrets locked in the ice and profoundly shift our understanding of life, the cosmos, and our future on the planet.

Scientific discoveries at Earth’s polar regions have changed the way we see the world and these insights are becoming ever more urgent. These landscapes are the epicenter for rapid change to our planet, with ice retreating, animal species moving toward the equator or going extinct, Indigenous communities confronting dramatic environmental changes, and political battles heating up for newly accessible mineral and gas resources. In the end, what happens at the poles does not stay in the poles—events there in the coming years will affect all life and every nation on the planet. The book blends travel, science, and environmental writing to deepen our understanding of animal and plant life, the history of our ice ages, the age of dinosaurs, the history of Western exploration, and the clues meteorites preserved at the poles contain about the cosmos.

Written with infectious enthusiasm and irresistible curiosity, Shubin shares lively adventure stories from the field to reveal just how far scientists will go to understand polar regions and to reveal the poles’ impact on the rest of life on the planet.

About the author

Neil H. Shubin is the Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy. As Special Advisor to the Provost for the Life Sciences, Neil leads the strategy for the life sciences across the University. He also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Strategy in the Biological Sciences Division. Neil’s research examines the evolution and development of vertebrate animals, specifically the transition from water to land by fish. He leads expeditions to the sweeping ice landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic in search of fossils and explores the genetics and evolution of the formation of the skeleton in living fish and amphibians. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.