In this work, Ingrid Monson juxtaposes musicians' talk and musical examples to ask how musicians go about "saying something" through music in a way that articulates identity, politics, and race.

"Nature" has published news about the history of life ever since its first issue in 1869. This work brings together 19 review articles written for "Nature" over the past decade. Topics include major extinction events, homeotic genes and body plans and the origin and evolution of the primates.

The idea of a missing link between humanity and our animal ancestors predates evolution and popular science. The author takes aim at this misleading notion, arguing that it reflects a profound misunderstanding of how evolution works and, when applied to the evolution of our own species, supports mistaken ideas about our own place in the universe.

In this journey into the sound-worlds of Shakespeare's contemporaries, the text explores the physical aspects of human speech (ears, lungs, tongue) and the surrounding environment (buildings, landscape, climate), as well as social and political structures.