This month at BookTalk, Jannell and I rounded up a wish list of books that we're hoping to get and give this holiday season. If you read Jennifer's gift list last week and immediately added Women in Science to your online shopping cart (we did too!), then this list is for you.

One book I'm hoping to cozy up with over the holidays is this hot-off-the-presses climate science and cartoon mash-up by climate scientist Michael E. Mann and political cartoonist Tom Toles. If you prefer your serious ideas with an irreverent edge, this might be just the book to put on your wish list. (And if Uncle Larry predictably insists that climate change is a hoax at every holiday dinner, this might be the perfect present to slip into his stocking.)

If you're passionate about environmental issues, don’t forget to share that passion with the kids in your life. This book, great for 8- to 12-year-olds, addresses the need to start thinking more sustainably—in a kid-friendly graphic novel format. One of two in a series, this story follows our heroine as she starts a community garden and learns to compost in the wake of signs of climate change. Pair it with some seeds and gardening tools for your favorite niece or nephew to help them get their own backyard garden started, and you're all set!

Who remembers watching Jurassic Park and wishing that such a place existed? How fun would it be to hang out with dinosaurs (at least the vegetarian ones!), right? In this new book, evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro re-awakens our childhood dreams by explaining to us that resurrecting ancient species like mammoths or passenger pigeons may be possible. But beyond that, she unveils the science that might allow us to revitalize and stabilize our ecosystems—ecosystems facing global warming and fighting for their survival. This book will make a great gift not only for Jurassic Park fans but also for science and nature lovers alike.

This is a 2015 release, but we couldn't help mentioning it here anyway. This is a beautifully illustrated non-fiction graphic novel for the teens (and teens at heart!) in your life who are into animals and the scientists who work with them.

For many of us, celebrating the holidays almost always comes back to a big holiday meal (or a few of them!). And if you ask Suzana Herculano-Houzel, the meal—or more specifically, the cooking of that meal—is way more important than you might think! In her new book, you'll learn that what makes us so special is not the size of our brain but the huge number of neurons our brain contains. About 1.5 million years ago, our ancestors started cooking. Nothing as fancy as your favorite pumpkin pie, of course, but still—cooking allowed them to obtain calories in a more efficient way, and thus acquire a huge number of neurons. This fascinating book is an excellent read if you want to have an actual answer when your kid or grandkid asks why elephants don't use smartphones!

On November 18, the World Health Organization declared that Zika no longer represents a "public health emergency of international concern." However, it still remains a major public health challenge. Over the past year, Cell Press has published dozens of papers related to Zika in an effort to rapidly propagate any information that might help combat the disease. However, for your non-scientist friends and family members, I highly recommend this book by Donald G. McNeil, Jr., a science reporter at the New York Times. This timely book will answer all your questions about this terrifying virus: how it emerged, how it's spreading, what scientists are doing to find a cure, and how to protect ourselves.

If you'd rather get a more broadly ranging account of the year's current scientific issues, this one might be more up your alley—this book has a little bit of it all! From the science of sports bras to the science of earthquake prediction, you (or that hard-to-buy-for colleague) are bound to find something here to be intrigued by.

What's a wish list without a little Neil deGrasse Tyson? Not only Neil himself but also Michael Strauss and J. Richard Gott—the other two members of the trio that teaches the famous undergrad course on the universe at Princeton—take us on a whirlwind tour of the cosmos in this fall release. Stunning black-and-white cover aside, this one promises to be both fun and informative. You'd better believe this one is at the top of my "to read" list for 2017, and it might just be perfect for the Big Bang Theory fan in your life, too.

Don't leave the kids out of the fun—rope them in to your space-loving ways as well! This classic from The Cat in the Hat (revised to downgrade Pluto from a planet) gets the littlest scientists in on the action and makes for perfect reading material for the dark, cold nights ahead.

And that's it! We hope that one of these makes your hunt for the perfect gift just a little bit easier, gives you a much-needed moment to chill out after a big meal, or helps you survive the interminable lines at the airport. Here's to some good reading in these last few weeks of 2016 and on into 2017!

Ed note: This post was written with input from Jannell McConnell Parsons.