What We Are Reading Today: ‘Earth and Life’ by Andrew H. Knoll

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Updated 14 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Earth and Life’ by Andrew H. Knoll

How did the world as we know it — from the soil beneath our feet to the air we breathe and the life that surrounds us — come to be? Geologists have proposed one set of answers while biologists have proposed another. 

“Earth and Life” is the first book to reveal why we need to listen to both voices — the physical and the biological — to understand how we and our planet became possible.

In this captivating book, Andrew Knoll traces how all life is sustained by Earth’s geological and atmospheric dynamics, and how life itself shapes the physical environment.


What We Are Reading Today: Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

Updated 18 December 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

‘Family of Spies’ is a gripping family memoir and nonfiction account that uncovers one family’s shocking role as spies aiding Japan in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“An amazing and gripping tale, full of suspenseful twists and cinematic details,” said a review in The New York Times.
Author Christine Kuehn chronicles the fruits of her decades-long research, revealing her grandparents’ secret espionage activities in pre-World War II Germany and their life in Hawaii, where they gathered intelligence.

Interweaving historical detail with personal narrative, Kuehn shares her own harrowing journey of discovery — sparked by a mysterious letter from a screenwriter — and the emotional toll of confronting this buried past. 
She draws extensively on conversations with her father, Eberhard, who had long remained taciturn about his family’s history, shielding her from questions growing up.