Finalist for the Big Other Book Award, Nonfiction Category 2021

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

What is the environment, this elusive object that impacts us so profoundly--our odds to be born; the way we look, feel, and function; and how long and comfortable we may live? The environment is not only everything we see around us but also, at a lesser scale, a hailstorm of molecules large and small that constantly penetrates our bodies, simultaneously nourishing and threatening our health. The concept of oneness with our surroundings urges a reckoning of what we are doing to ''the environment,'' and consequently, what we are doing to ourselves.

By taking us through this journey of questioning, Rolf Halden's Environment empowers readers with new knowledge and a heightened appreciation of how our daily lifestyle decisions are impacting the places we occupy, our health, and humanity's prospect of survival.

With illustrations by Griffin Finke.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.