Travel and outdoors

American Eden

From Monticello to Central Park to Our Backyards: What Our Gardens Tell Us About Who We Are

Wade Graham

Harper: $35

How the American identity and its contradictions — democratic ideals and aristocratic pretensions — are reflected in our gardens, from Jefferson’s Monticello to Martha Stewart’s Turkey Hill. (now available)

Among Giants

A Life With Whales

Charles “Flip” Nicklin

University of Chicago Press: $40

The gentle beasts in the depths of the ocean receive their fair share in this visually stunning tribute. (June)

The Big Roads

The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways

Earl Swift

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: $27

Travelers hitting the highways this summer might better appreciate the asphalt beneath their tires thanks to this engrossing history of the creation of the U.S. interstate system. (June)

Boltzmann’s Tomb

Travels in Search of Science

Bill Green

Bellevue Literary Press: $25

The author makes a pilgrimage around the globe to the places associated with scientific discoveries and the scientists who made them, including Newton, Kepler and Galileo. (June)

Botanical Prints

Henry Evans

Counterpoint Press: $24.95

A vast array of the prolific illustrator’s work comprising mainly California flora. Excerpts from Evans’ notebook detail his physical process and thoughts behind his creations.

The Cloud Collector’s Handbook

Gavin Pretor-Pinney

Chronicle Books: $14.95

An illustrated guidebook to cumulus appreciation with scientific explanations to accompany your cloudgazing. (now available)

Cuba

Walker Evans, with an Introduction by Andrei Codrescu

Getty Publications: $24.95 paper

More than 70 of Evans’ photographs from a 1933 trip to Cuba are reprinted in this new paperback edition with a provocative essay by Andrei Codrescu. (May)

Founding Gardeners

The Revolutionary Generation, Nature and the Shaping of the American Nation

Andrea Wulf

Alfred A. Knopf: $30

How America’s Founding Fathers’ enthusiasm for nature and botanicals influenced their ideas about government. (now available)

Hummingbirds and Butterflies

Bill Thompson III and Connie Toops

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: $14.95 paper

How to attract, feed and identify all kinds of hummingbirds and butterflies, out in the wild or in your backyard. (now available)

Let There Be Pebble

A Middle-Handicapper’s Year in America’s Garden of Golf

Zachary Michael Jack

Nebraska: $24.95

An up-close look at every golfer’s nirvana: the Pebble Beach Golf course in Carmel, Calif., in the year leading up to the 2010 U.S. Open. (June)

100 Places to Go Before They Disappear

Patrick Drew

Abrams: $24.95

This compendium of travel destinations looks at the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef, the tea fields of Sri Lanka and other environmentally fragile places around the world. (May)

On the Road to Babadag

Andrzej Stasiuk

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: $23

A collection of travel narratives about central and eastern Europe by a man who hitchhiked across the land witnessing the remnants of communism. (June)

Paris

The Collected Traveler

Edited by Barrie Kerper

Vintage: $19

The City of Light shines bright in this collection of pieces on the region, the language and of course the food (including plenty of chocolate and wine). (July)

Paris to the Past

Traveling Through French History by Train

Ina Caro

W.W. Norton: $27.95

The author mixes her personal impressions with historical perspectives as she discusses Versailles, fortresses, cathedrals and cafes for both the armchair traveler and the casual tourist. (June)

Railway Maps of the World

Mark Ovenden

Viking: $35

Whether you’re riding the rails this summer or just hitting the beach chair, the author’s followup to his bestselling “Transit Maps of the World” shows you the routes people use to get around Argentina, Algeria and other points of the globe. (now available)

Strawberry Fields

Central Park’s Memorial to John Lennon

Sara Cedar Miller

Abrams: $16.95

The images and story behind the 2.5-acre “peace garden,” created with donations and contributions of trees, shrubs and stones from 121 countries around the world. (May)

The Tao of Travel

Enlightenments From Lives on the Road

Paul Theroux

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: $25

The novelist and premier travel writer culls insights and wisdom from a variety of authors, philosophers and thinkers on the human need for travel and change. (May)

World Atlas of Golf

The Greatest Courses and How They Are Played

Mark Rowlinson

Hamlyn/Octopus: $24.95

This illustrated guide, now in paperback, explores the links of the world’s most stunning and architecturally designed courses. (May)