History of science Books

Book SynopsisDiscusses symmetry and asymmetry in contemporary physics and tells the story of how contemporary theoretical physicists are following Einstein in their search for the beauty and simplicity of nature.Trade Review"Zee's exposition of the intuitive use by modern theoretical physicists of the concept of symmetry ... in order to fathom nature's laws is superb scientific reading."--Publishers Weekly "[Zee] demonstrates effortless competence over a wide area of theoretical physics. He also displays great enthusiasm and excitement for his subject, which many readers will find infectious."--James W. McAllister, ISIS, A Journal of the History of Science SocietyTable of ContentsForeword xi Preface 1999 xv Preface xvii acknowledgements xix I Symmetry and Design 1 1. In Search of Beauty 3 2. Symmetry and Simplicity 8 3. The Far Side of the Mirror 22 II Einstein's Legacy, 49 4. Marriage of Time and Space 51 5. A Happy Thought 76 6. Symmetry Dictates Design 95 III Into The Limelight 101 7. Where the action is not 103 8. The lady and the Tyger 113 9. Learning to Read the Great Book 122 10. Symmetry Triumphs 133 IV To Know His Thoughts 151 11. The Eightfold Path in the Forest of the Night 153 12. The Revenge of Art 185 13. The Ultimate Design Problem 210 14. The Unity of Forces 228 15. The Rise of Hubris 255 16. The Mind of the Creator 275 Afterword 285 Appendix to Chapter 9 297 Appendix to the Afterword 301 Notes 321 Index 345

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Book SynopsisThe weird and wonderful life of John Whiteside Parsons - a pioneering rocket scientist who also delved into the occult'Forget geek stereotypes. Parsons' life seems straight out of a Hollywood thriller ' Los Angeles MagazineTrade ReviewPendle's superbly detailed and addictively readable book makes the reader fall in love with these young men's energy and enthusiasm, and the blazing trail that Parsons left behind him as he finally fell to earth * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Readable and engrossing -- Bryan Appleyard * LITERARY REVIEW *Elegantly written ... Pendle with his graceful, measured prose... skilfully steers us through the quagmire of Parson's personal life to place him on the pedestal that he deserves, so that we may admire his remarkable legacy to modern rocket science * OBSERVER *You couldn't make it up * PHYSICS WORLD *A case of truth being stranger than fiction in all its glory. The whole mix is fascinating. Parsons' struggle to achieve a working rocket would make a good story in its own right, but add in the science fiction, add in the strange religion and characters like Hubbard - and finally, throw into the mix Parsons' horrendous death in an apparently accidental explosion at home ... It's a cracker, that rarest of things a popular science book that's a page turner too * POPULARSCIENCE.CO.UK *Fascinating ... we are introduced to a surreal 1930s world where dreams of space flight were inspired by popular science fiction * FOCUS *Entertaining... intriguing * CHEMISTRY WORLD *As a history of space travel, STRANGE ANGEL is a cornerstone ... Highly recommended -- Ray BradburyForget geek stereotypes. Parsons' life seems straight out of a Hollywood thriller ... Pendle's book leaves us with a taste of genius's energy and fragility * LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE *Fascinating ... he deftly and seemingly effortlessly leads his readers through the technical aspects of Parsons' work. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy it * SEATTLE TIMES *A riveting tale of rocketry, the occult, and boom-and-bust 1920s and 1930s Los Angeles * BOOKLIST *An engaging treatment of a time when the modern world moved at the same speed as crazed mania * THE ONION *Offers glimpses not only of the history of a lab, a science and a group of extraordinary people but also of America's rapidly changing political and cultural assumptions ... Parsons' story is an intriguing one, full of contradictions that seem quintessentially of their time * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW *Spellbinding ... STRANGE ANGEL has a strong narrative drive and reads like a novel - except that novels need to be plausible, whereas the life of Jack Parsons, poet, magician and rocket pioneer, had no such constraint * AMERICAN SCIENTIST *STRANGE ANGEL could be a hybrid sired by GRAVITY'S RAINBOW out of FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM. Explosively fascinating * GLOBE & MAIL *

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Book SynopsisMilitaries with state-of-the-art information technology sometimes bog down in confusing conflicts. To understand why, it is important to understand the micro-foundations of military power in the information age, and this is exactly what Jon R. Lindsay''s Information Technology and Military Power gives us. As Lindsay shows, digital systems now mediate almost every effort to gather, store, display, analyze, and communicate information in military organizations. He highlights how personnel now struggle with their own information systems as much as with the enemy.Throughout this foray into networked technology in military operations, we see how information practicethe ways in which practitioners use technology in actual operationsshapes the effectiveness of military performance. The quality of information practice depends on the interaction between strategic problems and organizational solutions. Information Technology and Military Power explores information practicTrade ReviewPractitioners on the application of military power would be wise to pick up a copy of this book. Its appeal, however, extends beyond. Those seeking to understand how information and technology have influenced recent military operations would gain from this work as well. * The Journal of Military History *This book will appeal to a wide audience. It is only a moderate exaggeration to say that if you are in the military and use a computer to do your work, you will find this book useful. Military personnel working in large command centers will find this book especially helpful. * Strategic Studies Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Shifting the Fog of War 1. The Technology Theory of Victory 2. A Framework for Understanding Information Practice 3. Strategic and Organizational Conditions for Success: The Battle of Britain 4. User Innovation and System Management: Aviation Mission Planning Software 5. Irregular Problems and Biased Solutions: Special Operations in Iraq 6. Increasing Complexity and Uneven Results: Drone Campaigns 7. Practical Implications of Information Practice

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Book SynopsisSolitude has always had an ambivalent status: the capacity to enjoy being alone can make sociability bearable, but those predisposed to solitude are often viewed with suspicion or pity. Drawing on a wide array of literary and historical sources, David Vincent explores how people have conducted themselves in the absence of company over the last three centuries. He argues that the ambivalent nature of solitude became a prominent concern in the modern era. For intellectuals in the romantic age, solitude gave respite to citizens living in ever more complex modern societies. But while the search for solitude was seen as a symptom of modern life, it was also viewed as a dangerous pathology: a perceived renunciation of the world, which could lead to psychological disorder and anti-social behaviour. Vincent explores the successive attempts of religious authorities and political institutions to manage solitude, taking readers from the monastery to the prisoner’s cell, and explains how western society’s increasing secularism, urbanization and prosperity led to the development of new solitary pastimes at the same time as it made traditional forms of solitary communion, with God and with a pristine nature, impossible. At the dawn of the digital age, solitude has taken on new meanings, as physical isolation and intense sociability have become possible as never before. With the advent of a so-called loneliness epidemic, a proper historical understanding of the natural human desire to disengage from the world is more important than ever. The first full-length account of its subject, A History of Solitude will appeal to a wide general readership.Trade Review"Superb ... a remarkably versatile study."—Terry Eagleton, The Guardian "[A] beautifully written, nuanced and now topical history."—The Spectator "Totally absorbing."—Sydney Morning Herald "[B]ursts with fascinating information and chewy ideas."—The Telegraph "[An] elegantly written and acute history ... It is characteristic of Vincent's insight that he detects mirrors everywhere."—Yorkshire Times "In this well-judged history of a currently pressing preoccupation ... Vincent performs a useful public service: he recognises the uniqueness of our contemporary problems, but gives them the calming and edifying perspective of context."—Times Higher Education "Are we living in a lonely age and, if so, when did it begin? In this riveting history, David Vincent tackles this timely question by bringing to light everyday experiences of solitude and loneliness from the late eighteenth century to the present. Here we meet solitary walkers, spiritual recluses, sailors on long solo voyages, but also men and women locked up in asylums or prisons where unremitting isolation broke minds and spirits. Solitude could be nourishing but it could also madden or even kill. Vincent gives us the stories in rich detail, in a pathbreaking book that will fascinate anyone interested in solitariness, past or present."—Barbara Taylor, Queen Mary University of London "This is a superb book. David Vincent has mobilized texts that he has mastered over fifty years of scholarship and supplemented these – poetry, novels, memoirs, and autobiography – with a dazzling range of sources on everything from stamp-collecting to dog-walking to prison reform. He manages the intractable distinction between solitude and loneliness over a large domain. This will become the standard work on a topic of both academic and general interest."—Thomas Laqueur, University of California at Berkeley "This is a deeply researched book that sheds light on many aspects of modern history, from leisure to penology. While exploring rich historical cases, the book also provides an explicit backdrop for contemporary concerns about loneliness but also about modern barriers to achieving solitude. A real gem."—Peter Stearns, George Mason University "Original, bang up-to-date, and impressive in its scholarship. This is a fine piece of work from an experienced historian."—Colin Heywood, University of Nottingham "Vincent's new book, [….] examines how our attitudes to being alone – physically and mentally – have changed over time. The breadth of his study is impressive. Vincent is refreshingly sceptical about the UK's supposed 'loneliness epidemic'."—David Robson, The IndependentTable of ContentsAcknowledgements 1 Introduction: Solitude Considered 2 Solitude, I’ll Walk with Thee 3 Home Alone in the Nineteenth Century 4 Prayers, Convents and Prisons 5 Solitude and Leisure in the Twentieth Century 6 The Spiritual Revival 7 The ‘Epidemic of Loneliness’ Revisited 8 Conclusion: Solitude in the Digital Era Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAI expert Jerry Kaplan explains how generative AI will revolutionize virtually every human activity. Highly recommended. - Francis Fukuyama, Political scientist and author of The End of History and the Last Man Advances in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) have created a new class of computer systems that exhibit astonishing proficiency on a wide variety of tasks with superhuman performance, producing novel text, images, music, and software by analyzing enormous collections of digitized information. Soon, these systems will provide expert medical care; offer legal advice; draft documents; write computer programs; tutor our children; and generate music and art. These advances will accelerate progress in science, art, and human knowledge, but they will also bring new dangers. Have we finally discovered the holy grail of AI - machines that match or exceed human intelligence? Which industries and professions will thrive, and which will wither? What risks and dangers will it pose? Ho

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Book SynopsisHow the World Flows acts like a microscope that pulls the reader into the barely noticeable, Lilliputian world of fluids at small scales--the microfluidic world-and answers the question What is microfluidics? in non-technical language.Microfluidics is the field of science that studies fluids constrained to spaces that are smaller than one millimeter wide, and by extension, the engineering field which builds devices that exploit the unique properties of fluids at these scales. Author Albert Folch explores this micro science which has inspired engineers to build devices such as engines, spray cans, ballpoint pens, inkjet and 3D printers, pregnancy and Covid tests, glucometers, asthma nebulizers, kidney dialysis machines, and DNA analyzers. This book also shows that many processes essential to life on Earth - such as the formation of raindrops, the rise of sap in plants, and the percolation of water through soil - are all microfluidic marvels. It examines how our cells breathe, feed, and fight diseases through small capillaries. Many ancient human inventions, ranging from soaps and sauces to the candle wick, the gauze, and the ink brush, rely on microfluidics, but the size of the fluid interactions in these systems, natural and human-made, has prevented most people from appreciating their inner workings. Through engaging and digestible stories, Folch takes a lens to this tiny science and demonstrates how big a role microfluidics play in life as we know it.

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Book SynopsisThe Fontana History of Chemistry, which draws extensively on both the author’s own original research and that of other scholars world wide, is conceived as a work of synthesis. Nothing like it has been attempted in decades.

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Book SynopsisNominally a history of the hot air balloon, Falling Upwards' is really a history of hope and fantasy and the quixotic characters who disobeyed that most fundamental laws of physics and gave humans flight' New Republic, Best Books of 2013CHOSEN AS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR IN ** Guardian ** New Statesman ** Daily Telegraph ** New Republic ** TIME Magazine 10 Top Nonfiction Books of 2013 ** The New Republic Best Books of 2013 ** Kirkus Best Books of the Year (2013)**From ambitious scientists rising above the clouds to test the air, to brave generals floating over enemy lines to watch troop movements, this wonderful book offers a seamless fusion of history, art, science, biography and the metaphysics of flight. It is a masterly portrait of human endeavour, recklessness, vision and hope.In this heart-lifting book, Richard Holmes, author of the best-selling The Age of Wonder, follows the daring and enigmatic men and women who risked their lives to take to the air (or fall into the sky). Why tTrade ReviewSELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: JIM CRACE, GUARDIAN – ‘A whole wide world of significance’ SARAH SANDS, NEW STATESMAN – ‘Sheer delight’ MICHAEL PRODGER, EVENING STANDARD – ‘Picaresque history’ DAN JONES, DAILY TELEGRAPH – ‘Tremendously inventive’ LEV GROSSMAN, TIME MAGAZINE – ‘Thrilling history’ CHLOE SCHAMA, NEW REPUBLIC – ‘Unadulterated delight’ KIRKUS – ‘Gripping’ MAIL ON SUNDAY – ‘Tragic’ ‘A book as delightful as it is unexpected … [an] extraordinary cabinet of drifting aerial wonderment, a book that will linger and last, as it floats ever upward in the mind’ Simon Winchester, Wall Street Journal ‘Holmes presents a full-blown, lyrical history of the same subject, investigating the strangeness, detachment and powerful romance of ‘falling upwards’ into a seemingly alien and uninhabitable element. He lovingly charts … a history full of awe and inefficiency … A truly masterly storyteller’ Evening Standard ‘Endlessly exhilarating … packed full of swashbuckling stories, as well as fascinating historical accounts of the use of balloons. It is also a singularly beautiful book, wonderfully designed and illustrated and quite clearly a product of love’ Mail on Sunday ‘What Holmes teases out … is that ballooning gave us, quite literally, a different point of view … This exhilarating book, wonderfully written, generously illustrated and beautifully published, captures all that and more’ Spectator ‘Holmes conjures an extraordinarily vivid, violent, thrilling history, full of bizarre personalities, narrow escapes and fatal plunges. A peerless prose artist, infectiously curious’ Time Magazine

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Book SynopsisBased on meticulous research in original sources Goodman illustrates vividly how adept [Banks] was Shining a light on individuals whose achievements are relatively uncelebrated'Jenny Uglow, New York Review of BooksA bold new history of how botany and global plant collecting centred at Kew Gardens and driven by Joseph Banks transformed the earth.Botany was the darling and the powerhouse of the eighteenth century. As European ships ventured across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, discovery bloomed. Bounties of new plants were brought back, and their arrival meant much more than improved flowerbeds it offered a new scientific frontier that would transform Europe's industry, medicine, eating and drinking habits, and even fashion.Joseph Banks was the dynamo for this momentous change. As botanist for James Cook's great voyage to the South Pacific on the Endeavour, Banks collected plants on a vast scale, armed with the vision as a child of the Enlightenment that to travel physically was to advance intellectually. His thinking was as intrepid as Cook's seafaring: he commissioned radically influential and physically daring expeditions such as those of Francis Masson to the Cape Colony, George Staunton to China, George Caley to Australia, William Bligh to Tahiti and Jamaica, among many others.Jordan Goodman's epic history follows these high seas adventurers and their influence in Europe, as well as taking us back to the early years of Kew Gardens, which Banks developed devotedly across the course of his life, transforming it into one of the world's largest and most diverse botanical gardens.In a rip-roaring global expedition, based on original sources in many languages, Goodman gives a momentous history of how the discoveries made by Banks and his collectors advanced scientific understanding around the world.Trade Review PRAISE FOR PLANTING THE WORLD ‘Goodman turns his attention to the “adventurous history” of the botanists, naturalists, gardeners, and ship captains who carried out his vicarious plant-hunting across the world, shining a light on individuals whose achievements are relatively uncelebrated. The book is particularly strong on the minutiae of planning, negotiating, and financing these ventures, and on the disasters that so often beset them … For each expedition, Goodman builds up a picture based on meticulous research in original sources … Goodman illustrates vividly how adept [Banks] was, all through his career, at piggybacking on different government, diplomatic, and mercantile ventures … Planting the World tracks Banks’s projects in detail and illustrates dramatically how difficult it was to move plants around the world’Jenny Uglow, New York Review of Books ‘A brilliant and authoritative insight into the global reach of Joseph Banks, one of the great figures of the Enlightenment, through the lives of the intrepid botanists, gardeners, and nurserymen whose explorations and adventures made it all possible’Peter Crane 'The story of 18th century European botanists, their ships and voyages, united by the mind and extraordinary energy of Joseph Banks as he developed both the science and gardens of England. It is a marvellous history packed with naval explorations, plant collecting, and the role of individuals in making Britain a major centre for global botany'Janet Browne

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Book SynopsisAn enchanting biography of the most resonant and most necessary chemical element on Earth.Carbon. It is the building block of every cell that makes up every living thing. It is the essential component of the food we eat, the fuel we burn, the wood we use and the air we breathe. It is worth billions as a luxury and half a trillion as a necessity, but there are still mysteries to be solved about the element that can be both diamond and coal. Where does it come from, what does it do, and why, above all, does life need it?In Symphony in C, leading carbon scientist Robert M. Hazen takes us on a vibrant journey through the origin and evolution of life's most widespread element. The story unfolds in four movements Earth, Air, Fire and Water and transports us through nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history, explaining how carbon is formed in the hearts of stars and why all life forms earthbound or alien use it as the basis of their biology. Symphony in C is a sweeping chronicle of carbTrade ReviewPraise for Symphony in C ‘A valuable and welcome explanation of why we would do well to pay more attention to the sixth element – and of how much more remains to be discovered about its planetary role through time’ Nature ‘Covering topics from carbon’s ancient origins to the threats that carbon compounds pose to our future climate, Hazen’s book is a fascinating read. Symphony in C chronicles cutting-edge science that’s helping researchers make better sense of the carbon-rich world around us’ Science News ‘From the Big Bang to coal, carbohydrates, and ultra-strong high-tech nanofibers, Robert M. Hazen provides an illuminating and enjoyable guide to the remarkable odyssey of carbon, the element of life. Enjoy the trip!’ Andrew Knoll, Fisher Professor of Natural History, Harvard University ‘C is the element carbon. C is a musical note. Scientist-musician Hazen uses the element and the note to compose a symphonic masterpiece that reveals how the primitive life that began on our planet four billion years ago has evolved into Darwin’s “endless forms most beautiful“’ David W. Deamer, author of Assembling Life ‘Hazen’s virtuoso performance captures the wonder of the sixth element – from volcanic gases to al dente pasta to life’s very beginnings – while telling the wonderful stories about the people behind the discoveries’ Terry Plank, Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor of Geochemistry, Columbia University ‘This book is an incredibly rich story of carbon and its role in of life. Hazen has outdone himself in delivering an engaging, edifying, great read. If you don’t know why carbon is important in your life, or even if you think you do, you should put down whatever you’re reading and get this book’ Paul G. Falkowski, author of Life’s Engines``

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Book SynopsisAugust, 1755. Newcastle, on the north bank of the Tyne.In the fields, men and women are getting the harvest in. Sunlight, or rain. Scudding clouds and backbreaking labour. Three hundred feet underground, young Charles Hutton is at the coalface. Cramped, dust-choked, wielding a five-pound pick by candlelight. Eighteen years old, he's been down the pits on and off for more than a decade, and now it looks like a life sentence. No unusual story, although Charles is a clever lad gifted at maths and languages and for a time he hoped for a different life. Many hoped.Charles Hutton, astonishingly, would actually live the life he dreamed of. Twenty years later you'd have found him in Slaughter's coffee house in London, eating a few oysters with the President of the Royal Society.By the time he died, in 1823, he was a fellow of scientific academies in four countries, while the Lord Chancellor of England counted himself fortunate to have known him. Hard work, talent, and no small share of luck Trade ReviewPraise for Gunpowder and Geometry ‘Benjamin Wardhaugh tells an almost incredible story of a boy working down the put hewing coal who went on to become a great mathmatician and national celebrity. He brings both the coal industry and Georgian London to life with style and wit.’ Matt Ridley Praise for Benjamin Wardhaugh: ‘Wardhaugh has done a brilliant job in revealing a most curious period in British life’ Steve Craggs, Northern Echo ‘Mathematics remains a bedrock of our society. This wonderful book goes a long way in highlighting why.’ Jamie Condliffe, New Scientist ‘Wardhaugh's fascinating account of Poor Robin's Almanac persuasively reveals the power of the almanac to give mathematics a human face.’ Marcus du Sautoy ‘Wardhaugh's book should be readily available and kept with your personal reference books. It should also be in your school library.’ Donald Cook, Mathematical Review

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Book SynopsisIn a world divided by the ideological struggles of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, more than one-fifth of the people on the planet paused to watch the live transmission of the Apollo 11 mission. To watch as humanity took a giant leap forward. A companion book to the landmark documentary series on BBC TV.

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Book SynopsisIn a world divided by the ideological struggles of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, more than one-fifth of the people on the planet paused to watch the live transmission of the Apollo 11 mission. To watch as humanity took a giant leap forward. A companion book to the landmark documentary series on BBC TV.Trade Review‘If you think you know all that is important about the Apollo moon landings, you would be wrong. In Chasing the Moon, Robert Stone and Alan Andres offer scintillating stories both great and small.’ Roger D. Launius, former chief historian of NASA ‘[The Moon Landing] was one of the most amazing achievements in human history. And now we have a book worthy of the grand endeavor.’ William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Cape Cod and Bound for Gold ‘Chasing the Moon is rich, lively, and deeply human’ Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning author of Energy: A Human History ‘Chasing the Moon tells the story I've lived for most of my life. From my testing of the lunar module on Apollo 9 to my hopes for the future as we celebrate Apollo’s fiftieth anniversary, it’s all there, and told through the personal experiences of the people who lived it. Some of it familiar, some never told before, this is a very human account of a truly historic moment as humankind emerges into the larger cosmos.’ Russell ‘Rusty’ Schweickart, astronaut, Apollo 9 ‘A fascinating and enjoyable read … Meticulously researched and definitively detailed, this book is a must-have for anyone who wants to understand why and how Apollo happened.’ James Burke, former BBC-TV science correspondent ‘Engaging’ The Space Review ‘Breathtaking … A brisk narrative, deft anecdotes, and abundant illustrations enliven a well-researched history’ Kirkus ‘Chasing the Moon’s novel approach to its topic – telling the story of Apollo against a rich backdrop of diverse characters – helps it stand out head and shoulders above the rest’ National Space Society ‘Makes the tale of Apollo 11 seem richer and more relevant than ever’ The Washington Post

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Book Synopsis“Edward Dolnick’s smoothly written history of the scientific revolution tells the stories of the key players and events that transformed society.” — Charlotte ObserverFrom New York Times bestselling author Edward Dolnick, the true story of a pivotal moment in modern history when a group of strange, tormented geniuses—Isaac Newton chief among them—invented science and remade our understanding of the world.At a time when the world was falling apart— in an age of religious wars, plague, and the Great Fire of London—a group of men looked around them and saw a world of perfect order. Chaotic as it looked, these earliest scientists declared, the universe was in fact an intricate and perfectly regulated clockwork. This was the tail-end of Shakespeare’s century, and these were brilliant, ambitious, confused, conflicted men. They believed in angels and alchemy and

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Book Synopsis“Bill Bryson is as amusing as ever. ... As a celebration of 350 years of modern science, Seeing Further is a worthy tribute.” —The EconomistJoin Bill Bryson on an unforgettable exploration of scientific genius, discovery, and invention. Edited and introduced by Bryson, with original contributions from “a glittering array of scientific writing talent” (Sunday Observer) including Margaret Atwood, Richard Dawkins, and Neal Stephenson, Seeing Further tells the spectacular story of modern science through the lens of the international Royal Society, founded on a damp November night in London in 1660. Isaac Newton, John Locke, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking—all have been fellows. Its members have split the atom, discovered the double helix and the electron, and given us the computer and the World Wide Web. Gorgeously illustrated with photographs, documents, and treasures

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A truly astonishing and eminently readable work of chemical detection, provocative, surprising and alive with moments when you just want to tug your neighbor’s sleeve and ask—can you believe this?” — Simon Winchester, bestselling author of The Perfectionists and editor of Lapham's Quarterly "Dan Levitt's What's Gotten Into You is one fascinating journey, from the fireworks of the Big Bang to the busy life of cells, this is a story of scientific discovery, history, dazzling egos, quiet courage, and pure unexpected insight. In other words, the best kind of story. Don't miss it." — Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Poisoner's Handbook and The Poison Squad "Fascinating . . . . I particularly recommend this book as a gift for high-school and college-age children to spark their interest in science." — Eva Moskowitz, The Wall Street Journal "Levitt sheds light on the tiniest bits of what humans are made of in his stellar debut . . . . This is marvelous." — Publishers Weekly, starred review “Mind-broadening and thought-provoking.” — Boston Globe "Science and history documentarian Dan Levitt’s upcoming book, What's Gotten Into You evokes a series of striking and often forceful images in tracing how our cells, elements, atoms and subatomic particles all found their way to our brains and bones and bodies . . . . it's a pretty mind-blowing book to read." — Bryn Nelson, CNN "[Levitt] keeps matters simple enough that science buffs will be satisfied and average readers will learn a great deal . . . . Lively, illuminating popular science." — Kirkus Reviews “This documentary effort is truly ambitious. He investigates the various chemical elements that make up the human body, then tracks them all the way back to the big bang.” — Library Journal “In What’s Gotten Into You, Dan Levitt delivers a survey of life’s building blocks that’s intelligent, accessible and just sheer fun.” — BookPage "The 14 billion years story of how the primaeval seeds of matter become you and your breakfast—easily digested." — Frank Close, Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics, Oxford University and author of Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass ". . . brilliant popular science." — Undark "If someone asks you 'Where are you from?', thinking Europe maybe, or China or Africa, some ancient village somewhere, this book tells the deeper story, that you aren't local. You come from everywhere, from the air around you, from the sunshine, from rocks in your solar system, from comets, from distant stars that blew up long ago, from teeny mushroom threads boring into boulders. You and every atom in you have an origin story that will make you feel very small, very lucky and very magnificent and that, says Dan Levitt, is What's Gotten Into You." — Robert Krulwich, cofounder of Radiolab “Great book! Big Bang to vitamins! It brings home how we go about our daily lives with such a narrow and myopic view of the world. It’s refreshing to take a step back to see the very large, very small, and very old. What we know of the nuts and bolts of the universe is so far outside our everyday experiences.” — Paul Kenrick, Paleobotanist, Natural History Museum, London “This book is sheer pleasure, a grand exploration through space and time from the expanding universe to the molecules in living cells. As told through the experiences of the men and women who made the discoveries, this is also a beautifully human story—a marvelous read in every way!” — Ruth Lewin Sime, author of Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics “In this breezy ramble through multiple scientific domains, Dan Levitt takes the popular pursuit of family ancestry to cosmic extremes.” — Laurence Marschall, Natural History "The book is an immense journey and a deep dive into an endless and endlessly fascinating subject." — proto.life “There were many moments when I felt a deep sense of awe at the stranger than fiction journey that our planet has been on.” — GreenSpirit, UK

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Book SynopsisHigh in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago. Called the Burgess Shale, it holds the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived - a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in incredible detail. In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale might tell us about evolution and the nature of history.The Darwinian theory of evolution is a well-known, well-explored area. But there is one aspect of human life which this theory of evolution fails to account for: chance. Using the brilliantly preserved fossil fauna of the Burgess Shale as his case study, Gould argues that chance was in fact one of the decisive factors in the evolution of life on this planet, and that, with a flip of coin, everything could have been very different indeed.Trade ReviewA masterpiece of analysis and imagination...It centres on a sensational discovery in the field of palaeontology - the existence, in the Burgess Shale... of 530-million-year-old fossils unique in age, preservation and diversity...With skill and passion, Gould takes this mute collection of fossils and makes them speak to us. The result challenges some of our most cherished self-perceptions and urges a fundamental re-assessment of our place in the history of life on earth * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisJoy, sorrow, jealousy and awe - these and other feelings are the stuff of our daily lives. Presumed to be too private for science to explain and not to be essential for comprehending human rationality and understanding, they have largely been ignored. But not by the great seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher Spinoza. And not by Antonio Damasio. In this book Dr. Damasio draws on his innovative research and on his experience with neurological patients to examine how feelings and the emotions that underlie them support the governance of human affairs.Trade ReviewBig claims, well made: it is a rare pleasure to pick up such a rigorous and readable book about scientific advance that is so firmly anchored in philosophical history * Time Out *Virtually all the interesting philosophy today is done, not by professional philosophers, but by scientists like Damasio... The map may be incomplete, but thanks to Damasio we do at least know the principal landmarks * New Humanist *Damasio's book interweaves lucid and fascinating explanations of neurological findings with historical and philosophical ruminations on Spinoza... Rich and informative * New Scientist *There is much in this book to please Damasio's fans. He is a lively and humane writer, and ranges easily across a wide variety of topics * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA crime scene. A murder. A mystery.The most important person on the scene? The forensic scientist. And yet the intricate details of their work remains a mystery to most of us. Silent Witnesses looks at the history of forensic science over the last two centuries, during which time a combination of remarkable intuition, painstaking observation and leaps in scientific knowledge have developed this fascinating branch of detection. Throwing open the casebook, it introduces us to such luminaries as ''The Wizard of Berkeley'' Edward Heinrich, who is credited with having solved over 2000 crimes, and Alphonse Bertillon, the French scientist whose guiding principle ''no two individuals share the same characteristics'' became the core of identification. Along the way, it takes us to India and Australia, Columbia and China, Russia, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. And it proves that, in order to solve ever more complicated cases, science must always stay one step ahead of the killer.Trade ReviewIt is a fascinating story, and makes for a thoroughly good read. -- Bernard Porter * Guardian *A convincing and readable history of a science defined by the simple maxim: 'Every contact leaves a trace.' -- Tom Whipple * The Times *A real-life whodunnit. -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail *A truly gripping story. * Big Issue in the North *

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Book SynopsisIf you could be invisible, what would you do? The chances are that it would have something to do with power, wealth or sex. Perhaps all three. Impulses like these have always been at the heart of our fascination with invisibility. This book offers a history of humanity's turbulent relationship with the invisible.Trade ReviewAs a harvest of fascinating facts delivered with sharp wit and insight, it is hard to fault -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Daily Telegraph *Intriguing -- John Carey * Sunday Times *A fascinating compendium… Another author might struggle to manage such an esoteric collection [of stories of invisibility] but Mr Ball’s writing is incisive enough to keep the different elements hanging and working together * The Economist *Ball marshals his material with deftness and charm * Literary Review *[A] fantastic feast of ideas and information on the subject… In this enthralling book, Philip Ball’s elegant and intelligent mastery…is very evident indeed * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisIn "The New Science of Strong Materials" the author made plain the secrets of materials science. In this volume he explains the importance and properties of different structures.

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Book SynopsisFrom award-winning science writer John Gribbin, Science: A History is the enthralling story of the men and women who changed the way we see the world, and the turbulent times they lived in. From Galileo, tried by the Inquisition for his ideas, to Newton, who wrote his rivals out of the history books; from Marie Curie, forced to work apart from male students for fear she might excite them, to Louis Agassiz, who marched his colleagues up a mountain to prove that the ice ages had occurred. Filled with pioneers, visionaries, eccentrics and madmen, this is the history of science as it has never been told before. ''Gripping and entertaining ... Wonderfully and pleasurably accessible''   Independent on Sunday ''Tremendous ... moves me to bestow a reviewer''s cliché I long ago vowed never to use: a tour de force''   Spectator ''A magnificent history ... enormously entertaining''   Daily Telegraph ''A splendid book ... demolishes innumerable myths and exposes the factual roots of some of science''s well known tales (for example, Galileo never dropped weights of different sizes from Pisa''s leaning tower)''   Economist ''We experience his subjects'' triumphs and failures as if we knew them personally ... I found myself whizzing through the pages''   Sunday Telegraph John Gribbin is one of today''s greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books, including In Search of Schrödinger''s Cat, Stardust, Science: A History and In Search of the Multiverse. Gribbin trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.

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Book SynopsisA glimpse into the mind of one of the world's intellectual giantsThe Autobiographies of Charles Darwin (1809-82) provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind and experiences of one of the world's intellectual giants. They begin with engaging memories of his childhood and youth and of his burgeoning scientific curiosity and love of the natural world, which led to him joining the expedition on the Beagle. Darwin follows this with survey of his career and ends with a reckoning of his life's work. Interspersed with these recollections are fascinating portraits - from his devoted wife Emma and his talented father, both bullying and kind, to the leading figures of the Victorian scientific world he counted among his friends, including Lyell and Huxley. Honest and illuminating, these memoirs reveal a man who was isolated by his controversial beliefs and whose towering achievements were attained by a life-long passion for the discoveries of science.For more than sevTable of ContentsAutobiographies " cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" border="0"AcknowledgmentsChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingNote on the TextsAn autobiographical fragment1876 May 31 - Recollections of the Development of my Mind and CharacterCambridge, 1828-1831Voyage of the Beagle: from Dec. 27, 1831 to Oct. 2, 1836From my return to England Oct. 2 1836 to my marriage Jan. 29 1839Religious BeliefFrom my marriage, Jan. 29 1839, and residence in Upper Gower St. to our leaving London and settling at Down, Sep. 14 1842Residence at Down from Sep. 14 1842 to the present time 1876My Several PublicationsBibliographical Register

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Book SynopsisIn Euclid''s Window, Leonard Mlondinow takes us on a brilliantly entertaining journey through 3,000 years of genius and geometry, introducing the people who revolutionized the way we see the world around us. Ever since Pythagoras hatched a ''little scheme'' to invent a set of rules describing the entire universe, scientists and mathematicians have tried to seek order in the cosmos: Euclid, who in 300BC defined the nature of space; Descartes, a fourteenth-century gambler and idler who invented the graph; Gauss, the fifteen-year-old genius who discovered that space is curved; Einstein, who added time to the equation; and Witten, who ushered in today''s weird new world of extra, twisted dimensions. They all show how geometry is the key to understanding the universe. Once you have viewed life through Euclid''s Window, it will never be the same again... ''Elegant, attractive and concise ... also very readable. Buy it''  Ian Table of ContentsPart 1 The story of Euclid: the first revolution; the geometry of taxation; among the seven sages; the secret society; Euclid's manifesto; a beautiful woman, a library, and the end of civilization. Part 2 The story of Descartes: the revolution in place; the origin of latitude and longitude; the legacy of the rotten Romans; the discreet charm of the graph; a soldier's story; iced by the snow queen. Part 3 The story of Gauss: the curved space revolution; the trouble with Ptolemy; a Napoleonic hero; the fall of the fifth postulate; lost in hyperbolic space; some insects called the human race; a tale of two aliens; after 2000 years, a face-lift. Part 4 The story of Einstein: revolution at the speed of light; relativity's other Albert; the stuff of space; probationary technical expert, third class; a relatively Euclidean approach; Einstein's apple; from inspiration to perspiration; blue hair triumphs. Part 5 The story of Witten: the weird revolution; ten things I hate about your theory; the necessary uncertainty of being; clash of the Titans; a message in a Kaluza-Klein bottle; the birth of strings; particles, schmarticles!; the trouble with strings; the theory formerly known as strings.

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Book SynopsisMankind''s battle to stay alive is the greatest of all subjects. This brief, witty and unusual book by Britain''s greatest medical historian compresses into a tiny span a lifetime spent thinking about millennia of human ingenuity in the quest to cheat death. Each chapter sums up one of these battlefields (surgery, doctors, disease, hospitals, laboratories and the human body) in a way that is both frightening and elating. Startlingly illustrated, A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE is the ideal presentfor anyone who is keenly aware of their own mortality and wants to do something about it. It is also a wonderful memorial to one of Penguin''s greatest historians.Trade Review'Nobody will be able to put down this short history of medicine... without counting their blessings. Never have I read a book which made me so glad not to have been born before the mid-20th century.' Daily MailTable of ContentsDisease; doctors; the body; the laboratory; therapies; surgery; the hospital; medicine in modern society.

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Book SynopsisWe live in a world made by science. How and when did this happen? This book tells the story of the extraordinary intellectual and cultural revolution that gave birth to modern science, and mounts a major challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy of its history.Before 1492 it was assumed that all significant knowledge was already available; there was no concept of progress; people looked for understanding to the past not the future. This book argues that the discovery of America demonstrated that new knowledge was possible: indeed it introduced the very concept of ''discovery'', and opened the way to the invention of science.The first crucial discovery was Tycho Brahe''s nova of 1572: proof that there could be change in the heavens. The telescope (1610) rendered the old astronomy obsolete. Torricelli''s experiment with the vacuum (1643) led directly to the triumph of the experimental method in the Royal Society of Boyle and Newton. By 1750 Newtonianism was being celebrateTrade ReviewThe seventeenth century saw the emergence of the mindset that characterizes modern science. David Wootton lucidly describes the individuals, the experiments and the controversies that marked this intellectually turbulent and transformative era. ... This fascinating and scholarly book should receive a wide readership. -- Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, President of the Royal Society 2005-10This is a superb book, at once cogent, revisionist and profound. It offers the most novel and significant account of the Scientific Revolution to appear for many years ... it is simply rather brilliant. -- Michael Hunter, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of LondonA truly remarkable piece of scholarship. His work has an ingenious and innovative linguistic foundation, examining the invention and redefinition of words as tracers of a new understanding of nature and how to approach it. His erudition is awesome, and his argument is convincing. -- Owen Gingerich, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard UniversityA grand, whooping narrative that is also exhaustively researched. It will, I am certain, become a landmark in the discipline of the history of science. -- Andrea Wulf * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisIn To Explain the World, pre-eminent theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg offers a rich and irreverent history of science from a unique perspective - that of a scientist. Moving from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad to Oxford, and from the Museum of Alexandria to the Royal Society of London, he shows that the scientists of the past not only did not understand what we understand about the world - they did not understand what there is to understand. Yet eventually, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of tides, the modern discipline of science emerged.Trade ReviewA great book, a necessary book for our time * Independent *In Steven Weinberg's To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science and Frank Wilczek's A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design, two Nobel physicists give two astonishingly different accounts of the history of science, from antiquity to their own discoveries. Weinberg takes an unapologetically hard-headed stance, where philosophy, beauty and so forth are denounced as misleading. Wilczek sketches a dreamy vision, where beauty and harmony are essential ingredients of the quest for knowledge. Who is right? Both: this is the magic of science, which coherently combines wildly diverse skills. Weinberg is a father of electroweak theory, Wilczek of strong interaction. Still unsolved is gravity: what are the skills we need to solve it? We do not know yet -- Carlo Rovelli, Financial Times 'Books of the Year'I read To Explain the World completely enthralled. It transmutes the base metal of a mere history of science into pure gold-into a magisterial celebration of a long and heroic struggle, still incomplete, to understand nature. Only a committed scientist of Steven Weinberg's brilliance, experience and breadth of insight could have accomplished this. I ended the book exhilarated * Ian McEwan *In this masterful, entertainingly 'irreverent' book, Weinberg explains the rise of science from ancient Greeks to modern geeks in terms that his students and the rest of us will understand -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *It would be putting it mildly to say that Weinberg triumphantly lives up to what it says on the Nobel tin: a true intellectual as well as a brilliant theoretical physicist -- Richard DawkinsRegarded as the pre-eminent theoretical physicist alive today... Weinberg is also a fine writer and communicator about ideas beyond his own field... Weinberg has clearly carried out extensive scholarly investigation for To Explain the World, and the book works as history. But what makes it tand out is his perspective as a top scientist working today -- Clive Cookson * Financial Times *Weinberg has reached the pinnacle of scientific success - the Nobel Prize - he writes clearly and with confidence, imbuing the reader with an irresistible sense that one is in the hands of a master physicist at play * Sunday Times *There have been many accounts of the historical progression of our understanding of the world around us, but few have had the unique selling point of Steven Weinberg's To Explain the World... Weinberg's chronicle of the long development of physics leading up to the role he has personally played in it is akin to Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples -- Lewis Dartnell * Telegraph *An absolute delight * Times Higher Education *A refreshing contrast to other tomes on the topic... Weinberg reminds us to be humble not only about what we know, but how we know it * The Guardian *An enlightening read that does not demand specialist knowledge to enjoy -- Robert Kingston * Sunday Times *The book is a magnificent contribution to the history and philosophy of science...Weinberg writes with great verve and clarity * Times Literary Supplement *A salacious insight into the careers and super-stardom that eventually drove both to emotional and artistic breakdown -- Julia Richardson, 'Must reads' * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisAs a new wave of interplanetary exploration unfolds, a talented young planetary scientist charts our centuries-old obsession with Mars.''Beautifully written, emotive - a love letter to a planet'' DERMOT O''LEARY, BBC Radio 2Mars - bewilderingly empty, coated in red dust - is an unlikely place to pin our hopes of finding life elsewhere. And yet, right now multiple spacecraft are circling, sweeping over Terra Sabaea, Syrtis Major, the dunes of Elysium and Mare Sirenum - on the brink, perhaps, of a discovery that would inspire humankind as much as any in our history. With poetic precision and grace, Sarah Stewart Johnson traces the evocative history of our explorations of Mars. She interlaces her personal journey as a scientist with tales of other seekers - from Galileo to William Herschel to Carl Sagan - who have scoured this enigmatic planet for signs of life and transformed it in our understanding from a distant point of light into a compTrade ReviewBeautifully written, emotive - a love letter to a planet -- Dermot O'Leary * BBC Radio 2 *Elegantly written and boundlessly entertaining * Sunday Telegraph *Beguiling * The Times *Johnson's prose swirls with lyrical wonder, as varied and multi-hued as the apricot deserts, butterscotch skies and blue sunsets of Mars -- Anthony Doerr * New York Times Book Review *The inside story of the exploration of Mars. A young woman scientist shows what it is like to be in the thick of exciting and ground-breaking research. -- Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Professor of Astrophysics, University of OxfordExhilarating, informative, always engaging... beautiful in its descriptions -- Andrew Crumey * Literary Review *This elegantly crafted book conveys what it's like to be a young scientist involved in the quest. -- Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and author of On the Future: Prospects for HumanityA celebration of human curiosity, passion and perseverance. Superb in its storytelling, majestic in its vision, The Sirens of Mars will give readers a new appreciation for the preciousness of life in the cosmos. -- Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's DreamsThe Sirens of Mars provides the prospect of great discovery, and an introduction to a writer of the first rank. -- Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard UniversityThere's no better guide to what NASA's various Mars missions have revealed ... A true love letter to geology, on this world and others * Nature *A must-read for fans of our Martian neighbour and humanity's longstanding search for life elsewhere in the Universe * BBC Sky At Night *Mars is an exceptionally inhospitable place. The coldest Antarctic winter, the windiest Everest December - each is as nothing compared with an unremarkable day on the red planet. That is precisely why Mars is such a good place to look for life. If it exists there, Sarah Stewart Johnson writes, "the smallest breath in the deepest night", then the only conclusion is there must be life throughout the universe. This beguiling book is about the search for life on Mars - from those who thought the planet was criss-crossed with canals to those, like the author, who just hope for a microbe or two. * Times (best books of the year) *Brilliantly realised... Full of joy and existential curiosity, the book's images and metaphors take up residence in our minds and burn there, connecting scientific inquiry with deep questions about human existence. In every line Johnson makes us feel the passion for discovery and the desire to connect * The Whiting Award Selection Committee *

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Book Synopsis''An intellectual hero ... A superb celebrator of science in all its manifestations'' Ian McEwan''Darwin''s great successor'' Jeffrey SachsThe legendary biologist Edward O. Wilson offers his most philosophically probing work to date''Creativity is the unique and defining trait of our species; and its ultimate goal, self-understanding,'' begins Edward Wilson''s sweeping examination of the humanities and their relationship to the sciences. By studying fields as diverse as paleontology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience, Wilson demonstrates that human creativity began not 10,000 years ago, as we have long assumed, but over 100,000 years ago in the Paleolithic Age. Chronicling the evolution of creativity from primates to humans, Wilson shows how the humanities, in large part spurred on by the invention of language, have played a previously unexamined role in defining our species. Exploring a surprising range of creative endeavors - the instinct to create gTrade ReviewA meditation on how our genetic and cultural nature shapes our experience of the world, and how that in turn influences the form and content of our creative output ... A stimulating ride -- Dan Jones * Nature *From our senior statesman of Science comes this fascinating, eloquent, and important reflection on the vital kinship between the Humanities and the Sciences, the well of creativity fueling them both, and our need as a species to combine their truths to deal with today's demanding problems. It's a message that couldn't be more timely -- Diane Ackerman, author of 'The Zookeeper's Wife'An intellectual hero ... A superb celebrator of science in all its manifestations -- Ian McEwanDarwin's great successor ... One of humanity's greatest and most intrepid explorers -- Jeffrey SachsWilson speaks with a humane eloquence which calls to us all -- Oliver SacksAs always, Wilson tosses off astonishing insights with charming ease (he's a master of the lyrically short sentence). These profoundly humane meditations on nature, creativity, and our primal yearnings will delight his longtime fans and provide newcomers with the perfect introduction to the career and ideas of one of our most distinguished living scientists--whose high-school nickname, I was enchanted to learn, was 'Snake Wilson -- Jim Holt, author of 'Why Does the World Exist?'With his trademark boundless intellect and elegant writing, Wilson argues that we need both the sciences and the humanities in order to understand the deep origins of what makes us human -- Alan Paige Lightman, physicist, novelist, and Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at MIT

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