Rainbows have been a source of fascination since time immemorial. They have been the subject of myth and superstition, an inspiration to poets, a challenge to painters, the object of intense scientific interest and a touchstone for ideas about the nature of light and colour. Above all, the rainbow has been the embodiment of wonder from the earliest times to the present day.Beginning with the circumstances in which you are likely to see a rainbow and descriptions of its salient feat...

Since 1997 the Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded almost 1.5 million objects found in England and Wales, the vast majority discovered by members of the public rather than professional archaeologists. Among these finds are more than 10,000 early medieval coins. Each one of these coins has its own story to tell, from its minting, use and loss through to its eventual recovery and recording. In this book, Dr John Naylor, the PAS’s National Finds Adviser for Early Medieval and Later Coina...

This book explains the nature of sound both as a physical phenomenon and as a sensation, how it travels through air and water, and how the hearing system evolved to convert these vibrations into sensations. Drawing on physics, biology, neuroscience, philosophy, literature, history, anecdote, and personal experience, "Now Hear This" is a wide-ranging exploration of the nature of sound and hearing that opens up a fascinating world of sounds from the mundane to the unusual and seeks above all...

Originally published in 1987, at a time of high unemployment, this book provides a critical analysis of the role played by education in solving unemployment. It examines the practical, social and psychological effects of unemployment on adults and argues that formal institutional responses are inadequate within any long term perspective, and that it is rather community, informal and often unofficial initiatives that will provide learning experiences for unemployed people.

Dr Jacob Bronowksi's The Ascent of Man traces the development of human society through our understanding of science.First published in 1973 to accompany the groundbreaking BBC television series, it is considered one of the first works of 'popular science', illuminating the historical and social context of scientific development for a generation of readers. In his highly accessible style, Dr Bronowski discusses human invention from the flint tool to geometry, agriculture to...

Magnetism is a strange force, mysteriously attracting one object to another apparently through empty space. It has been claimed as a great healer, with magnetic therapies being proposed over the centuries and still popular today. Why are its mysterious important to solve?In this Very Short Introduction, Stephen J. Blundell explains why. For centuries magnetism has been used for various exploits; through compasses it gave us navigation and through motors, generators, and turbines it has giv...

From skyscrapers to jet aircraft, from mobile phones to computers, the products of modern science surround us on all sides.Perhaps the most significant product of science, however, is not the microwave, or the space station or the widescreen TV; it is the scientific method itself. Those societies that have actively embraced this method have flourished.The men and women who appear in The Great Scientists haver all excelled in their chosen field of science; some have excelled...

The epic tale of an ancient, unsolved puzzle and how it relates to all scientific attempts to explain the basic structure of the universeAt the dawn of science the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno formulated his paradox of motion, and amazingly, it is still on the cutting edge of all investigations into the fabric of reality.Zeno used logic to argue that motion is impossible, and at the heart of his maddening puzzle is the nature of space and time. Is space-t...

'The physicist transforming how we see the universe' Financial Times'An utter joy' Adam RutherfordDo space and time truly exist? What is reality made of? Can we understand its deep texture? Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. In this mind-expanding book, he shows how our understanding of reality has changed throughout centuries, from Democritus to lo...

The blockbuster modern science classic that introduced the butterfly effect to the world—even more relevant two decades after it became an international sensationFor centuries, scientific thought was focused on bringing order to the natural world. But even as relativity and quantum mechanics undermined that rigid certainty in the first half of the twentieth century, the scientific community clung to the idea that any system, no matter how complex, could be reduced ...

The Nobel Prize–winner shares "a masterful journey through humankind's scientific coming-of-age" from the Greeks to modern times (Brian Greene).In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg takes us across centuries of human striving to unravel the mysteries of the world. This sweeping saga ranges from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato's Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral s...

Edited and introduced by Bill Bryson, with contributions from Richard Dawkins, Margaret Atwood, Richard Holmes, Martin Rees, Richard Fortey, Steve Jones, James Gleick and Neal Stephenson amongst others, this beautiful, lavishly illustrated book tells the story of science and the Royal Society, from 1660 to the present.On a damp weeknight in November, 350 years ago, a dozen or so men gathered at Gresham College in London. A twenty-eight year old – and not widely fam...