The Universe and Me is his most ambitious work to date. A tour de force, this book represents a synthesis of at least a dozen separate scientific disciplines, including cosmology, physics, chemistry, microbiology, paleobiology, paleoclimatology, paleontology, botany, optics, mammology, primatology, anthropology and the history of science. All of these skillfully and woven together into a fabric of great charm. This is, literally, the greatest story ever told. It is our story. The story of ...

Built from the debris of exploding stars that floated through space for billions of years, home to a zoo of tiny aliens, and controlled by a brain with more possible connections than there are atoms in the universe, the human body is the most incredible thing in existence.In the sequel to his bestselling Inflight Science, Brian Clegg explores mitochondria, in-cell powerhouses which are thought to have once been separate creatures; how your eyes are quantum traps, consuming photons o...

In the preparation of this text, the pupil, his experience, needs, and interests have been constantly kept in mind. The order of topics, illustrations, and problems have been selected with the purpose of leading the pupil into a clear understanding of the physical phenomena continually taking place about him.The recommendations and conclusions reached by the "New Movement in the Teaching of Physics" have been incorporated into the book as a whole. These conclusions indicate that the most e...

'Clear and compact ... It's hard to fault as a brief, easily digestible introduction to some of the biggest questions in the Universe' Giles Sparrow, BBC Four's The Sky at Night , Best astronomy and space books of 2019: 5/5All the matter and light we can see in the universe makes up a trivial 5 per cent of everything. The rest is hidden. This could be the biggest puzzle that science has ever fac...

Travel backward through time from today's scattered billions to the handful of early humans who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago and are ancestors to us all. In Deep Ancestry, scientist and National Geographic explorer Spencer Wells shows how tiny genetic changes add up over time into a fascinating story. Using scores of real-life examples, helpful analogies, and detailed diagrams and illustrations, he explains exactly how each and every individual's DNA contributes another piece to the ji...

This biography of "the Protestant Galileo" and 16th century mathematician and astronomer reveals the spiritual nature of the quest of early modern science.In the style of Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter, James A. Connor's Kepler's Witch brings to life the tidal forces of Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and social upheaval. Johannes Kepler, who discovered the three basic laws of planetary motion, was persecuted for his support of the Copernican s...

In Prehistory, the award-winning archaeologist and renowned scholar Colin Renfrew covers human existence before the advent of written records–which is to say, the overwhelming majority of our time here on earth. But Renfrew also opens up to discussion, and even debate, the term “prehistory” itself, giving an incisive, concise, and lively survey of the past, and how scholars and scientists labor to bring it to light.Renfrew begins by looking at prehistory as a discipline, particular...

Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs...

50,000 years ago – merely a blip in evolutionary time – our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their own precursors had been doing for millions of years. Yet something about our species separated it from the pack, and led to its survival while the rest became extinct. So just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become Masters of the Planet? Curator Emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, Ian Tatte...

Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet.In Wonders of the Solar System – the book of the acclaimed BBC TV series – Professor Brian Cox will take us on a journey of discovery where alien worlds from your imagination become places we can see, feel and visit.The Wonders of the Solar System – from the giant ice fountains of Enceladus to the liquid methane seas of Titan and from storms twice the size of the Earth to the tortured moon of Io with its giant super-volcanoes – is ...

In this magnificently illustrated cultural history—the tie-in to the PBS and BBC series The Story of the Jews—Simon Schama details the story of the Jewish experience, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492.It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds.This epic of world histo...

A fascinating account of the latest thinking on human evolution, by 'one of the most respected evolutionary psychologists in Britain'.For scientists studying evolution, the past decade has seen astonishing advances across many disciplines - discoveries which have revolutionised scientific thinking and turned upside down our understanding of who we are. The Human Story brings together these threads of research in genetics, behaviour and psychology to provide an unde...