Ever since the phrase "fight or flight" was coined in the 1920s, the common understanding has been that the mind respond to danger in one of two ways - either fleeing in blind panic, or fighting through it. But as scientists unlock the secrets of the human brain, a more complex understanding of the fear response has emerged. It turns out that the ancient brain circuitry wired to process fear is also intricately tied to our ability to master new skills, and that the icy sensation of terror ...

Leah Elson draws upon her wildly popular web series, 60 Seconds of Science, in this highly entertaining and visually appealing giftable book of real-world scientific questions and answers.How does DNA work?Does chicken noodle soup actually help with being sick?When cats purr, what is actually making the noise?Does singing to plants really help them grow?Is it possible to clone a woolly mammoth?In the vein of Randall Munroe’s What If? and p...

A 2021 Mathical Honor Book: "One of the best math teachers on the planet. His book is as buoyant, open-hearted, and energetic as he is." —Steven Strogatz, New York Times–bestselling author of Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the UniverseWhy aren't left-handers extinct? What makes a rainbow round? How is a pancreas like a pendulum? These may not look like math questions, but they are—because they all have to do with patterns. And...

The YouTuber behind “Journey to the Microcosmos” offers a beginner’s guide to the extremely small and utterly strange life that surrounds us.Over 100 stunning images and fascinating insights reveal the wonder of nature—and our place within the universe—from a totally new perspective.James Weiss was feeling lost in life when he first discovered his interest in the microscopic world. With his own microscope and a little homespun ingenuity, he...

Like Winchester's Krakatoa, The Year Without Summer reveals a year of dramatic global change long forgotten by historyIn the tradition of Krakatoa, The World Without Us, and Guns, Germs and Steel comes a sweeping history of the year that became known as 18-hundred-and-froze-to-death. 1816 was a remarkable year—mostly for the fact that there was no summer. As a result of a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, weather patterns were disrupted wo...

Covering 13.8 billion years in some 100 pages, a concise, wryly intelligent history of everything, from the Big Bang to the advent of human civilization.With wonder, wit, and flair—and in record time and space—geophysicist David Bercovici explains how everything came to be everywhere, from the creation of stars and galaxies to the formation of Earth's atmosphere and oceans, to the origin of life and human civilization. Bercovici marries humor and legitimate scienti...

An informative look at the military conflicts that most altered the course of history and civilization, from ancient times to the modern world.Rather than celebrating warfare, 50 Battles That Changed the World looks at the clashes the author believes have had the most profound impact on world history. Ranked in order of their relevance to the modern world, these struggles range from the ancient past to the present day and span the globe many times over.

"A brilliant history of technology. . . . full of wonders of nature, human invention, history" and more ( Wall Street Journal).There is no part of our bodies that fully rotates—be it a wrist or ankle or arm in a shoulder socket, we are made to twist only so far. And yet there is no more fundamental human invention than the wheel—a rotational mechanism that accomplishes what our physical form cannot. Throughout history, humans have developed technologies pow...

An illustrated history of the English manor house and grounds that were home to the famous World War II codebreakers.The huge success of Sinclair's The Secret Life of Bletchley Park—a quarter of a million copies sold to date—has been symptomatic of a similarly dramatic increase in visitors to Bletchley Park itself, the Victorian mansion in Buckinghamshire now open as an engrossing museum of wartime codebreaking. Aurum is publishing the first comprehensive i...

"A captivating story, not just an intellectual quest but a personal one . . . gripping [and] filled with the passion and wonder of numbers." — The New York TimesVirtually everything in our lives is digital, numerical, or quantified. But the story of how and where we got these numerals, which we so depend on, has for thousands of years been shrouded in mystery. Finding Zero is the saga of Amir Aczel's lifelong obsession: to find the original sources...

A breakthrough theory that tools and technology are the real drivers of human evolutionAlthough humans are one of the great apes, along with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, we are remarkably different from them. Unlike our cousins who subsist on raw food, spend their days and nights outdoors, and wear a thick coat of hair, humans are entirely dependent on artificial things, such as clothing, shelter, and the use of tools, and would die in nature without them. Yet, despite our...

We can't afford to be complacent any more: "A formidable book . . . extremely rich in historical examples, case studies, and quantitative data." — International Journal of Constitutional LawDemocracies are in danger. Around the world, a wave of populist leaders threatens to erode the core structures of democratic self-rule. In the United States, the tenure of Donald Trump marks a decisive turning point for many. What kind of president intimidates jurors, ca...