This book provides a sneak peak into the diverse and often hidden world of nature's strangest insects.Insects account for more than half of the more than 17,000,000 named species of living things. This fascinating book reveals a rare and close up look at the odd beauty of some of the strangest of these tiny creatures. Despite their large numbers, the world of these particularly weird insects exists largely hidden from our view. Included in the book are som...

The story of the winners of the world's most prestigious prize, now updated to include the 2009 recipients.The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive. The Prize is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and the award ceremonies receive extensive media coverage. The awards are often politically controversial, and many winners use their acceptance speech to further favorite causes.Along with background information, the boo...

The most interesting and inspiring presidential speeches, from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama.From Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama, American presidents have faced unprecedented challenges at home and abroad. From the onset of the Great Depression, through World War II, the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, Desert Storm and the War on Terror, American presidents have warned and rallied the nation during each crisis. Presidents have also addr...

**An unforgettable story of discovery and unimaginable destruction and a major biography of one of America’s most brilliant—and most divisive—scientists, Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center vividly illuminates the man who would go down in history as “the father of the atomic bomb.”“Impressive. . . . An extraordinary story.”—The New York Times Book Review“Judicious, comprehensive and reliable. . . . By far the most thorough survey yet written of Op...

The late Abraham Pais wrote the definitive biography of Albert Einstein, "Subtle is the Lord," which won an American Book Award. As a distinguished physicist and Einstein's colleague, Pais combined a sophisticated understanding of physics with first-hand knowledge of this notoriously private individual, offering rare insights into both. It is his unique double perspective that makes his work so valuable. Now Abraham Pais offers an illuminating portrait of another eminent colleague...

A lifetime of candid reflections from physicist Freeman Dyson, “an acute observer of personality and human foibles” (New York Times Book Review).Written between 1940 and the late 1970s, the postwar recollections of renowned physicist Freeman Dyson have been celebrated as an historic portrait of modern science and its greatest players, including Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, and Hans Bethe. Chronicling the stories of those who were e...

The international bestselling author of Savage Continent examines how the world has been transformed by World War II.The Fear and the Freedom is Keith Lowe's follow-up to Savage Continent. While that book painted a picture of Europe in all its horror as WWII was ending, The Fear and the Freedom looks at all that has happened since, focusing on the changes that were brought about because of WWII—simultaneously one of the most catas...

"A damning history of the Chernobyl affair, from its origins in the plant's primitive design and careless management to the economic and political crisis the accident precipitated." —Clenn Garelik, New York Times Book ReviewOn the morning of April 26, 1986, a Soviet nuclear plant at Chernobyl (near Kiev) exploded, pouring radioactivity into the environment and setting off the worst disaster in the history of nuclear energy. Now a former Soviet scientist gives a comprehensi...

Containing 609 encyclopedic articles written by more than 200 prominent scholars, The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science presents an unparalleled history of the field invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technology, ideas, discoveries, and learned institutions that have shaped our world over the past five centuries. Focusing on the period from the Renaissance to the early twenty-first century, the articles cover all disciplines (Biology, Alchemy, Behaviorism), histor...

This historical analysis of Heisenberg, Planck, Debye, and other German physicists during WWII "is a stunning cautionary tale, well researched and told" ( Choice).After World War II, most scientists in Germany maintained that they had been apolitical or actively resisted the Nazi regime, but the true story is much more complicated. In Serving the Reich, Philip Ball takes a fresh look at that controversial history, contrasting the career of Peter D...

This book is about nuclear legacies in Russia and Central Asia, focusing on selected sites of the Soviet atomic program, many of which have remained understudied. Nuclear operations, for energy or military purposes, demanded a vast infrastructure of production and supply chains that have transformed entire regions. In following the material traces of the atomic programs, contributors pay particular attention to memory practices and memorialization concerning nuclear legacies.Tracin...

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICEFollowing the trail of espionage and technological innovation, and making use of newly opened archives, Michael D. Gordin provides a new understanding of the origins of the nuclear arms race and fresh insight into the problem of proliferation.On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet test bomb, dubbed "First Lightning," exploded in the deserts of Kazakhstan. This surprising international event marked the beginni...