PRE-ORDER THIS TORN-FROM-THE-HEADLINES THRILLER FROM CWA STEEL DAGGER WINNING AUTHOR SIMON CONWAYAcclaim for Conway:‘Like being strapped to a rocket. A triumph’ MICK HERRON‘An engrossing, flawless fusion of globe-trotting adventure and evocative writing’ SUNDAY TIMES‘One of the best thrillers of recent years’ MISHA GLENNY‘The master of the modern thrille...

The assassin's bullet misses, the Archduke's carriage moves forward, and a catastrophic war is avoided. So too with the history of life. Re-run the tape of life, as Stephen J. Gould claimed, and the outcome must be entirely different: an alien world, without humans and maybe not even intelligence. The history of life is littered with accidents: any twist or turn may lead to a completely different world. Now this view is being challenged. Simon Conway Morris explores the evidence demonstrat...

In this learned romp of science writing, Cambridge professor Simon Conway Morris cheerfully challenges six assumptions—what he calls ‘myths’—that too often pass as unquestioned truths amongst the evolutionary orthodox.His convivial tour begins with the idea that evolution is boundless in the kinds of biological systems it can produce. Not true, he says. The process is highly circumscribed and delimited. Nor is it random. This popular notion holds that evolution proceeds blindly, wi...

Reflecting a rich technical and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, Water and Life: The Unique Properties of H20 focuses on the properties of water and its interaction with life. The book develops a variety of approaches that help to illuminate ways in which to address deeper questions with respect to the nature of the universe and our place withi

Brought to you by Penguin.A British weapons expert, codename Chuff, learns that British sophisticated surface-to-air missile have been stolen in the Ukraine, and are now on their way to the US, in a plot to shoot down Marine One over Washington - to assassinate the President.Hot on their trail, Chuff goes undercover in a far-right training camp in Florida, her actions guided by an octogenarian US intelligence official who has manufactured the plot as a pret...

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Where Good Ideas Come From and Extra Life, a new look at the power and legacy of great ideas.In this illustrated history, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries, tracing facets of modern life (refrigeration, clocks, and eyeglass lenses, to name a few) from their creation by hobbyists, amateurs, and entrepreneurs to their unintended historical consequences. Filled with...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZEONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALISTThe 10th-anniversary edition of the instant classic, The Sixth Extinction, now with a new epilogue. Kolbert blends intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThe New Yorker’s Best Books of 2024 • TIME’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 • New York Magazine’s 10 Best Books of the Year • Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction of 2024 • Smithsonian’s 10 Best Science Books of the Year • A Best Book of the Year: Boston Globe, Scientific American,New York Public Library, Chri...

The origin of life from non-life remains one of the most enduring mysteries of modern science. The Mystery of Life's Origin: The Continuing Controversy investigates how close scientists are to solving that mystery and explores what we are learning about the origin of life from current research in chemistry, physics, astrobiology, biochemistry, and more. The book includes an updated version of the classic text The Mystery of Life's Origin by Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olsen,...

Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousness in Other MindsAlthough mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human ke...

A rigorous and scientific analysis of the myriad possibilities of life beyond our planet.“Are we alone in the universe?” This tantalizing question has captivated humanity over millennia, but seldom has it been approached rigorously. Today the search for signatures of extraterrestrial life and intelligence has become a rapidly advancing scientific endeavor. Missions to Mars, Europa, and Titan seek evidence of life. Laboratory experiments have made great strides in c...

A top researcher proposes a controversial new theory of human evolution in a book "combining the thrill of a novel with a remarkable depth of perspective" ( Nature).In this groundbreaking and engaging work of science, world-renowned paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer sets out a new theory of humanity's origin, challenging both the multiregionalists (who hold that modern humans developed from ancient ancestors in different parts of the world) and his own "ou...