The unprecedented inside story of the people pushing boundaries of science and technology to build better weather forecasts—providing life-saving warnings and crucial intelligence about nature’s deadliest threatsKiller tornadoes. Catastrophic hurricanes. Lethal heat waves. Across the United States and around the world, extreme weather events bring an unending torrent of death and destruction. One indispensable tool consistently offers the ability to help reduce the...

For millennia, humans have tried to understand and predict the weather. The Space Age helped usher in satellites and radar, while computers made it possible to plug all that data into complex equations that anticipated the atmosphere's future behavior. Now a new age of advances in forecasting is unfolding, driven by AI, drones, and satellites. The Internet of Things has turned everything from cellphones to cars into ubiquitous weather sensors. Equally significant are new efforts to underst...

From one of the finest scientists and writers of our time comes an engaging record of a life spent in close observation of the natural world, one that has yielded marvelous, mind-altering (Los Angeles Times) insight and discoveries. In essays that span several decades, Bernd Heinrich finds himself at his beloved camp in Maine, plays host to annoying visitors from Europe (the cluster fly) and more helpful guests from Asia (ladybugs), and unravels the far-reaching ecological consequences of ...

One of Bill Gates's Favorite Books of 2016A revelatory look at our national power grid--how it developed, its current flaws, and how it must be completely reimagined for our fast-approaching energy future.America's electrical grid, an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, is turning out to be a poor fit for the present. It's not just that the grid has grown old and is now in dire need of basic repair. Today, as we invest great hope ...

"[A] vivid account of the history and evolution of the modern forecast. . . . [Blum] is a sharp analyst and engaging guide" as well as the bestselling author of Tubes ( The Economist )."[Blum] takes a dive into the forecasts of today and how they've advanced from a dream espoused nearly 180 years ago. . . . Totally fascinating to anyone with even a passing interest in we...

An "illuminating and important" look at the scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs who are working to save us from catastrophic climate change ( New York Journal of Books).Nikola Tesla was considered a mad scientist by the society of his time for predicting global warming more than a hundred years ago. Today, we need visionaries like him to find sources of alternative energy and solutions to this looming threat.Mad Like Tesla takes an in...

From the acclaimed author of The Pencil and To Engineer Is Human, The Essential Engineer is an eye-opening exploration of the ways in which science and engineering must work together to address our world’s most pressing issues, from dealing with climate change and the prevention of natural disasters to the development of efficient automobiles and the search for renewable energy sources. While the scientist may identify problems, it falls to the engineer to solve ...

In the face of today's environmental and economic challenges, doomsayers preach that the only way to stave off disaster is for humans to reverse course: to de-industrialize, re-localize, ban the use of modern energy sources, and forswear prosperity. But in this provocative and optimistic rebuke to the catastrophists, Robert Bryce shows how innovation and the inexorable human desire to make things Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper is providing consumers with Cheaper and more ab...

**NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2018 BY THE FINANCIAL TIMESA groundbreaking take on how complexity causes failure in all kinds of modern systems--from social media to air travel--this practical and entertaining book reveals how we can prevent meltdowns in business and life"Endlessly fascinating, brimming with insight, and more fun than a book about failure has any right to be, Meltdown will transform how you think about the systems that govern our lives. This is a ...

Was Sandy a freak of nature, or the new normal?On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy reached the shores of the northeastern United States to become one of the most destructive storms in history. But was Sandy a freak event, or should we have been better prepared for it? Was it a harbinger of things to come as the climate warms? In this fascinating and accessible work of popular science, atmospheric scientist and Columbia University professor Adam Sobel addresses these questions, com...

**A Wall Street Journal bestsellerThe future of the American economy is hiding in an unlikely place: the manufacturing sector**While Silicon Valley titans dominate headlines, many of the fastest-growing, most profitable companies in the United States are firms you’ve likely never heard of, such as HEICO, Trex, and Casella. These booming companies belong to a burgeoning sector—industrial tech—that offers surprising hope to workers, consumers, and investors alike.

**Inspired by insights gained in spaceflight, a NASA astronaut offers key lessons to empower Earthbound readers to fight climate change."A must read for anyone who cares about this planet—which should be all of us.” ―Astronaut Scott Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Endurance**When Nicole Stott first saw Earth from space, she realized how interconnected we are and knew she had to help protect our planetary home. In Back to Earth, Stott i...