" First rate popular history/biography, evoking the Byzantine empire at its peak. A remarkable story in an entertaining, informative book." — The Wall Street JournalThis is the biography of a Byzantine courtesan who rose from the gutter to the throne of an empire. It is a romantic and improbable story, and Theodora is an extraordinary woman, indeed. Her background and her many actions were scandalous, but she had qualities of gre...

A religion professor elucidates the theory of the multiverse, its history, and its reception in science, philosophy, religion, and literature.Multiverse cosmologies imagine our universe as just one of a vast number of others. Beginning with ancient Atomist and Stoic philosophies, Mary-Jane Rubenstein links contemporary models of the multiverse to their forerunners and explores the reasons for their recent appearance. One concerns the so-called fine-tuning of the un...

The Nobel Prize winner offers "an ideal introduction to the theories of special and general relativity" in clear, comprehensible language ( Nature ).A renowned mathematician and philosopher , and as well as recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Bertrand Russell was acclaimed for his ability to address complex subjects in accessible ways. In this classic reference book, Russell delve...

"An ethical and accessible introduction to a historical period often implicated in racist narratives of nationalism and imperialism." —Sierra Lomuto, Assistant Professor of Global Medieval Literature, Rowan UniversityA collection of twenty-two essays, Whose Middle Ages? gives nonspecialists access to the richness of our historical knowledge while debunking damaging misconceptions about the medieval past. Myths about the medieval period are especially belove...

In "Science and the Modern World," Alfred North Whitehead presents a profound exploration of the relationship between scientific developments and the philosophical implications that arise within contemporary society. Through a masterful combination of analytic rigor and poetic nuance, Whitehead critiques the mechanistic worldview that has dominated scientific thought since the Enlightenment. He argues for a more organic understanding of reality, intertwining the scientific and metaphysical...

An astronomer explores the science of astrobiology in this " serious but accessible examination of the prospects for finding life elsewhere in the universe" (Sean Carroll, author of The Big Picture ).Describing the most recent discoveries made with space exploration technology, including the Kepler space telescope, the Mars Curiosity rover, and the New Horizons probe, astronomer Jon Willi...

A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong effort to uncover the geometric shape—the Calabi-Yau manifold—that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe.Harvard geometer Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world's most distinguished mathematici...

A New York Times Notable Book. A literary exploration that is "surely destined to become the quintessential companion to Camus's most enduring novel" ( PopMatters).The Stranger is a rite of passage for readers around the world. Since its publication in France in 1942, Camus's novel has been translated into sixty languages and sold more than six million copies. It's the rare novel that's as likely to be found in a teen's backpack as in a g...

A journalist explores how our world's borders came to be and how self-proclaimed countries across the globe could change the map.What is a country? While certain basic criteria—borders, a government, and recognition from other countries—seem obvious, journalist Joshua Keating investigates what happens in areas of the world that exist as exceptions to these rules. Invisible Countries looks at semiautonomous countries such as Abkhazia, Kurdistan, and Somalil...

Six freshly-revised stories—plus new introductions, commentary, and reminiscences—from the New York Times –bestselling, Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author.Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books, from thrillers ( Darwin's Radio, Vitals) to science fiction ( Blood Music, Eon, Hull Zero Three) to pure fantasy ( The Infinity Concerto, The Serpent Mage

A theoretical astrophysicist explores the ideas that transformed our knowledge of the universe over the past century.The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, propelled by dark energy and structured by dark matter. Priyamvada Natarajan, our guide to these ideas, is someone at the forefront of the research—an astrophysicist who literally creates maps of in...

A gripping account of the months before and after Joseph Stalin's death and how his demise reshaped the course of twentieth-century history.Joshua Rubenstein's riveting account takes us back to the second half of 1952 when no one could foresee an end to Joseph Stalin's murderous regime. He was poised to challenge the newly elected U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower with armed force, and was also broadening a vicious campaign against Soviet Jews. Stalin's sudden collap...