Revealing the neuroscience and genetics behind synesthesia—and how this multi-sensory phenomenon changed our view of the brain.A person with synesthesia might feel the flavor of food on her fingertips, sense the letter “J” as shimmering magenta or the number “5” as emerald green, hear and taste her husband’s voice as buttery golden brown. Synesthetes rarely talk about their peculiar sensory gift—believing either that everyone else senses the world exactly as they d...

How the world’s oldest asset secretly shapes our modern economyIn The Land Trap, Mike Bird—Wall Street editor at The Economist—reveals how this ancient asset still exerts outsize influence over the modern world. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's real estate crisis today, Bird shows how fortunes are built—and destroyed—on the bedrock of land.Tracing three centuries of history, Bird explores how land quietly beca...

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...

Alfred North Whitehead (18681-1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which has been applied to a variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology. He was educated at Cambridge University in England and later became a professor of philosophy at Harvard University. Early in his career Whitehead wrote primary on mathematics, l...

"No organisms are more important to life as we know it than algae. In Slime , Ruth Kassinger gives this underappreciated group its due." — Elizabeth KolbertSay "algae" and most people think of pond scum. What they don't know is that without algae, none of us would exist.There are as many algae on Earth as stars in the universe, and they have been essential...

Stories and science surrounding the beloved bat, from an ecologist who has dedicated his life to the curious creature.Few people realize how sophisticated and intelligent bats are. Merlin Tuttle knows, and he has stopped at nothing to find and protect them on every continent they inhabit. Sharing highlights from a lifetime of adventure and discovery, Tuttle takes us to the frontiers of bat research to show that frog-eating bats can identify frogs by their calls, th...

What would it be like if you were transported back to Thebes, 1360 BCE? This time-traveler's guide is a fascinating way to find out . . .Imagine you were transported back in time to Ancient Egypt and you had to start a new life there. What would you see? How would the people around you think and believe? How would you fit in? Where would you live? What would you eat? Where would you go to have your hair done, or get help if you got ill or were mugged in the street?

Quick and simple weeknight recipes that bring the delicious flavors and health benefits of the Mediterranean diet into your home—from the James Beard award-winning team at Milk StreetThe Mediterranean diet is so much more than olive oil, grilled fish, and just-harvested vegetables—or its well-earned reputation for health. It is a diverse cuisine that encompasses the cultures and traditions of Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The food is direct, s...

"This gracefully written history of twentieth-century gravity research" brings to life the discoveries and developments that confirmed the theory of relativity ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).Albert Einstein did nothing of note on May 29, 1919, yet that is when he became immortal. On that day, astronomer Arthur Eddington and his team observed a solar eclipse and found something extraordinary: gravity bends light, just as Einstein predicted. The finding...

A journey into the mysteries and meaning of quantum theory: "Gorgeously lucid text . . . easily the best book I've read on the subject." — The Washington Post"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it's not really telling us that "weird" things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic wor...

An intrepid investigation of the criminal world of wildlife trafficking--the poachers, the traders, and the customers--and of those fighting against itJournalist Rachel Nuwer plunges the reader into the underground of global wildlife trafficking, a topic she has been investigating for nearly a decade. Our insatiable demand for animals -- for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur -- is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existe...

**"A world-class intellectual. . . . [Colin Woodard’s] research can help Americans rediscover their common identity in spite of all the attempts to divide them." —Garry Kasparov"A powerful paradigm for understanding the defining hot button issues of contemporary America and the action we can take to bridge our cultural divisions and save the republic." —The Next Big Idea Club“A lucid exercise in political geography with tremendous—and disturbing—explanatory power.” —Kir...