Most of us have heard of black holes and supernovas, galaxies and the Big Bang. But few of us understand more than the bare facts about the universe we call home. What is really out there? How did it all begin? Where are we going?Jo Dunkley begins in Earth's neighborhood, explaining the nature of the Solar System, the stars in our night sky, and the Milky Way. She then moves out past nearby galaxies—and back in time—to the horizon of the observable universe, which contains over a h...

A BBC Sky at Night Best Astronomy and Space Book of the Year“[A] luminous guide to the cosmos…Jo Dunkley swoops from Earth to the observable limits, then explores stellar life cycles, dark matter, cosmic evolution and the soup-to-nuts history of the Universe.”—Nature“A grand tour of space and time, from our nearest planetary neighbors to the edge of the observable Universe…If you feel like refreshing your background knowledge…this l...

A plastic box with a lightbulb attached may seem like an odd birthday present. But for ecologist Tim Blackburn, a moth trap is a captivating window into the world beyond the roof terrace of his London flat. Whether gaudy or drab, rare or common, each moth ensnared by the trap is a treasure with a story to tell. In The Jewel Box, Blackburn introduces these mysterious visitors, revealing how the moths he catches reflect hidden patterns governing the world around us.With name...

Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world,this audiobook is a beautiful collection of true stories about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared historyThe earliest scientists ground and processed minerals in a centuries-long quest for a mythic stone that would prolong human life. Michelangelo climbed mountains in Tuscany searching for the sugar-white marble that would yield his sculptures. Catherine the Great wore the wealth of Russia stitched...

An entertaining and highly informed guide to what languages are and how they function.Everyone likes to think they know a bit about language: There are some words that you simply can't translate into English. The origin of a word tells you how it should be used. A dialect is inferior to a language.The problem is, none of these statements are true. In Don't Believe a Word, linguist David Shariatmadari explodes nine common myths about language and in...

**An urgent analysis of the battle between Russia and the West and an exposé of Putin’s Russia, by a former Kremlin insider."I'm a fairly calm fellow; I don't usually get wound up about things. But I was, let's say, concerned when I tuned into the Moscow Echo radio station and heard that the Kremlin had put a price on my head. The announcement didn't quite say 'dead or alive'. But it came close..." —Mikhail Khodorkovsky, March 2021**Mikhail Khodorkovsky has seen behind the ...

The reach of Corporations into our lives via cards and apps has never been greater; many of us rarely use cash these days. But what we’re told is a natural and inevitable move is actually the work of powerful interests. And the great battle of our time is the battle for ownership of the digital footprints that make up our lives.In Cloudmoney, Brett Scott tells an urgent and revelatory story about how the fusion of Big Finance and Big Tech requires “cloudmoney”—digital mone...

The extraordinary and exciting story of East Germany's first Black police officer, coming soon to Disney Plus!Samuel Meffire grew up as a Black German in East Germany and, against all odds, became East Germany's first black police officer. In the nineties, marked by upheaval and unrest, he was the face of an anti-racism campaign, received invitations to politicians' receptions, talk shows and numerous media appearances. But as Europe changed, he sl...

Brought to you by Penguin.**For fans of Poverty Safari and Skint Estate, That Peckham Boy is a real-life manifesto calling for positive change for those on the fringes of society.'When you're writing the story of your life, make sure you're holding the pen. In this life you can be whoever you want to be.'**Two days after his eighteenth birthday, Kenny Imafidon was charged with the murder of a seventeen-year-old boy in sout...

Having thwarted murderous poachers, the Veteran, Thandi and Mkhize are back in a new fight - battling to save elephant herds form being callously killed for their ivory, whilst trying to block wholesale political corruption and money laundering in contemporary South Africa.Will dwindling elephant numbers be reversed? Will the forces of good triumph over the vicious looters? Can the annual trillion-dollar money laundering trade be brought to heel by a brave whistleblower?

""Dramatic, heartbreaking and sweeping in scope."" —Wall Street JournalThe acclaimed author of A Train in Winter returns with the ""moving finale"" (The Economist) of her Resistance Quartet—the powerful and inspiring true story of the women of the partisan resistance who fought against Italy’s fascist regime during World War II.**In the late summer of 1943, when Italy broke with the Germans and joined th...

“Fast-paced and impressively researched, this detailed account sings.”***—***Publishers Weekly, starred reviewA Publishers Weekly Top Ten Book of the Summer (2021)A propulsive, eye-opening work of reporting, chronicling the rise of Juul and the birth of a new addictionIt began with a smoke break. James Monsees and Adam Bowen were two ambitious graduate students at Stanford, and in be...