The history of life on Earth is far older - and far odder - than many of us realise. In SURVIVORS, acclaimed author Richard Fortey traces this history not through fossil records, but in the living stories of organisms that have survived nearly unchanged for hundreds of millions of years and whose existence today affords us tantalising glimpses of landscapes long vanished. For evolution has not obliterated its tracks. Scattered across the globe, strange and marvellous plants and animals have survived virtually unchanged since life f... read more

This compact and concise book is a detailed guide to the world of insects, spiders and bugs. More than 2000 bulleted facts are accompanied by hundreds of illustrations, diagrams and photographs. An extensive index allows for easy navigation of facts. KEY FEATURES * Chunky format filled with carefully selected facts and images * Bullet points for fast fact-finding * Ideal for homework * Suitable for ages 8+

Judith Schalansky was born in 1980 on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. The Soviets wouldn't let anyone travel so everything she learnt about the world came from her parents' battered old atlas. An acclaimed novelist and award-winning graphic designer, she has spent years creating this, her own imaginative atlas of the world's loneliest places. These islands are so difficult to reach that until the late 1990s more people had set foot on the moon than on Peter I Island in the Antarctic. On one page are perfect maps, on the other un... read more

No Description

Richard Tarnas's "The Passion of the Western Mind"?acclaimed by leading voices in philosophy, religion, psychology, and history?sets the stage for this major work, thirty years in the making, that dramatically reframes our understanding of the universe in the light of extraordinary new evidence. "Cosmos and Psyche" is the first book by a widely respected scholar to demonstrate the existence of a consistent correspondence between planetary movements and the unfolding drama of human history. A vast and impressive body of evidence ill... read more

Practical Soil Management is a guide for farmers and horticulturists on managing soil so that it grows useful plants, sustains animals, and provides a return on financial investment in the land.

"Science" magazine meets "The Onion, Mental Floss," and "Mad" magazine in this ingenious guide to the science behind the news For more than a decade, the intrepid folks at whyfiles.orgathe #1 science destination on the webahave been exploring the science behind newsworthy events. Now condensed into a book written with the siteas characteristic wit, "The Why Files" features scores of articles organized into sections that mirror any cityas daily newspaper: World News, Metro, Business Life, Sports, Arts & Leisure, Travel, Style, Opini... read more

The best stories are the true ones, and there can be few BBC series that have generated as many gripping tales as "Planet Earth". With producers and camera people travelling to every continent and almost every corner of the world, from the highest mountains to the lowest depths, their adventures have been many and unforgettable. Using every kind of craft and technological wizardry imaginable, from helicopters and submersibles, to satellites and remote cameras, they have also witnessed remarkable things. And what makes so much of th... read more

In the tradition of this amazing series, this unique contemporary reference book transports the reader literally out of this world. This pictorial journey through the universe shows us such startling sights as butterfly nebulae, sun plasma loops, gas pillars, young stars and whole galaxies. We see detailed images of planets' surfaces, craters and atmosphere. Images from the Cassini mission focus in on Saturn's beautiful rings and moons. Introductory text to each chapter and detailed extended captions explain both the content of the... read more

Takes us underground to the sewers of NYC and London and overground, to meet the heroes of India's sanitation movement, American sewage schoolteachers, the Japanese genius of toilet technology, and the biosolids lobbying team. This title also proves that shit doesn't have to be a dirty word.

Why do some people like a certain aroma and others hate it? Is smell personal or cultural? How does it affect our choices and our actions? "The Scent of Desire" is the definitive psychological study of the importance of smell in our lives, from nourishment to procreation to our relationships with other people and the world at large. Located in the same part of the brain that processes emotion, memory, and motivation, this most essential of senses is imperative to our physical and emotional well-being. It was crucial to our ancesto... read more

No Description

No Description

The story of space told through more than 300 dramatic astronomical images.

For millennia humanity has gazed in wonder at the night sky, tracked the motions of the planets and attempted to explain our place in the Universe. But only in our own time has the true scale, the astonishing variety and the remarkable strangeness of the cosmos come clearly into focus. The pace and sophistication of recent scientific discovery has been breathtaking, but breakthroughs are often difficult to understand and their impact is hard to fully appreciate. In Universe - 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know, Joanne Baker clearly a... read more

For the first time in history, we are interacting with computer programmes so sophisticated that we think they're human beings . . . This is a remarkable feat of human ingenuity, but what does it say about our humanity? Are we really no better at being human than the machines we've created? In this brilliantly witty and inspiring investigation, Brian Christian explores first-hand the urgent moral and practical implications of this remarkable development. Drawing on science, philosophy, literature and the arts, and touching on asp... read more

Why is the universe expanding at an even faster rate? What is the nature of the 'dark matter' that makes up almost a quarter of the universe? Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life? And are there other universes besides our own? In this timely and original book, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy sets out in search of the world's most audacious physics experiments: the telescopes and detectors that promise to shed new light on dark matter, dark energy and quantum gravity - and answer some of the most profound questions that... read more

From the ancient origins of astronomy to the Copernican revolution, and from Galileo to Hawking's research into black holes, The Story of Astronomy charts the discoveries of some of the greatest minds in human history, and their attempts to unveil the secrets of the stars. Peter Aughton's trademark narrative style is to the fore, demystifying some of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of science, and packed full of fascinating nuggets such as why we have 60 minutes in an hour, how the Romans bodged the invention of the leap ... read more

Tells the story of man's quest through the ages to unlock the secrets of our universe, understand where we come from and where we are going. This title follows this journey for knowledge from the first musings of Stone Age people on the position of the stars and planets in the sky, to Galileo's first visions of Orion through a telescope.