Science and Nature Ebook Best Sellers

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Thermodynamic Weirdness - Don S. Lemons Cover Art

Thermodynamic Weirdness

Thermodynamic Weirdness From Fahrenheit to Clausius by Don S. Lemons

Thermodynamics has never been easier to understand than in this non-mathematical account revealing the simplicity, principles, and key players of this fascinating branch of physics.   Students of physics, chemistry, and engineering are taught classical thermodynamics through its methods—a “problems first” approach that neglects the subject’s concepts and intellectual structure. In Thermodynamic Weirdness , Don Lemons fills this gap, offering a nonmathematical account of the ideas of classical thermodynamics in all its non-Newtonian “weirdness.” By emphasizing the ideas and their relationship to one another, Lemons reveals the simplicity and coherence of classical thermodynamics.   Lemons presents concepts in an order that is both chronological and logical, mapping the rise and fall of ideas. You’ll learn about:   • The invention of temperature • Heat as a form of motion or material fluid • Carnot’s analysis of heat engines • William Thomson (or Lord Kelvin) and his two definitions of absolute temperature • Energy as the mechanical equivalent of heat • Early versions of the first and second laws of thermodynamics • Entropy and the law of entropy non-decrease • The differing views of Lord Kelvin and Rudolf Clausius on the fate of the universe • The zeroth and third laws of thermodynamics • Einstein’s assessment of classical thermodynamics   Featuring primary sources by Daniel Fahrenheit, Antoine Lavoisier, James Joule, and many others, Thermodynamic Weirdness is an accessible, non-technical deep-dive into this strange branch of physics.

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The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene Cover Art

The Hidden Reality

The Hidden Reality Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

The bestselling author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos tackles perhaps the most mind-bending question in modern physics and cosmology: Is our universe the only universe? There was a time when "universe" meant all there is. Everything. Yet, a number of theories are converging on the possibility that our universe may be but one among many parallel universes populating a vast multiverse. Here, Briane Greene, one of our foremost physicists and science writers, takes us on a breathtaking journey to a multiverse comprising an endless series of big bangs, a multiverse with duplicates of every one of us, a multiverse populated by vast sheets of spacetime, a multiverse in which all we consider real are holographic illusions, and even a multiverse made purely of math--and reveals the reality hidden within each. Using his trademark wit and precision, Greene presents a thrilling survey of cutting-edge physics and confronts the inevitable question: How can fundamental science progress if great swaths of reality lie beyond our reach? The Hidden Reality is a remarkable adventure through a world more vast and strange than anything we could have imagined.

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Eclipse Day - 2024 and More! - GORDON TELEPUN Cover Art

Eclipse Day - 2024 and More!

Eclipse Day - 2024 and More!
How to enjoy, observe, and photograph a total solar eclipse.
by GORDON TELEPUN

This solar eclipse preparation book is unlike any other solar eclipse book you will find! It is the ultimate preparation resource for the 2024 solar eclipse. If you read this book, and use my Solar Eclipse Timer timing app for the eclipse, you have no better way to be prepared! I write the specific techniques for eclipse observation and photography that I use. This is a "how to do it" book; it is a conversation with the reader. It is not a book of generic recommendations. If you are an eclipse novice and follow my examples, you should be wildly successful. It is based on my experience of five successful eclipse expeditions and thoughtful analysis of the entire eclipse experience. I am also the developer of the Solar Eclipse Timer mobile app that became the number one eclipse guide app for the 2017 U.S. solar eclipse. It was also used during the 2019 and 2020 eclipses. In the first section, the book's chapters are organized in the order of the progression of events that happen on eclipse day, from arriving at your observing site to leaving at the end of the eclipse. I have divided eclipse day into 28 stages, each of which is a chapter. Each chapter then covers everything you need to know about that stage of the eclipse: preparation, observation, photography, videography, astronomy, and science. This is a unique organization for an eclipse book. Over 100 of my actual eclipse photos are in the book, and the exposure settings accompany every eclipse photo so you can figure out how to use your gear to reproduce the exposure. I teach you how to assess the performance of your equipment for eclipse photography. In addition, there are over 140 other photos that support eclipse education. More than 225 Illustrations in the book, including detailed explanations of how to use the interactive internet maps for planning, will guide you through planning your "eclipse day" and give clarity to all of the unique science and phenomena that embody the eclipse experience. Photography, videography, and observation tips are emphasized throughout the book, with over 175 concise, single-statement, color-coded dialogue boxes. A list of “Important Take Away Points" is found at the end of the 28 chapters of the book's first section. This book is a multimedia experience, providing 10 embedded videos, 12 image galleries, and 18 audio files. Where relevant, there are hyperlinks to my YouTube videos on eclipse subjects and hyperlinks to other important eclipse videos and resources. I've written four helpful PDF documents, and links to them are provided. Print these out for your convenience: Eclipse Day Check List, Partial Phase Image Sequence Worksheet, Photographer's Master Stop Chart, and Travel Eclipse Decision Matrix Worksheet. There is no other book available that explains, in such detail, the wonderful phenomena that occur during the partial phases of the eclipse, including simple experiments that students can perform. Links to my detailed YouTube videos about these phenomena are provided The second section of the book is more like a standard eclipse book, with chapters on basic eclipse astronomy, photography, and videography. The eclipse photography chapter outlines a "6 Step" process to succeed at your first eclipse. Data for using different types of solar filters are included. A unique chapter called "Mistakes I Have Made” briefly outlines every photography error I have made at eclipses so you can learn from my mistakes and not repeat them.

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Why We Remember - Charan Ranganath Cover Art

Why We Remember

Why We Remember Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • Memory is far more than a record of the past. In this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, one of the world’s top memory researchers reveals the powerful role memory plays in nearly every aspect of our lives, from recalling faces and names, to learning, decision-making, trauma and healing. " Why We Remember offers a radically new and engaging explanation of how and why we remember." —Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep "Prominent neuroscientist and Guggenheim Fellow Charan Ranganath guides us through the science of our memories with incredible insight and clear science. He combines fascinating tales of the peculiarities of memory with practical, actionable steps. Not only will every reader remember better afterward, they’ll also never forget this life-changing book.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of Maladies and Gene A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember , pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future. Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What’s more, when we work with the brain’s ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness. Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath’s life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating read that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives. When we understand its power-- and its quirks--we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can make freer choices and plan a happier future.

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Periodic Tales - Hugh Aldersey-Williams Cover Art

Periodic Tales

Periodic Tales A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

In the spirit of A Short History of Nearly Everything comes Periodic Tales. Award-winning science writer Hugh Andersey-Williams offers readers a captivating look at the elements—and the amazing, little-known stories behind their discoveries. Periodic Tales is an energetic and wide-ranging book of innovations and innovators, of superstition and science and the myriad ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language. It will delight readers of Genome, Einstein’s Dreams, Longitude, and The Age of Wonder. 

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Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari Cover Art

Sapiens

Sapiens
A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari

New York Times Bestseller A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become? Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.

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A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain - Sara Manning Peskin Cover Art

A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain

A Molecule Away from Madness: Tales of the Hijacked Brain by Sara Manning Peskin

Longlisted for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Riveting stories of the brain on the brink, from an acclaimed cognitive neurologist. Our brains are the most complex machines known to humankind, but they have an Achilles heel: the very molecules that allow us to exist can also sabotage our minds. Here are gripping accounts of unruly molecules and the diseases that form in their wake. A college student cannot remember if she has eaten breakfast. By dinner, she is strapped to a hospital bed, convinced she is battling zombies. A man planning to propose marriage instead becomes violently enraged, gripped by body spasms so severe that he nearly bites off his own tongue. One after another, poor farmers in South Carolina drop dead from a mysterious epidemic of dementia. With an intoxicating blend of history and intrigue, Sara Manning Peskin invites readers to play medical detective, tracing each diagnosis from the patient to an ailing nervous system. Along the way, Peskin entertains with tales of the sometimes outlandish, often criticized, and forever devoted scientists who discovered it all. Peskin never loses sight of the human impact of these conditions. Alzheimer’s Disease is more than the gradual loss of a loved one; it can be a family’s multigenerational curse. The proteins that abound in every cell of our bodies are not simply strings of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon; they are the building blocks of our personalities and relationships. A Molecule Away from Madness is an unputdownable journey into the deepest mysteries of our brains.

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Behave - Robert M. Sapolsky Cover Art

Behave

Behave The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky

Why do we do the things we do? Over a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its genetic inheritance. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. What goes on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happens? Then he pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell triggers the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones act hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli which trigger the nervous system? By now, he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going--next to what features of the environment affected that person's brain, and then back to the childhood of the individual, and then to their genetic makeup. Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than that one individual. How culture has shaped that individual's group, what ecological factors helped shape that culture, and on and on, back to evolutionary factors thousands and even millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours de horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do...for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.

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Cosmos - Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Cover Art

Cosmos

Cosmos by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan

RETURNING TO TELEVISION AS AN ALL-NEW MINISERIES ON FOX   Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space.  Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science.   Praise for Cosmos   “Magnificent . . . With a lyrical literary style, and a range that touches almost all aspects of human knowledge, Cosmos often seems too good to be true.” — The Plain Dealer   “Sagan is an astronomer with one eye on the stars, another on history, and a third—his mind’s—on the human condition.” — Newsday   “Brilliant in its scope and provocative in its suggestions . . . shimmers with a sense of wonder.” — The Miami Herald   “Sagan dazzles the mind with the miracle of our survival, framed by the stately galaxies of space.” — Cosmopolitan   “Enticing . . . iridescent . . . imaginatively illustrated.” — The New York Times Book Review NOTE: This edition does not include images.

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The Practical Astronomer - Will Gater Cover Art

The Practical Astronomer

The Practical Astronomer
Explore the Wonders of the Night Sky
by Will Gater

Discover the wonders of the Universe with this complete introduction to observing and understanding the night sky. This practical guide explains and demystifies stargazing, teaching you to recognize different kinds of objects and showing you how they move through the sky over the course of the night and the year. It shows you how to understand and enjoy the cosmos, building your practical astronomy skills from the basics to more advanced techniques. Beginning with an explanation of the Universe itself - how big is it, what shape is it, how old is it, and will it end? - it then takes you on a tour around the night sky, building up your knowledge in simple stages. Practical advice begins with naked-eye observations, then illustrated step-by-step instructions show you how to set up and use binoculars and telescopes and how to take your own pictures of the night sky. It also lets you take a closer look at the different objects you can view in the night sky, telling you how to train your eye to recognize basic patterns of stars (constellations) and how to tell planets apart from other celestial bodies, showing you how to observe them in an innovative step-by-step way. An atlas of the night sky is also included, with charts that can be used in both the northern and southern hemispheres throughout the year. Accessible, inspirational, and authoritative, The Practical Astronomer will enthuse and inform anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of the night sky.

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Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer Cover Art

Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass , Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

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An Immense World - Ed Yong Cover Art

An Immense World

An Immense World How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “thrilling” ( The New York Times ), “dazzling” ( The Wall Street Journal ) tour of the radically different ways that animals perceive the world that will fill you with wonder and forever alter your perspective, by Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong   “One of this year’s finest works of narrative nonfiction.”— Oprah Daily ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, People, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Chicago Public Library, Outside, Publishers Weekly, BookPage ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine , Prospect (UK), Globe & Mail, Esquire, Mental Floss, Marginalian, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved. Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.” WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON AWARD

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A Brief History of Intelligence - Max Bennett Cover Art

A Brief History of Intelligence

A Brief History of Intelligence Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max Bennett

“I found this book amazing. I read it through quickly because it was so interesting, then turned around and read much of it again.”—Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and bestselling author of Thinking Fast & Slow “I've been recommending A Brief History of Intelligence to everyone I know. A truly novel, beautifully crafted thesis on what intelligence is and how it has developed since the dawn of life itself."—Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit Equal parts Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow.  In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have, for the first time, become our reality. AI is now able to produce original art, identify tumors in pictures, and even steer our cars. And yet, large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed, human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems. How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher? As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues, finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts, calamities, and clever innovations. Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it. Now, in A Brief History of Intelligence, Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story, revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs. Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughs” that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today, Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story. With sweeping scope and stunning insights, A Brief History of Intelligence proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future. 

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Genius Foods - Max Lugavere & Paul Grewal, M.D. Cover Art

Genius Foods

Genius Foods Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life by Max Lugavere & Paul Grewal, M.D.

New York Times Bestseller Discover the critical link between your brain and the food you eat and change the way your brain ages, in this cutting-edge, practical guide to eliminating brain fog, optimizing brain health, and achieving peak mental performance from media personality and leading voice in health Max Lugavere. After his mother was diagnosed with a mysterious form of dementia, Max Lugavere put his successful media career on hold to learn everything he could about brain health and performance. For the better half of a decade, he consumed the most up-to-date scientific research, talked to dozens of leading scientists and clinicians around the world, and visited the country’s best neurology departments—all in the hopes of understanding his mother’s condition. Now, in Genius Foods, Lugavere presents a comprehensive guide to brain optimization. He uncovers the stunning link between our dietary and lifestyle choices and our brain functions, revealing how the foods you eat directly affect your ability to focus, learn, remember, create, analyze new ideas, and maintain a balanced mood. Weaving together pioneering research on dementia prevention, cognitive optimization, and nutritional psychiatry, Lugavere distills groundbreaking science into actionable lifestyle changes. He shares invaluable insights into how to improve your brain power, including the nutrients that can boost your memory and improve mental clarity (and where to find them);the foods and tactics that can energize and rejuvenate your brain, no matter your age;a brain-boosting fat-loss method so powerful it has been called “biochemical liposuction”; andthe foods that can improve your happiness, both now and for the long term. With Genius Foods, Lugavere offers a cutting-edge yet practical road map to eliminating brain fog and optimizing the brain’s health and performance today—and decades into the future.

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Determined - Robert M. Sapolsky Cover Art

Determined

Determined A Science of Life without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky

The instant New York Times bestseller “Excellent…Outstanding for its breadth of research, the liveliness of the writing, and the depth of humanity it conveys.” – Wall Street Journal One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave , plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences Robert Sapolsky’s Behave , his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined , Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do. Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about how consciousness works—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky tackles all the major arguments for free will and takes them out, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos and complexity science and quantum physics, as well as touching ground on some of the wilder shores of philosophy. He shows us that the history of medicine is in no small part the history of learning that fewer and fewer things are somebody’s “fault”; for example, for centuries we thought seizures were a sign of demonic possession. Yet, as he acknowledges, it’s very hard, and at times impossible, to uncouple from our zeal to judge others and to judge ourselves. Sapolsky applies the new understanding of life beyond free will to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. By the end, Sapolsky argues that while living our daily lives recognizing that we have no free will is going to be monumentally difficult, doing so is not going to result in anarchy, pointlessness, and existential malaise. Instead, it will make for a much more humane world.

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Troubling the Water - Abby Seiff Cover Art

Troubling the Water

Troubling the Water A Dying Lake and a Vanishing World in Cambodia by Abby Seiff

  In this intimate account of one of the world’s most productive inland fisheries, Troubling the Water explores how the rapid destruction of a single lake in Cambodia is upending the lives of millions. The abundance of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake helped grow the country for millenia and gave rise to the Kingdom of Angkor. Fed by the rich, mud-colored waters of the powerful Mekong River, the lake owes its vast bounty to an ecological miracle that has captivated poets, artisans, and explorers throughout history. But today, the lake is dying. Hydropower dams hold back billions of gallons of water and disrupt critical fish migration paths. On the lake, illegal fishing abetted by corruption is now unstoppable. A fast-changing climate, meanwhile, has seen a string of devastating droughts. Troubling the Water follows ordinary Cambodians coping with the rapid erasure of a long-held way of life. Drawing on years of reporting in Cambodia, Abby Seiff traces the changes on the Tonle Sap—weaving together vivid stories of those most affected with sharp insight into one of the most threatened lakes in the world. For the millions who depend on it, the stakes couldn’t be higher.              

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Breath - James Nestor Cover Art

Breath

Breath The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020 Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR   “A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot Cover Art

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

#1  NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”— Entertainment Weekly NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” ( LITHUB ), AND “BEST” ( THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER ) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF  ESSENCE ’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE  CHICAGO TRIBUNE  HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  The New York Times Book Review  •  Entertainment Weekly  •  O: The Oprah Magazine  • NPR •  Financial Times  •  New York  •  Independent  (U.K.) •  Times  (U.K.) •  Publishers Weekly  •  Library Journal  •  Kirkus Reviews  •  Booklist  •  Globe and Mail Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.  Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.  Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?  Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down,  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.

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Not the End of the World - Hannah Ritchie Cover Art

Not the End of the World

Not the End of the World How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet by Hannah Ritchie

This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them. It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children. But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that: Carbon emissions per capita are actually down Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago? Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.       These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.  

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Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why - Laurence Gonzales Cover Art

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales

"Unique among survival books…stunning…enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading." —Denver Post Laurence Gonzales’s bestselling Deep Survival has helped save lives from the deepest wildernesses, just as it has improved readers’ everyday lives. Its mix of adventure narrative, survival science, and practical advice has inspired everyone from business leaders to military officers, educators, and psychiatric professionals on how to take control of stress, learn to assess risk, and make better decisions under pressure.

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A Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold Cover Art

A Sand County Almanac

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold

First published in 1949 and praised in The New York Times Book Review as "a trenchant book, full of vigor and bite," A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. Written with an unparalleled understanding of the ways of nature, the book includes a section on the monthly changes of the Wisconsin countryside; another part that gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; and a final section in which Leopold addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. As the forerunner of such important books as Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, and Robert Finch's The Primal Place, this classic work remains as relevant today as it was forty years ago.

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The Greatest Show on Earth - Richard Dawkins Cover Art

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Greatest Show on Earth The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which sold millions of copies in English alone. He revolutionized the way we see natural selection in the seminal bestseller The Selfish Gene . Now, he launches a fierce counterattack against proponents of "Intelligent Design" in his New York Times bestseller, The Greatest Show on Earth . "Intelligent Design" is being taught in our schools; educators are being asked to "teach the controversy" behind evolutionary theory. There is no controversy. Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence—from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics—to make the airtight case that "we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection." His unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument, exposing the absurdities of the creationist position, into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master’s vision of life, in all its splendor.

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Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker Cover Art

Why We Sleep

Why We Sleep Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

“ Why We Sleep is an important and fascinating book…Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.” —Bill Gates A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” ( Financial Times ) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber. With two appearances on CBS This Morning and Fresh Air 's most popular interview of 2017, Matthew Walker has made abundantly clear that sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when it is absent. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remains more elusive. Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. In this “compelling and utterly convincing” ( The Sunday Times ) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book. Written with the precision of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Sherwin Nuland, it is “recommended for night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense” ( The New York Times Book Review ).

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Life on a Young Planet - Andrew H. Knoll Cover Art

Life on a Young Planet

Life on a Young Planet The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth - Updated Edition by Andrew H. Knoll

Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites--such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg. Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion, presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty. The very latest discoveries in paleontology--many of them made by the author and his students--are integrated with emerging insights from molecular biology and earth system science to forge a broad understanding of how the biological diversity that surrounds us came to be. Moving from Siberia to Namibia to the Bahamas, Knoll shows how life and environment have evolved together through Earth's history. Innovations in biology have helped shape our air and oceans, and, just as surely, environmental change has influenced the course of evolution, repeatedly closing off opportunities for some species while opening avenues for others. Readers go into the field to confront fossils, enter the lab to discern the inner workings of cells, and alight on Mars to ask how our terrestrial experience can guide exploration for life beyond our planet. Along the way, Knoll brings us up-to-date on some of science's hottest questions, from the oldest fossils and claims of life beyond the Earth to the hypothesis of global glaciation and Knoll's own unifying concept of ''permissive ecology.'' In laying bare Earth's deepest biological roots, Life on a Young Planet helps us understand our own place in the universe--and our responsibility as stewards of a world four billion years in the making. In a new preface, Knoll describes how the field has broadened and deepened in the decade since the book's original publication.

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Mathematical Thinking - For People Who Hate Math - Albert Rutherford Cover Art

Mathematical Thinking - For People Who Hate Math

Mathematical Thinking - For People Who Hate Math Level Up Your Analytical and Creative Thinking Skills. Excel at Problem-Solving and Decision-Making. by Albert Rutherford

Struggling with math? Are numbers your #1 enemy? Learn the EXACT thinking tools the top mathematicians use to utilize their math skills in real life and radically change how you shop, save, and think! Achieve your full potential with unlocking your mathematical mind – even if you think you don’t have one. Math is taught in a dull, authoritarian, and limited way. You either know how to do the Pythagorean theorem or you don’t. But there is SO MUCH more to math than mere calculus and geometry. It pervades almost every life aspect – from how your insurance premium is calculated to the deal you should choose on Black Friday. Don’t let numbers get in your way to succeed in life. You CAN do math – without the formulas. Learn to assess information in a logical manner, understand the real connection between risk and probability, make calculated decisions – no hardcore math involved. Mathematical Thinking – For People Who Hate Math provides a new way of looking at the world. Unlock life-changing ideas and use them to make better and more informed decisions. Express yourself in a precise and concise manner using the language of math. Learn how turning your focus off can help solve challenging problems. How to turn risk and probability to your advantage... mathematically. Manage test anxiety like a pro. A math manual you'll actually love to read, with research-backed examples for faster learning and greater everyday impact. Albert Rutherford is an internationally bestselling author whose writing derives from various sources, such as research, coaching, academic and real-life experience. Thinking mathematically is not the same as doing math. Discover the underlying, everyday utility of math they don’t teach you in school.

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Waves in an Impossible Sea - Matt Strassler Cover Art

Waves in an Impossible Sea

Waves in an Impossible Sea How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean by Matt Strassler

A theoretical physicist takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey—found in "no other book" ( Science) —to discover how the universe generates everything from nothing at all: "If you want to know what's really going on in the realms of relativity and particle physics, read this book" (Sean Carroll, author of  The Biggest Ideas in the Universe ). In Waves in an Impossible Sea , physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary particles, human experience, and empty space. He begins with a simple mystery of motion. When we drive at highway speeds with the windows down, the wind beats against our faces. Yet our planet hurtles through the cosmos at 150 miles per second, and we feel nothing of it. How can our voyage be so tranquil when, as Einstein discovered, matter warps space, and space deflects matter?   The answer, Strassler reveals, is that empty space is a sea, albeit a paradoxically strange one. Much like water and air, it ripples in various ways, and we ourselves, made from its ripples, can move through space as effortlessly as waves crossing an ocean. Deftly weaving together daily experience and fundamental physics—the musical universe, the enigmatic quantum, cosmic fields, and the Higgs boson—Strassler shows us how all things, familiar and unfamiliar, emerge from what seems like nothing at all.   Accessible and profound, Waves in an Impossible Sea is the ultimate guide to our place in the universe.

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The Math Book - DK Cover Art

The Math Book

The Math Book by DK

Learn about the most important mathematical ideas, theorems, and movements in The Math Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Math in this overview guide to the subject, brilliant for novices looking to find out more and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Math Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in.  This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Math, with: - More than 85 ideas and events key to the development of mathematics - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Math Book is a captivating introduction to the world’s most famous theorems, mathematicians and movements, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Charting the development of math around the world from Babylon to Bletchley Park, this book explains how math help us understand everything from patterns in nature to artificial intelligence. Your Math Questions, Simply Explained What is an imaginary number? Can two parallel lines ever meet? How can math help us predict the future? This engaging overview explores answers to big questions like these and how they contribute to our understanding of math. If you thought it was difficult to learn about topics like algebra and statistics, The Math Book presents key information in an easy to follow layout. Learn about the history of math, from ancient ideas such as magic squares and the abacus to modern cryptography, fractals, and the final proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Math Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

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A Journey Through Care of Magical Creatures - Pottermore Publishing Cover Art

A Journey Through Care of Magical Creatures

A Journey Through Care of Magical Creatures by Pottermore Publishing

This non-fiction short-form eBook features content which is adapted from the audiobook Harry Potter: A History of Magic - inspired by the British Library exhibition of the same name. Well-known folkloric creatures like giants, dragons and merpeople, and lesser-known beings such as Acromantula and Hippogriffs, all play a key role in Harry Potter's journey. In the past, naturalists and explorers travelled the globe to encounter weird and wonderful creatures that enhanced our knowledge of the world and pushed forward the development of science. Nevertheless, it seems part of human nature to want to believe in the unbelievable: from the bestiaries and cabinets of curiosities of the medieval period onwards. We think that truth and myth are easily distinguished today, but magical creatures and the stories around them continue to fascinate us - and they are as central to the Harry Potter stories as Harry, Hermione and Ron. This eBook short examines the colourful characters and curious incidents of the real history of magic, and how they relate to the Hogwarts lesson subjects of Care of Magical Creatures. The history of magic is as long as time and as wide as the world. In every culture, in every age, in every place and, probably, in every heart, there is magic.

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Rooted - Lyanda Lynn Haupt Cover Art

Rooted

Rooted Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Deepen your connection to the natural world with this inspiring meditation, "a path to the place where science and spirit meet" (Robin Wall Kimmerer). In Rooted , cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over millennia: life on this planet is radically interconnected. Our bodies, thoughts, minds, and spirits are affected by the whole of nature, and they affect this whole in return. In this time of crisis, how can we best live upon our imperiled, beloved earth? Award-winning writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s highly personal new book is a brilliant invitation to live with the earth in both simple and profound ways—from walking barefoot in the woods and reimagining our relationship with animals and trees, to examining the very language we use to describe and think about nature. She invokes rootedness as a way of being in concert with the wilderness—and wildness—that sustains humans and all of life. In the tradition of Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Mary Oliver, Haupt writes with urgency and grace, reminding us that at the crossroads of science, nature, and spirit we find true hope. Each chapter provides tools for bringing our unique gifts to the fore and transforming our sense of belonging within the magic and wonder of the natural world. 

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The Cosmic Serpent - Jeremy Narby Cover Art

The Cosmic Serpent

The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby

"A Copernican revolution for the life sciences."— Medical Tribune Unlock the mysteries of biology, anthropology, and ancient civilizations in this thought-provoking read where science and spirituality intersect. Through Jeremy Narby′s travels and research in the Amazon, he discovered that shamans were able to use hallucinogens to tap into knowledge and insights that rival our discoveries using modern scientific methods, particularly with regards to DNA and molecular biology. Drawing on visionary experiences, indigenous knowledge, and pharmacology, Narby challenges conventional understanding, unraveling the connections between consciousness, serpent symbolism, and the origins of life itself. This enlightening book blends science, anthropology, and mysticism into a captivating narrative that will expand your mind.

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The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson Cover Art

The Feather Thief

The Feather Thief Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

As heard on NPR's This American Life “Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction,  The Feather Thief  contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” — Christian Science Monitor A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of  The Stranger in the Woods ,  The Lost City of Z , and  The Orchid Thief . On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

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Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard Cover Art

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize “The book is a form of meditation, written with headlong urgency, about seeing. . . . There is an ambition about her book that I like. . . . It is the ambition to feel.” — Eudora Welty, New York Times Book Review Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the story of a dramatic year in Virginia's Roanoke Valley, where Annie Dillard set out to chronicle incidents of "beauty tangled in a rapture with violence." Dillard's personal narrative highlights one year's exploration on foot in the Virginia region through which Tinker Creek runs. In the summer, she stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall, she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays King of the Meadow with a field of grasshoppers. The result is an exhilarating tale of nature and its seasons.

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The Female Brain - Louann Brizendine, M.D. Cover Art

The Female Brain

The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D.

Since Dr. Brizendine wrote  The Female Brain  ten years ago, the response has been overwhelming. This New York Times bestseller has been translated into more than thirty languages, has sold nearly a million copies between editions, and has most recently inspired a romantic comedy starring Whitney Cummings and Sofia Vergara. And its profound scientific understanding of the nature and experience of the female brain continues to guide women as they pass through life stages, to help men better understand the girls and women in their lives, and to illuminate the delicate emotional machinery of a love relationship. Why are women more verbal than men? Why do women remember details of fights that men can’t remember at all? Why do women tend to form deeper bonds with their female friends than men do with their male counterparts? These and other questions have stumped both sexes throughout the ages. Now, pioneering neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, M.D., brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they love. While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Louann Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data in existence on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the overwhelming need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women’s brain function. In The Female Brain , Dr. Brizendine distills all her findings and the latest information from the scientific community in a highly accessible book that educates women about their unique brain/body/behavior. The result: women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean, communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.

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The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene Cover Art

The Fabric of the Cosmos

The Fabric of the Cosmos Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s leading physicists and author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elegant Universe, comes “an astonishing ride” through the universe ( The New York Times ) that makes us look at reality in a completely different way. Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.

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The Knife Man - Wendy Moore Cover Art

The Knife Man

The Knife Man Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery by Wendy Moore

The vivid, often gruesome portrait of the 18th-century pioneering surgeon and father of modern medicine, John Hunter. When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote his gothic horror story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he based the house of the genial doctor-turned-fiend on the home of John Hunter. The choice was understandable, for Hunter was both widely acclaimed and greatly feared.   From humble origins, John Hunter rose to become the most famous anatomist and surgeon of the eighteenth century. In an age when operations were crude, extremely painful, and often fatal, he rejected medieval traditions to forge a revolution in surgery founded on pioneering scientific experiments. Using the knowledge he gained from countless human dissections, Hunter worked to improve medical care for both the poorest and the best-known figures of the era—including Sir Joshua Reynolds and the young Lord Byron.   An insatiable student of all life-forms, Hunter was also an expert naturalist. He kept exotic creatures in his country menagerie and dissected the first animals brought back by Captain Cook from Australia. Ultimately his research led him to expound highly controversial views on the age of the earth, as well as equally heretical beliefs on the origins of life more than sixty years before Darwin published his famous theory.   Although a central figure of the Enlightenment, Hunter’s tireless quest for human corpses immersed him deep in the sinister world of body snatching. He paid exorbitant sums for stolen cadavers and even plotted successfully to steal the body of Charles Byrne, famous in his day as the “Irish giant.”   In The Knife Man , Wendy Moore unveils John Hunter’s murky and macabre world—a world characterized by public hangings, secret expeditions to dank churchyards, and gruesome human dissections in pungent attic rooms. This is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable pioneer and his determined struggle to haul surgery out of the realms of meaningless superstitious ritual and into the dawn of modern medicine.

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Why Does E=mc2? - Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw Cover Art

Why Does E=mc2?

Why Does E=mc2? (And Why Should We Care?) by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw

The international bestseller: an introduction to the theory of relativity by the eminent physicists Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw What does E=mc2 actually mean? Dr. Brian Cox and Professor Jeff Forshaw go on a journey to the frontier of twenty-first century science to unpack Einstein's famous equation. Explaining and simplifying notions of energy, mass, and light-while exploding commonly held misconceptions-they demonstrate how the structure of nature itself is contained within this equation. Along the way, we visit the site of one of the largest scientific experiments ever conducted: the now-famous Large Hadron Collider, a gigantic particle accelerator capable of re-creating conditions that existed fractions of a second after the Big Bang. A collaboration between one of the youngest professors in the United Kingdom and a distinguished popular physicist, Why Does E=mc2? is one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of the theory of relativity.

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A Tour of the Calculus - David Berlinski Cover Art

A Tour of the Calculus

A Tour of the Calculus by David Berlinski

Were it not for the calculus, mathematicians would have no way to describe the acceleration of a motorcycle or the effect of gravity on thrown balls and distant planets, or to prove that a man could cross a room and eventually touch the opposite wall. Just how calculus makes these things possible and in doing so finds a correspondence between real numbers and the real world is the subject of this dazzling book by a writer of extraordinary clarity and stylistic brio. Even as he initiates us into the mysteries of real numbers, functions, and limits, Berlinski explores the furthest implications of his subject, revealing how the calculus reconciles the precision of numbers with the fluidity of the changing universe. "An odd and tantalizing book by a writer who takes immense pleasure in this great mathematical tool, and tries to create it in others."--New York Times Book Review

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The Little Ice Age - Brian Fagan Cover Art

The Little Ice Age

The Little Ice Age How Climate Made History 1300-1850 by Brian Fagan

Only in the last decade have climatologists developed an accurate picture of yearly climate conditions in historical times. This development confirmed a long-standing suspicion: that the world endured a 500-year cold snap -- The Little Ice Age -- that lasted roughly from A.D. 1300 until 1850. The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable and often very cold years of modern European history, how climate altered historical events, and what they mean in the context of today's global warming. With its basis in cutting-edge science, The Little Ice Age offers a new perspective on familiar events. Renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold affected Norse exploration; how changing sea temperatures caused English and Basque fishermen to follow vast shoals of cod all the way to the New World; how a generations-long subsistence crisis in France contributed to social disintegration and ultimately revolution; and how English efforts to improve farm productivity in the face of a deteriorating climate helped pave the way for the Industrial Revolution and hence for global warming. This is a fascinating, original book for anyone interested in history, climate, or the new subject of how they interact.

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Most Delicious Poison - Noah Whiteman Cover Art

Most Delicious Poison

Most Delicious Poison The Story of Nature's Toxins—From Spices to Vices by Noah Whiteman

An evolutionary biologist tells the story of nature’s toxins and why we are attracted—and addicted—to them, in this “magisterial, fascinating, and gripping tour de force” (Neil Shubin). A deadly secret lurks within our spice racks, medicine cabinets, backyard gardens, and private stashes. Scratch beneath the surface of a coffee bean, a red pepper flake, a poppy seed, a mold spore, a foxglove leaf, a magic-mushroom cap, a marijuana bud, or an apple seed, and we find a bevy of strange chemicals. We use these to greet our days (caffeine), titillate our tongues (capsaicin), recover from surgery (opioids), cure infections (penicillin), mend our hearts (digoxin), bend our minds (psilocybin), calm our nerves (CBD), and even kill our enemies (cyanide). But why do plants and fungi produce such chemicals? And how did we come to use and abuse some of them? Based on cutting-edge science in the fields of evolution, chemistry, and neuroscience,  Most Delicious Poison reveals: The origins of toxins produced by plants, mushrooms, microbes, and even some animals The mechanisms that animals evolved to overcome them How a co-evolutionary arms race made its way into the human experience And much more This perpetual chemical war not only drove the diversification of life on Earth, but also is intimately tied to our own successes and failures. You will never look at a houseplant, mushroom, fruit, vegetable, or even the past five hundred years of human history the same way again.

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The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them) - Thomas D. Seeley Cover Art

The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them)

The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them) From Honeybee Democracy by Thomas D. Seeley

Studies of animal behavior have often been invoked to help explain and even guide human behavior. Think of Pavlov and his dogs or Goodall and her chimps. But, as these examples indicate, the tendency has been to focus on "higher," more cognitively developed, and thus, it is thought, more intelligent creatures than mindless, robotic insects. Not so! Learn here how honeybees work together to form a collective intelligence and even how they make decisions democratically. The wizzzzdom of crowds indeed! Here are five habits of effective groups that we can learn from these clever honeybees. Princeton Shorts are brief selections excerpted from influential Princeton University Press publications produced exclusively in eBook format. They are selected with the firm belief that while the original work remains an important and enduring product, sometimes we can all benefit from a quick take on a topic worthy of a longer book. In a world where every second counts, how better to stay up-to speed on current events and digest the kernels of wisdom found in the great works of the past? Princeton Shorts enables you to be an instant expert in a world where information is everywhere but quality is at a premium. The Five Habits of Highly Effective Honeybees (and What We Can Learn from Them) does just that.

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Quantum Entanglement and Synchronicity. Force Fields, Non-Locality, Extrasensory Perception. The Astonishing Properties of Quantum Physics. - George Anderson Cover Art

Quantum Entanglement and Synchronicity. Force Fields, Non-Locality, Extrasensory Perception. The Astonishing Properties of Quantum Physics.

Quantum Entanglement and Synchronicity. Force Fields, Non-Locality, Extrasensory Perception. The Astonishing Properties of Quantum Physics. by George Anderson

Pages 244. 55 illustrations Often our daily life is accompanied by extrasensory insights and visions. Our existence is accompanied by episodes of telepathy or other sensations of the soul. These phenomena are not uncommon and affect everyone. Some scholars, with a more open mind, wanted to tackle the topic scientifically. They wondered if there is a way to understand extrasensory experiences without resorting to occultism, mythology or pseudo-religious philosophies. Quantum physics provides positive answers to this question. It is now certain that elementary particles are connected to each other. Quantum entanglement confirms that in the level of elementary particles "everything is one". In this unity we can recognize a mind of the universe. Perhaps Plato's "Anima mundi". Perhaps the collective unconscious of Carl Jung. Perhaps it is the Eastern philosophy of the Tao. Or perhaps a completely new vision of reality, which unifies the material and the psychic. The author, with the clarity of an expert communicator, involves the reader in these themes. riflessione.

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Rockhounding for Beginners - Lars W. Johnson & Stephen M. Voynick Cover Art

Rockhounding for Beginners

Rockhounding for Beginners Your Comprehensive Guide to Finding and Collecting Precious Minerals, Gems, Geodes, & More by Lars W. Johnson & Stephen M. Voynick

Go on an outdoor treasure hunt and enjoy all nature has to offer with this field guide to rockhounding, perfect for armchair geologists or anyone headed out on an adventure! Geology meets treasure hunting with this field guide to rockhounding! If you’ve ever kept an interesting rock or shell, bought a polished stone from a gift shop, or even just enjoyed a ’gram of a really cool crystal, congratulations! You’ve already experienced a rockhounding adventure! Rockhouding for Beginners shows you how to take your rockhounding to the next level, providing everything you need to know from tips for finding local sources for really cool finds to techniques for safely cleaning, cutting, polishing, and caring for the best samples. Complete with full-color photos to help you identify each rock and mineral wherever you find them, this guide has all the rockhounding information you need whether you’re ready to get down and dirty or simply want to learn more from the comfort of your couch.

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Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees, 2nd Edition - Malcolm T. Sanford & Richard E. Bonney Cover Art

Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees, 2nd Edition

Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees, 2nd Edition Honey Production, Pollination, Health by Malcolm T. Sanford & Richard E. Bonney

This trusted handbook is a must-have for novice and seasoned beekeepers alike. Now totally redesigned and featuring color photos and graphics, the second edition also includes up-to-date information on honey bee health. The go-to reference presents comprehensive yet accessible information on everything from planning hives and installing a colony to preventing disease and managing productive hives that will bear bountiful honey harvests year after year. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.  

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Under the Henfluence - Tove Danovich Cover Art

Under the Henfluence

Under the Henfluence Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them by Tove Danovich

An immersive blend of chicken-keeping memoir and animal welfare reporting by a journalist who accidentally became obsessed with her flock. Since first domesticating the chicken thousands of years ago, humans have become exceptionally adept at raising them for food. Yet most people rarely interact with chickens or know much about them. In Under the Henfluence, culture reporter Tove Danovich explores the lives of these quirky, mysterious birds who stole her heart the moment her first box of chicks arrived at the post office. From a hatchery in Iowa to a chicken show in Ohio to a rooster rescue in Minnesota, Danovich interviews the people breeding, training, healing, and, most importantly, adoring chickens. With more than 26 billion chickens living on industrial farms around the world, they’re easy to dismiss as just another dinner ingredient. Yet Danovich’s reporting reveals the hidden cleverness, quiet sweetness, and irresistible personalities of these birds, as well as the complex human-chicken relationship that has evolved over centuries. This glimpse into the lives of backyard chickens doesn’t just help us to understand chickens better—it also casts light back on ourselves and what we’ve ignored throughout the explosive growth of industrial agriculture. Woven with delightful and sometimes heartbreaking anecdotes from Danovich’s own henhouse, Under the Henfluence proves that chickens are so much more than what they bring to the table.

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Earthquake Storms - John Dvorak Cover Art

Earthquake Storms

Earthquake Storms by John Dvorak

“Dvorak has done earthquake science sterling service by writing what is unarguably the best, the most comprehensive and compellingly readable book about the great fault, America's 800 mile long seismic danger zone, that will one day affect all of our lives.”— Simon Winchester, New York Times Bestselling author of The Crack at the Edge of the World and Krakatoa It is a prominent geological feature that is almost impossible to see unless you know where to look. Hundreds of thousands of people drive across it every day. The San Andreas Fault is everywhere, and primed for a colossal quake. For decades, scientists have warned that such a sudden shifting of the Earth's crust is inevitable. In fact, it is a geologic necessity.The San Andreas fault runs almost the entire length of California, from the redwood forest to the east edge of the Salton Sea. Along the way, it passes through two of the largest urban areas of the country - San Francisco and Los Angeles. Dozens of major highways and interstates cross it. Scores of housing developments have been planted over it. The words "San Andreas" are so familiar today that they have become synonymous with earthquake.Yet, few people understand the San Andreas or the network of subsidiary faults it has spawned. Some run through Hollywood, others through Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. The Hayward fault slices the football stadium at the University of California in half. Even among scientists, few appreciate that the San Andreas fault is a transient, evolving system that, as seen today, is younger than the Grand Canyon and key to our understanding of earthquakes worldwide.

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Principles of Neural Design - Peter Sterling & Simon Laughlin Cover Art

Principles of Neural Design

Principles of Neural Design by Peter Sterling & Simon Laughlin

Two distinguished neuroscientists distil general principles from more than a century of scientific study, “reverse engineering” the brain to understand its design. Neuroscience research has exploded, with more than fifty thousand neuroscientists applying increasingly advanced methods. A mountain of new facts and mechanisms has emerged. And yet a principled framework to organize this knowledge has been missing. In this book, Peter Sterling and Simon Laughlin, two leading neuroscientists, strive to fill this gap, outlining a set of organizing principles to explain the whys of neural design that allow the brain to compute so efficiently. Setting out to “reverse engineer” the brain—disassembling it to understand it—Sterling and Laughlin first consider why an animal should need a brain, tracing computational abilities from bacterium to protozoan to worm. They examine bigger brains and the advantages of “anticipatory regulation”; identify constraints on neural design and the need to “nanofy”; and demonstrate the routes to efficiency in an integrated molecular system, phototransduction. They show that the principles of neural design at finer scales and lower levels apply at larger scales and higher levels; describe neural wiring efficiency; and discuss learning as a principle of biological design that includes “save only what is needed.” Sterling and Laughlin avoid speculation about how the brain might work and endeavor to make sense of what is already known. Their distinctive contribution is to gather a coherent set of basic rules and exemplify them across spatial and functional scales.

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Fascist Pigs - Tiago Saraiva Cover Art

Fascist Pigs

Fascist Pigs Technoscientific Organisms and the History of Fascism by Tiago Saraiva

How the breeding of new animals and plants was central to fascist regimes in Italy, Portugal, and Germany and to their imperial expansion. In the fascist regimes of Mussolini's Italy, Salazar's Portugal, and Hitler's Germany, the first mass mobilizations involved wheat engineered to take advantage of chemical fertilizers, potatoes resistant to late blight, and pigs that thrived on national produce. Food independence was an early goal of fascism; indeed, as Tiago Saraiva writes in Fascist Pigs , fascists were obsessed with projects to feed the national body from the national soil. Saraiva shows how such technoscientific organisms as specially bred wheat and pigs became important elements in the institutionalization and expansion of fascist regimes. The pigs, the potatoes, and the wheat embodied fascism. In Nazi Germany, only plants and animals conforming to the new national standards would be allowed to reproduce. Pigs that didn't efficiently convert German-grown potatoes into pork and lard were eliminated. Saraiva describes national campaigns that intertwined the work of geneticists with new state bureaucracies; discusses fascist empires, considering forced labor on coffee, rubber, and cotton in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Eastern Europe; and explores fascist genocides, following Karakul sheep from a laboratory in Germany to Eastern Europe, Libya, Ethiopia, and Angola. Saraiva's highly original account—the first systematic study of the relation between science and fascism—argues that the “back to the land” aspect of fascism should be understood as a modernist experiment involving geneticists and their organisms, mass propaganda, overgrown bureaucracy, and violent colonialism.

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Why We Die - Venki Ramakrishnan Cover Art

Why We Die

Why We Die The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan

"Utterly fascinating." —Bill Bryson "An incredible journey." —Siddhartha Mukherjee A groundbreaking exploration of the science of aging and mortality—from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan The knowledge of death is so terrifying that we live most of our lives in denial of it. One of the most difficult moments of childhood must be when each of us first realizes that not only we but all our loved ones will die—and there is nothing we can do about it. Or at least, there hasn’t been. Today, we are living through a revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in understanding why we age—and why some species live longer than others. Could we eventually cheat disease and death and live for a very long time, possibly many times our current lifespan? Venki Ramakrishnan, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and former president of the Royal Society, takes us on a riveting journey to the frontiers of biology, asking whether we must be mortal. Covering the recent breakthroughs in scientific research, he examines the cutting edge of efforts to extend lifespan by altering our physiology. But might death serve a necessary biological purpose? What are the social and ethical costs of attempting to live forever? Why We Die is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals.

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Octopus, Squid & Cuttlefish - Roger Hanlon, Michael Vecchione & Louise Allcock Cover Art

Octopus, Squid & Cuttlefish

Octopus, Squid & Cuttlefish A Visual, Scientific Guide to the Oceans’ Most Advanced Invertebrates by Roger Hanlon, Michael Vecchione & Louise Allcock

“Cephalopods are often misunderstood creatures. Three biologists set the record straight on the behaviors and evolution of these invertebrates of the sea.” — Science News Largely shell-less relatives of clams and snails, the marine mollusks in the class Cephalopoda—Greek for “head-foot” —are colorful creatures of many-armed dexterity, often inky self-defense, and highly evolved cognition. They are capable of learning, of retaining information—and of rapid decision-making to avoid predators and find prey. They have eyes and senses rivaling those of vertebrates like birds and fishes, they morph texture and body shape, and they change color faster than a chameleon. In short, they captivate us. From the long-armed mimic octopus—able to imitate the appearance of swimming flounders and soles—to the aptly named flamboyant cuttlefish, whose undulating waves of color rival the graphic displays of any LCD screen, there are more than seven hundred species of cephalopod. Featuring a selection of species profiles, Octopus, Squid, and Cuttlefish reveals the evolution, anatomy, life history, behaviors, and relationships of these spellbinding animals. Their existence proves that intelligence can develop in very different ways: not only are cephalopods unusually large-brained invertebrates, they also carry two-thirds of their neurons in their arms. A treasure trove of scientific fact and visual explanation, this worldwide illustrated guide to cephalopods offers a comprehensive review of these fascinating and mysterious underwater invertebrates—from the lone hunting of the octopus, to the social squid, and the prismatic skin signaling of the cuttlefish. “After reading about the cephalopods’ abilities and behaviors, as well as their potential for advancing our lives, readers might think twice before ordering their next calamari appetizer.” — American Scientist

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Return of the God Hypothesis - Stephen C. Meyer Cover Art

Return of the God Hypothesis

Return of the God Hypothesis Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe by Stephen C. Meyer

The New York Times bestselling author of Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen Meyer, presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology. Beginning in the late 19th century, many intellectuals began to insist that scientific knowledge conflicts with traditional theistic belief—that science and belief in God are “at war.” Philosopher of science Stephen Meyer challenges this view by examining three scientific discoveries with decidedly theistic implications. Building on the case for the intelligent design of life that he developed in Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt, Meyer demonstrates how discoveries in cosmology and physics coupled with those in biology help to establish the identity of the designing intelligence behind life and the universe.  Meyer argues that theism—with its affirmation of a transcendent, intelligent and active creator—best explains the evidence we have concerning biological and cosmological origins. Previously Meyer refrained from attempting to answer questions about “who” might have designed life. Now he provides an evidence-based answer to perhaps the ultimate mystery of the universe. In so doing, he reveals a stunning conclusion: the data support not just the existence of an intelligent designer of some kind—but the existence of a personal God. 

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