Popular Science

When the imperial explorer James Cook returned from his first voyage to Australia, scandal writers mercilessly satirised the amorous exploits of his botanist Joseph Banks, whose trousers were reportedly stolen...

*FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO EVER LIVED and HOW TO ARGUE WITH A RACIST* WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?Waging war?Sex for pleasure?Creating art?Mastery of fire?In...

* * * Winner of the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books * * *Stuff Matters by Mark Miodnownik is a unique and inspiring exploration of human creativity.'Enthralling....

Whilst living amongst Peruvian Indians, anthropologist Jeremy Narby learned of their phenomenal knowledge of plants and biochemical interactions, gained under the influence of the hallucinogen ayahuasca. Despite his initial scepticism,...

John Gribbin, author of Six Impossible Things, shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize, presents a tour of seven fundamental scientific truths that underpin our very existence.These...

Riddled with jealousy, rivalry, missed opportunities and moments of genius, the history of the atom's discovery is as bizarre, as capricious, and as weird as the atom itself. John Dalton...

**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment. '21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book'...

**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** Sapiens showed us where we came from. In uncertain times, Homo Deus shows us where we're going.'Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. It...

30-Second Chemistry presents the 50 most important ideas in the science of matter - its composition, structure, properties and how it changes. As the central science that bridges biology and...

Ever wondered . . . - what is earwax for?- when is the moon blue?- why are there only two sexes?- do doctors live longer?Informative, hilarious, sometimes unsettling and always...

'A dazzling chronicle, a bracing challenge to modernity's smug assumptions' - Bryce Christensen, Booklist'O what a world of profit and delightOf power, of honour and omnipotenceIs promised to the studious...

If you're brilliant at everything else, but lack confidence when it comes to maths, join Liz Strachan, a maths teacher with many, many years of experience, on this magical tour...

Mathematics is a product of human culture which has developed along with our attempts to comprehend the world around us. In A Brief History of Mathematical Thought, Luke Heaton explores...

In 2010, scientists led by J. Craig Venter became the first to successfully create 'synthetic life' -- putting humankind at the threshold of the most important and exciting phase of...

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLEROne of TIME's Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade'Captivating, fascinating, profoundly beautiful. . . Rovelli is a wonderfully humane, gentle and witty guide for he...

From the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Guns, Germs and SteelMore than 98 % of human genes are shared with two species of chimpanzee. The 'third' chimpanzee is man. Jared...

August, 1755. Newcastle, on the north bank of the Tyne. In the fields, men and women are getting the harvest in. Sunlight, or rain. Scudding clouds and backbreaking labour. Three...

AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A peerless intellectual biography. The Glass Universe shines and twinkles as brightly as the stars themselves' The Economist #1 New York Times bestselling author...