Popular Science

Seventy years ago, Erwin Schroedinger posed a profound question: 'What is life, and how did it emerge from non-life?' This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists ever since. Living...

In a startling reinterpretation of the evidence, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's trial and condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church, but...

Nuclear physics began long before the identification of fundamental particles, with J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron at the end of the 19th century, which implied the existence of...

Throughout history, humans have attempted to influence and control the thoughts of others. Since the word 'brainwashing' was coined in the aftermath of the Korean War, it has become part...

The processes in a single living cell are akin to that of a city teeming with molecular inhabitants that move, communicate, cooperate, and compete. In this Very Short Introduction, Philip...

Raging wildfires have devastated vast areas of California and Australia in recent years, and predictions are that we will see more of the same in coming years, as a result...

Oxygen has had extraordinary effects on life. Three hundred million years ago, in Carboniferous times, dragonflies grew as big as seagulls, with wingspans ofnearly a metre. Researchers claim they could...

Darwin's theory that our ancestors were apes caused a furore in the scientific world and outside it when The Origin of Species was published in 1859. Arguments still rage about...

This Very Short Introduction traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the latest fossil finds. Although concentrating on the fossil evidence for human evolution,...

A little over a century ago, the world went wireless. Cables and all their limiting inefficiencies gave way to a revolutionary means of transmitting news and information almost everywhere, instantaneously....

Nikola Tesla's life is as interesting for his idiosyncrasy as it is for his brilliance. The inventor's mind knew no limits and his incredible sense of possibility rings through his...

THE CLASSIC GUIDE, NOW FULLY REVISED AND UPDATEDWhy do we need Statistics?What do terms like 'dispersion', 'correlation', 'normal distribution' and 'significance' actually mean?How can I learn how to think statistically?This...

'A gripping new drama in science ... if you want to understand how the concept of life is changing, read this' Professor Andrew Briggs, University of OxfordWhen Darwin set out...

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARThe No.1 bestselling author of The Future of the Mind brings us a stunning new vision of our future in spaceHuman civilization is on...

The third volume in Leonard Susskind's one-of-a-kind physics series cracks open Einstein's special relativity and field theoryIn the first two books in his wildly popular The Theoretical Minimum series, world-class...

'Mind-blowing ... It is a hugely important book ... His story is crucial' Matt Ridley, The TimesOne of the world's top behavioural geneticists argues that we need a radical rethink...

'The physicist transforming how we see the universe' (Financial Times)'An utter joy' (Adam Rutherford)'A hugely engaging book... Rovelli is a charming, thought-provoking tour guide' (Manjit Kumar Prospect)Do space and time...

The hugely influential book on how the understanding of causality revolutionized science and the world, by the pioneer of artificial intelligence'Wonderful ... illuminating and fun to read' Daniel Kahneman, Nobel...

Why do we laugh? What makes memories fade? Why do people believe in ghosts? How the Mind Works explores every aspect of mental life, showing that our minds are not...

'Quantum mechanics for real. This is the good stuff, the most mysterious aspects of how reality works, set out with crystalline clarity. The place to start' Sean Carroll, physicist, California...

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 ORWELL PRIZE'Eye-opening, extraordinary insights into ordinary lives' Financial Times 'Superb' Literary ReviewThe remarkable story of a unique series of studies that have touched the lives of...

'Beautifully clear explanations of famously "difficult" things ... It almost makes you think you could have been a Newton yourself' John Gribbin Here is the ultimate master class in modern...

Michio Kaku, the international bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible, gives us a stunning and provocative vision of the future of the mindRecording memories, mind reading, videotaping our dreams,...

Mailer's superb account, written as it was happening, of the first attempt to land men on the moon'Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.'A Fire on the Moon tells...

Chosen as a BOOK OF THE YEAR in The Times, The Spectator, Prospect, Sunday Times, Economist, New Statesman, Telegraph, Financial Times, TLS, New York Times, and Washington Post. 'This is...

In You are Not a Gadget digital guru and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier reveals how the internet is deadening personal interaction, stifling genuine inventiveness and even changing us as...

Michio Kaku's Physics of the Future: The Inventions that will Transform our Lives is a hypothetical journey through the next 100 years of scientific innovation, as told by the scientists...

The race to the moon was won spectacularly by Apollo 11 on 20 July 1969. When astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their 'giant step' across a ghostly lunar...

'The most inspiring book I've ever read' Bill Gates, 2017'A brilliant, mind-altering book ... Everyone should read this astonishing book' Guardian'Will change the way you see the world' Daily MailShortlisted...

Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg's classic account explains the central ideas of the quantum revolution, and his celebrated Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg reveals how words and concepts familiar in daily life...

From cyborgs, starships, UFOs, aliens and antimatter to telepathy, invisibility, psychokinesis and precognition, Michio Kaku's Physics of the Impossible is an exciting look at how science fiction could soon become...

What Do You Care What Other People Think? Further Adventures of a Curious Character is a captivating collection of reminiscences from freewheeling scientific genius Richard P. Feynman. Richard Feynman -...

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have...

On 14 March 1964 Richard Feynman, one of the greatest scientific thinkers of the 20th Century, delivered a lecture entitled 'The Motion of the Planets Around the Sun'. For thirty...

***30th Anniversary Edition***Acclaimed as the most influential work on evolution written in the last hundred years, The Blind Watchmaker offers an inspiring and accessible introduction to one of the most...

Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos explores our most current scientific understanding of the universe, the 'string theory' that might hold the...

In The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, Steven Pinker looks at how the relationship between words and thoughts can help us understand who we are....

George Dyson's fascinating account of the early years of computers: Turing's Cathedral is the story behind how the PC, ipod, smartphone and almost every aspect of modern life came into...

Discover Charles Darwin's most important ideas... When the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin returned from South America on board the H.M.S Beagle in 1836, he brought notes and evidence that would...

Includes a new foreword by the author and a preface by Douglas Hofstadter.Alan Turing was the extraordinary Cambridge mathematician who masterminded the cracking of the German Enigma ciphers and transformed...

Zero, zip, nada, zilch. It's all too easy to ignore the fascinating possibilities of emptiness and non-existence, and we may well wonder what there is to say about nothing. But...

"A NATURAL STORYTELLER" Mary Roach "BRILLIANT AND BEGUILING" Matthew Gavin Frank "CAPTIVATING ... WILL ALTER THE WAY YOU SEE AND MOVE THROUGH THE WORLD" M. R. O'Connor"AS ENTERTAINING AS IT...

Did you know that we can lead longer and healthier lives by making simple changes right now?Professor Rose Anne Kenny has 35 years of experience at the forefront of ageing...

Instant Physics pulls together all the pivotal physics knowledge and thought into one concise volume. Each page contains a discrete 'cheat sheet', which tells you the most important facts in...

'A stunner ... If you haven't got this book in your house, I don't know why' Chris Evans'A startling wake-up call . . . Writing with the vim of a...