Popular Science

There are several hundred billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, yet out of all of these Earth is the only planet with intelligent life on it. Why? In "The Reason Why" John Gribbin shows just what it is that makes our planet so special. For the first time, he makes the link between the whole series of cosmic events that gave rise to our civilization - a unique set of circumstances that have not, and could not, occur anywhere else. John Gribbin is our best, most accessible guide to the big questions of science. In this book, he expl... read more

This is a bold expose of science's mavericks. For more than a century, science has cultivated a sober public image for itself. But as bestselling author Michael Brooks explains, the truth is very different: many of our most successful scientists have more in common with libertines than librarians. This thrilling exploration of some of the greatest breakthroughs in science reveals the extreme lengths some scientists go to in order to make their theories public. Fraud, suppressing evidence and unethical or reckless PR games are somet... read more

Guardian columnist Dr Ben Goldacre takes us on a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the bad science we're fed by the worst of the hacks and the quacks! When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an 'Aqua Detox' footbath, releasing her toxins into the water and turning it brown, he thought he'd try the same at home. 'Like some kind of Johnny Ball cum Witchfinder General', using his girlfriend's Barbie doll, he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned bro... read more

A personal view of the natural world Life Stories 2 is the second installment of Sir David's look back at the wildlife that has captured his imagination and enthusiasm over his distinguished career. It is a fascinating trip around the world in search of extraordinary plants, animals and people, in the company of this wonderful communicator. Sir David shares his thoughts on a whole range of topics, from animals like the Kiwi, the Cuckoo and the Chameleon, to flora like Charnia and the canopy, and even other famous British naturali... read more

""The Best American Science Writing" series has been hailed as, contemporary science's best answers to ...eternal riddles". ("Fortune"); "praised for its breadth - It is rare to be offered such a diverse collection of science writing, ("Nature"); and appreciated for its intelligence and insight - The entire spectrum of science is covered with literary acumen here". ("Booklist"). Provocative and engaging, this latest entry in the series covers the full spectrum of scientific inquiry - from biochemistry, physics, and astronomy, to ge... read more

"A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought."; *Los Angeles Times"POWERFUL . . . A stirring defense of informed rationality. . . Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing."; *The Washington Post Book WorldHow can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don't understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author an... read more

Mark Stevenson has been to the future a few years ahead of the rest of us - and reckons it has a lot going for it. His voyage of discovery takes him to Oxford to meet Transhumanists (they intend to live forever), to Boston where he confronts a robot with mood swings, to an underwater cabinet meeting in the Indian Ocean, and Australia to question the Outback's smartest farmer. He clambers around space planes in the Mojave desert, gets to grips with the potential of nanotechnology, delves deep into the possibilities of biotech, sees ... read more

Illustrated for the first time, with eighty full-colour photographs showing the beauty, complexity and mystery of the world around us, here is the next eagerly awaited volume of science questions and answers from "New Scientist" magazine. From ripples in glass to 'holograms' in ice, the natural world's wonders are unravelled by the magazine's knowledgeable readers. Six years on from Does Anything Eat Wasps? (2005), "The New Scientist series" still rides high in the bestseller lists, with well over two million copies sold. Popula... read more

How different are men and women's brains? Does altruism really exist? Are our minds blank slates at birth? And do dreams reveal our unconscious desires? If you have you ever grappled with these concepts, or tried your hand as an amateur psychologist, 50 Psychology Ideas You Really Need to Know could be just the book for you. Not only providing the answers to these questions and many more, this series of engaging and accessible essays explores each of the central concepts, as well as the arguments of key thinkers. Author Adrian Furn... read more

If the conscious mind - the part you consider you - is just the tip of the iceberg in the brain, what is all the rest doing?
Why can your foot jump halfway to the brake pedal before you become aware of danger ahead? What do Odysseus and the global financial crisis have in common? Why are people whose names begin with J more likely to marry other people whose names begin with J? And why is it so difficult to keep a secret?
Our behaviour, thoughts and experiences are inseparably linked to a vast chemical-electrical netwo... read more

From the elemental forces that drive our expanding universe to the delicate hairs on the back of your neck, science offers talented writers the kind of scope that other subjects simply cant match. This dynamic genre of Australian writing has never, until now, been showcased in an anthology. With a foreword by Nobel Prize winner Peter Doherty, The Best Australian Science Writing 2011 will is a landmark book. Showcasing selections from the work of renowned communicators such as Tim Flannery, Germaine Greer, Anna Funder and Paul Davie... read more

An engaging and anecdotal examination of how and why as individuals and as a society we choose to turn a blind eye to the uncomfortable truth.........

In the 2006 case of the US Government vs Enron, the presiding judge instructed the jurors to take account of the concept of wilful blindness as they reached their verdict about whether the chief executives of the disgraced energy corporation were guilty. It was not enough for the defendants to say that they did not know what was going on; that they had not seen anything.... read more

In this title, over 150 of the world's leading scientists and thinkers offer their choice of the ideas, strategies and arguments that will help all of us understand our world, and its future, better. It includes contributions from: Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Clay Shirky, Daniel Goleman, Sam Harris, Lee Smolin, Matt Ridley, Mark Henderson, David Rowan, Sir Martin Rees, Craig Venter, Brian Eno, Jaron Lanier and David Brooks ...among others. With his organisation Edge.org, the literary agent and all-purpose intel... read more

"We tend to take birds for granted, in the landscape or in our neighbourhoods. The presence of birds communicates the health of a place. When they're gone, it's as though there's a hole in the sky, in the air, an absence of beauty and grace, and vivid chatter or haunting cries are replaced with eerie silence." As an amateur naturalist and nature lover, Janine Burke, art historian and author, has spent many years observing birds. Nest: The Art of Birds is the story of her passion, a personal, wide-ranging and intimate book - part na... read more

In the follow up to Darwin's Lost World, Martin Brasier book introduces the quest for the missing history of life and the cell. Through a series of journeys it emerges that the modern plant cell is one of the most deeply puzzling and unlikely steps in the whole history of life. Decoding this puzzle is a great adventure that has mainly taken place over the last half century. Brasier puts the big questions into context through lively descriptions of his explorations around the world, from the Caribbean Sea and the Egyptian pyramids, ... read more

Best known as the longtime writer of the Mathematical Games column for "Scientific American" - which introduced generations of readers to the joys of recreational mathematics - Martin Gardner has for decades pursued a parallel career as a devastatingly effective debunker of what he once famously dubbed "fads and fallacies in the name of science." It is mainly in this latter role that he is onstage in this collection of choice essays. "When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish" takes aim at a gallery of amusing targets, ranging from ... read more

Bubbles are everywhere - in water and in air, made from soap and from gas. They are referenced in literature and sung about in songs, and they're even the subject of great works of art. From the youngest child blowing bubbles in the backyard to the adult studying the fascinating science behind them, bubbles capture our imagination. F. Ronald Young's far-reaching survey of the humble bubble explores the complex behavior of these seemingly simple objects. If you stop to think about it, bubbles and droplets are cornerstones of the wor... read more

The Declaration of Interdependence - both an enlightening creed and a passionate call to action - was composed by David Suzuki and a team of activists and environmentalists in 1992, in recognition of the United Nations' Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. This compelling statement of environmental principles progresses through three stages: 'This We Know,' 'This We Believe' and 'This We Resolve'. In this exquisitely designed edition - produced to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the David Suzuki Foundation - artist Michael Nicoll... read more

From basic mathematical and physical formulas that govern much of our world to the components of matter; from the structure of the cosmos to that of the human body-the discoveries of scientists over the last millennium have been remarkable. Sciencia gathers together "Useful Mathematical and Physical Formulae," " Q.E.D," "Essential Elements," "Evolution," "The Human Body," and "The Compact Cosmos," six elegant and insightful short volumes spanning the realms of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, evolution, and astronomy, off... read more

An exhilarating journey into the science of time, from Stonehenge to the Big Bang and beyond.