Brian Clegg was always fascinated by Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation series of books, in which the future is predicted using sophisticated mathematical modelling of human psychology and behaviour.Only much later did he realise that Asimov's 'psychohistory' had a real-world equivalent: game theory.Originating in the study of probabilistic gambling games that depend on a random source - the throw of a dice or the toss of a coin - game theory soon came to be...

'Clear and compact ... It's hard to fault as a brief, easily digestible introduction to some of the biggest questions in the Universe' Giles Sparrow, BBC Four's The Sky at Night , Best astronomy and space books of 2019: 5/5All the matter and light we can see in the universe makes up a trivial 5 per cent of everything. The rest is hidden. This could be the biggest puzzle that science has ever fac...

"A marvelously clear and engaging account of . . . the deepest mysteries of the quantum world and [converting] them into a useful technology." —Gregory Chaitin, author of Meta Math! The Quest for OmegaWhat is entanglement? It's a connection between quantum particles, the building blocks of the universe. Once two particles are entangled, a change to one of them is reflected—instantly—in the other, be they in the same lab or light-years apart. So counterintui...

PRAISE FOR LIGHT YEARS AND TIME TRAVEL"This immensely likeable work of pop science traces 'man's enduring fascination with light,' from Aristotle's plans for a death ray (burning enemy ships with a giant array of mirrors) to a recent experiment that seems to have sent Mozart's 40th Symphony faster than light, and thus back through time. Clegg is very good at explaining the bizarre properties of light."-The Guardian"A fascinating book on a fascinating subject. It brin...

"A fascinating read" that explores theories for the origin of the universe from throughout history ( New Scientist).Los Angeles Times Summer Reading Pick"Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but pr...

'Strap in and enjoy the ride!' JOHN GRIBBIN'A window seat on a flight to our galaxy's sites of outstanding beauty' MARCUS CHOWN, AUTHOR OF THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW'A refreshing new look at our own corner of space' HENRY GEE, WINNER OF THE 2022 ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE'Buckle up for the ride of a lifetime' PHI...

The perfect companion to any flight - a guide to the science on view from your window seat. There are few times when science is so immediate as when you're in a plane. Your life is in the hands of the scientists and engineers who enable tons of metal and plastic to hurtle through the sky at hundreds of miles an hour. Inflight Science shows how you stay alive up there - but that's only the beginning.Brian Clegg explains the ever changing view, whether it's crop circles or clouds, mou...

The breakthroughs that have had the most transformative practical impacts, from thermodynamics to the Internet.Physics informs our understanding of how the world works – but more than that, key breakthroughs in physics have transformed everyday life. We journey back to ten separate days in history to understand how particular breakthroughs were achieved, meet the individuals responsible and see how each breakthrough has influenced our lives.It is a unique selection. Focusin...

An exploration of the transformative ways in which nature has inspired the technological advancement of humankind.Biomimetics literally means emulating biology - and in a broader sense the term covers technological advances where the original inspiration came from nature. The Earth is a vast laboratory where the mechanisms of natural selection have enabled evolutionary solutions to be developed to a wide range of problems.In this new title in the Hot Scienc...

'Gets right to the heart of what makes us what we are. Read it!' Angela Saini, author of Inferior and Superior: The Return of Race ScienceThe popular science equivalent of Who Do You Think You Are?Popular science master Brian Clegg's new book is an entertaining tour through the science of what makes you you.From the atomic level, through life and energy to genetics and personality, it explores how the billions of p...

**'Title of Most Fiendish Book goes to Conundrum: Crack the Ultimate Cipher Challenge by the ever-excellent science writer Brian Clegg.' Daily Mail, Books of the Year**The ultimate trial of knowledge and cunning, Conundrum features 200 cryptic puzzles and ciphers. The solutions link throughout the book – so you need to solve them all to get to the final round.With a focus on ciphers and...

The ultimate non-technical guide to the fast-developing world of quantum computingComputer technology has improved exponentially over the last 50 years. But the headroom for bigger and better electronic solutions is running out. Our best hope is to engage the power of quantum physics.'Quantum algorithms' had already been written long before hardware was built. These would enable, for example, a quantum computer to exponentially speed up an information searc...