When on a summer evening, astrophysicist Hubert Reeves went for a walk with his granddaughter, he was immediately assaulted by her questions: 'How big is the Universe? How far are the stars? Are there other universes like ours?'. This little book is the result of their discussion - a very clear and fulfilling explanation on where we come from and our place in the Universe. Here is a perfect occasion for everybody, and not only children, to revise their conceptions about the cosmos.

Forests were home to our most distant ancestors. They show us our history and link us to our past. When we enter a forest, we step back in time and rediscover life on Earth as it once was. Thanks to recent scientific discoveries, we now know that the animal world and the plant world are more alike than we thought, and that, in their own way, trees can sense, feel, and communicate. It is up to us to ensure that forests are sustainably managed, and that all the plants and animals that live i...

In this potent book, three eminent scientists—an astrophysicist, an organic chemist, and an anthropologist—ponder and discuss some of the basic questions that have obsessed humankind through the ages, and offer thoughtful, enlightening answers in terms the layperson can easily understand. Until now, most of these questions were addressed by religion and philosophy. But science has reached a point where it, too, can voice an opinion. Beginning with the Big Bang roughly fifteen billion years...

In a voyage of discovery that takes us to the bottom of the sea, Hubert Reeves explains how the oceans formed, what makes them salty, and what causes currents and tides. He reveals the wonders of life below the waves and shows us how the oceans can determine the very future of our precious planet. This is why they need our protection.

After spending many years gazing up at the stars, Hubert Reeves has turned his attention to the future of our planet. The world's friendliest and most enthusiastic astrophysicist takes us on a surprising journey, which will make us all realize how important it is to protect our environment.

Many of the world’s most important and life-saving devices and techniques were often discovered purely by accident. Serendipity, timing, and luck played a part in the discovery of unintentional cures and breakthroughs:A plastic shard in an RAF pilot’s eye leads to the use of plastic for contact lenses.The inability to remove a titanium chamber from rabbit’s bone leads to dental implants.Viagra was discovered by a group of chemists, working in the lab to find a new dru...

Like Guns, Germs, and Steel, a work of breathtaking sweep and originality that reinterprets the human story.Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, a...

A leading cognitive scientist argues that a deep sense of good and evil is bred in the bone.From John Locke to Sigmund Freud, philosophers and psychologists have long believed that we begin life as blank moral slates. Many of us take for granted that babies are born selfish and that it is the role of society—and especially parents—to transform them from little sociopaths into civilized beings. In Just Babies, Paul Bloom argues that humans are in fact hardw...

"Books, let's face it, are better than anything else." Nick HornbyTurn the pages of The Literature Book to discover over 100 of the world's most enthralling reads and the literary geniuses behind them.Storytelling is as old as humanity itself. Part of the Big Ideas Simply Explained series, The Literature Book introduces you to ancient classics from the Epic of Gilgamesh written 4,000 years ago, as well as the works of Shakespeare,...

This newly revised and updated all-in-one grammar reference is a quick and easy way to look up sticky punctuation questions for all style manuals including AP (Associated Press), MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and Chicago Manual of Style.These days, writers wear many different hats: they write college essays, magazine and news articles, sales copy, online newsletters, books, and reports. It's hard to keep the p...

In Unlocking the Past, Martin Jones, a leading expert at the forefront of bioarchaeology-the discipline that gave Michael Crichton the premise for Jurassic Park-explains how this pioneering science is rewriting human history and unlocking stories of the past that could never have been told before. For the first time, the building blocks of ancient life-DNA, proteins, and fats that have long been trapped in fossils and earth and rock-have become widely accessible to scienc...

"Makes the science of plant processes accessible to home gardeners." — The American GardenerWhy do container plants wilt even when they've been regularly watered? Why did the hydrangea that thrived last year never bloom this year? Plant physiology—the study of how living things function—can solve these and most other problems gardeners regularly encounter. In How Plants Work, horticulture expert Linda Chalker-Scott brings the stranger-than-fiction ...