Does the light just go out and that's that - the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness, persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my laptop?"Mary Roach trains her considerable humour and curiosity on the human soul, seeking answers from a varied and fascinating crew of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after ...

Few things are as fundamental to human happiness as sex, and few writers are as entertaining about the subject as Mary Roach.Can a woman think herself to orgasm?Is your penis three inches longer than you think?Why doesn't Viagra help women - or, for that matter, pandas?Does orgasm boost fertility? Or cure hiccups?The study of sexual physiology - what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better - has been taking place behind closed doors for hundred...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND THE PERFECT READ FOR FANS OF UNNATURAL CAUSESWhat happens to your body after you have died?Fertilizer? Crash Test Dummy? Human Dumpling? Ballistics Practise?Life after death is not as simple as it looks. Mary Roach's Stiff lifts the lid off what happens to our bodies once we have died. Bold, original and with a delightful eye for detail, Roach tells us everything we...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND THE PERFECT READ FOR FANS OF UNNATURAL CAUSESWhat happens to your body after you have died?Fertilizer? Crash Test Dummy? Human Dumpling? Ballistics Practise?Life after death is not as simple as it looks. Mary Roach's Stiff lifts the lid off what happens to our bodies once we have died. Bold, original and with a delightful eye for detail, Roach tells us everything we...

Body art meets popular science in this elegant, mind-blowing collection, written by renowned science writer Carl Zimmer. This fascinating book showcases hundreds of eye-catching tattoos that pay tribute to various scientific disciplines, from evolutionary biology and neuroscience to mathematics and astrophysics, and reveals the stories of the individuals who chose to inscribe their obsessions in their skin. Best of all, each tattoo provides a leaping-off point for bestselling essayist and ...

The Animal Intelligence Bundle: "Minds of Their Own" by Virginia Morell (March 2008) "Almost Human" by Mary Roach (April 2008) "The Genius of Swarms" by Peter Miller (July 2007) In "Minds of Their Own," Virginia Morell provides an overview of the science of animal intelligence. She introduces you to an African gray parrot named Alex, a bonobo named Kanzi, and a border collie named Betsy. Each of these animals tells us something interesting about the way they perceive and manipulate their w...

From acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author Mary Roach comes the complete collection of her “My Planet” articles published in Reader’s Digest. She was a hit columnist in the magazine, and this audiobook features the articles she wrote in that time. Insightful and hilarious, Mary explores the ins and outs of the modern world: marriage, friends, family, food, technology, customer service, dental floss, and ants—she leaves no element of the American experience unchecke...

The author of the bestseller The Disappearing Spoon reveals the secret inner workings of the brain through strange but true stories.Early studies of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike -- strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, horrendous accidents -- and see how victims coped. In many cases their survival was miraculous, if puzzling. Observers were amazed by the transformations that took place when different parts of the br...

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA.In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In The Violinist's Thumb, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA.There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some peopl...

A young readers edition of the New York Times bestseller The Disappearing Spoon, chronicling the extraordinary stories behind one of the greatest scientific tools in existence: the periodic table.Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history?The periodic table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a...

In this darkly comical look at the sinister side of our relationship with the natural world, Stewart has tracked down over one hundred of our worst entomological foes—creatures that infest, infect, and generally wreak havoc on human affairs. From the world's most painful hornet, to the flies that transmit deadly diseases, to millipedes that stop traffic, to the Japanese beetles munching on your roses, Wicked Bugs delves into the extraordinary powers of many-legged creatures.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Periodic Tales by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, read by John Sackville.Everything in the universe is made of them, including you.Like you, the elements have personalities, attitudes, talents, shortcomings, stories rich with meaning.Here you'll meet iron that rains from the heavens and noble gases that light the way to vice. You'll learn how lead can tell your future while zinc may one day...