From fear of the crowd to agoraphobia, from battle experiences to fear of nuclear attack, from cancer to AIDS, this is an original and fascinating study of one of the most basic and powerful human emotions by one of Britain's foremost cultural historians.
THIN ICE
by Mark Bowen
Paleo-climatologist Lonnie Thompson’s ground- breaking fieldwork has shown that tropical glaciers hold the clues to global climate change and the world's environmental future. Mark Bowen, a physicist and passionate mountain-climber, who joined Thompson's crew on three expeditions, documents in vivid detail the gruelling conditions under which they work. Thin Ice is a fascinating account of the science of climate change.
EXTREME NATURE
by Mark Carwardine
A fascinating guide to the weirdest and most remarkable wildlife on the planet. The entries are quirky yet informative, focusing on single species with bizarre lifestyles and impressive adaptations. Extraordinary images of natures most dramatic and unusual plants and animals with an intelligently written and witty text.
THE UNIVERSE IN A SINGLE ATOM
by The Dalai Lama
In this rare, personal investigation, the Dalai Lama discusses his vision of science and faith working hand in hand to alleviate human suffering. Drawing on a lifetime of scientific study and religious practice, he explores many of the great debates and makes astonishing connections between seemingly disparate topics.
THE ANCESTOR'S TALE
by Richard Dawkins
Renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins traces back human evolution over four billion years to the beginning of life on Earth. Dawkins, a long-time champion of Darwin's theory of evolution, takes a big-picture look at the variety of life on Earth, its origins, and the genetics that make it all happen. Loosely based on the form of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, each tale in this pilgrimage back through time explores an aspect of evolutionary biology.
COLLAPSE
by Jared Diamond
An epic, visionary book on the mysterious collapse of past civilizations - and what this means for our future. Why do some societies flourish, while others founder? Bringing together new evidence and piecing together the myriad influences, from climate to culture, that make societies self-destruct, Jared Diamond shows how contemporary society can benefit from its knowledge of the past and learn to avoid ecological suicide.
THE WEATHER MAKERS
by Tim Flannery
Scientist Tim Flannery argues passionately for the need to address the devastating implications of global warming. This book is unimpeachable in its authority, deftly and accessibly written, and penetrating in its vision regarding what each of us can do to avoid catastrophe.
THE GECKO'S FOOT
by Peter Forbes
Peter Forbes looks at the new area of bio-inspired engineering in which scientists, architects and engineers are developing materials inspired by or copied from the biology of other organisms. The quest to match the amazing adhesion of the gecko's foot is just one example of this new 'smart' science that takes its cue from nature, and is behind everyday materials such as Velcro and Superglue.
THE FELLOWSHIP
by John Gribbin
Seventeenth-century England was a world ruled by superstition and ignorance. A series of meetings of 'natural philosophers' in Oxford and London saw the beginning of a new method of thinking based on proof and experiment. John Gribbin's account of this unparalleled time of discovery explores the impact of the Royal Society and their scientific revolution.
A REASON FOR EVERYTHING
by Marek Kohn
An elegant and sophisticated account of Darwinism's progression, from the nineteenth-century to the present. Marek Kohn looks at the lives and thought of six British evolutionists and how they responded to the idea of natural selection; beginning with Alfred Russel Wallace, and closing with Richard Dawkins, Britain's most prominent living advocate of natural selection.
WORLD AS LABORATORY
by Rebecca Lemov
The fruits of human engineering are ubiquitous: advertising, polls, focus groups, the “spin” practiced by marketers and politicians. What Rebecca Lemov cleverly traces for the first time is how the absurd, the practical, and the dangerous experiments of the human engineers of the first half of the 20th century left their laboratories to become our day-to-day reality.
DOES ANYTHING EAT WASPS
by M O'Hara
Every year, readers send in thousands of questions to New Scientist, in the hope that the answers to them will be given in the 'Last Word' column - regularly voted the most popular section of the magazine. This book is a collection of the best that have appeared, and reflects popular science at its most entertaining and enlightening.
SEVEN MILLION YEARS
by Douglas Palmer
New archeological finds can, and frequently do, result in significant rewrites of whole chunks of man's evolutionary story. Fossil DNA, deep oceanfloor sediments, ice cores and Ice Age art are just some of the sources that are helping to reveal the driving forces behind man's early evolution and spread across the globe. Douglas Palmer shows how modern science is rewriting our family tree.
THE ROAD TO REALITY
by Roger Penrose
A comprehensive account of the physical universe and the essentials of its underlying mathematical theory. Roger Penrose explains our present understanding of the universe while at the same time conveying a feeling for its deep beauty and philosophical implications. Penrose assumes no particular specialist knowledge on the part of the reader and the book is aimed at the general audience and leavened by vivid descriptive passages.
Winter 2005
BEYOND COINCIDENCE
by Martin Plimmer & Brian King
An exploration into the mystery and the mathematics behind the phenomena of coincidence. From sympathetic magic to the science of probability, from the vicissitudes of gamblers to the mysterious communions of sub-atomic particles, this book contains over 200 'strange-but-true' stories, analysing how synchronicity affects every aspect of our lives and why it fascinates even the most sceptical.
BIG BANG
by Simon Singh
The story of one of the most fundamental concepts developed over the last century. As well as explaining what the 'Big Bang' theory actually is, Simon Singh tells the story of the brilliant and eccentric scientists who fought against the establishment idea of an eternal and unchanging cosmos. A clear and fascinating presentation of the physics that underlie the universe.
