“An elegant, wide-ranging history” (The New York Review of Books) of the centuries-long quest to discover the critical role of germs in disease thatreveals as much about human reasoning—and the pitfalls of ego—as it does about microbes.“Levenson takes...

With over 900 entries, ranging from brief definitions to substantial essays on major topics, The Oxford Companion to the Mind takes the reader on a dazzling tour of this endlessly fascinating subject, spanning many disciplines within the broad compass of...

A vivid portrait of the life and work of Carl LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus (1707–1778), known as the father of modern biological taxonomy, formalized and popularized the system of binomial nomenclature used to classify plants and animals. Linnaeus himself...

When Neil Armstrong first set foot in the lunar dust, the Earth held its breath. That one small step forever changed our view of what was possible, sparking a dramatic expansion of humankind's cosmic awareness. When we gain a new perspective, a...

The remarkable story of the man who created and then convinced all the nations of the world to adopt a unified standard for telling time. Standard Time was one of the crowning achievements of Victorian progressiveness and one of the few Victorian...

A novel theory of how technological revolutions affect the rise and fall of great powersWhen scholars and policymakers consider how technological advances affect the rise and fall of great powers, they draw on theories that center the moment of...

Over 120 delightful pen-and-ink illustrations by the author add another dimension of good-natured charm to these wide-ranging explorations. A mind-expanding volume for the layman and the science-minded. "This is a layman's book as readable as a...

London, 1924. Limited edition, one of 1000 copies. 4to. Cloth, no dj as issued ; top edge gilt. Inset at front cover with replica decal, gilt, of the Royal Aeronautic Society's Gold Medal, the "first award of which was made to Wilbur and Orville Wright...

This "smart and wonderfully readable" (New York Times) exposé shows why Silicon Valley's heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions--with escaping death, building AI tyrants, and creating limitless growth--are about oligarchic power, not preparing for...

A treasure-trove of illuminating and entertaining quotations from beloved physicist Richard P. Feynman"Some people say, ‘How can you live without knowing?' I do not know what they mean. I always live without knowing. That is easy. How you get to know is...

Would you read this book if a computer wrote it? Would you even know? And why would it matter? Today's eerily impressive artificial intelligence writing tools present us with a crucial challenge: As writers, do we unthinkingly adopt AI's time-saving...

A "fun" and "unexpected" (The Economist) global tour of the world's greatest games and the mathematics that underlies them Where should you move first in Connect 4? What is the best property in Monopoly? And how can pi help you win rock paper...

With so many competing priorities pulling us in different directions every day--family, friends, work, our health--it can feel difficult to make decisions that are aligned with what we care about most. Especially in the moment, we often default to the...

Quantum Theory, together with the principles of special and general relativity, constitute a scientific revolution that has profoundly influenced the way in which we think about the universe and the fundamental forces that govern it. The Historical...

Go on an awe-inspiring journey, unraveling the secrets of our universe from the tiniest particles to the vastness of space In this thought-provoking exploration, physicists Chris Ferrie and Geraint F. Lewis delve into the fundamental questions that have...

Marginalian Editions presents a groundbreaking poet's biography of the forgotten scientist who founded physical chemistry, shaping much of the 20th century--and an ingenious, expansive treatise on American creativity, character, and remembrance. Josiah...