Properly analyzed, the collective mythological and religious writings of humanity reveal that around 1500 BC, a comet swept perilously close to Earth, triggering widespread natural disasters and threatening the destruction of all life before settling...

“Fascinating . . . One of the most important stories in the history of science.”— Washington PostIn recent years, a handful of scientists has been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only 4 percent of it consists of the matter that...

From where―and what―does water come? How did it become the key to life in the universe? Water from Heaven presents a state-of-the-art portrait of the science of water, recounting how the oxygen needed to form H2O originated in the nuclear reactions in...

This book develops and applies a theory of the ambient metric in conformal geometry. This is a Lorentz metric in n+2 dimensions that encodes a conformal class of metrics in n dimensions. The ambient metric has an alternate incarnation as the Poincaré...

“Delightful . . . easily digestible chapters include plenty of helpful examples and illustrations. You'll never forget the Pythagorean theorem again!”—Scientific AmericanMany people take math in high school and promptly forget much of it. But math plays...

Bestselling author and acclaimed physicist Lawrence Krauss offers a paradigm-shifting view of how everything that exists came to be in the first place.“Where did the universe come from? What was there before it? What will the future bring? And finally,...

Our fascination with numbers begins when we are children and continues throughout our lives. We start counting our fingers and toes and end up balancing checkbooks and calculating risk. So powerful is the appeal of numbers that many people ascribe to...

'Philosophy is written in this great book which is continually open before our eyes - I mean the universe...' Galileo's astronomical discoveries changed the way we look at the world, and our place in the universe. Threatened by the Inquisition for daring...

The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics is the most imaginative and accessible introductory statistics course you'll ever take. Employing an irresistible cast of dragon-riding Vikings, lizard-throwing giants, and feuding aliens, the renowned illustrator...

An insider's look at the cutting-edge science of today's planet huntersIn Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets―and alien life―beyond our solar system. Only in the past...

"Dr. Gamow, physicist and gifted writer, has sketched an intriguing portrait of the scientists and clashing ideas that made the quantum revolution." — Christian Science MonitorIn 1900, German physicist Max Planck postulated that light, or radiant energy,...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us.These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos...

In 2000, Martin Bojowald, then a twenty-seven-year-old post-doc at Pennsylvania State University, used a relatively new theory called loop quantum gravity—a cunning combination of Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics—to create a simple...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERRichard Feynman: physicist . . . Nobel winner . . . bestselling author . . . safe-cracker.In this substantial graphic novel biography, First Second presents the larger-than-life exploits of Nobel-winning quantum physicist,...

In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Drunkard’s Walk, a startling, eye-opening examination of how the unconscious mind shapes our experience of the world.“Mlodinow plunges into the realm of the unconscious mind accompanied by the...

Biologists have long dismissed mathematics as being unable to meaningfully contribute to our understanding of living beings. Within the past ten years, however, mathematicians have proven that they hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of our world --...

GREAT INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLDDiscover the inventions that have made our world what it is todayA great invention opens the door to a new era in human history. The stone axe, for example, invented some 2 million years ago in East Africa, enabled...

The international bestseller that inspired a major Nova special and sparked a new understanding of the universe. Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away layers of mystery to reveal a universe that consists of eleven...

The phenomenal growth of global pharmaceutical sales and the quest for innovation are driving an unprecedented search for human test subjects, particularly in middle- and low-income countries. Our hope for medical progress increasingly depends on the...