BookOdyssey

‘This is a history of intellectual courage, hard work, occasional inspiration and every conceivable form of human failing. It is also an extended invitation to wonder, to pleasure’How far have we come in our understanding of the world around us? In this eye-opening collection, Ian McEwan looks back at the history of scientific discovery from Darwin to Dawkins as well as exploring, with brilliant originality, what a future with AI and climate change could hold for us. Selected from Solar, Enduring Love, Machines Like MeVINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanAlso in the Vintage Minis \'Great Ideas\' series:Religion by Karen ArmstrongArt by Simon Schama Σελίδες: 144, Διαστάσεις: 11x11cm

Since ancient times, we have tried to make sense of our universe by observing objects far beyond our abilities to see or touch – from the smallest atom to the farthest star.This book covers, in chronological order, all the key discoveries and remarkable minds in each scientific field, including Aristotle’s geocentric model of the cosmos, Darwin’s theory of evolution, Newton’s theory of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity. Also included are fascinating anecdotes about the lives of influential scientists: learn how Ptolemy fixed his results to match his theories; Freud used cocaine to expand his mind; and Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, was banned from using university computers after being caught hacking.Revealing how human curiosity knows no bounds, and how the field of science has evolved over the last 2,500 years, this book breaks everything down into easily digestible sections to give a broad overview of the fascinating history of science. Σελίδες: 224, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

John Polkinghorne is a major figure in today’s debates over the compatibility of science and religion. Internationally known as both a theoretical physicist and a theologian—the only ordained member of the Royal Society—Polkinghorne brings unique qualifications to his inquiry into the possibilities of believing in God in an age of science. In this thought-provoking book, the author focuses on the collegiality between science and theology, contending that these \"intellectual cousins\" are both concerned with interpreted experience and with the quest for truth about reality. He argues eloquently that scientific and theological inquiries are parallel.The book begins with a discussion of what belief in God can mean in our times. Polkinghorne explores a new natural theology and emphasizes the importance of moral and aesthetic experience and the human intuition of value and hope. In other chapters, he compares science’s struggle to understand the nature of light with Christian theology’s struggle to understand the nature of Christ. He addresses the question, Does God act in the physical world? And he extends his ideas about the role of chaos theory, surveys the prospects for future dialogue between scientific and theological thinkers, and defends a critical realist understanding of the activities of both disciplines. Polkinghorne concludes with a consideration of the nature of mathematical truths and the links between the complementary realities of physical and mental experience.Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund Σελίδες: 272, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0208, Διαστάσεις: 12.7x12.7cm

Have you ever wondered why ice floats, how the GPS on your mobile phone works (and what it has to do with Einstein), or why woollen jumpers shrink in the wash?In this fascinating scientific tour of household objects, The One Show\'s resident scientist Marty Jopson explains the answers to all of these, and many more, baffling questions about the chemistry and physics of the stuff we use every day. Always entertaining and with no special prior scientific knowledge required, this is the perfect book for anyone curious about the science that surrounds us. Σελίδες: 224, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? These are just some of the questions considered in an internationally acclaimed masterpiece by one of the world\'s greatest thinkers. It begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time, from the Big Bang to black holes, via spiral galaxies and strong theory. To this day A Brief History of Time remains a staple of the scientific canon, and its succinct and clear language continues to introduce millions to the universe and its wonders. Σελίδες: 272, Διαστάσεις: 11.1x11.1cm

Since the dawn of humanity, men have attempted to divine the nature of the heavens. The first astronomers mapped the movement of the seasons and used the positions of the constellations for augurs and astrology. Today, the search goes ever deeper into the nature of reality and life itself. In this accessible overview, astrophysicist J.P. McEvoy tells the story of how our knowledge of the cosmos has developed. He puts in context many of the greatest discoveries of all time and many of the dominant personalities: Aristotle, Copernicus, and Isaac Newton, and as we approach the modern era, Einstein, Eddington, and Hawking. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1020, Διαστάσεις: 13.2x13.2cm

For most of human history, sudden and unexpected deaths of a suspicious nature, when they were investigated at all, were examined by lay persons without any formal training. People often got away with murder. That is, until Frances Glessner Lee.Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962), born a socialite to a wealthy and influential Chicago family, was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she became the mother of modern forensics and was instrumental in elevating homicide investigation to a scientific discipline. Frances Glessner Lee learned forensic science under the tutelage of pioneering medical examiner Magrath. A voracious reader too, Lee acquired and read books on criminology and forensic science - eventually establishing the largest library of legal medicine. Lee went on to create The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death - a series of dollhouse-sized crime scene dioramas depicting the facts of actual cases in exquisitely detailed miniature - and perhaps the thing she is most famous for. Celebrated by artists, miniaturists and scientists, they were first used as a teaching tool in homicide seminars at Harvard Medical School in the 1930s, subsequently becoming an integral part of the longest-running and still the highest-regarded training for police detectives of its kind in America. In Unexplained Deaths, Bruce Goldfarb weaves Lee\'s remarkable story with the advances in forensics made in her lifetime to tell the tale of the birth of modern forensics. Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1026, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

\'His clarity, wit and determination are evident, his understand and good humour moving\' New ScientistMy Brief History recounts Stephen Hawking’s improbable journey, from his post-war London boyhood to his years of international acclaim and celebrity. Lavishly illustrated with rarely seen photographs, this concise, witty and candid account introduces readers to a Hawking rarely glimpsed in previous books: the inquisitive schoolboy whose classmates nicknamed him ‘Einstein’; the jokester who once placed a bet with a colleague over the existence of a black hole; and the young husband and father struggling to gain a foothold in the world of academia.Writing with characteristic humility and humour, Hawking opens up about the challenges that confronted him following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease aged twenty-one. Tracing his development as a thinker, he explains how the prospect of an early death urged him onwards through numerous intellectual breakthroughs, and talks about the genesis of his masterpiece A Brief History of Time – one of the iconic books of the twentieth century.Clear-eyed, intimate and wise, My Brief History opens a window for the rest of us into Hawking’s personal cosmos.\'Read it for the personal nuggets . . . but above all, it\'s worth reading for its message of hope\' Mail on Sunday Σελίδες: 144, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING EDDIE REDMAYNE AND FELICITY JONES A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW STATESMAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A DAILY TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW REPUBLIC BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIME MAGAZINE TOP 10 NONFICTION From ambitious scientists rising above the clouds to analyse the air to war generals floating across enemy lines, Richard Holmes takes to the air in this heart-lifting history of pioneer balloonists. Falling Upwards asks why they risked their lives, and how their flights revealed the secrets of our planet. The stories range from early ballooning rivals to the long-distance voyages of American entrepreneurs; from the legendary balloon escape from the Prussian siege of Paris to dauntless James Glaisher, who in the 1860s flew seven miles above the earth - without oxygen. Falling Upwards has inspired the Major Motion Picture The Aeronauts - in cinemas SOON. In a glorious fusion of history, art, science and biography, this is a book about what balloons give rise to: the spirit of discovery, and the brilliant humanity of recklessness, vision and hope. Σελίδες: 416, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Time travel is a familiar theme of science fiction, but is it really possible?Surprisingly, time travel is not forbidden by the laws of physics - and John Gribbin argues that if it is not impossible then it must be possible.Gribbin brilliantly illustrates the possibilities of time travel by comparing familiar themes from science fiction with their real-world scientific counterparts, including Einstein\'s theories of relativity, black holes, quantum physics, and the multiverse, illuminated by examples from the fictional tales of Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, Carl Sagan and others.The result is an entertaining guide to some deep mysteries of the Universe which may leave you wondering whether time actually passes at all, and if it does, whether we are moving forwards or backwards. A must-read for science fiction fans and anyone intrigued by deep science. Σελίδες: 176, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0606, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

BBC Radio 4\'s celebrated THE LIFE SCIENTIFIC has featured some of the world\'s most renowned experts in the field of deadly viruses. The interviews make sobering reading, a reminder of all the deadly viruses that have threatened global health, and why for the scientists working on the front line in the war against viruses, the arrival of Covid-19 came as no surprise. Among the contributors to this all-too-timely book are:Jeremy Farrar, before he became Director of the Wellcome Trust, worked in an Infectious Diseases Hospital in Vietnam. He was on the frontline tackling SARS and nine months later a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu, H5N1. Peter Piot was at the forefront of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. He was the first to identify HIV in Africa. It took him fifteen years to persuade the world that it was also a heterosexual disease. Later as Executive Director of UN AIDS he fought for years to get the UN to take the threat of HIV seriously.Jonathan Ball studies how viruses operate at the molecular level, hoping to find their Achilles\' heel and so develop effective vaccines. During the West Africa Ebola epidemic, he studied how the genome of the Ebola virus evolved as it spread from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone. He has shown that as this virus (which more happily lives in bats) infects more humans, it becomes ever more infectious.Wendy Barclay seeks to understand how viruses are able to jump from animals to humans and why some viruses are so much more dangerous to humans than others. Most Londoners had no idea they were infected during the Swine Flu pandemic of 2009. The Bird Flu epidemic in Asia claimed thousands of livesKate Jones is a bat specialist who works on how ecological changes and human behaviour accelerate the spread of animal viruses into humans. Bats have been infected with coronaviruses for more than 10,000 years. Σελίδες: 160, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0412, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Never before have we had so much information available to us about food and health. There’s GAPS, paleo, detox, gluten-free, alkaline, the sugar conspiracy, clean eating... Unfortunately, a lot of it is not only wrong but actually harmful. So why do so many of us believe this bad science? Assembling a crack team of psychiatrists, behavioural economists, food scientists and dietitians, the Angry Chef unravels the mystery of why sensible, intelligent people are so easily taken in by the latest food fads, making brief detours for an expletive-laden rant. At the end of it all you’ll have the tools to spot pseudoscience for yourself and the Angry Chef will be off for a nice cup of tea – and it will have two sugars in it, thank you very much. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0701, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

In 2003, Russian physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov found a way to produce graphene - the thinnest substance in the world - by using sticky tape to separate an atom-thick layer from a block of graphite.Their efforts would win the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics, and now the applications of graphene and other \'two-dimensional\' substances form a worldwide industry. Graphene is far stronger than steel, a far better conductor than any metal, and able to act as a molecular sieve to purify water. Electronic components made from graphene are a fraction of the size of silicon microchips and can be both flexible and transparent, making it possible to build electronics into clothing, produce solar cells to fit any surface, or even create invisible temporary tattoos that monitor your health.Ultra-thin materials give us the next big step forward since the transistor revolutionised electronics. Get ready for the graphene revolution. Σελίδες: 176, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0705, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

We all live online now, but what does that mean in IRL? How do strange subcultures on reddit affect our local shopping centres, what do night gyms owe to Twitter, and where can we really go to get some decent sleep? Our every move online is watched, but can we see ourselves? In these wide-ranging, witty essays, Roisin Kiberd offers immersive insight into the strange worlds, habits and people who have grown up with the internet, and shows the way our world is changing to fit the online fever-dream. Unsettling, clear-sighted and perversely fun, she traces the lines between Netflix and nap hotels, vaporwave music and camgirls, self-optimisation and insomnia, dating apps and a grand unified theory of Monster Energy Drinks. As well as holding up the zeitgeist for scrutiny, she turns an equally frank eye on her own life online, and asks what we have gained, what we have lost, and what we have given willingly away in exchange for this connected world. Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0310, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

How much faith should we place in what scientists tell us? Is it possible for scientific knowledge to be fully \'objective\'? What, really, can be defined as science? In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, Samir Okasha explores the main themes and theories of contemporary philosophy of science, and investigates fascinating, challenging questions such as these. Starting at the very beginning, with a concise overview of the history of science, Okasha examines the nature of fundamental practices such as reasoning, causation, and explanation. Looking at scientific revolutions and the issue of scientific change, he asks whether there is a discernible pattern to the way scientific ideas change over time, and discusses realist versus anti-realist attitudes towards science. He finishes by considering science today, and the social and ethical philosophical questions surrounding modern science. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Σελίδες: 160, Διαστάσεις: 11.6x11.6cm

Master the chemistry ideas that shape the world we live in today.In a series of 50 accessible essays, Hayley Birch introduces and explains everything you need to know about the world of chemistry, offering fascinating insights into our origins and life as we know it. From the molecules that kick-started life itself to nanotechnology and from fermentation to the periodic table, 50 Chemistry Ideas You Really Need to Know is a complete introduction to the most important chemistry concepts in history.Contents include: Thermodynamics, Catalysts, Fermentation, Green Chemistry, Separation, Crystallography, Microfabrication, Computational Chemistry, Chemistry Occurring in Nature, Manmade Solutions: Beer, Plastic, Artificial Muscles and Hydrogen Future. Σελίδες: 208, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0910, Διαστάσεις: 11x11cm

Everywhere we turn, a startling new device promises to transfigure our lives. But at what cost? In this urgent and revelatory excavation of our Information Age, leading technology thinker Adam Greenfield forces us to reconsider our relationship with the networked objects, services and spaces that define us. It is time to reevaluate the Silicon Valley consensus determining the future.Having successfully colonised everyday life, radical technologies - from smartphones, blockchain, augmented-reality interfaces and virtual assistants to 3D printing, autonomous delivery drones and self-driving cars - are now conditioning the choices available to us in the years to come. How do they work? What challenges do they present to us, as individuals and societies? Who benefits from their adoption? In answering these questions, Greenfield\'s timely guide clarifies the scale and nature of the crisis we now confront - and offers ways to reclaim our stake in the future. Σελίδες: 368, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0901, Διαστάσεις: 15.6x15.6cm

Today, the language of science is English. But the dominance of this particular language is a relatively recent phenomenon - and far from a foregone conclusion. In a sweeping history that takes us from antiquity to the modern day, Michael D. Gordin untangles the web of politics, money, personality and international conflict that created the monoglot world of science we now inhabit. Beginning with the rise of Latin, Gordin reveals how we went on to use (and then lose) Dutch, Italian, Swedish and many other languages on the way, and sheds light on just how significant language is in the nationalistic realm of science - just one word mistranslated into German from Russian triggered an inflammatory face-off between the two countries for the credit of having discovered the periodic table. Intelligent, revealing and full of compelling stories, Scientific Babel shows how the world has shaped science just as much as science has transformed the world. Σελίδες: 432, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0316, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Your guide to science, from the Big Bang to AI Whether you wish to discover the basics of science or catch up on its latest developments, this short accessible guide is for you. YOUNIVERSE describes in simple terms the world you are inseparably a part of: what it is, how it works and your place in it – insofar as these things are known. The text has been vetted by 13 distinguished scientists. Journey now through time and space, a world of the unimaginably big and the inconceivably small – though the marvels of science. Σελίδες: 240, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

The new book from the BBC Radio 4 hit series The Life ScientificInside the lives of the scientists who are exploring our world, our universe, our past, ourselves.Based on interviews broadcast on BBC Radio 4\'s hugely popular series, The Life Scientific takes science out of its box and introduces us to the men and women who make it happen.The explorers in this volume include Michele Dougherty, the mathematician who directed the Cassini mission to Saturn, and Helen Sharman, the first British person in space. Jane Francis shares the joys of camping in Antarctica, Colin Pillinger relives his mission to put the Beagle 2 lander on Mars and Henry Marsh shares his thoughts about slicing through our thoughts. Brian Cox tells why he gave up pop music for quantum mechanics, and Nobel Prize winner John Sulston remembers why he thought it might be a good idea to sequence the human genome. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1013, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

From the phenomenal New Scientist series, with over 2,500,000 copies soldThe second compilation of readers\' answers to the questions in the \'Last Word\' column of New Scientist, the world\'s best-selling science weekly. Following the phenomenal success of Does Anything Eat Wasps? - the Christmas 2005 surprise bestseller - Why Don\'t Penguins\' Feet Freeze? includes answers to the most fascinating, trivial, idiosyncratic, baffling and strange questions in popular science. Ever wondered why we have fingerprints? Or whether bumblebees really defy the laws of physics when they fly? And why are eggs egg-shaped? And dogs\' noses black? Why do our eyes water when we cut onions? Why doesn\'t superglue stick to the inside of its tube?Why Don\'t Penguins\' Feet Freeze? is popular science at its most entertaining and enlightening. Σελίδες: 240, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Ever wondered . . . - what is earwax for?- when is the moon blue?- why are there only two sexes?- do doctors live longer?Informative, hilarious, sometimes unsettling and always unexpected, the questions and answers from New Scientist readers in the magazine\'s popular \'Last Word\' column are endlessly fascinating. Will We Ever Speak Dolphin? brings the best of the bunch together in another witty, weird and wise compendium that\'s irresistible for \'Last Word\' fans and new readers alike.If you\'ve ever wanted to know why you can\'t hear shouting underwater, whether ants get scared of humans towering over them, how butterflies know where they\'re heading, or whether there really is a difference between martinis shaken or stirred, New Scientist has all the weird and witty answers. Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0712, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

\'Half Lives shines a light on the shocking history of the world\'s toxic love affair with a deadly substance, radium. Unnerving, fascinating, informative and truly frightening.\' Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five\'The story of this supposed cure-all in everyday 20th century life is fascinating and well told.\' Brian Maye, Irish TimesLucy Jane Santos presents the surprising history of radium in everyday life.Of all the radioactive elements discovered at the end of the 19th century, it was radium that became the focus of both public fascination and entrepreneurial zeal.Half Lives tells the fascinating, curious, sometimes macabre story of the element through its ascendance as a desirable item - a present for a queen, a prize in a treasure hunt, a glow-in- the-dark dance costume - to its role as a supposed cure-all in everyday 20th-century life, when medical practitioners and business people (reputable and otherwise) devised ingenious ways of commodifying the new wonder element, and enthusiastic customers welcomed their radioactive wares into their homes. Historian Lucy Jane Santos - herself the proud owner of a formidable collection of radium beauty treatments - delves into the stories of these products and details the gradual downfall and discredit of the radium industry through the eyes of the people who bought, sold and eventually came to fear the once-fetishized substance.She reveals a new history of radium, one in which the stories of those previously dismissed as quacks and fools are brought to life, as part of a unique examination of the interplay between science and popular culture. Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0603, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Science is full of surprises: the peculiar peepshow beginnings of baby incubators; the unexpected positive fallout from the H-bomb; the dinosaurs that caused sonic booms; the irrational nature of the number pi; the fifth taste sensation lurking in everyone\'s taste buds which nobody knew about (except for the Japanese). Whilst shedding light on these conundrums, Karl Sabbagh shows that seemingly trivial queries or assumptions lead to a deeper understanding of how science works. Who would have thought that scientists would turn to the hypothesis \'All swans are white\' to determine the stability of the entire universe? Or that if we choose to spend our hard-earned money on other people it might make us happier than if we spend it on ourselves? Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1201, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Is my experience real?Or just a movie in my head?Am I no more than a super computer? You are your brain, neuroscientists tell us. Everything happens in there. Yet even the most sophisticated brain scan cannot tell us who we are. Nothing in our neurons remotely suggests the rich nature of our experience, the colours, sounds and smells that make up our lives. When Tim Parks came across a radical new theory of consciousness, he set on a quest that moves through one sparkling encounter after another to arrive at the deepest of questions: what stuff exactly is consciousness made of? And where is it? Inside or out? ‘An exceptionally witty and compelling look at the nature of consciousness… Parks is a delight to read’ Iain McGilchrist‘[It has] wit, humanity and insight… Parks is an entertaining companion throughout’ Mail on Sunday Σελίδες: 320, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Σελίδες: 432, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

The tenth anniversary edition of the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest: the search for the solution of how to calculate longitude and the unlikely triumph of an English genius. With a new Foreword by the celebrated astronaut Neil Armstrong. ‘Sobel has done the impossible and made horology sexy – no mean feat’ New Scientist Anyone alive in the 18th century would have known that ‘the longitude problem’ was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day – and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution. The quest for a solution had occupied scientists and their patrons for the better part of two centuries when, in 1714, Parliament upped the ante by offering a king’s ransom (£20,000) to anyone whose method or device proved successful. Countless quacks weighed in with preposterous suggestions. The scientific establishment throughout Europe – from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton – had mapped the heavens in both hemispheres in its certain pursuit of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution. Full of heroism and chicanery, brilliance and the absurd, LONGITUDE is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation and clockmaking. Σελίδες: 208, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

In his 1932 classic dystopian novel, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley depicted a future society in thrall to science and regulated by sophisticated methods of social control. Nearly thirty years later in Brave New World Revisited, Huxley checked the progress of his prophecies against reality and argued that many of his fictional fantasies had grown uncomfortably close to the truth. Brave New World Revisited includes Huxley\'s views on overpopulation, propaganda, advertising and government control, and is an urgent and powerful appeal for the defence of individualism still alarmingly relevant today. Σελίδες: 176, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

It is one of the most disturbing aspects of our universe: only four per cent of it consists of the matter that makes up every star, planet, and every book. The rest is completely unknown. Acclaimed science writer Richard Panek tells the story of the handful of scientists who have spent the past few decades on a quest to unlock the secrets of “dark matter” and the even stranger substance called “dark energy”. These are perhaps the greatest mysteries in science,and solving them will reshape our understanding of the universe and our place in it. The stakes could not be higher. Panek’s fast-paced narrative, filled with original, in-depth reporting and intimate, behind-the-scenes details, brings this epic story to life for the very first time. Σελίδες: 288, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Our systems are failing. Old models - for education, healthcare and government, food production, energy supply - are creaking under the weight of modern challenges. As the world\'s population heads towards 10 billion, it\'s clear we need new approaches. Futurologist Mark Stevenson sets out to find them, across four continents. From Brazilian favelas to high tech Boston, from rural India to a shed inventor in England\'s home counties, We Do Things Differently travels the world to find the advance guard re-imagining our future. At each stop, he meets innovators who have already succeeded in challenging the status quo, pioneering new ways to make our world more sustainable, equitable and humane. Populated by extraordinary characters, We Do Things Differently paints an enthralling picture of what can be done to address the world\'s most pressing dilemmas, offering a much needed dose of down-to-earth optimism. It is a window on (and a roadmap to) a different and better future. Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1214, Διαστάσεις: 13.6x13.6cm

This book answers the question: \'What\'s next?\' The Internet had a world-changing impact on businesses and the global community over the twenty years from 1994 to 2014. In the next ten years, change will happen even faster. As Hillary Clinton\'s Senior Advisor for Innovation, Alec Ross travelled nearly a million miles to forty-one countries, the equivalent of two round-trips to the moon. From refugee camps in the Congo and Syrian war zones, to visiting the world\'s most powerful people in business and government, Ross\'s travels amounted to a four-year masterclass in the changing nature of innovation. In The Industries of the Future, Ross distils his observations on the forces that are changing the world. He highlights the best opportunities for progress and explains how countries thrive or sputter. Ross examines the specific fields that will most shape our economic future over the next ten years, including robotics, artificial intelligence, the commercialization of genomics, cybercrime and the impact of digital technology. Blending storytelling and economic analysis, he answers questions on how we will need to adapt. Ross gives readers a vivid and informed perspective on how sweeping global trends are affecting the ways we live, now and tomorrow. Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0126, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

From Stonehenge to beyond the Big Bang, an exhilarating scientific exploration of how we make time Time is the grandest conception of the universe that we humans have been able to imagine – and its most intimate, the very frame of human life. In About Time, astrophysicist and award-winning writer Adam Frank tells the scientific story of this wonderful and tyrannical invention. A Palaeolithic farmer moved through the sun-fuelled day and star-steered night in a radically different way than the Elizabethan merchants who set their pace to the clocks newly installed in their town squares. Since then, science has swept time into increasingly minute and standardized units – the industrial efficiency of ironworks’ punch clocks; the space-age precision of atomic fountains and GPS satellites; the fifteen-minute increments of Outlook’s digital revolution. And in the past decade, string-theory branes, multiverses, and “clockless” physics have begun to overturn our ideas about how the universe began – the Big Bang – in ways that will completely rewrite time and our experience of it. Weaving cosmology with day-to-day chronicles and a down-to-earth style, About Time is both dazzling and riveting as it confronts what comes next. Σελίδες: 432, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Weaving together intellectual history, philosophy, and social studies, Sean Johnston offers a unique appraisal of the history of science and the nature of this evolving discipline. Science is all-encompassing and new developments are usually mired in controversy; nevertheless, it is a driving force of the modern world. Based on its past, where might it lead us in the twenty-first century? Σελίδες: 272, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

WINNER OF THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2018 Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2017 A stunning new non-fiction voice tackles an urgent question... what next for mankind? \'Troubling and humorous, this is one of my current give-it-to-everyone books - I buy six copies at a time\' Jeanette Winterson Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Intelligent algorithms are already well on their way to making white collar jobs obsolete: travel agents, data-analysts, and paralegals are currently in the firing line. In the near future, doctors, taxi-drivers and ironically even computer programmers are poised to be replaced by ‘robots’. Without a radical reassessment of our economic and political structures, we risk the very implosion of the capitalist economy itself. In The Rise of the Robots, technology expert Martin Ford systematically outlines the achievements of artificial intelligence and uses a wealth of economic data to illustrate the terrifying societal implications. From health and education to finance and technology, his warning is stark – all jobs that are on some level routine are likely to eventually be automated, resulting in the death of traditional careers and a hollowed-out middle class. The robots are coming and we have to decide – now – whether the future will bring prosperity or catastrophe. Σελίδες: 352, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0801, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Ever wondered why bad musicians always win the Eurovision Song Contest, or how incompetent politicians get elected?You need some Quirkology in your life.While other scientists beaver away on obvious problems, Richard Wiseman has been busy uncovering the secret ingredients of charisma, exploring how our personalities are shaped by when we are born and examining why people usually miss the obvious signs of their partner\'s infidelity. Using scientific methods to investigate offbeat topics that interest the general public as well as the scientific community, Quirkology brings a new understanding to the backwaters of the human mind and takes us to places where mainstream scientists fear to tread. Comparable to Freakonomics, but British, far more populist, and a lot funnier.Findings include:How does your surname influence your life?What does the way you walk reveal about your personality?Why should women have men write their personal ads?What is the funniest joke in the world? Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0108, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm