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Do space and time truly exist? What is reality made of? Can we understand its deep texture?Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. In this mind-expanding book, he shows how our understanding of reality has changed throughout centuries, from Democritus to loop quantum gravity. Taking us on a wondrous journey, he invites us to imagine a whole new world where black holes are waiting to explode, spacetime is made up of grains, and infinity does not exist -- a vast universe still largely undiscovered. Translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre. 'The physicist transforming how we see the universe' (Financial Times) 'An utter joy' (Adam Rutherford) 'A hugely engaging book... Rovelli is a charming, thought-provoking tour guide' (Manjit Kumar Prospect) ISBN 9780141983219 -
THE PHENOMENAL BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF HELGOLAND AND THE ORDER OF TIME These seven short lessons guide us, with simplicity and clarity, through the scientific revolution that shook physics in the twentieth century and still continues to shake us today. In this mind-bending overview of modern physics, Carlo Rovelli explains Einstein's theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, elementary particles, gravity, and the nature of the mind. Not since Richard Feynman's celebrated Six Easy Pieces has physics been so vividly, intelligently and entertainingly revealed. Translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre 'The perfect antidote to the fluff and nonsense around right now. Learn how the world is and how you might just fit in' Simon Mayo 'By God, it's beguiling' New Statesman ISBN 9780141981727 -
When Dr Tom Harrison, a leading expert in the field of character education and the Internet, bought his daughter her first smartphone, a major milestone had been reached: she had entered the 'cyber-world'. Harrison no longer needed to know what to think; he needed to know what to do. This is the first practical book of its kind to show parents and teachers how to develop character as the foundation for helping young people to thrive in their online interactions. It answers the question: How do we prepare our children to do the right thing when no one is watching? Based on his own experience as a parent, more than a decade of research and thousands of conversations with parents, teachers, children and policymakers, the REACT and THRIVE models have been developed to engage with character, wellbeing, social and emotional learning, ethics and digital citizenship - all the ingredients for flourishing online. The world is waking up to the importance of character for individual and wider societal flourishing. Harrison is at the forefront of this movement and is regularly invited to advise policymakers and thousand of teachers and parents around the world. This book is a must-read for parents and educators who want to help children not just survive but thrive online in their cyber-worlds. ISBN 9781472144737 -
The deep sea is the last, vast wilderness on the planet. For centuries, myth-makers and storytellers have concocted imaginary monsters of the deep, and now scientists are looking there to find bizarre, unknown species, chemicals to make new medicines, and to gain a greater understanding of how this world of ours works. With an average depth of 12,000 feet and chasms that plunge much deeper, it forms a frontier for new discoveries. The Brilliant Abyss tells the story of our relationship with the deep sea - how we imagine, explore and exploit it. It captures the golden age of discovery we are currently in and looks back at the history of how we got here, while also looking forward to the unfolding new environmental disasters that are taking place miles beneath the waves, far beyond the public gaze. Throughout history, there have been two distinct groups of deep-sea explorers. Both have sought knowledge but with different and often conflicting ambitions in mind. Some people want to quench their curiosity; many more have been lured by the possibilities of commerce and profit. The tension between these two opposing sides is the theme that runs throughout the book, while readers are taken on a chronological journey through humanity's developing relationship with the deep sea. The Brilliant Abyss ends by looking forwards to humanity's advancing impacts on the deep, including mining and pollution and what we can do about them. ISBN 9781472966865 -
The landscapes of Britain and Ireland, together with the creatures and plants that inhabit them, have penetrated deep in our collective imagination. From Gilbert White and Dorothy Wordsworth to Laurie Lee and Nan Shepherd, literature inspired by the natural world has become an integral part of our shared identity, and shaped our relationship with the islands we call home. In The Wild Isles, Patrick Barkham has gathered together a wide array of the very best of British and Irish nature writing, characterized by an arresting diversity of moods and voices. His choices are arranged under themes that range from birds, woods and coastlines to childhood, the seasons and urban nature, and juxtapose extracts from much-loved classics with passages by contemporary writers such as Robert Macfarlane, James Rebanks and Helen Macdonald. Here the reader will find joyful celebrations of landscape and the wildlife it nurtures, probing explorations of the environmental problems facing us today, as well as the fresh and vital perspectives of writers from underrepresented backgrounds. 'If British and Irish nature writing is to grow and endure,' writes Barkham in his introduction, 'it must be diverse, complex, multi-faceted and dynamic, and relevant to everyone who lives on this land.'Encompassing the bleak heights of the Cairngorms, the ancient woodlands of Essex, the storm-lashed islands of Ireland's west coast and the lush fields of Devon, The Wild Isles highlights nature's capacity to terrify and to delight, to soothe and to heal, to surprise, inspire and bring wonder.' ISBN 9781803287409 -
When students David Nelles and Christian Serrer struggled to find a book that explained the nuts and bolts of climate change in a way that was comprehensive, concise and enjoyable to read, they decided to write it themselves. With meticulous research corroborated by over 100 scientists, Small Gases, Big Effect summarizes all the latest findings on the causes and effects of climate change. Combining clear, thoughtful writing with illuminating graphics, it is a little book that presents complex scientific evidence in a way that everyone will find easy to understand. ISBN 9780241461884 -
Have you ever wondered why you have a brain? Let renowned neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett demystify that big grey blob between your ears. In seven short essays (plus a bite-sized story about how brains evolved), this slim, entertaining, and accessible collection reveals mind-expanding lessons from the front lines of neuroscience research. You'll learn where brains came from, how they're structured (and why it matters), and how yours works in tandem with other brains to create everything you experience. Along the way, you'll also learn to dismiss popular myths such as the idea of a 'lizard brain' and the alleged battle between thoughts and emotions, or even between nature and nurture, to determine your behaviour. Sure to intrigue casual readers and scientific veterans alike, Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain is full of surprises, humour, and important implications for human nature - a gift of a book that you will want to savour again and again. ISBN 9781529018622 -
This is a story about birds and fathers. About the young magpie that fell from its nest in a Bermondsey junkyard into Charlie Gilmour's life - and swiftly changed it. Demanding worms around the clock, riffling through his wallet, sharing his baths and roosting in his hair... About the jackdaw kept at a Cornish stately home by Heathcote Williams, anarchist, poet, magician, stealer of Christmas, and Charlie's biological father who vanished from his life in the dead of night. It is a story about repetition across generations and birds that run in the blood; about a terror of repeating the sins of the father and a desire to build a nest of one's own. It is a story about change - from wild to tame; from sanity to madness; from life to death to birth; from freedom to captivity and back again, via an insane asylum, a prison and a magpie's nest. And ultimately, it is the story of a love affair between a man and a magpie. ISBN 9781474609487 -
Elizabeth Kolbert has become one of the most important writers on the environment. Now she investigates the immense challenges humanity faces as we scramble to reverse, in a matter of decades, the effects we've had on the atmosphere, the oceans, the world's forests and rivers - on the very topography of the globe. In Under a White Sky, she takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world's rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave desert; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a 'super coral' that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth, changing the sky from blue to white. One way to look at human civilisation, says Kolbert, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. ISBN 9781847925459 -
In this radical and visionary new book, McKenzie Wark argues that the all-pervasive presence of data in our networked society has given rise to a new mode of production, one not ruled over by capitalists and their factories but by those who own and control the flow of information. Yet, if this is not capitalism anymore, could it be something worse? What if the world we're living in is more dystopian than the techno utopias of the Silicon Valley imagination? And, if this is the case, how do we find a way out? ISBN 9781788735339 -
One woman's journey to overcome grief by delving into nature. After losing her husband of 32 years, Long Litt Woon is utterly bereft. For a time, she is disoriented, aimless, lost. It is only when she wanders deep into the woods and attunes herself to Nature's chorus that she learns how the wild might restore us to hope, and to life after death. ISBN 9781911617389 -
Fairytales are one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, and forests one of our most ancient landscapes. Both evoke a similar sensation in us - we find them beautiful and magical, but also spooky, sometimes horrifying. In this fascinating book, Maitland argues that the two forms are intimately connected: the mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of the forests were both the background and the source of the fairytales made famous by the Grimms and Hans Christian Andersen. Yet both forests and fairy stories are at risk and their loss deprives us of our cultural lifeblood. Maitland visits forests through the seasons, from the exquisite green of a beechwood in spring, to the muffled stillness of a snowy pine wood in winter. She camps with her son Adam, whose beautiful photographs are included in the book; she takes a barefoot walk through Epping Forest with Robert Macfarlane; she walks with a mushroom expert through an oak wood, and with a miner through the Forest of Dean. Maitland ends each chapter with a unique, imaginitive re-telling of a fairytale. Written with Maitland's wonderful clarity and conversational grace, Gossip from the Forest is a magical and unique blend of nature writing, history and imaginative fiction. ISBN 9781847084309 -
"I love my robot lawn mowers, my laptop, wifi, Google, Facetime, Whatsapp and the possibility of drone postal deliveries and more.. Yet worries nag about being overwhelmed by an artificial intelligence revolution whose ethical and moral parameters are less clear than its rampant profiteering from and monetising of your lives and mine. This hugely informative book shakes us out of our massage armchairs and demands that we engage immediately with these galloping advances so we can shape them to the benefit of the many and not leave them to the enrichment of the few at the awful cost of the impoverishment of swathes of humanity". Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland. "Robots, Ethics and The Future of Jobs is a wakeup call for political, civic, media and church leaders, urging a response to the deepening and accelerating pace of technological change and its potential consequences. Artificial Intelligence, robotics, drones, the internet of things and 3D printing are the building blocks of the 4th industrial revolution. These technologies offer great potential but also carry real risks and are reaching into every corner of our lives, civilian and military. Who will win and who will lose? Who will set the rules and the ethical boundaries within which they should develop and operate? Will the displaced be included, if so, how; or ignored and, if so, with what political, social and economic consequences? That these questions cannot be avoided and should not be postponed - and that we do not need to wait for change to happen because it is already upon us - are central messages of this thought provoking text." Pat Cox, former President European Parliament. ISBN 9781788123068 -
"In a bid to escape the damp, grey English climate, the Durrell family decamp to Corfu, lock, stock and barrel (quite literally in the case of the gun-toting Leslie). It is here that the budding naturalist Gerard comes into his own, filling their home with geckos, scorpions, bats and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Charming and hilarious, it will warm your heart, like the warm Mediterranean sunshine." Ann ISBN 9780141374109 -
Dogs and humans: in the last 200 years no inter-species relationship has developed so fast nor come so far. Dogs accompany us in every walk of life, usually three times a day. How and why did this relationship begin? How has it changed over the centuries? And who's getting the upper hand? DOG'S BEST FRIEND investigates this unique bond by revisiting some of the most important milestones in our shared journey. It begins with the earliest visual evidence on ancient rock art, and ends at the laboratory that sequenced the first dog genome. ISBN 9781474610742 -
"Mathematics might be your friend or enemy, but Alex Bellos' book will not fail to give you a new appreciation, insight an understanding for the world of numbers." Carrie ISBN 9781526623997 -
Moonlight, starlight, the ethereal glow of snow in winter ... When you flick off a switch, other forms of light begin to reveal themselves. Artificial light is everywhere. Not only is it damaging to humans and to wildlife, disrupting our natural rhythms, but it obliterates the subtler lights that have guided us for millennia. ISBN 9781783965823 -
Rather than going cold turkey or fighting against the finely calibrated, billion-dollar barrage of demands for our attention that ping up on our phones, we need to know how to strike a healthier balance with our devices. If we can understand the ways in which our phones affect every area of our lives, from our concentration to our body image, then we can start making the small shifts that will add up to ensure our technology is working for us, not the other way around. Forget aiming for inbox zero and screen-free days: instead, learn to reassess your relationship with your phone on your own terms, spotting what works for you and what doesn't. Your phone? Your rules. ISBN 9781788704212
