For everyone who has looked up at the stars on a clear nightand longed to know more about them, here is the perfectintroduction and guide to discovering the stars. Discover the Stars leads you on a tour of all the stars andconstellations visible with the naked eye and introduces you todeep-sky objects that can be seen with binoculars or a simpletelescope. The tour is conducted by the editor of Astronomymagazine, Richard Berry, whose two-color, computer-plotted sky mapsand clear instructions make stargazing fun and productive from yourfirst night out. The heart of Discover the Stars is two sections of big, beautifulsky maps and charts. The first section features twelve maps thatshow the entire sky overhead as it appears during each month of theyear. These outline all the constellations visible anywhere in theNorthern Hemisphere, and the accompanying text reveals the richancient mythology that surrounds the star groups. The second section is made up of twenty-three star ch

The Age of Wonder is a colorful and utterly absorbing historyof the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end ofthe eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age ofScience. When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, hehoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific fermentsweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cookin search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical,chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in RichardHolmes's thrilling evocation of the second scientific revolution.Through the lives of William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whoforever changed the public conception of the solar system; ofHumphry Davy, whose near-suicidal gas experiments revolutionizedchemistry; and of the great Romantic writers, from Mary Shelley toColeridge and Keats, who were inspired by the scientificbreakthroughs of their day, Holmes brings to life the era in whichwe first realized both the awe-inspiring and the fr

Two world-renowned scientists present an audacious new vision ofthe cosmos that "steals the thunder from the Big Bang theory."--"Wall Street Journal"The Big Bang theory--widely regarded as theleading explanation for the origin of the universe--posits thatspace and time sprang into being about 14 billion years ago in ahot, expanding fireball of nearly infinite density. Over the lastthree decades the theory has been repeatedly revised to addresssuch issues as how galaxies and stars first formed and why theexpansion of the universe is speeding up today. Furthermore, anexplanation has yet to be found for what caused the Big Bang in thefirst place. In "Endless Universe," Paul J. Steinhardt and NeilTurok, both distinguished theoretical physicists, present a boldnew cosmology. Steinhardt and Turok "contend that what we think ofas the moment of creation was simply part of an infinite cycle oftitanic collisions between our universe and a parallel world"("Discover"). They recount the remarkable developments inastronom

Anthrax. Smallpox. Incurable and horrifying Ebola-relatedfevers. For two decades, while a fearful world prepared for nuclearwinter, an elite team of Russian bioweaponeers began to till a newkilling field: a bleak tract sown with powerful seeds of massdestruction--by doctors who had committed themselves to creating abiological Armageddon. Biohazard is the never-before-told story ofRussia's darkest, deadliest, and most closely guarded Cold Warsecret. No one knows more about Russia's astounding experiments withbiowarfare than Ken Alibek. Now the mastermind behind Russia's germwarfare effort reveals two decades of shocking breakthroughs...howMoscow's leading scientists actually reengineered hazardousmicrobes to make them even more virulent...the secrets behind thediscovery of an invisible, untraceable new class of biologicalagents just right for use in political assassinations...thestartling story behind Russia's attempt to turn a sample of theAIDS virus into the ultimate bioweapon. And in a chilling

A riveting tale of the battle over genetically engineeredfoods, and an inside look at a biotech food empire. Ultimately astory of idealism, and conflicting dreams about the shape of abetter world. Softcover.

In 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on an expedition that, in hisown words, determined my whole career. The Voyage of theBeagle chronicles his five-year journey around the world andespecially the coastal waters of South America as a naturalist onthe H.M.S. Beagle. While traveling through these unexploredcountries collecting specimens, Darwin began to formulate thetheories of evolution and natural selection realized in his masterwork, The Origin of Species. Travel memoir and scientific primeralike, The Voyage of the Beagle is a lively and accessibleintroduction to the mind of one of history's most influentialthinkers.

Thinking about moving to mars? Well, why not? Mars, after all,is the planet that holds the greatest promise for humancolonization. But why speculate about the possibilities when youcan get the real scientific scoop from someone who's been happilyliving and working there for years? Straight from thenot-so-distant future, this intrepid pioneer's tips for physical,financial, and social survival on the Red Planet cover: - How toget to Mars (Cycling spacecraft offer cheap rides, but the smell isnot for everyone.)- Choosing a spacesuit (The old-fashioned butreliable pneumatic Neil Armstrong style versus the sleek new--butanatomically unforgiving--elastic "skinsuit.")- Selecting a habitat(Just like on Earth: location, location, location.)- Finding a jobthat pays well and doesn't kill you (This is not a metaphor onMars.)- How to meet the opposite sex (Master more than fortyMars-centric pickup lines.) With more than twenty originalillustrations by Michael Carroll, Robert Murray, and other renownedspace artists,

Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—livedin Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How didthis real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happenedto the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? Andwhy, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do wecome in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our geneticcode, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionaryscience of population genetics have made it possible to create afamily tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelousanecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the realAdam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, TheJourney of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the historyand development of early humankind.

Rosemary and Peter Grant and those assisting them have spendtwenty years on Daphne Major, an island in the Galapagos studyingnatural selection. They recognize each individual bird on theisland, when there are four hundred at the time of the author'svisit, or when there are over a thousand. They have observed abouttwenty generations of finches -- continuously. Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin'sfinches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.