A good case can be made for Isaac Newton being the finest mindhumanity has yet produced. His theory of gravity offered hiscontemporaries their first glimpse of how the universe actuallyworks, and his mathematics enabled later generations to walk on themoon. Today, we know that gravity keeps our feet on the ground, buthow many of us know how Newton's greatest discovery really works?In Newton Gravity, Paul Strathern encapsulates several ofNewton's more mind-expanding discoveries, explaining in livelyprose their cultural context as well as Newton's early obsessionwith science (bordering on dementia) that made his revolutionaryvision possible. Just a few of the big ideas covered hereare: Newton's discovery of calculus at age twenty-three Why gravity, one of the greatest human insights of all time, wasin fact a hunch and how it actually works Why it took Newton twenty years after his discovery to reveal tothe world the secret of gravity and planetary motion Ideal for the intelligen

Dr. Carl Sagan takes us on a great reading adventure, offeringhis vivid and startling insight into the brain of man and beast,the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most hauntinglegends--and their amazing links to recent discoveries. "A history of the human brain from the big bang, fifteen billionyears ago, to the day before yesterday...It's a delight." THE NEW YORK TIMES

This nostalgic kitexplains how the familiar yellow tub toy became a true icon ofchildhood, and why it’s now so collectible. Featuring 2 classicrubber duckies plus an illustrated book detailing the popularduck’s history, trivia, and trends, it’s an essential for kitschaficionados and a great addition to our very popular line of retroMini Kits?.

Bestselling nature writer David Quammen introduces CharlesDarwin's incredible tale of excursion that led to his revolutionarytheory of evolution--Voyage of the Beagle.

In this anthology of reminiscences by prominent scientists,the roll includes Richard Dawkins, Murray Gell-Mann, Joseph Ledouxand Ray Kurzweil, along with 23 others. The mandate of the book'seditor, literary agent Brockman (The Third Culture), to each ofthese authors was to write an essay explaining how he or she cameto be a scientist. Some take him at his word and write meanderingstories of childhood. David Buss found his calling—the study ofhuman mating behavior—while working at a truck stop after droppingout of school. Paul Davies says he was born to be a theoreticalphysicist. Daniel Dennett, on the other hand, seems to have triedevery other profession before landing, as if by accident, inscience. A few writers let their essays get hijacked by the sciencethey have devoted their lives to. And in the midst of this, like akeystone in an arch, is an essay by Steven Pinker explaining whythe entire exercise is a bunch of hooey: scientifically speaking,he says, people have no objective idea what influen

The best-selling science book ever published in the Englishlanguage, COSMOS is a magnificent overview of the past, present,and future of science. Brilliant and provocative, it traces today'sknowledge and scientific methods to their historical roots,blending science and philosophy in a wholly energetic andirresistible way.

Carl Sagan, writer and scientist, returns from the frontier totell us about how the world works. In his delightfullydown-to-earth style, he explores and explains a mind-bogglingfuture of intelligent robots, extraterrestrial life and itsconsquences, and other provocative, fascinating quandries of thefuture that we want to see today.

Is science beautiful? Yes, argues acclaimed philosopher andhistorian of science Robert P. Crease in this engaging explorationof history’s most beautiful experiments. The result is anengrossing journey through nearly 2,500 years of scientificinnovation. Along the way, we encounter glimpses into thepersonalities and creative thinking of some of the field’s mostinteresting figures. We see the first measurement of the earth’s circumference,accomplished in the third century B.C. by Eratosthenes usingsticks, shadows, and simple geometry. We visit Foucault’smesmerizing pendulum, a cannonball suspended from the dome of thePanthéon in Paris that allows us to see the rotation of the earthon its axis. We meet Galileo—the only scientist with twoexperiments in the top ten—brilliantly drawing on his musicaltraining to measure the speed of falling bodies. And we travel tothe quantum world, in the most beautiful experiment of all. We also learn why these ten experiments exert such a powerful holdon our imagin