A sunny garden hums, buzzes, creeps and crawls with life. Lift the flaps and peep through the delicate laser-cut holes to discover a whole host of butterflies, birds and bees, caterpillars, squirrels, frogs and other garden wildlife. A delightful information book for the very young.,

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

Each plant or creature is described in detail and given a potted history which is not only fascinating in itself but which also stimulates the reader to find out more. The authors, Mike and Peggy Briggs, set out to inform but also to spark the imagination and encourage people to observe and enjoy what often goes unnoticed and unexplored. Which tree saved the world from perpetual winter? Which weed is still used in hand cream? Why were spiders fed to the sick in ancient times and how can you rid your lawn of moles using wine bottles? All the answers are here, along with snippets of poetry, country recipes, useful cross-references and plenty of pointers to further discovery. From the young student researching schoolwork to the elderly 'armchair rambler who might have thought they knew it all, there is something engrossing, possibly astonishing and perhaps even alarming, for everyone. This book is a treasure trove for anyone with even the slightest curiosity about the species which surround

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.

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.

Wild Witd World is a fascinating new question and answer book about the most fearsome, friendly and fabulous wild animals on the planet. Find out about different types of animals, from chimpanzees to spiders, eagles to sharks,dinosaurs to tigers. Have you ever wondered why gorillas beat their chests, how loud a lion's roar is, or why the dinosaurs disappeared? In Witd Witd Wortd, curious young readers can find the answers to these questions and many more.

Classic Cars a celebration of the most fascinating cars in automotive history. More than 150 fabulous cars are featured here in full color, with histories, pecifications, and analysis. Pioneers of the early 20th century, affordable British sports cars, exotic supercars, American muscle cars, and the modern classics of recent years this book covers all of them, and more.

In this fascinating volume, today’s foremost scientistsdiscuss their own versions and visions of Einstein: how he hasinfluenced their worldviews, their ideas, their science, and theirprofessional and personal lives. These twenty-four essays are atestament to the power of scientific legacy and are essentialreading for scientist and layperson alike. Contributors include: Roger Highfield on the Einstein myth John Archibald Wheeler on his meetings with Einstein Gino C. Segrè, Lee Smolin, and Anton Zeilinger on Einstein’sdifficulties with quantum theory Leon M. Lederman on the special theory of relativity Frank J. Tipler on why Einstein should be seen as a scientificreactionary rather than a scientific revolutionary

In his bestselling The Moral Animal, Robert Wright applied theprinciples of evolutionary biology to the study of the human mind.Now Wright attempts something even more ambitious: explaining thedirection of evolution and human history–and discerning wherehistory will lead us next. In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Wright asserts that, eversince the primordial ooze, life has followed a basic pattern.Organisms and human societies alike have grown more complex bymastering the challenges of internal cooperation. Wright'snarrative ranges from fossilized bacteria to vampire bats, fromstone-age villages to the World Trade Organization, uncovering suchsurprises as the benefits of barbarian hordes and the usefulstability of feudalism. Here is history endowed with moralsignificance–a way of looking at our biological and culturalevolution that suggests, refreshingly, that human morality hasimproved over time, and that our instinct to discover meaning mayitself serve a higher purpose. Insightful, wi

How did the replication bomb we call life begin and where inthe world, or rather, in the universe, is it heading? Writing withcharacteristic wit and an ability to clarify complex phenomena (theNew York Times described his style as the sort of science writingthat makes the reader feel like a genius), Richard Dawkinsconfronts this ancient mystery.

In Electric Universe , David Bodanis weaves tales ofromance, divine inspiration, and fraud through a lucid account ofthe invisible force that permeates our universe. In these pages thevirtuoso scientists who plumbed the secrets of electricity comevividly to life, including familiar giants like Thomas Edison; thevisionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices ofthe British class system; and Samuel Morse, a painter who, beforeinventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York on a platform ofpersecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of amarvelous thinking machine—what we know as the computer—was metwith indifference, and who ended his life in despair after Britishauthorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to “cure”his homosexuality. From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburgduring a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by amaster science writer.

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

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.

This book marries a child`s wonder a genius`s intellect .we journey into hawking`s universe,while marvelling at his mind` sunday times. Was there a beginning of time?Could time run backwards?IS the universe infinite ordoes it have boundaries?These are iust some of the questions considered in aninternationallV acclaimed asterpiecewhich begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein．before delving into the secrets which still Iie at the heart of space and time．

Evolutionary science lies at the heart of a modernunderstanding of the natural world. Darwin’s theory has withstood150 years of scientific scrutiny, and today it not only explainsthe origin and design of living things, but highlights theimportance of a scientific understanding in our culture and in ourlives. Recently the movement known as “Intelligent Design” has attractedthe attention of journalists, educators, and legislators. Thescientific community is puzzled and saddened by this trend–not onlybecause it distorts modern biology, but also because it divertspeople from the truly fascinating ideas emerging from the realscience of evolution. Here, join fifteen of our preeminent thinkerswhose clear, accessible, and passionate essays reveal the fact andpower of Darwin’s theory, and the beauty of the scientific quest tounderstand our world.