Fatal Attraction: Magnetic Mysteries of the Enlightenment

Science & Math

Fara, Patricia

History & Philosophy

Icon Books Ltd.

Things I Wish I'd Known: Women tell the truth about motherhood

Parenting & Relationships

Victoria Young

Family Relationships

The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret

Painted by Manet, immortalized by Emile Zola in Nana and a connoisseur and collector of the arts, the Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne was one of the most celebrated courtesans of 19th-century Paris. Catherine Hewitt's biography tells the story of this remarkable woman's journey from poverty and obscurity to the wealth, glamour and scandal of Parisian high society.

Catherine Hewitt

Restless Creatures: The Story of Life in Ten Movements

From flying pterodactyls to walking primates, the story of life as told through the evolution of locomotion. Most of us never think about how we get from one place to another. For most people, putting one foot in front of the other requires no thought at all. Yet the fact that we and other species are able to do so is one of the great triumphs of evolution. To truly understand how life evolved on Earth, it is crucial to understand movement. Restless Creatures makes the bold new argument that the true story of evolution is the story of locomotion, from the first stirrings of bacteria to the amazing feats of Olympic athletes. By retracing the four-billion-year history of locomotion, evolutionary biologist Matt Wilkinson shows how the physical challenges of moving from place to place-when coupled with the implacable logic of natural selection-offer a uniquely powerful means of illuminating the living world. Whales and dolphins look like fish because they have been molded by the constraints of underwater locomotion. The unbending physical needs of flight have brought bats, birds, and pterodactyls to strikingly similar anatomies. Movement explains why we have opposable thumbs, why moving can make us feel good, how fish fins became limbs, and even why-classic fiction notwithstanding-there are no flying monkeys nor animals with wheels. Even plants aren't immune from locomotion's long reach: their seeds, pollen, and very form are all determined by their aptitude to disperse. From sprinting cheetah to spinning maple fruit, soaring albatross to burrowing worm, crawling amoeba to running human-all are the way they are because of how they move. There is a famous saying: "nothing in biology makes sense unless in the light of evolution." As Wilkinson makes clear: little makes sense unless in the light of locomotion. A powerful yet accessible work of evolutionary biology, Restless Creatures is the essential guide for understanding how life on Earth was shaped by the simple need to move from point A to point B.

Wilkinson, Matt

Einstein's Masterwork: 1915 and the General Theory of Relativity

In 1915, Albert Einstein unveiled his masterwork – a theory, in his words, ‘of incomparable beauty’: the General Theory of Relativity. It is sometimes overshadowed – wrongly, argues John Gribbin – by his work of 1905, the Special Theory of Relativity and E = mc². Just over 100 years later, the first direct detection of gravitational radiation is seen as the ultimate proof of the General Theory’s accuracy. The General Theory describes the evolution of the Universe, black holes, the behaviour of orbiting neutron stars, and why clocks run slower on Earth than in space. It even suggests the possibility of time travel. In this ‘beautifully written and highly accessible account of the genesis of a great theory’ (Physics World), Gribbin vividly illustrates what an incomparable scientist Albert Einstein really was.

Biographies & Memoirs

Gribbin, John.

Professionals & Academics

The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation

Veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce used to think of invasive species as evil interlopers spoiling pristine ‘natural’ ecosystems. Most conservationists would agree. But what if traditional ecology is wrong, and true environmentalists should be applauding the invaders? In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey to rediscover what conservation should really be about. He explores ecosystems from Pacific islands to the Australian outback to the Thames estuary, digs into the questionable costs of invader species, and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature. Keeping out alien species looks increasingly flawed. The new ecologists looking afresh at how species interact in the wild believe we should celebrate the dynamism of alien species and the novel ecosystems they create. In an era of climate change and widespread ecological damage, we must find ways to help nature regenerate. Embracing the ‘new wild’ is our best chance.

The New Wild: Why invasive species will be nature's salvation

Pearce, Fred

Biological Sciences

‘Stylish and wittily written … a brilliant read that should encourage us all to challenge the cult of youth, and learn to love ourselves a little more along the way.’ My Weekly  There’s nothing middle-of-the-road about middle age. From coping with bodies that are ‘heading south’ to rampant ageism in the workplace, this time in our lives, in the words of Bette Davis, ‘is no place for sissies’.   From family, finances and work to cosmetics, fashion and sex, 60-year-old Helen Walmsley-Johnson – the irrepressible voice behind the much-loved Guardian column ‘The Vintage Years’ – shows, with warmth and a wicked sense of humour, how we can reinvent middle age for the next generation of women.

The Invisible Woman: Taking on the Vintage Years

Politics & Social Sciences

Walmsley-Johnson, Helen

Social Sciences

Here She Comes Now: Women in Music Who Have Changed Our Lives

Arts & Photography

Music

The 20th century gave us two great theories of physics: the general theory of relativity, which describes the behaviour of things on a very large scale, including the entire Universe; and quantum theory, which describes the behaviour of things on a very small scale, the sub-atomic world. The refusal of the Universe to reveal an equation that combines these two great ideas has caused some people to doubt our whole understanding of physics. In this landmark new book, popular science master John Gribbin tells the dramatic story of the quest that has led us to discover the true age of the Universe (13.8 billion years) and the stars (just a little bit younger). This discovery, Gribbin argues, is one of humankind s greatest achievements and shows us that physics is on the right track to finding the Theory of Everything . 13.8 provides an eye-opening look at this cutting-edge area of modern cosmology and physics, and tells the compelling story of what modern science has achieved and what it can still achieve.

13.8: The Quest to Find the True Age of the Universe and the Theory of Everything

John, Gribbin

Mathematics

A billion-year history of movement, from bacteria to Olympic athletes. 'Packed with revelations, scholarly but clear, Restless Creatures carries you from the kinetics of the amoeba to that of the blue whale, from the swim-cycle of spermatozoa, to why skipping works best on the moon. A pop-science treat.' Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being Despite the overwhelming diversity of life on earth, one theme has dominated its evolution: the apparently simple act of moving from one place to another. Restless Creatures is the first book for a general audience telling the incredible story of locomotion in human and animal evolution. Evolutionary biologist Matt Wilkinson traces this 4-billion-year history, showing why our ancestors became two-legged, how movement explains why we have opposable thumbs and a backbone, how fish fins became limbs, how even trees are locomotion-obsessed, and how movement has shaped our minds as well as our bodies. He explains why there are no flying monkeys or biological wheels, how dinosaurs took to the air, how Mexican waves were the making of the animal kingdom, and why moving can make us feel good. Restless Creatures opens up an astonishing new perspective that little in evolution makes sense unless in the light of movement.

Matt Wilkinson

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