Looks to areas of the world that are unoccupied and speaks to experts in fields ranging from nuclear physics to archaeology. This book reveals how the natural world would react to our disappearance and wrestles with some of the key concerns of our time to offer a glimpse of the legacy of our existence on the planet.

For millennia the animals that populated the earth had four toes on each foot, or six. If evolution had taken a tiny shift - if our ancestors had inherited a couple of genes in a different form - our canonical number, based on our fingers and toes, might be eight instead of ten. This book deploys this, which is one of the oddities of history.

An objective look at masculinity - from bodies to brains, genes to genitals. Focusing on science not society, maleness not manhood, the book explores the point of being a man, showing how the machinery works, why he dies so young and how his brain differs from the rest of mankind.

One of the world's science superstars presents a brilliantly illuminating, entertaining and cutting-edge account of how language actually works

Shows the authors passion for knowledge and sense of fun. This work features revealing pieces that spans his lifetime of enthusiasm for discovering what makes the world tick - including tales of early student experiments; safe cracking and outwitting US censors during the Second World War; and his first lecture as a graduate student.

Argues that progress and increasing complexity are not inevitable features of the evolution of life on Earth. This book states that if we wish to see grandeur in life, we must discard our selfish and anthropocentric view of evolution and learn to see it as Darwin did, as the unfathomably rich source of 'endless forms most beautiful and wonderful'.

The paperback of the critically-acclaimed popular science book by a writer who is fast becoming a celebrity mathematician.

This work dissects our unceasing daily struggle to squeeze as much as we can - but never enough - into the 1440 minutes of each day. Speed is the key strategy for saving time, and James Gleick shows us how in just about every area, speed has become the experience we all have in common.

How can you measure the speed of light with chocolate and a microwave? Why do yo-yos yo-yo? Why does urine smell so peculiar after eating asparagus (includes helpful recipe)? How long does it take to digest different types of food? What is going on when you drop mentos in to cola? This book answers these questions.

Examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians and everyday people to show that music can calm and organize, torment and heal. This work tells stories that alter our conception of who we are and how we function, and show us an essential part of what it is to be human.

Analyses what words actually mean and how we use them, and reveals what this can tell us about ourselves. This book shows how we use space and motion as metaphors for more abstract ideas, and uncovers the deeper structures of human thought that have been shaped by evolutionary history. It also explores the emotional impact of language.

What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it? This was the question posed by John Brockman to a group of leading scientists and thinkers via his website. The subsequent answers created a media storm and prompted a fiery debate about all aspects of science, technology and even the nature of proof .

Do we live in a simple or a complex universe? This work explores the ability of complicated rules to generate simple behaviour in nature through 'the collapse of chaos.

After the huge national and international success of 'Longitude' and 'Gallileo's Daughter', Dava Sobel tells the human story of the nine planets of our solar system.

This text covers topics such as: genetic determinism and gene selectionism; constraints on perfection; the active germ-line replicator; outlaws and modifiers; selfish DNA, jumping genes, and a lamarckian scare; the genetic evolution of animal artefacts; and host phenotypes of parasite genes.

A 'travel guide' to the periodic table, explaining the history, geography and the rules of behaviour in this imagined land.

Drawn from Feynman's introductory course of lectures on physics, this title delves into the revolutionary discovery of twentieth-century physics: Einstein's theory of relativity.

A fascinating insight into how human sexuality came to be the way it is now - Jared Diamond explains why we are different from the animal kingdom

A sequel to Edwin A Abbott's book "Flatland", this book explores our understanding of the shape and origins of the universe, the nature of space, time, and matter, as well as geometries and their applications.

Full of bizarre cases of genetic mutation and irregularity, Mutants is an amazing exploration of the human form in all its beautiful and unique guises.