Astronomical - From Quark-Stars to Wormholes, the Weird Science of Our Universe by Tim James

$32.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

Does the Big Bang prove the existence of God? What's the Universe expanding into? Is Earth the only planet which supports life? Why did the greatest astronomer in history murder his pet moose? Space is the biggest, oldest, hottest, coldest, strangest thing a human can study. It's no surprise then, that the weirdest facts in science (not to mention the weirdest scientists themselves) are found in astrophysics and cosmology. If you're looking for instructions on how to set up your grandad's telescope this book probably isn't for you. In Astronomical, Tim James takes us on a tour of the known (and unknown) Universe, focusing on the most-mind boggling stuff we've come across, as well as unpacking the latest theories about what's really going on out there. Guiding us through Einstein's relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory, Astronomical delves into the baffling corners of the cosmos and tackles the biggest mysteries we face: from alien life to the zodiac; from white holes to wormholes; from quasars to quark stars. This is the science of space at its absolute strangest! From the creation of the Universe out of nothing to the Large Hadron Collider and the Universe's ongoing expansion, Tim explores our planetary neighbours, where it snows metal on Venus, there are underground lakes on Mars and rivers of petrol on Titan. He then looks beyond our solar system: to exoplanets which could support life, rogue planets, quark stars, quasars, neutron stars and more. Tim looks at black holes (and how to survive in one), wormholes, white holes as well as dark energy, dark matter and even a bit of string theory thrown in for good measure. He explains the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, including the discovery of Martian fossils in the Alan Hills meteorite and the tantalising 'Wow signal' transmission earth received in 1973 - still unexplained. He also rebuts resurgent anti-science movements, including the Flat Earth Society and discusses what's really going on inside Area 51. To close, Tim finishes by looking at human achievements in space including how rockets work, how faster-than-light warp-drives (currently being investigated by NASA) work and how we plan to colonise both the moon and Mars. ...Show more

What Do You Think You Are?: The Science of What Makes You You by Brian Clegg

$32.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

The popular science equivalent of the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

$22.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus looked to the future. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century explores the present. How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children? Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today's most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created? ...Show more

Don't Be Evil - How Big Tech Betrayed Its Founding Principles - and All of Us by Rana Foroohar

$35.00 AUD

Category: Information Technology

Today Google and Facebook receive 90% of the world's news ad-spending. Amazon takes half of all ecommerce in the US. Google and Apple operating systems run on all but 1% of cell phones globally. And 80% of corporate wealth is now held by 10% of companies - not the GEs and Toyotas of this world, but the digital titans. How did we get here? How did the tech industry get to dominate our world so completely? How did once-idealistic and innovative companies come to manipulate elections, violate our privacy, and pose a threat to the fabric of our democracy? In Don't Be Evil, Financial Times global business columnist Rana Foroohar documents how Big Tech lost its soul - and became the new Wall Street. Through her skilled reporting and unparalleled access - won through nearly 30 years covering business and technology - she shows the true extent to which the 'Faang's (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) crush or absorb any potential competitors, hijack our personal data and mental space and offshore their exorbitant profits. What's more, she reveals how these threats to our democracies, our livelihoods and our minds are all intertwined. Yet Foroohar also lays out a plan for how we can resist, creating a framework that fosters innovation while also protecting us from the dark side of digital technology. ...Show more

Earth: 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know by Martin Redfern

$9.99 AUD

$16.99 (41% off)

Category: Popular Science | Series: 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know Series

This latest book in the bestselling '50 Ideas' series is a wonderfully accessible overview of the only place we know of in the universe that is capable of sustaining life. Expert popular science writer Martin Redfern covers all the natural processes of the Earth: climate, ocean currents, air currents, t he elements, plate tectonics, fossils, the evolution of life, volcanology, sea levels and the ultimate fate of the Earth. The 50 Ideas featured include: Geological formation; Rock layers; Formation of the atmosphere; Plate tectonics; Continental rifts; Volcanology; Simple life; Multi-cellular life; Snowball Earth; Gondwana and Pangea; Sexual selection; Complex life; The Cambrian revolution; The dinosaurs; Avalonia; The sauropod puzzle; End of the Mesozoic; The Cenozoic recovery; The Great Warming; The 'Great Flood'; The Holocene; Biodiversity and The fate of the Earth. ...Show more

Hollywood Wants to Kill You - The Science of Death in the Movies by Rick Edwards & Dr. Michael Brooks

$29.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

Asteroids, killer sharks, nuclear bombs, viruses, deadly robots, climate change, the apocalypse - why is Hollywood so obsessed with death and the end of the world? And how seriously should we take the dystopian visions of our favourite films? With wit, intelligence and irreverence, Rick Edwards and Dr M ichael Brooks explore the science of death and mass destruction through some of our best-loved Hollywood blockbusters. From Armageddon and Dr Strangelove to The Terminator and Contagion, they investigate everything from astrophysics to AI, with hilarious and captivating consequences. ...Show more

New Scientist: the Origin of (almost) Everything by New Scientist Magazine Staff; Stephen Hawking; Graham Lawton; Jennifer Daniel (Illustrator)

$22.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

Introduction by Professor Stephen Hawking. When Edwin Hubble looked into his telescope in the 1920s, he was shocked to find that nearly all of the galaxies he could see through it were flying away from one another. If these galaxies had always been travelling, he reasoned, then they must, at some point , have been on top of one another. This discovery transformed the debate about one of the most fundamental questions of human existence - how did the universe begin? Every society has stories about the origin of the cosmos and its inhabitants, but now, with the power to peer into the early universe and deploy the knowledge gleaned from archaeology, geology, evolutionary biology and cosmology, we are closer than ever to understanding where it all came from. In The Origin of (almost) Everything, New Scientist explores the modern origin stories of everything from the Big Bang, meteorites and dark energy, to dinosaurs, civilisation, timekeeping, belly-button fluff and beyond. From how complex life evolved on Earth, to the first written language, to how humans conquered space, The Origin of (almost) Everything offers a unique history of the past, present and future of our universe. ...Show more

Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Mysterious, Miraculous World of Blood by Rose George

$19.99 AUD

$24.99 (20% off)

Category: Popular Science

From a prize-winning writer, a fascinating exploration of blood: the stuff of life, the stuff of nightmares, and one of the most expensive liquids on the planet.

Planet Full of Plastic by Neal Layton

$15.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

Everything is made of stuff. Some things are made of paper, like this book. And some things are made of PLASTIC. If you look around you, plastic is everywhere. Even in places where it's not meant to be. If it drops to the ground, it doesn't rot away - it sticks around for ever. Our world is drowning in plastic, and it's a big problem. Award-winning author-illustrator Neal Layton is here to explain where plastic comes from, why it doesn't biodegrade, and why that's dangerous for animals and humans alike. But he's also FULL of ideas for how you can help! From giving up straws in juice cartons to recycling all we can and taking part in a beach clean, A Planet Full of Plastic will get young readers excited about how they can make a difference to keep Planet Earth happy. This brilliant non-fiction picture book, illustrated in Neal's trademark collage style, is perfect for readers aged 5-7 who love nature and want to help the environment. ...Show more

Sputnik - The Shock of the Century by Paul Dickson

$39.95 AUD

Category: Popular Science

On October 4, 1957, the day Leave It to Beaver premiered on American television, the Soviet Union launched the space age. Sputnik, all of 184 pounds with only a radio transmitter inside its highly polished shell, became the first artificial satellite in space; while it immediately shocked the world, it s long-term impact was even greater, for it profoundly changed the shape of the twentieth century. Paul Dickson chronicles the dramatic events and developments leading up to and resulting from Sputnik's launch. Supported by groundbreaking, original research and many declassified documents, Sputnik offers a fascinating profile of the early American and Soviet space programs and a strikingly revised picture of the politics and personalities behind the facade of America's fledgling efforts to get into space. The U.S. public reaction to Sputnik was monumental. In a single weekend, Americans were wrenched out of a mood of national smugness and postwar material comfort. Initial shock at and fear of the Soviets' intentions galvanized the country and swiftly prompted innovative developments that define our world today. Sputnik directly or indirectly influenced nearly every aspect of American life: from an immediate shift toward science in the classroom to the arms race that defined the Cold War, the competition to reach the moon, and the birth of the internet. By shedding new light on a pivotal era, Dickson expands our knowledge of the world we now inhabit and reminds us that the story of Sputnik goes far beyond technology and the beginning of the space age, and that its implications are still being felt today.Paul Dickson, who has written more than sixty nonfiction books, covered the Apollo spaceflight program as a reporter leading up to the 1969 moon landing. Among his other works are A Dictionary of the Space Age and Out of This World: American Space Photography. ...Show more

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

$22.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

'We spend our whole lives in one body and yet most of us have practically no idea how it works and what goes on inside it. The idea of the book is simply to try to understand the extraordinary contraption that is us.' Bill Bryson sets off to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable a bility to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up. A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this new book is an instant classic. It will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again. 'What I learned is that we are infinitely more complex and wondrous, and often more mysterious, than I had ever suspected. There really is no story more amazing than the story of us.' THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A directory of wonders.' - The Guardian 'Jaw-dropping.' - The Times 'Classic, wry, gleeful Bryson...an entertaining and absolutely fact-rammed book.' - The Sunday Times ...Show more

The Moon: A History for the Future by Oliver Morton

$22.99 AUD

Category: Popular Science

An intimate portrait of the Earth's closest neighbor--the Moon--that explores the history and future of humankind's relationship with it   Every generation has looked towards the heavens and wondered at the beauty of the Moon. Fifty years ago, a few Americans became the first to do the reverse--and sh ared with Earth-bound audiences the view of their own planet hanging in the sky instead.Recently, the connection has been discovered to be even closer: a fragment of the Earth's surface was found embedded in a rock brought back from the Moon. And astronauts are preparing to return to the surface of the Moon after a half-century hiatus--this time to the dark side.Oliver Morton explores how the ways we have looked at the Moon have shaped our perceptions of the Earth: from the controversies of early astronomers such as van Eyck and Galileo, to the Cold War space race, to the potential use of the Moon as a stepping stone for further space exploration.Advanced technologies, new ambitions, and old dreams mean that men, women, and robots now seem certain to return to the Moon. For some, it is a future on which humankind has turned its back for too long. For others, an adventure yet to begin. ...Show more