Science

Lonely Planet KidsâEUR(TM) Amazing Night Sky Atlas looks upwards to the skies for a fun- and fact-packed guide to astronomy. Featuring a mix of photography and illustration, this book covers topics that range from the science of stargazing to the practicalities of how to use a telescope and the stories that different cultures tell about the night sky.

Written around 1645, Miyamoto Musashi's Five Rings is an illustrated new modern translation of a classic Japanese work on mastery in swordsmanship, leadership and conflict produced using beautiful traditional Chinese bookbinding techniques and including 75 images.

In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.Provocative and playful, All Art is Ecological explores the strangeness of living in an age of mass extinction, and shows us that emotions and experience are the basis for a deep philosophical engagement with ecology.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

A provocative and timely case for how the science of genetics can help create a more just and equal societyIn recent years, scientists like Kathryn Paige Harden have shown that DNA makes us different, in our personalities and in our health-and in ways that matter for educational and economic success in our current society.In The Genetic Lottery, Harden introduces readers to the latest genetic science, dismantling dangerous ideas about racial superiority and challenging us to grapple with what equality really means in a world where people are born different. Weaving together personal stories with scientific evidence, Harden shows why our refusal to recognize the power of DNA perpetuates the myth of meritocracy, and argues that we must acknowledge the role of genetic luck if we are ever to create a fair society.Reclaiming genetic science from the legacy of eugenics, this groundbreaking book offers a bold new vision of society where everyone thrives, regardless of how one fares in the genetic lottery.

'Reading it will change the way you think about the universe' Sean CarrollIn the coming decades, the technology that enables virtual and augmented reality will improve beyond recognition. Within a century, world-renowned philosopher David J. Chalmers predicts, we will have virtual worlds that are impossible to distinguish from non-virtual worlds. But is virtual reality just escapism?In a highly original work of 'technophilosophy', Chalmers argues categorically, no: virtual reality is genuine reality. Virtual worlds are not second-class worlds. We can live a meaningful life in virtual reality - and increasingly, we will.What is reality, anyway? How can we lead a good life? Is there a god? How do we know there's an external world - and how do we know we're not living in a computer simulation? In Reality+, Chalmers conducts a grand tour of philosophy, using cutting-edge technology to provide invigorating new answers to age-old questions.Drawing on examples from pop culture, literature and film that help bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a mind-bending journey through virtual worlds, illuminating the nature of reality and our place within it.

From a star astrophysicist, a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos -- and a call for more just, inclusive practice of science.

A call to action that underscores why the roots of good health start with how we farm

The world's leading economist of inequality presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters, and backsliding, a perfect introduction to the ideas developed in his monumental earlier books.It is easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts of the world over the past two generations. No one has done more to reveal the problem than Thomas Piketty. Now, in this surprising and powerful new work, Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the centuries, he shows, we have been moving toward greater equality.Piketty guides us with elegance and concision through the great movements that have made the modern world for better and worse: the growth of capitalism, revolutions, imperialism, slavery, wars, and the building of the welfare state. It's a history of violence and social struggle, punctuated by regression and disaster. But through it all, Piketty shows, human societies have moved fitfully toward a more just distribution of income and assets, a reduction of racial and gender inequalities, and greater access to health care, education, and the rights of citizenship.Our rough march forward is political and ideological, an endless fight against injustice. To keep moving, Piketty argues, we need to learn and commit to what works, to institutional, legal, social, fiscal, and educational systems that can make equality a lasting reality. At the same time, we need to resist historical amnesia and the temptations of cultural separatism and intellectual compartmentalization. At stake is the quality of life for billions of people.We know we can do better, Piketty concludes. The past shows us how. The future is up to us.

The perfect guide to mastering your motivations.

From renowned intellectual and historian Michael Ignatieff comes a moving portrait of artists, writers, politicians, emperors, and poets overcoming tragedy and crisis an ancient tradition of consolation which will resonate with readers in our turbulent times.

Collected here are "Franz Kafka," "Karl Kraus," and "The Author as Producer," the meditation "A Berlin Chronicle," discussions of photography and the French writer, and previously untranslated pieces on such subjects as language and memory, theological criticism and literary history, astrology and the newspaper, Valery, Hitler, and Mickey Mouse.

Bushido is the chivalric code of moral principles that the Samurai followed: rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honour and loyalty. Beautifully produced in traditional Chinese binding, Bushido Illustrated will appeal to anyone interested in leadership, the code of the Samurai and Japanese culture.

The Dao De Jing (also called the Tao Te Ching) was written more than 2,500 years ago and is considered one of the most important books in world literature. Coming in at only 5,000 Chinese characters, its timeless wisdom has inspired millions of people around the world and serves as one of the cornerstones of the Taoist religion.It has been translated into English many, many times, but this new work by the best-selling writing team of Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang is much more than a translation. The authors have taken the unusual step of not just giving you the English translation, but also showing, word by word, how one gets from the original Chinese characters to the English version.Each of the 81 short chapters contains a beautiful English translation, followed by a word-by-word and line-by-line breakdown of the chapter, showing the original Chinese, the pinyin (phonetic spelling in English characters), a word-for-word literal translation into English, and occasional helpful notes to help the reader better understand the translation. The result is a book that can be read casually, or studied carefully, or anything in between.This new translation expresses the DDJ in simple language that anyone can access. In their Authors' Notes they say: "This is a book for ordinary people, not scholars. Many DDJ translations have been created by scholars for other scholars, and while we have studied many of them and owe a debt of gratitude to those scholars, we feel that the DDJ's message is simple, practical and universal, and we want everyone to have the chance to benefit from it. We try to follow the guidance of Laozi in Chapter 70, who tells us, in his usual elliptical way: "My words are very easy to understand, very easy to practice. In this world, they can't be understood, and can't be practiced."It's impossible to do a 100% literal translation of the DDJ. Ordinary modern Chinese is quite different from Western languages, and the language used in this book is even more different. To start with, the original DDJ is extremely compact. Its verses have very few connecting words, forcing the reader to think deeply about the verse in order to tease out its underlying meaning or meanings. Some words can, depending on context, serve as nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. Verbs in Chinese generally have no past, present or future tense, nouns have no gender (male/female), and no number (singular/plural). And to make things even more difficult, helpful little words like prepositions and pronouns are often missing entirely. As a result, translating literally from Chinese to English usually results in gibberish. Pepper and Wang have added just enough connecting words so that the sentence makes sense, while still expressing Laozi's thoughts as concisely as possible. They've also tried really hard to avoid the temptation to add things that weren't already there in order to make the sentence more readable.A Pocket Edition of this book is also available. The Pocket Edition contains only the English translation, not the original Chinese or the detailed translation notes. It's only 114 pages vs. 380 pages, and it's a smaller size (5"x8" instead of 6"x9"), making it a better fit for the pants pocket.

A remarkable account of the brain's plasticity, from the internationally bestselling author

The Golden Ratio is a lush volume filled with the gorgeous illustrations of renowned artist Rafael Araujo-the consummate golden ratio keepsake.

As a fundamental aspect of our knowledge of the physical world, quantum mechanics remains a vital subject in physics. This is a collection of the late Richard P Feynman's lectures. It is suitable for students of physics and those seeking an introduction to the field from the inimitable Richard Feynman.

Acclaimed &i>New York Times&/i> science writer Carl Zimmer investigates what current science has to say on the most fundamental of questions: what is life? What does it mean to be alive?

An urgent and passionate plea for a new and ecologically sustainable vision of the good life.

How to live a better life. One of the most important books on Western philosophy - a powerful and inspirational guide for the complicated world of today