Eight Little Piggies by Stephen Jay Gould

$29.99 NZD

$35.00 (14% off)

Category: Science

The title is a pun, and as always with Gould, the joke has a point that illustrates the largest pattern of life's history. 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 di fferent form - our canonical number, based on our fingers and toes, might be eight instead of ten. This is just one of the oddities of history that Gould deploys in this wonderfully readable book. First published 1993. ...Show more

You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe by Christopher Potter

$29.99 NZD

Category: Science

"You Are Here" is a dazzling exploration of the universe and our relationship to it. It is the story of how something evolved from nothing, and how something became everything. It is the story of science: the greatest story ever told. Here, for the first time in a single span, is the life of the univers e, from quarks to galaxy super-clusters, and from slime to Homosapiens. The universe was once a moment of perfect symmetry, and is now 13.7 billion years of history. Clouds of gas were woven into whatever complexity we find in the universe today: the hierarchies of stars, or the brains of mammals. With wit and erudition, Christopher Potter takes us on a voyage beyond even time and space, to present the state of scientific knowledge at its most up-to-date and exhilarating. ...Show more

The Richness of Life by Stephen Jay Gould

$34.99 NZD

$37.00 (5% off)

Category: Science

There aren't many scientists famous enough in their lifetime to be canonized by the US Congress as one of America's 'living legends'. It is still more unlikely that the title should have been conferred on a man regarded by many in the US as a notorious radical and sometime Marxist - controversial throug hout his life as a theorist and polemicist even amongst colleagues in his own chosen fields of palaeontology and evolutionary theory. Yet few would have grudged this accolade to Stephen Jay Gould, whose writings on history - both of the natural world and of the study of that natural world - had made him a household name by the time of his death in 2002. And not just in the Anglophone world, for his books and articles have been widely translated and read in their hundreds of thousands in every society in which debate about evolution and the human condition are the stuff of intellectual life. Gould's written legacy is prodigious - the unbroken series of 300 essays published in "Natural History" magazine, a clutch of books culminating in the monumental 1400 page "Structure of Evolutionary Theory", appearing just months before his death, and of course his academic papers. ...Show more

Curious Minds : How A Child Becomes a Scientist by John Brockman (ed.)

$32.99 NZD

Category: Science

Curious Minds is a book of original, autobiographical essays by twenty-seven scientists, including Paul Davies, Richard Dawkins, Daniel C. Dennett, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, Nicholas Humphrey, Lynn Margulis, Steven Pinker and Robert M. Sapolsky. Each writer attempts to identify that moment or t hose influences in his or her youth which triggered the determination to become a scientist. Was there a particular event or set of circumstances? To what extent did parents, peers of teachers contribute? Why mathematics rather than psychology; why biology rather than physics? What were the turning points, mistakes, epiphanies? Personal, passionate, revealing, enthralling, Curious Minds tells as much about life as it does about science. ...Show more

Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman

$34.99 NZD

Category: Science

Emotional Intelligence was an international phenomenon, appearing on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and selling more than 5 million copies worldwide. Now, once again, Daniel Goleman has written a groundbreaking synthesis of the latest findings in biology and brain science, revealing that we are 'wired to connect' and the surprisingly deep impact of our relationships on every aspect our lives. Far more than we are consciously aware, our daily encounters with parents, spouses, bosses, and even strangers, shape our brains and affect cells throughout our bodies, down to the level of our genes - for good or ill. In Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman explores an emerging new science with startling implications for our interpersonal world. Its most fundamental discovery: we are designed for sociability, constantly engaged in a 'neural ballet' that connects us brain-to-brain with those around us. Goleman explains the surprising accuracy of first impressions, the basis of charisma and emotional power, the complexity of sexual attraction, and how we detect lies. He describes the 'dark side' of social intelligence, from narcissism to Machiavellianism and psychopathy. He also reveals our astonishing capacity for 'mindsight', as well as the tragedy of those, like autistic children, whose mindsight is impaired. In this book Daniel Goleman delivers his most heartening news with powerful conviction: we humans have a built-in bias toward empathy, cooperation and altruism - provided we develop the social intelligence to nurture these capacities in ourselves and others. ...Show more

Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

$29.99 NZD

Category: Science

"In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where all matter is generated by the v ibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy. Greene uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a garden hose to explain the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics is unveiling. Dazzling in its brilliance, unprecedented in its ability to both illuminate and entertain, The Elegant Universeis a tour de force of scientific writing - a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer to understanding how the universe works." ...Show more

You are Here by Christopher Potter

$65.00 NZD

Category: Science

"You Are Here" is a dazzling exploration of the universe and our relationship to it. It is the story of how something evolved from nothing, and how something became everything. It is the story of science: the greatest story ever told. Here, for the first time in a single span, is the life of the univers e, from quarks to galaxy super-clusters, and from slime to Homo sapiens. The universe was once a moment of perfect symmetry, and is now 13.7 billion years of history. Clouds of gas were woven into whatever complexity we find in the universe today: the hierarchies of stars, or the brains of mammals. With wit and erudition, Christopher Potter takes us on a voyage beyond even time and space, to present the state of scientific knowledge at its most up-to-date and exhilarating. ...Show more

Geometry DeMYSTiFieD by Stan Gibilisco

$40.00 NZD

Category: Science | Series: Demystified

An all-new angle to learning geometry! Updated with all-new quizzes and test questions, and a completely refreshed design, Geometry Demystified, Second Edition makes it easy to learn or recall basic geometry. You can use the book as a supplemental classroom text or as a self-contained course without an instructor. Worked-out problems and solutions with practical themes are included. The book contains 11 chapters in two parts. Each chapter ends with a multiple-choice quiz. Each part ends with a multiple-choice test. A comprehensive multiple-choice final exam concludes the course. This hands-on guide helps you to: understand angle measurement and expression; grasp the relationships between angles and distances; calculate perimeters, areas, and volumes; read maps and charts; use coordinate systems in two and three dimensions; construct geometric figures with a compass and straight edge; learn the fundamentals of vectors; improve spatial perception; envision space of more than three dimensions. Geometry Demystified, Second Edition features: Chapter-opening objectives offering insight into what you're going to learn in each step Questions at the end of every chapter to reinforce learning and pinpoint weaknesses "Still Struggling?" icon providing specific recommendations for those having difficulty with certain subtopics A final exam for overall self-assessment "Curriculum Tree" that shows how the topic covered in the book fits into a larger curriculum SI units throughout Hard stuff made easy! Some Basic Rules; Triangles; Quadrilaterals; Other Plane Figures; Compass and Straight Edge; The Cartesian Plane; An Expanded Set of Rules; Surface Area and Volume; Vectors and Cartesian Three-space; Alternative Coordinates; Hyperspace and Warped Space ...Show more

The Best American Science Writing 2011 by Rebecca Skloot

$26.99 NZD

Category: Science

""The Best American Science Writing" series has been hailed as, contemporary science's best answers to ...eternal riddles". ("Fortune"); "praised for its breadth - It is rare to be offered such a diverse collection of science writing, ("Nature"); and appreciated for its intelligence and insight - The en tire spectrum of science is covered with literary acumen here". ("Booklist"). Provocative and engaging, this latest entry in the series covers the full spectrum of scientific inquiry - from biochemistry, physics, and astronomy, to genetics, evolutionary theory, and cognition. Edited by "The New York Times" bestselling author and award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot and her father, award-winning writer and poet Floyd Skloot, "The Best American Science Writing 2011" features articles from a wide variety of publications, providing a comprehensive overview of the year's most compelling, relevant, and exciting scientific developments. ...Show more

The Greatest Science Stories Never Told: 100 tales of invention and Discovery to astonish, bewilder and stupefy by Rick Beyer

$39.99 NZD

Category: Science

100 tales of invention and discovery to astonish, bewilder, & stupefy Meet the angry undertaker who gave us the push-button phone. Discover how modesty led to the invention of the stethoscope. Find out why Albert Einstein patented a refrigerator. Learn how a train full of trumpeters made science hi story. Did you know about: The frustrated fashion designer who created the space suit? The gun-toting newspaperman who invented the parking meter? The midnight dreams that led to a Nobel Prize? They're so good, you can't read just one! ...Show more

Spiritual Brain by Mario Beauregard

$24.99 NZD

$34.99 (28% off)

Category: Science

Drawing on his own research along with others' work in neuroscience as well as some provocative new research in NDE (near-death experiences), Beauregard proves that genuine spiritual experiences can be documented and they generally have life-changing effects. "The Spiritual Brain" explains how such expe riences work and the difference they make in the lives of the individual, powerfully arguing for what many in science are loathe to consider - that it is God that creates religious experiences, not the brain. Most neuroscientists are committed to the view that mystical experiences are simply the result of random neurons firing, or as one scientist puts it, they are merely 'delusions created by the brain.' But Beauregard uses the most sophisticated technology to peer inside the brains of Carmelite nuns as they recall their most profound spiritual experience which they call unio mystico, the experience of oneness with God. First published 2007. ...Show more

End of Days by Zecharia Sitchin

$21.99 NZD

Category: Science | Series: Earth Chronicles Ser.

Why is it that our current twenty-first century a.d. is so similar to the twenty-first century B.C.? At a time when religious fanaticism and a clash of civilizations raise the specter of a nuclear Armageddon, many ask: Is history destined to repeat itself? What does the future hold? Will biblical prophe cies come true, and if so, when? Ever since Zecharia Sitchin, in his first trailblazing book The 12th Planet, brought to life the Sumerian civilization and its record of the Annunaki--the extraterrestrials who had come to Earth from their planet Nibiru, fashioned mankind, and gave us civilization and religion--questions have abounded. Are the ancient gods still here, or did they leave? Will they return? What will happen then? Will there be another Deluge or Apocalypse when Nibiru meets Earth? What about "Planet X" and the Mayan 2012? What about Jesus? In The End of Days, a masterwork that required thirty years of additional research, Sitchin dares to give the answers by presenting compelling new evidence that the Past is the Future--that mankind and its planet Earth are subject to a predetermined cyclical Celestial Time. Tracing historical events from the messianic fervor and use of nuclear weapons in the twenty-first century B.C., Sitchin resolves ancient enigmas like the Nazca Lines or the origin and significance of the Cross, the Fishes, and the Chalice, places in context the events of the Last Supper and hidden clues like those in Da Vinci's painting, explains the space-related reasons for the everlasting centrality of Jerusalem, and--following in the footsteps of Sir Isaac Newton--deciphers the Time Code in the books of Daniel and Revelation and of the Day of the Lord and the End of Days prophecies. In this remarkable and relevant conclusion to his bestselling The Earth Chronicles series, Sitchin shatters perceptions and uses history to reveal what is to come at The End of Days. ...Show more