In this book Bill Bryson explores the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer and attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. To that end, Bill Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the world's most profound scientific minds, living and dead. His challenge is to take subjects like geology, chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics and see if...

Profiles many of history's most noteworthy scientists, from Zhang Heng and Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein and Barbara McClintock, sharing lesser-known facts about their favorite activities, relationships, and eccentricities.

-In 100 bite-size sections, Science in 100 Key Breakthroughs encapsulates the history of Western science, from astronomy and physics to geology, biology and psychology -- and everything in between. Starting with the origins of counting more than 35,000 years ago, the book tells the rich and fascinating story of inspired inventions and how gradual progress and inspired leaps of imagination advanced science.-

Short, illustrated segments explore the history of science.

Propelled by a series of interviews with luminaries of modern science such as Stephen Hawking, Thomas Kuhn, Lynn Margulis, Roger Penrose, Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Weinberg, E.O. Wilson, and Karl Popper, science writer John Horgan makes the case that science as we have known it - of startling revelations about heretofore unrecognized aspects of reality - is over. There will be no more...

Fraser traces the growth of the Church of Christ, Scientist from a small, eccentric sect into a politically powerful and socially respectable religion. She takes us into the closed world of it's followers, who reject modern medicine even at the cost of their children's lives. And she reveals just how Christian Science managed to gain extraordinary legal and congressional approval for its dubious practices. An exposé of the dangers and delusions of...

A Brief Illustrated History of Science charts the history of scientific discoveries all the way through from prehistory to Aristotle, then through the works of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Linnaeus, and right through to the incredible scientific breakthroughs of today. With stunning full-color images and illustrations, this beautiful book is sure to fascinate and charm the young reader.

"Today we have countless scientific laws and principles that help explain our observations of the natural world. However, this was not always the case. Although individuals have long sought to understand their surroundings, it was not until around 2500 BCE that scientific activity began to assume a more prominent place in civilizations around the world. The journey from early investigation through the scientific revolution to the present day is chronicled...

Both a uniquely intimate look at what makes a sniper tick and a harrowing read filled with dramatic war tales, "Trigger Men" is a book about killers and killing, without apology and without remorse. 16-page color photo insert.--

From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long misunderstood "talking drums" of Africa, James Gleick tells the story of information technologies that changed the very nature of human consciousness. He also provides portraits of the key figures contributing to the inexorable development of our modern understanding of information, including Charles Babbage, Ada Byron, Samuel Morse, Alan Turing, and Claude Shannon.