Showing titles in History

In his sequel to Ignorance (Oxford University Press, 2012), Stuart Firestein shows us that the scientific enterprise is riddled with mistakes and errors - and that this is a good thing! Failure: Why Science Is So Successful delves into the origins of scientific research as a process that relies upon trial and error, one which inevitably results in a hefty dose of failure. In fact, scientists throughout history have relied on failure to guide their research, viewing mistakes as a necessary part of the process.

In this fascinating collection of articles and speeches, Albert Einstein reflects not only on the scientific method at work in his own theoretical discoveries, but eloquently expresses a great appreciation for his scientific contemporaries and forefathers, including Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Max Planck, and Niels Bohr. While Einstein is renowned as one of the foremost innovators of modern science, his discoveries uniquely his own, through his own words it becomes clear that Einstein viewed himself as only the most recent in a long line of scientists driven to create new ways of understanding the world and to prove their scientific theories.

The creation of the Mac, in 1984, catapulted America into the digital millennium, captured a fanatic cult audience, and transformed the computer industry into an unprecedented mix of technology, economics, and show business. Veteran technology writer and Newsweek senior editor Steven Levy zooms in on the great machine and the fortunes of the unique company responsible for its evolution. Loaded with anecdote and insight, and peppered with sharp commentary, Insanely Great is the definitive book on the most important computer ever made. It is a must-have for anyone curious about how we got to the interactive age.

In this extensive sequel to Science Education in the Early Roman Empire, Dr. Richard Carrier explores the social history of scientists in the Roman era. Was science in decline or experiencing a revival under the Romans? What was an ancient scientist thought to be and do? Who were they, and who funded their research? And how did pagans differ from their Christian peers in their views toward science and scientists?

Unravel the mystery of human heredity and trace the brilliant scientific breakthroughs mapping our genetic blueprint. Perfect for a thought-provoking commute, this captivating popular science journey transforms complex biology into a thrilling intellectual adventure. Travel from ancient crop...

What if the great discoveries of science came in the “wrong” order? The Laws of Thermodynamics were discovered well after the creation of algebra, classical physics, and chemistry, but are perhaps much more important to our basic understanding of the universe. This flawed chronology led to a...

It was a time of bold new technology, historic moments, and international jousting on the final frontier. But it was also a time of human drama, of moments less public but no less dramatic in the lives of those who made the golden age of space flight happen. These are the moments and the lives that Into That Silent Sea captures, a book that tells the intimate stories of the men and women, American and Russian, who made the space race their own and gave the era its compelling character.

From the former editor of Slate and CEO of Atlas Obscura comes the unbelievable story of “the Nobel Prize sperm bank” and the children it produced—“a superb book about the quest for genius and, ultimately, family” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Talking to Strangers)...

Scientists have long attempted to understand Earth’s past, and in service to that effort, they have divided the world’s history into eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages. The Triassic Period: The History and Legacy of the Geologic Era that Witnessed the Rise of Dinosaurs looks at the development of the era, the extinction events that preceded it, and how dinosaurs began to evolve in the Late Triassic. You will learn about the Triassic Period like never before.

In The New Sociology of Science, Boris Kriger delivers a direct challenge to the institutional foundations of modern science. The book argues that truth alone has never been enough — and is not even decisive. What determines whether an idea becomes science is not its correctness, but its ability to pass through fragile, often distorted social channels of persistence. Reinterpreting Auguste Comte, Kriger overturns the classical view: sociology is not the highest science — it is the hidden condition without which no science exists at all. From this follows a disturbing conclusion.

Hoof Beats transforms our understanding of both horses and humanity's ancient past and asks us to consider what our relationship with horses means for the future of humanity and the world around us.

For readers of Bill Bryson, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Siddhartha Mukherjee, a wondrous, wildly ambitious, and vastly entertaining work of popular science that tells the awe-inspiring story of the elements that make up the human body, and how these building blocks of life travelled billions of...

Here, for the first time, in a brilliant, panoramic portrait by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, is the definitive, often shocking story of the politics and the science behind the development of the hydrogen bomb and the birth of the Cold War. Based on secret...

Turn your daily commute into a popular science adventure where everyday moments reveal explosive chemical reactions. Perfect for an upbeat morning walk or while cooking dinner, this fast-moving journey exposes the hidden laboratory secretly running our universe. Leave dense formulas behind and...

Uncover the cosmos' deepest secrets in a mind-expanding physics history detailing the ultimate unification of reality. Perfect for deep focus or an intellectual commute, this narrative transforms complex cosmology into an accessible adventure. Witness how visionary scientists clashed over...

This captivating cultural history and psychology deep-dive reveals how simple reflections forever altered human evolution. Perfect for a focused commute, this thought-provoking journey travels from ancient pools of still water to the glowing digital screens in our pockets. Prepare to experience...

Unearth an awe-inspiring archaeological mystery to decode the secrets of the world's first ancient analog computer. Perfect for your daily commute, this gripping voyage takes you from a stormy Greek shipwreck in 1900 to the cutting-edge labs solving a two-millennium-old puzzle. Satisfy your...

Uncover the gripping history of medical breakthroughs where human survival depends on the race against deadly diseases. Perfect for your daily commute, this thought-provoking narrative transforms centuries of trial and error into an inspiring educational experience. Science enthusiasts and...

We live at the bottom of an ocean of air - 5,200 million million tons, to be exact. It sounds like a lot, but Earth’s atmosphere is smeared onto its surface in an alarmingly thin layer - 99 percent contained within 18 miles. Yet, within this fragile margin lies a magnificent realm - at once gorgeous, terrifying, capricious, and elusive. With his keen eye for identifying and uniting seemingly unrelated events, Chris Dewdney reveals to us the invisible rivers in the sky that affect how our weather works and the structure of clouds and storms and seasons, the rollercoaster of climate.

A rollicking, myth-busting history of sex that moves from historical attempts at birth control to Hildegard von Bingen’s treatise on the female orgasm, demystifying plenty of urban legends along the way. Roman physicians told female patients they should sneeze out as much semen as possible...