The story of two nineteenth-century scientists who revealed one of the most significant and exciting events in the natural history of this planet: the existence of dinosaurs.In ‘The Dinosaur Hunters’ Deborah Cadbury brilliantly recreates the remarkable story of the bitter rivalry between two men: Gideon Mantell uncovered giant bones in a Sussex quarry, became obsessed with the lost world of the reptiles and was driven to despair. Richard Owen, a ...
A book which offers fresh perspectives on the scientific developments of the past hundred years through the complementary work of two of the century’s greatest thinkers, Einstein and Freud.At the turn of the century there was a widespread assumption in scientific circles that the pursuit of knowledge was nearing its end and that all available evidence had been exhausted. However, by 1916 both Einstein and Freud had exploded the myth by leading e ...
The imperative to 'know thyself' is both fundamental and profoundly elusive – for how can we ever truly comprehend the drama and complexity of the human experience?In ‘Why Us?’ James Le Fanu offers a fascinating exploration of the power and limits of science to penetrate the deep mysteries of our existence, challenging the certainty that has persisted since Charles Darwin's Origin of Species that we are no more than the fortuitous consequence of ...
A narrative history of the men and women who have explored Mars and mapped its surface from afar, and in so doing conditioned our understanding of our nearest planetary neighbour.The maps of Mars are exquisitely detailed representations of a land as large as all the continents of the earth combined. Yet they are being drawn before any human eye has seen the wonders they contain. In this fascinating mix of science, travel and the history of scien ...
This edition does not include illustrations.‘Dry Store Room No. 1’ is an intimate biography of the Natural History Museum, celebrating the eccentric personalities who have peopled it and capturing the wonders of scientific endeavour, academic rigour and imagination.Behind the public facade of any great museum there lies a secret domain: one of unseen galleries, locked doors, priceless specimens and hidden lives.Through the stories of the numerou ...
This edition does not include illustrations.A fascinating exploration into the history of science and crime. In the tradition of ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’, FINGERPRINTS is the story of the race to discover the secrets trapped in the whorls and arches found on the palm of one’s hand.In 1905 an elderly couple were found murdered in their shop in Deptford, London. The only evidence at the scene of the crime was a sweaty fingerprint on a cashbox. Was ...
‘Highly readable, subtle and thought-provoking scientific history’ ScotsmanIn this penetrating work, Pyenson and Pyenson identify that major advances in science stem from changes in three distinct areas of society: the social institutions that promote science, the sensibilities of scientists themselves and the goal of the scientific enterprise. Servants of Nature begins by examining the institutions that have shaped science: the academies of Anc ...
Galileo once wrote that ‘the Bible tells us how to go to Heaven, but not how the heavens go’. From the Greeks to the present day, thoughtful people have struggled to reconcile the discoveries of science with religious belief and authority.In the age before Darwin many powerful clerics were also notable scientific scholars and leading scientists were often at least conventionally pious. Observing life ever more closely, an extraordinary generatio ...
This edition does not include illustrations.Is there life on Mars? And if not, why not? These questions have gripped mankind throughout the twentieth century. In the shadow of the new millennium, The Quest for Mars seeks the definitive answers from the dedicated NASA scientists participating in the race to discover life on the Red Planet.‘Ever since I was a small child, I’ve believed there was life out there. When I look at the magnitude of the ...
