Natural sciences

Packed with real-world examples, pithy arguments and expert insights, The AI Con arms you to spot AI hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation and power-grabs it aims to hide, and push back against it at work and in your daily life.

One of the world's leading astrobiologists takes us on an awe-inspiring journey across the cosmos to investigate some of humanity's most profound questions.

Unlock the secrets of atomic science with this accessible and gripping account of all 118 known elements.

Unlock the mysteries of the most important, surprising and fascinating equations in history

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An urgent warning of the unprecedented risks that AI and other fast-developing technologies pose to global order, and how we might contain them while we have the chance-from a co-founder of the pioneering artificial intelligence company DeepMind

A journey into the world of carbon, the most versatile element on the planet, by the New York Times bestselling author Paul Hawken Carbon is the only element that animates the entirety of the living world. Though comprising a tiny fraction of Earth´s composition, our planet is lifeless without it. Yet it is maligned as the driver of climate change, scorned as an errant element blamed for the poss

A groundbreaking, richly informative exploration of the central role of muscle in human life and health, Stronger sounds an urgent call for each of us to recognize muscle as “the vital, inextricable and effective partner of the soul.” “Even if you´ve never picked up a weight—Stronger is for you.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger Stronger tells a story of breathtaking scope, from the battle

A road map to free your kids from the harms of digital technology and to recover the beauty, wonder, and true purpose of childhood—by a leading tech policy expert “We know smartphones can be harmful to kids and teens, but what can we do about it? In this indispensable guide, Clare Morell documents the solutions that actually work.”—Cal Newport, author of Slow Productivity and

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • An epic, extraordinary account of scientific rivalry and obsession in the quest to survey all of life on Earth “[An] engaging and thought-provoking book, one focused on the theatrical politics and often deeply troubling science that shape our definitions of life on Earth.”—The New York Times “A fluent and engaging account of the eighteenth-century origins of Da

Stephen Hawking's closest collaborator offers the intellectual superstar's final thoughts on the cosmos-a dramatic revision of the theory he put forward in A Brief History of Time.

AVAILABLE NOW -THE RSPB GARDEN BIRDWATCHER'S PUZZLE BOOK A jam-packed puzzle and trivia book about the birds in Britain, in collaboration with the RSPB. Can you tell your rook from your crow? Do you know the collective noun for a group of goldfinches? Or where a willow warbler goes when it migrates? A must-buy for any bird enthusiast or bird-watching novice, this puzzle book is filled with qu

The most fatal virus known to science, rabies-a disease that spreads avidly from animals to humans-kills nearly one hundred percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. In this critically acclaimed exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history, science, and cultural mythology of rabies. From Greek myths to zombie

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The veteran of four space flights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly hostile to human life: the extreme challenges of long-term spaceflight. “Kelly´s account is insightful, at times humorous, heart-tugging at others. And it´s inspiring enough

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH´S BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF GQ's TOP 50 BOOKS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM IN THE 21st CENTURY • The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. "Reads like a medical detective journey and sheds light o

A rich, narrative explanation of the mathematics that has brought us machine learning and the ongoing explosion of artificial intelligence Machine learning systems are making life-altering decisions for us: approving mortgage loans, determining whether a tumor is cancerous, or deciding if someone gets bail. They now influence developments and discoveries in chemistry, biology, and physics—t

"At once lyrical and exacting, clear-sighted and deeply informed—a beautiful book." —Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky A profound and poetic reflection on the cyclical nature of life, what happens when we break that cycle, and how to repair it—told through the fate of phosphorus “There would be no life without constant death.” So begins Jack Lohmann´s remarkable de

The first, foundational book on blockchain technology, from the bestselling author of Wikinomics Don Tapscott and blockchain expert Alex Tapscott, now in paperback with a new preface and chapter explaining recent developments in the world of blockchain, including cryptoassets, ICOs, smart contracts, and more.   “This book has had an enormous impact on the evolution of blockchain in the

An exploration of all the ways in which birds are social creatures—from breeding to nesting to babysitting In The Social Lives of Birds, evolutionary biologist and author of Slow Birding Joan Strassmann examines what it means for birds of a feather to flock together. Some birds sleep together. Some join the foraging groups of other species. Some are only social during breeding season, formi

Black holes lie where the most massive stars used to shine and at the edge of our current understanding. They are naturally occurring objects, the inevitable creations of gravity when too much matter collapses into not enough space. And yet, although the laws of nature predict them, they fail fully to describe them. Black holes are places in space and time where the laws of gravity, quantum phy

'WHAT TO READ IN 2025' FINANCIAL TIMES

Many artists are unaware of the mathematics that bubble beneath their craft, while some consciously use it for inspiration. Our instincts might tell us that these two subjects are incompatible forces with nothing in common, but what if we're wrong?