The Singularity Is Near

In his latest, thrilling foray into the future, a great inventor and futurist envisions an event--the singularity --in which technological change becomes so rapid and so profound that human bodies and brains will merge with machines.

The ultimate thinking machine ( Forbes )--whose predictions for the future are startling, provocative, and closer to fruition than one might think--takes a serious and surprising look at the future that reads like great science fiction and offers a framework for envisioning the 21st century.

Genome

The genome's been mapped. But what does it mean? Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life. Genome offers extraordinary insight into the ramifications of this incredible breakthrough. By picking one newly discovered gene from each pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. From Huntington's disease to cancer, from the applications of gene therapy to the horrors of eugenics, Matt Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome. It will help you understand what this scientific milestone means for you, for your children, and for humankind.

Third Domain

Friend offers the untold story of how the discovery of a new form of life--one ignored for the past 30 years by mainstream scientists--is revolutionizing science, industry, and even the search for the existence of life beyond Earth.

Physics of the Impossible

Renowned physicist Kaku explores to what extent technologies and devices deemed impossible today might become commonplace in the future. From teleportation to force fields, Kaku uses the world of science fiction to explore the fundamentals--and the limits--of the laws of physics.

Parallel Worlds

Is our universe dying? Could there be other universes? In Parallel Worlds, world-renowned physicist and bestselling author Michio Kaku--an author who has a knack for bringing the most ethereal ideas down to earth (Wall Street Journal)--takes readers on a fascinating tour of cosmology, M-theory, and its implications for the fate of the universe. In Dr. Kaku's eyes, we are living in a golden age of physics, as new discoveries from the WMAP and COBE satellites and the Hubble space telescope have given us unprecedented pictures of our universe in its infancy. As astronomers wade through the avalanche of data from the WMAP satellite, a new cosmological picture is emerging. So far, the leading theory about the birth of the universe is the inflationary universe theory, a major refinement on the big bang theory. In this theory, our universe may be but one in a multiverse, floating like a bubble in an infinite sea of bubble universes, with new universes being created all the time. A parallel universe may well hover a mere millimeter from our own. The very idea of parallel universes and the string theory that can explain their existence was once viewed with suspicion by scientists, seen as the province of mystics, charlatans, and cranks. But today, physicists overwhelmingly support string-theory, and its latest iteration, M-theory, as it is this one theory that, if proven correct, would reconcile the four forces of the universe simply and elegantly, and answer the question What happened before the big bang? Already, Kaku explains, the world's foremost physicists and astronomers are searching for ways to test the theory of the multiverse using highly sophisticated wave detectors, gravity lenses, satellites, and telescopes. The implications of M-theory are fascinating and endless. If parallel worlds do exist, Kaku speculates, in time, perhaps a trillion years or more from now, as appears likely, when our universe grows cold and dark in what scientists describe as a big freeze, advanced civilizations may well find a way to escape our universe in a kind of inter-dimensional lifeboat. An unforgettable journey into black holes and time machines, alternate universes, and multidimensional space, Parallel Worlds gives us a compelling portrait of the revolution sweeping the world of cosmology. From the Publisher: In this thrilling journey into the mysteries of our cosmos, bestselling author Michio Kaku takes us on a dizzying ride to explore black holes and time machines, multidimensional space and, most tantalizing of all, the possibility that parallel universes may lay alongside our own. 

Big Coal

Despite a century-long legacy that has claimed millions of lives and ravaged the environment, coal as a fuel source is making a comeback. In a compelling blend of hard-hitting investigative reporting, history, and business analysis, this work illuminates the stark economic imperatives America faces.

Beyond AI: Creating the Conscience of the Machine

With a 30-year career in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science, Hall reviews the history of AI, predicting the probable achievements in the near future and provides an intriguing glimpse into the astonishing possibilities and dilemmas on the horizon.

The Third Chimpanzee

The Development of an Extraordinary Species We human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet -- having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and created breathtaking works of art -- while chimps remain animals concerned primarily with the basic necessities of survival. What is it about that two percent difference in DNA that has created such a divergence between evolutionary cousins? In this fascinating, provocative, passionate, funny, endlessly entertaining work, renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientist Jared Diamond explores how the extraordinary human animal, in a remarkably short time, developed the capacity to rule the world . . . and the means to irrevocably destroy it.

The Greatest Show On Earth

Despite a century-long legacy that has claimed millions of lives and ravaged the environment, coal as a fuel source is making a comeback. In a compelling blend of hard-hitting investigative reporting, history, and business analysis, this work illuminates the stark economic imperatives America faces.

The God Delusion

Discovery magazine has recently called Richard Dawkins Darwins Rottweiler for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. In his New York Times bestseller, Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes. From The Publisher: Discover recently called Richard Dawkins Darwin's Rottweiler for his ferocious and effective defense of evolution. The world's foremost atheist and a world-renowned biologist, he is also brave enough to challenge the very premise of all religion. Dawkins's critics call him hostile and confrontational, and many people wonder, What is he so angry about? Has religion, specifically Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, really done so much harm that we should actively oppose it? Well, yes. In his new book, The God Delusion, Dawkins examines, with wit, reason, and historical and contemporary evidence, how religion fuels and justifies war how religion encourages bigotry and xenophobia how religion damages children's intellectual development. Dawkins makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just irrational but incredibly harmful....

Pale Blue Dot

FASCINATING . . . MEMORABLE . . . REVEALING . . . PERHAPS THE BEST OF CARL SAGAN'S BOOKS. --The Washington Post Book World (front page review) In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time. Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier--space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race....

The Varieties of Scientific Experience

The Varieties of Scientific Experience

A Short History of Nearly Everything

One of the world's finest and funniest writers goes on a quest to discover the mysteries of the universe--and comprehend the fascinating, eccentric people who devote their lives to unraveling those big questions.

Mycelium Running

- A manual for healing the earth and creating sustainable forests through mushroom cultivation, featuring mycelial solutions to water pollution, toxic spills, and other ecological challenges.- Mycotechnology is part of a larger trend toward using living systems to solve environmental problems and to restore ecosystems.- Includes mycological projects for children (and kids at heart).- More than 50 full-color photographs of mushrooms, mycelium, Mycotechnology in action, growing techniques, and so on.- Provides detailed how-tos for growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms--allies to the immune systems of both humans and our planet. Topics include techniques for germinating spares, transplanting wild mycelium, and creating natural spawn.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize In this groundbreaking work, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for history's broadest patterns. It is a story that spans 13,000 years of human history, beginning when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Guns, Germs, and Steel is a world history that really is a history of all the worlds peoples, a unified narrative of human life.