Thursday, June 11, 2020

iTunes Store: Top 25 Books in Science & Nature 2020-06-11

Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund & Ola Rosling - Factfulness artwork Factfulness
Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund & Ola Rosling
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $2.99
Publish Date: April 03, 2018
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Seller: Macmillan

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “One of the most important books I’ve ever read—an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” – Bill Gates “Hans Rosling tells the story of ‘the secret silent miracle of human progress’ as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see it clearly.” — Melinda Gates " Factfulness by Hans Rosling, an outstanding international public health expert, is a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Former U.S. President Barack Obama Factfulnes s: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends— what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school —we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness , Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens . They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective —from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them ) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. --- “This book is my last battle in my life-long mission to fight devastating ignorance…Previously I armed myself with huge data sets, eye-opening software, an energetic learning style and a Swedish bayonet for sword-swallowing. It wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be.” Hans Rosling, February 2017.



Daniel Chamovitz - What a Plant Knows artwork What a Plant Knows
A Field Guide to the Senses
Daniel Chamovitz
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $10.99
Publish Date: May 22, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Seller: Macmillan

How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect's tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they actually remember the weather? For centuries we have collectively marveled at plant diversity and form—from Charles Darwin's early fascination with stems to Seymour Krelborn's distorted doting in Little Shop of Horrors . But now, in What a Plant Knows , the renowned biologist Daniel Chamovitz presents an intriguing and scrupulous look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the schedules they keep. Highlighting the latest research in genetics and more, he takes us into the inner lives of plants and draws parallels with the human senses to reveal that we have much more in common with sunflowers and oak trees than we may realize. Chamovitz shows how plants know up from down, how they know when a neighbor has been infested by a group of hungry beetles, and whether they appreciate the Led Zeppelin you've been playing for them or if they're more partial to the melodic riffs of Bach. Covering touch, sound, smell, sight, and even memory, Chamovitz encourages us all to consider whether plants might even be aware of their surroundings. A rare inside look at what life is really like for the grass we walk on, the flowers we sniff, and the trees we climb, What a Plant Knows offers us a greater understanding of science and our place in nature.



Matthew Walker - Why We Sleep artwork Why We Sleep
Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
Matthew Walker
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: October 03, 2017
Publisher: Scribner
Seller: Simon & Schuster Canada

“ Why We Sleep is an important and fascinating book…Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.” —Bill Gates A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” ( Financial Times ) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber. With two appearances on CBS This Morning and Fresh Air 's most popular interview of 2017, Matthew Walker has made abundantly clear that sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when it is absent. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remains more elusive. Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. In this “compelling and utterly convincing” ( The Sunday Times ) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book. Written with the precision of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Sherwin Nuland, it is “recommended for night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense” ( The New York Times Book Review ).



Michael S. Gazzaniga - Tales from Both Sides of the Brain artwork Tales from Both Sides of the Brain
A Life in Neuroscience
Michael S. Gazzaniga
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: February 03, 2015
Publisher: Ecco
Seller: Harper Collins Canada Limited

Michael S. Gazzaniga, one of the most important neuroscientists of the twentieth century, gives us an exciting behind-the-scenes look at his seminal work on that unlikely couple, the right and left brain. Foreword by Steven Pinker. In the mid-twentieth century, Michael S. Gazzaniga, “the father of cognitive neuroscience,” was part of a team of pioneering neuroscientists who developed the now foundational split-brain brain theory: the notion that the right and left hemispheres of the brain can act independently from one another and have different strengths. In Tales from Both Sides of the Brain, Gazzaniga tells the impassioned story of his life in science and his decades-long journey to understand how the separate spheres of our brains communicate and miscommunicate with their separate agendas. By turns humorous and moving, Tales from Both Sides of the Brain interweaves Gazzaniga’s scientific achievements with his reflections on the challenges and thrills of working as a scientist. In his engaging and accessible style, he paints a vivid portrait not only of his discovery of split-brain theory, but also of his comrades in arms—the many patients, friends, and family who have accompanied him on this wild ride of intellectual discovery.



Max Born - Einstein's Theory of Relativity artwork Einstein's Theory of Relativity
Max Born
Genre: Physics
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: May 23, 2012
Publisher: Dover Publications
Seller: INscribe Digital

A book in which one great mind explains the work of another great mind in terms comprehensible to the layman is a significant achievement. This is such a book. Max Born is a Nobel Laureate (1955) and one of the world's great physicists: in this book he analyzes and interprets the theory of Einsteinian relativity. The result is undoubtedly the most lucid and insightful of all the books that have been written to explain the revolutionary theory that marked the end of the classical and the beginning of the modern era of physics. The author follows a quasi-historical method of presentation. The book begins with a review of the classical physics, covering such topics as origins of space and time measurements, geometric axioms, Ptolemaic and Copernican astronomy, concepts of equilibrium and force, laws of motion, inertia, mass, momentum and energy, Newtonian world system (absolute space and absolute time, gravitation, celestial mechanics, centrifugal forces, and absolute space), laws of optics (the corpuscular and undulatory theories, speed of light, wave theory, Doppler effect, convection of light by matter), electrodynamics (including magnetic induction, electromagnetic theory of light, electromagnetic ether, electromagnetic laws of moving bodies, electromagnetic mass, and the contraction hypothesis). Born then takes up his exposition of Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, discussing the concept of simultaneity, kinematics, Einstein's mechanics and dynamics, relativity of arbitrary motions, the principle of equivalence, the geometry of curved surfaces, and the space-time continuum, among other topics. Born then points out some predictions of the theory of relativity and its implications for cosmology, and indicates what is being sought in the unified field theory. This account steers a middle course between vague popularizations and complex scientific presentations. This is a careful discussion of principles stated in thoroughly acceptable scientific form, yet in a manner that makes it possible for the reader who has no scientific training to understand it. Only high school algebra has been used in explaining the nature of classical physics and relativity, and simple experiments and diagrams are used to illustrate each step. The layman and the beginning student in physics will find this an immensely valuable and usable introduction to relativity. This Dover 1962 edition was greatly revised and enlarged by Dr. Born.



Max Born - Atomic Physics: 8th Edition artwork Atomic Physics: 8th Edition
Max Born
Genre: Physics
Price: $21.99
Publish Date: April 22, 2013
Publisher: Dover Publications
Seller: INscribe Digital

First published in English in 1935, this classic treatment is well known to students and teachers of physics around the world. Since its original publication, Professor Born (Nobel laureate, 1954) continually updated the book to incorporate new developments in all branches of physics, particularly in the field of elementary particles. For this eighth edition he also wrote a new chapter on the quantum theory of solids. Contents include: Kinetic theory of gases Elementary particles Spin of the electron and Paul's principle The nuclear atom Wave-corpuscles Atomic structure and spectral lines Quantum statistics Molecular structure Quantum theory of solids Nuclear physics Over 40 helpful appendixes, dealing with the mean square deviation, theory of relativity, electron theory, the Compton effect, Hamiltonian theory and action variables, atomic form factor, meson theory, van der Waals forces, and other topics supplement the main text. A bibliography and numerous figures and graphs further enhance the usefulness of Atomic Physics, which retains its value as a broad treatment of basic physics from the special perspective of a towering figure in the field.



Robert Lanza & Bob Berman - Biocentrism artwork Biocentrism
How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
Robert Lanza & Bob Berman
Genre: Physics
Price: $19.99
Publish Date: February 02, 2010
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Seller: Perseus Books, LLC

Robert Lanza is one of the most respected scientists in the world—a US News & World Report cover story called him a “genius” and a “renegade thinker,” even likening him to Einstein. Lanza has teamed with Bob Berman, the most widely read astronomer in the world, to produce Biocentrism , a revolutionary new view of the universe. Every now and then a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundations of knowledge. The startling discovery that the world was not flat challenged and ultimately changed the way people perceived themselves and their relationship with the world. For most humans of the 15th century, the notion of Earth as ball of rock was nonsense. The whole of Western, natural philosophy is undergoing a sea change again, increasingly being forced upon us by the experimental findings of quantum theory, and at the same time, towards doubt and uncertainty in the physical explanations of the universe’s genesis and structure. Biocentrism completes this shift in worldview, turning the planet upside down again with the revolutionary view that life creates the universe instead of the other way around. In this paradigm, life is not an accidental byproduct of the laws of physics. Biocentrism takes the reader on a seemingly improbable but ultimately inescapable journey through a foreign universe—our own—from the viewpoints of an acclaimed biologist and a leading astronomer. Switching perspective from physics to biology unlocks the cages in which Western science has unwittingly managed to confine itself. Biocentrism will shatter the reader’s ideas of life—time and space, and even death. At the same time it will release us from the dull worldview of life being merely the activity of an admixture of carbon and a few other elements; it suggests the exhilarating possibility that life is fundamentally immortal. The 21st century is predicted to be the Century of Biology, a shift from the previous century dominated by physics. It seems fitting, then, to begin the century by turning the universe outside-in and unifying the foundations of science with a simple idea discovered by one of the leading life-scientists of our age. Biocentrism awakens in readers a new sense of possibility, and is full of so many shocking new perspectives that the reader will never see reality the same way again.



Jack Volhard & Wendy Volhard - Éduquer son chien Pour les Nuls artwork Éduquer son chien Pour les Nuls
Jack Volhard & Wendy Volhard
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: September 26, 2012
Publisher: First
Seller: Interforum, S.A.

Avec Eduquer son chien pour les Nuls, dresser votre compagnon à quatre pattes n'est pas une corvée. Que vous vouliez entreprendre l'éducation d'un chiot ou compléter celle d'un chien adulte, lui faire perdre ses mauvaises habitudes, ce livre vous propose des méthodes simples et claires pour rendre votre chien heureux et obéissant. Des ordres de bases à l'entraînement, découvrez toutes les astuces de dresseur et des conseils d'experts, adaptés à la psychologie de votre chien.



Roger Penrose - The Emperor's New Mind artwork The Emperor's New Mind
Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
Roger Penrose
Genre: Physics
Price: $12.99
Publish Date: April 28, 2016
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Seller: The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford trading as Oxford University Press

In his bestselling work of popular science, Sir Roger Penrose takes us on a fascinating tour through the basic principles of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and philosophy to show that human thinking can never be emulated by a machine.



Michael G. Raymer - Quantum Physics artwork Quantum Physics
What Everyone Needs to Know®
Michael G. Raymer
Genre: Physics
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: June 05, 2017
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Seller: The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford trading as Oxford University Press

Around 1900, physicists started to discover particles like electrons, protons, and neutrons, and with these discoveries believed they could predict the internal behavior of the atom. However, once their predictions were compared to the results of experiments in the real world, it became clear that the principles of classical physics and mechanics were far from capable of explaining phenomena on the atomic scale. With this realization came the advent of quantum physics, one of the most important intellectual movements in human history. Today, quantum physics is everywhere: it explains how our computers work, how lasers transmit information across the Internet, and allows scientists to predict accurately the behavior of nearly every particle in nature. Its application continues to be fundamental in the investigation of the most expansive questions related to our world and the universe. However, while the field and principles of quantum physics are known to have nearly limitless applications, the fundamental reasons why this is the case are far less understood. In Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know, quantum physicist Michael G. Raymer distills the basic principles of such an abstract field, and addresses the many ways quantum physics is a key factor in today's science and beyond. The book tackles questions as broad as the meaning of quantum entanglement and as specific and timely as why governments worldwide are spending billions of dollars developing quantum technology research. Raymer's list of topics is diverse, and showcases the sheer range of questions and ideas in which quantum physics is involved. From applications like data encryption and quantum computing to principles and concepts like "quantum nonlocality" and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Quantum Physics: What Everyone Needs to Know is a wide-reaching introduction to a nearly ubiquitous scientific topic.



The Writers of IFLScience & Paul Parsons - IFLScience 117 Things You Should F*#king Know About Your World artwork IFLScience 117 Things You Should F*#king Know About Your World
The Writers of IFLScience & Paul Parsons
Genre: Essays
Price: $17.99
Publish Date: October 08, 2019
Publisher: Running Press
Seller: Hachette Digital, Inc.

IFLScience presents the most intriguing and far-out facts about space, technology, the human brain, nature, and so much more that you should know, right now! 117 Things You Should F*#ing Know About Your World is a compendium of the greatest articles from IFLScience's long history, broken up by leading subjects: Health & Medicine Plants & Animals Technology The Brain Space The Environment Chemistry PhysicsEach chapter opens with a new and irreverent introduction to the subject and collection of stories by author Paul Parsons, and the book features fascinating sidebars on related stories, photos, and illustrations throughout. From pinpointing the exact worst time to be alive in human history, to learning what makes you a procrastinator or a go-getter, to the very key to a happy sex life, and so much more, this is the science book that only the world's leading source of crazy-but-true stories could produce.



Neil de Grasse Tyson - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry artwork Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Neil de Grasse Tyson
Genre: Physics
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: May 02, 2017
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Seller: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Over a year on the New York Times bestseller list and more than a million copies sold. The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist. What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day. While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.



Brian Greene - Until the End of Time artwork Until the End of Time
Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe
Brian Greene
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: February 18, 2020
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Instant New York Times Best-seller “A splendid and invigorating read.” —Maria Popova,  Brain Pickings From the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of  The Elegant Universe  comes a captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose. Until the End of Time  is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.



James Nestor - Breath artwork Breath
The New Science of a Lost Art
James Nestor
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: May 26, 2020
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.



Dorothy Roberts - Fatal Invention artwork Fatal Invention
How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century
Dorothy Roberts
Genre: Life Sciences
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: June 14, 2011
Publisher: The New Press
Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC

An incisive, groundbreaking book that examines how a biological concept of race is a myth that promotes inequality in a supposedly “post-racial” era.   Though the Human Genome Project proved that human beings are not naturally divided by race, the emerging fields of personalized medicine, reproductive technologies, genetic genealogy, and DNA databanks are attempting to resuscitate race as a biological category written in our genes.   This groundbreaking book by legal scholar and social critic Dorothy Roberts examines how the myth of race as a biological concept—revived by purportedly cutting-edge science, race-specific drugs, genetic testing, and DNA databases—continues to undermine a just society and promote inequality in a supposedly “post-racial” era. Named one of the ten best black nonfiction books 2011 by AFRO.com, Fatal Invention offers a timely and “provocative analysis” ( Nature ) of race, science, and politics that “is consistently lucid . . . alarming but not alarmist, controversial but evidential, impassioned but rational” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review).   “Everyone concerned about social justice in America should read this powerful book.” —Anthony D. Romero, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union   “A terribly important book on how the ‘fatal invention’ has terrifying effects in the post-genomic, ‘post-racial’ era.” —Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, professor of sociology, Duke University, and author of Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States   “ Fatal Invention is a triumph! Race has always been an ill-defined amalgam of medical and cultural bias, thinly overlaid with the trappings of contemporary scientific thought. And no one has peeled back the layers of assumption and deception as lucidly as Dorothy Roberts.” —Harriet A. Washington, author of and Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself  



Stephen Hawking - A Brief History of Time artwork A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $15.99
Publish Date: March 01, 1988
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

#1  NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER A landmark volume in science writing by one of the great minds of our time, Stephen Hawking’s book explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending—or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends? Told in language we all can understand,  A Brief History of Time  plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,” of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation.



Michael Lewis - The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds artwork The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
Michael Lewis
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $19.99
Publish Date: December 06, 2016
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Seller: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

“Brilliant. . . . Lewis has given us a spectacular account of two great men who faced up to uncertainty and the limits of human reason.” —William Easterly, Wall Street Journal Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, Kahneman and Tversky’s extraordinary friendship incited a revolution in Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis’s own work possible. In The Undoing Project, Lewis shows how their Nobel Prize–winning theory of the mind altered our perception of reality.



James Lovelock - Gaia artwork Gaia
A New Look at Life on Earth
James Lovelock
Genre: Nature
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: September 28, 2000
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Seller: The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford trading as Oxford University Press

This classic work is now reissued in new covers with a new Preface by the author. Written for non-scientists, this is an original work in which James Lovelock puts forward his inspirational idea that life on earth functions as a single organism.



Thomas Hager - The Alchemy of Air artwork The Alchemy of Air
A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler
Thomas Hager
Genre: Chemistry
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: September 09, 2008
Publisher: Crown
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

A sweeping history of tragic genius, cutting-edge science, and the Haber-Bosch discovery that changed billions of lives—including your own. At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster: Mass starvation was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’ s scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two men who found it: brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, and saved millions of lives. But their epochal triumph came at a price we are still paying. The Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. Both men were vilified during their lives; both, disillusioned and disgraced, died tragically. The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of a discovery that changed the way we grow food and the way we make war–and that promises to continue shaping our lives in fundamental and dramatic ways.



Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac - The Future We Choose artwork The Future We Choose
Surviving the Climate Crisis
Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac
Genre: Science & Nature
Price: $14.99
Publish Date: February 25, 2020
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

Climate change: it is arguably the most urgent and consequential issue humankind has ever faced. How we address it in the next thirty years will determine the kind of world we will live in and will bequeath to our children and to theirs. In The Future We Choose , Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac--who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015--have written a cautionary but optimistic book about the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity. The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.



Timothy C. Winegard - The Mosquito artwork The Mosquito
A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator
Timothy C. Winegard
Genre: Nature
Price: $16.99
Publish Date: August 06, 2019
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate   Why was gin and tonic the cocktail of choice for British colonists in India and Africa? What does Starbucks have to thank for its global domination? What has protected the lives of popes for millennia? Why did Scotland surrender its sovereignty to England? What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution?  The answer to all these questions, and many more, is the mosquito.   Across our planet since the dawn of humankind, this nefarious pest, roughly the size and weight of a grape seed, has been at the frontlines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change. As the mosquito transformed the landscapes of civilization, humans were unwittingly required to respond to its piercing impact and universal projection of power.   The mosquito has determined the fates of empires and nations, razed and crippled economies, and decided the outcome of pivotal wars, killing nearly half of humanity along the way. She (only females bite) has dispatched an estimated 52 billion people from a total of 108 billion throughout our relatively brief existence. As the greatest purveyor of extermination we have ever known, she has played a greater role in shaping our human story than any other living thing with which we share our global village.   Imagine for a moment a world without deadly mosquitoes, or any mosquitoes, for that matter? Our history and the world we know, or think we know, would be completely unrecognizable.   Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling,  The Mosquito  is the extraordinary untold story of the mosquito’s reign through human history and her indelible impact on our modern world order.



Robert Nelson - Common Birds of North America - An Illustrated Guide to 50 of the Most Common North American Birds artwork Common Birds of North America - An Illustrated Guide to 50 of the Most Common North American Birds
Robert Nelson
Genre: Nature
Price: $1.99
Publish Date: September 01, 2014
Publisher: MaxHouse
Seller: SHAOKONG KAO

Your guide to 50 most common birds for America. If you are interested in birding, this is for you. Know your secret visitor. With this coming spring, there will be lot of birds’ activities. Get familiar with the American birds. A guide for students, hobbyists and improving general knowledge. Common Birds of North America provides you with the information you need to start a fascinating new hobby that will provides hours of joy for you and your family. Common Birds of North America is the perfect guide to identifying the most common birds. With this illustrated guide, you will be able to readily identify everyday birds. The birds depicted in this book are valuable reminders. We need them; we need the same clean and wholesome environment upon which they rely; we must work to ensure their continued well-being (and that of other migratory and non-hunted species) so that our own future can be assured. You will find this guide to be your first step in appreciating the hobby of birding. Here are the 50 birds you will find in this book: Baltimore Oriole Barn Swallow Chickadee Blue Bird Blue Jay Bobwhite Brown Creeper Brown Thrasher Canada Goose Cardinal Catbird Cedar Waxwing Chimney Swift Chipping Sparrow Cowbird Crow Downy Woodpecker Flicker Goldfinch Grackle Green Heron Herring Gull House Sparrow House Wren Junco Killdeer Mallard Mockingbird Mourning Dove Myrtle Warbler Nighthawk Pigeon Purple Martin Red-eyed Vireo Red-headed WP Red-winged BB Robin Hummingbird Song Sparrow Sparrow Hawk Starling Towhee Tufted Titmouse Turkey Vulture White-breasted Nuthatch White-crowned Sparrow Wood Pewee Wood Thrush Yellowthroat Yellow Warbler



Derek Johnson, Linda Kershaw, Andy MacKinnon & Jim Pojar - Plants of the Western Forest artwork Plants of the Western Forest
Alberta Saskatchewan and Manitoba Boreal and Aspen Parkland
Derek Johnson, Linda Kershaw, Andy MacKinnon & Jim Pojar
Genre: Nature
Price: $20.99
Publish Date: August 31, 1995
Publisher: Lone Pine Publishing Ltd.
Seller: Lone Pine Media Productions Ltd.

This beautifully illustrated, easy-to-use field guide provides detailed information about more than 620 species of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens found in the boreal and aspen parkland regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Whether you are a naturalist, a day hiker or an armchair adventurer, you can explore our great forests with this handy reference in your backpack or library. Plants of the Western Forest: Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba includes: * More than 800 colour photographs * Almost 900 line drawings * Colour photo guide to wildflowers * Clear species descriptions to help identify plants * Intriguing notes about edible plants, native uses of plants and origins of plant names.



Scott McMillion - Mark of the Grizzly, 2nd artwork Mark of the Grizzly, 2nd
Revised and Updated With More Stories of Recent Bear Attacks and the Hard Lessons Learned
Scott McMillion
Genre: Nature
Price: $11.99
Publish Date: August 26, 2013
Publisher: Lyons Press
Seller: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group

Every year, millions of people travel to grizzly country, hoping for a glimpse of the Great Bear. And every year, somebody is attacked. The power of the grizzly is almost mythical and has become the stuff of legend.Mark of the Grizzly relies on neither myth nor legend. Rather, it relies on the true accounts of dozens of attacks, from Yellowstone National Park to Alaska, from 1977 to 2010. Author Scott McMillion examines each attack and its aftermath, interviewing victims, survivors, and investigators. Hikers, photographers, hunters, scientists, and others tell their stories here, offering what they have learned and the lessons that others should know.Neither mysteries nor tales of horror, these stories create a world of wonder, respect, and fear that make for a book you’ll find hard to put down. In the thirteen years since Mark of the Grizzly first appeared, DNA science has revolutionized how people study bears and how they investigate attacks. Growing populations of grizzlies and people have led to more bear/human encounters—some fatal—and grizzlies now wander parts of the West where they hadn’t been seen for decades. This new edition includes a thorough update of existing material and new or expanded chapters that cover: The recent attacks around Yellowstone National Park and Anchorage, Alaska, which have generated national headlines.The increased popularity of mountain biking and trail running in grizzly country. Are such sports advisable there?Bear populations expanding into the prairies of Montana and Wyoming, far from the expected mountain locales.“Bear Men.” People who get too close to bears, and sometimes die in their jaws. The book includes a profile of Timothy Treadwell, subject of the movie Grizzly Man.The continuing phenomenon of “dinner bell” grizzlies.



Susan Casey - The Wave artwork The Wave
In Pursuit of the Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean
Susan Casey
Genre: Nature
Price: $13.99
Publish Date: September 14, 2010
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Seller: Penguin Random House Canada

A riveting and rollicking tour-de-force about the terrifying power of nature's most deadly phenomena — colossal waves — and the scientists and super surfers who are obsessed with them. The New York Times bestselling author of The Devil's Teeth probes the dramatic convergence of baffling gargantuan waves that pummel oil rigs and sink massive ships, the extreme surfers willing to stare down death in order to ride them, and the marine scientists trying to unlock the physics of these waves, the climate changes that are provoking them, and what chaos they might wreak. Susan Casey explores the phenomenon of monster waves and how they have become an obsession for extreme surfers like Laird Hamilton — who serves as the author's guide as she takes the reader into the intense, white-knuckle world of 100-foot waves.