Trained in both classics and computer science, Bolter considers the cultural impact of computers on our age, comparing the computer to earlier technologies that redefined fundamental notions of time, space, language, memory, and human creativity...

Steven Pinker meets Bill Bryson in this landmark exploration of language.In the author's own words, "How Language Works is not about music, cookery, or sex. But it is about how we talk about music, cookery, and sex-or, indeed, anything at all." Language...

Throughout the history of the Western world, science has possessed an extraordinary amount of authority and prestige. And while its pedestal has been jostled by numerous evolutions and revolutions, science has always managed to maintain its stronghold as...

Whether our personality, intelligence, and behavior are more likely to be shaped by our environment or our genetic coding is not simply an idle question for today's researchers. There are tremendous consequences to understanding the crucial role that...

In this illuminating book, the renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that fundamental physics — the search for the laws of nature — is losing its way. Smolin offers an unblinking assessment of string theory and encourages a new direction for...

A preeminent scientist -- and the world's most prominent atheist -- asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms,...

“Ann Druyan has unearthed a treasure. It is a treasure of reason, compassion, and scientific awe. It should be the next book you read.” —Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith“A stunningly valuable legacy left to all of us by a great human being. I miss...

Games are everywhere: Drivers maneuvering in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. The supermarket's price for corn flakes is decided by playing an economic game. This Very Short...

Imagine a world without things. There would be nothing to describe, explain, remark on, interpret, or complain about. Without things, we would, in short, stop speaking; we would become as mute as objects are alleged to be. In nine original essays,...

Astrophysicist George Smoot spent decades pursuing the origin of the cosmos, "the holy grail of science," a relentless hunt that led him from the rain forests of Brazil to the frozen wastes of Antarctica. In his search he struggled against time, the...

This collection from scientist and Nobel Peace Prize winner highlights the achievements of a man whose career reshaped the world's understanding of quantum electrodynamics.The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short...

Nobel Prize-winner Roger Penrose, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, presents the only comprehensive—and comprehensible—account of the physics of the universe.A "guide to physics’ big picture, and to the thoughts of one of the world’s...

In these inspiring lectures David Bohm explores Albert Einstein’s celebrated Theory of Relativity that transformed forever the way we think about time and space. Yet for Bohm the implications of the theory were far more revolutionary both in scope and...

In the widely discussed first volume in the Golem series, The Golem: What You Should Know About Science, Harry Colllins and Trevor Pinch likened science to the Golem, a creature from Jewish mythology, a powerful creature which, while not evil, can be...

“A stunning book.”―Oliver Sacks Memory binds our mental life together. We are who we are in large part because of what we learn and remember. But how does the brain create memories? Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel intertwines the intellectual history...

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER • "A riveting account of one of history’s most essential and paradoxical figures.”—Christopher Nolan#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • The definitive...

Describes the commonalities in the scientific methods pioneered by Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, citing how their applications of non-traditional methods opened up unprecedented intellectual landscapes and founded the sciences of cosmology and...

“Each new page [is] more spellbinding than the one before—this is surely one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read.”—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of DogsWhen Bernd Heinrich decided to write a memoir of his ultramarathon...

A half century ago, a shocking Washington Post headline claimed that the world began in five cataclysmic minutes rather than having existed for all time; a skeptical scientist dubbed the maverick theory the Big Bang. In this amazingly comprehensible...

“The most exciting intellectual adventure I've been on since reading Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York TimesGary Zukav’s timeless, humorous, New York Times bestselling masterpiece, The Dancing...