History & Philosophy

The incomparable Bill Bryson travels through time and space to introduce us to the world, the universe and everything in this groundbreaking bestseller. Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller: but even when he stays safely in his own study at home, he can't contain his curiosity abou... More

The international bestselling broadside that has taken the world by storm The God Delusion caused a sensation when it was published in 2006. Within weeks it became the most hotly debated topic, with Dawkins himself branded as either saint or sinner for presenting his hard-hitting, impassioned rebutt... More

Energy presents information and investigations on these seven concepts: * Sunlight contains energy. * Sound is produced by vibrations. * Electrical energy flows through electric circuits. * Magnetism is related to electricity. * Heat energy can be transferred. * Energy can change from one form to an... More

Winner of the 1998 Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize 'A book of extraordinary vision and confidence' Observer This book answers the most obvious, the most important, yet the most difficult question about human history: why history unfolded so differently on different continents. Geography and biogr... More

Gut Feelings reveals the secrets of fast and effective decision-making. Gerd Gigerenzer analyses the heuristics that people actually use to make good decisions and shows us how we can become better decision-makers ourselves. In order to make a good decision in an uncertain world, one sometimes h... More

"A Brief History of Time," published in 1988, was a landmark volume in science writing and in world-wide acclaim and popularity, with more than 9 million copies in print globally. The original edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But th... More

Ideas and Opinions is the definitive collection of Einstein's writing,including scientific writing that are the foundation for modern physics and of our modern world,extractsfrom his speeches on subjects as diverse as atomic war,religion and human right and letters that show the personal side of one... More

The Tao of Physics is Fritjof Capra's classic exploration of the connections between Eastern mysticism and modern physics. An international bestseller, the book's central thesis, that the mystical traditions of the East constitute a coherent philosophical framework within which the most advanced Wes... More

How to make it, break it, hack it, crack it. The secret history of codes and code breaking. Simon Singh’s best-selling title The Code Book now reissued for the young-adult market.  The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Simon Singh brings life to an amazing story ... More

The Holy Grail of modern scientists is "The Theory of Everything," which will contain all that can be known about the Universe -- the magic formula that Einstein spent his life searching for and failed to find. In this elegant and exciting book, first published in 1990, John Barrow challenges the qu... More

While taking a class on infinity at Stanford in the late 1980s, Ravi Kapoor discovers that he is confronting the same mathematical and philosophical dilemmas that his mathematician grandfather had faced many decades earlier—and that had landed him in jail. Charged under an obscure blasphemy law in... More

Bestselling author and physicist Stephen Hawking assembles the most groundbreaking works by Albert Einstein together into one volume and provides introductions to each work.Best-selling author and physicist Stephen Hawking assembles the most groundbreaking works by Albert Einstein together into one ... More

"How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?" the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner."Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way by mathematical ideas did," came the ... More

This collection of the best short works of rule-breaking genius Richard Feynman shows his passion for knowledge and sense of fun at their most infectious. The revealing and inspiring pieces here span a lifetime of enthusiasm for discovering what makes the world tick - including uproarious tales of e... More