Accessible, fun and compelling, and based on more than three decades of research, The Female Brain will help women to better understand themselves - and the men in their lives.In this groundbreaking book, Dr Louann Brizendine describes the uniquely flexible structure of the female brain and its constant, dynamic state of change - the key difference that separates it from that of the male - and reveals how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and whom they'll love. She also reveals the neurological explanations behind why... - A woman remembers fights that a man insists never happened...- Thoughts about sex enter a woman's brain perhaps once every couple of days, but may enter a man's brain up to once every minute...- A woman's brain goes on high alert during pregnancy - and stays that way long after giving birth...- A woman over 50 is more likely to initiate divorce than a man...- Women tend to know what people are feeling, while men can't spot an emotion unless someone cries or threatens them with bodily harm! Read more

The Ultimate Science Fiction Mega Collection contains 24 of the greatest science fiction works ever written. - Book 1: ‘A Journey to the Center of the Earth’, a classic science fiction novel by Jules Verne. - Book 2: ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ is part of Jules Verne’s most popular trilogy. - Book 3: ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ (1873) is an acclaimed adventure novel by Jules Verne. - Book 4: Jules Verne’s masterpiece, ‘The Mysterious Island’, is a fascinating story of five men and a dog who escape the American Civil War in a hot air balloon. - Book 5: ‘The Master of the World’ by Jules Verne is a story told by John Strock, a federal police inspector. - Book 6: ‘In the Year 2889’ by Jules Verne is a diary of the observations of Fritz Napoleon Smith, the editor of an influential futuristic newspaper. - Book 7: ‘The War of the Worlds’ is HG Wells’ dramatic science fiction tale of aliens invading England. - Book 8: ‘The Time Machine’ by HG Wells is about an English scientist who entertains guests for dinner every week. - Book 9: ‘The Invisible Man’ is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. - Book 10: ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau’ is an 1896 science fiction novel by the English author H. G. Wells (1866-1946). The story is narrated by Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat and left on the island home of Doctor Moreau. - Book 11: This entertaining satire ‘Flatland’ is the work of the clergyman, educator and scholar Edwin A. Abbott (1838-1926). - Book 12: Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel ‘Frankenstein’ tells the story of Dr Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a creature by grave robbing and alchemy. - Book 13: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. - Book 14: Little Fuzzy Jack Holloway mines valuable sunstones on the planet Zarathustra. - Book 15: ‘The Machine Stops’ by E M Forster is a dystopian science fiction short story first published in a magazine in 1909, and republished in ‘The Eternal Moment and Other Stories’ in 1928. - Book 16: 'Youth', a science fiction novelette by Isaac Asimov, first appeared in the May 1952 issue of Space Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the 1955 collection The Martian Way and Other Stories. - Book 17: ‘2 B R 0 2 B’ is a science fiction short story by Kurt Vonnegut, originally published in a magazine in 1962. - Book 18: In ‘The Variable Man', the growing Terran system is being suppressed and prevented from expanding by the Centaurian Empire. - Book 19: ‘The Pendulum’ by Ray Douglas Bradbury (1920-2012). Bradbury's short story ‘Pendulum’, written with Henry Hasse, was published in 1941 in the pulp magazine Super Science Stories. - Book 20: ‘The Fight of the Good Ship Clarissa’ is an experimental short story by Ray Bradbury. - Book 21: ‘Asleep in Armageddon’: A space ship crashes on an uninhabited planet but the pilot survives, and requests help, which is expected in six days. - Book 22: ‘A Princess of Mars’ is a science fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of the Barsoom series. - Book 23: ‘The Gods of Mars’ (1918) is a science fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the second of Burroughs' Barsoom series. - Book 24: ‘The Warlords of Mars’ completes Edgar Rice Burroughs’ action-packed Barsoom Trilogy.   Read more

A USA Today bestseller!The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry takes readers on an entertaining and edifying tour of the universe.In Neil deGrasse Tyson's delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed firsthand many of the major scientific events of Earth's history. Merlin's friends include the most important scientific figures and explorers of all time--da Vinci, Magellan, Newton, Einstein, and Hubble. While Merlin occasionally recounts playful conversations with these luminaries, all questions are answered with authentic science, infused with wit, wisdom, and an occasional rhyme. With the help of intermittent humorous cartoons, Merlin clarifies the details of familiar phenomena like gravity, light, space, and time, and travels to distant stars and galaxies to describe what makes them tick, rotate, explode, and collapse.Merlin's Tour of the Universe is perfect for anyone who harbors burning questions on how the cosmos works. Read more

* THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the Hugo Award * Scientific American’s #1 Book for 2023 Winner of Royal Society's Trivedi Prize * A Guardian Best Book of 2024 * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Shortlisted for the Trivedi Prize * A Times Best Science and Environment Book of 2023 * A Tor.com Best Book of 2023 *“Exceptional. . . Forceful, engaging and funny . . . This book will make you happy to live on this planet — a good thing, because you’re not leaving anytime soon.” —New York Times Book ReviewFrom the bestselling authors of Soonish, a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlementEarth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, they aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won’t create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, the Weinersmiths answer every question about space you’ve ever wondered about, and many you’ve never considered:Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon’s Peaks of Eternal Light—and what happens if you’re left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what’s the legal status of space cannibalism?With deep expertise, a winning sense of humor, and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself—whether and how to become multiplanetary.Get in, we’re going to Mars. Read more

A space enthusiast goes inside mission control with a motley crew of rocket scientists in this “fascinating journey of discovery peppered with humor” (Publishers Weekly). The Phoenix Mars mission was the first man-made probe ever sent to the Martian arctic. Its purpose was to find out how climate change could turn a warm, wet planet (read: Earth) into a cold, barren desert (read: Mars). Along the way, Phoenix discovered a giant frozen ocean trapped beneath the north pole of Mars, exotic food for aliens, and liquid water, and laid the foundation for NASA’s current exploration of Mars using the Curiosity rover. This is not science fiction. It’s fact. And for the luckiest fanboy in fandom, it was the best vacation ever. Andrew Kessler spent the summer of 2008 in NASA’s mission control with one hundred thirty of the world’s best planetary scientists and engineers as they carried out this ambitious operation. He came back with a story of human drama about modern-day pioneers battling NASA politics, temperamental robots, and the bizarre world of daily life in mission control.

“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) explores the irresistibly strange universe of life without gravity in this New York Times bestseller.The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth. Read more

New proof of a nuclear catastrophe on Mars! In an epic story of discovery, strong evidence is presented for a dead civilization on Mars and the shocking reason for its demise: an ancient planetary-scale nuclear massacre leaving isotopic traces of vast explosions that endure to our present age. The story told by a wide range of Mars data is now clear. Mars was once Earth-like in climate, with an ocean and rivers, and for a long period became home to both plant and animal life, including a humanoid civilization. Then, for unfathomable reasons, a massive thermo-nuclear explosion ravaged the centers of the Martian civilization and destroyed the biosphere of the planet. But the story does not end there. This tragedy may explain Fermi's Paradox, the fact that the cosmos, seemingly so fertile and with so many planets suitable for life, is as silent as a graveyard. We must immediately send astronauts to Mars to maximize our knowledge of what happened there, and learn how to avoid Mars' fate. Includes an 8-page color section. Read more

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The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry takes readers on an entertaining and edifying tour of the universe.In Neil deGrasse Tyson’s delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed firsthand many of the major scientific events of Earth’s history. Merlin’s friends include the most important scientific figures and explorers of all time—da Vinci, Magellan, Newton, Einstein, and Hubble. While Merlin occasionally recounts playful conversations with these luminaries, all questions are answered with authentic science, infused with wit, wisdom, and an occasional rhyme. With the help of intermittent humorous cartoons, Merlin clarifies the details of familiar phenomena like gravity, light, space, and time, and travels to distant stars and galaxies to describe what makes them tick, rotate, explode, and collapse.Merlin’s Tour of the Universe is perfect for anyone who harbors burning questions on how the cosmos works. Read more

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry comes a fascinating guide to the most popular questions about the universe.In Neil de Grasse Tyson's delightful tour of the galaxies, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular astronomy questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has been friends with many of the most important scientific figures of the past, including da Vinci, Magellan, Doppler, Einstein, and Hubble—and he often recounts his conversations with these historical figures in his explanations. Merlin's illuminating answers feature a unique combination of wit and poetry along with serious science explained in refreshingly clear, reader-friendly language.Dear Merlin: Can a person cross our galaxy in a spaceship during one human lifespan?Merlin: In 1905, Merlin's good friend Albert Einstein introduced the "Special Theory of Relativity," which predicts that time will tick slower and slower the faster you travel. Were you to embark on such an adventure you could conceivably age as little as you wish, depending of course, on your exact speed. The problem arises when you return to Earth, which will have moved several hundred thousand years into the future and everyone will have forgotten about you.A timeless book for lovers of the universe by one of its greatest lights. Read more

The Case for Marsmakes living in space seem more possible than ever in this updated 25th anniversary edition, featuring the latest information on the planet's exploration and the drive to send humans there. Since the beginning of human history, Mars has been an alluring dream—the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it had long been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit. But that is changing fast. In February 2021, the American rover Perseverance will touch down on Mars. Equipped with a powerful suite of scientific instruments—including some that will attempt to make oxygen from the Martian atmosphere—the rover also carries a helicopter that will take spectacular panoramic movies from the air. Most exciting of all, a spectrometer onboard may find evidence of fossils left behind by microbes millions of years ago, when the planet was warm and wet, proving at last that life on Earth is not unique, but a general phenomenon in the universe. Meanwhile, in Boca Chica, Texas, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has created a shipyard that is building and testing the vessels that will take humans to Mars before this decade is out. Leading space exploration expert Robert Zubrin crafted the daring blueprint for humanity’s reach to the Red Planet twenty-five years ago, when he first published The Case for Mars. Now, in this updated edition, he looks to the future once more to describe how—in an era when the American space program and private companies like SpaceX are racing to send astronauts to Mars—our first colonies there are imminent. In the grand tradition of successful explorers, Zubrin calls for a travel-light and live-off-the-land approach to Martian settlement. He explains how scientists can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars, produce fuel and oxygen on the planet’s surface with its own natural resources, build bases and communities, and one day, terraform—or alter the atmosphere of the planet in order to pave the way for sustainable life. As a landmark new mission opens the decisive campaign to take humans to the Red Planet, Zubrin lays out a comprehensive plan to build life on a new world. Read more

An argument that we have a moral duty to explore other planets and solar systems--because human life on Earth has an expiration date.Inevitably, life on Earth will come to an end, whether by climate disaster, cataclysmic war, or the death of the sun in a few billion years. To avoid extinction, we will have to find a new home planet, perhaps even a new solar system, to inhabit. In this provocative and fascinating book, Christopher Mason argues that we have a moral duty to do just that. As the only species aware that life on Earth has an expiration date, we have a responsibility to act as the shepherd of life-forms--not only for our species but for all species on which we depend and for those still to come (by accidental or designed evolution). Mason argues that the same capacity for ingenuity that has enabled us to build rockets and land on other planets can be applied to redesigning biology so that we can sustainably inhabit those planets. And he lays out a 500-year plan for undertaking the massively ambitious project of reengineering human genetics for life on other worlds.As they are today, our frail human bodies could never survive travel to another habitable planet. Mason describes the toll that long-term space travel took on astronaut Scott Kelly, who returned from a year on the International Space Station with changes to his blood, bones, and genes. Mason proposes a ten-phase, 500-year program that would engineer the genome so that humans can tolerate the extreme environments of outer space--with the ultimate goal of achieving human settlement of new solar systems. He lays out a roadmap of which solar systems to visit first, and merges biotechnology, philosophy, and genetics to offer an unparalleled vision of the universe to come. Read more

One of Scientific American’s Best Books of 2024 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: Are we alone in the universe? And how did life on Earth begin?We are in a golden age in astronomy, living on the cusp of breakthroughs that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in the cosmos. Yet a profound question remains: Are we alone in the universe? We have never been closer to answering this question. In The Secret Life of the Universe, celebrated astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life. The book’s odyssey begins by exploring how life began on Earth in order to understand what’s necessary for its existence elsewhere. What role did our moon play? And could life on Mars have seeded life on Earth? Cabrol continues this dazzling interplanetary tour, illuminating the likeliest places for life in our neighborhood: While Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn are among the top contenders, recent missions are redefining the limits of habitability to include unexpected worlds. Finally, we seek life beyond our solar system, becoming witness to a revolution in the night sky: the realization that there are as many planets as stars in our galaxy. With more than 300 million exoplanets in the habitable zone of their stars in the Milky Way alone, to think we are alone, or the only advanced intelligent civilization, may be little more than nonsense. The Secret Life of the Universe is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the search for life—“a mind-altering and exhilarating read for anyone who has ever wondered: are we alone?” (Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk). Read more

This classic on space travel was first published in 1953, when interplanetary space flight was considered science fiction by most of those who considered it at all. Here the German-born scientist Wernher von Braun detailed what he believed were the problems and possibilities inherent in a projected expedition to Mars.    Today von Braun is recognized as the person most responsible for laying the groundwork for public acceptance of America's space program. When President Bush directed NASA in 1989 to prepare plans for an orbiting space station, lunar research bases, and human exploration of Mars, he was largely echoing what von Braun proposed in The Mars Project.   Read more

In Ancient Aliens on Mars II, New York Times bestselling author Mike Bara returns the reader to Mars to examine the enduring mysteries of the Red Planet. Building on the case made in Ancient Aliens on Mars and using data acquired from sophisticated new scientific instruments like the Mars Odyssey THEMIS infrared imager, Bara shows that the region of Cydonia overlays a vast underground city full of enormous structures and devices that may still be operating. He peels back the layers of mystery to show images of tunnel systems, temples and ruins, and exposes the sophisticated NASA conspiracy designed to hide them and discredit the researchers that discovered these exotic ruins. Bara also tackles the enigma of Mars' hollowed out moon Phobos, and exposes evidence from over 30 years of observations that it is artificial. Long-held myths about Mars, including claims that it is protected by a sophisticated UFO defense system, are examined and illuminated. Data from the Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity is examined; everything from fossilized plants to mechanical debris is exposed in images taken directly from NASA's own archives. Finally, the author offers his take on the secret history of the Red Planet and what happened to the highly advanced civilization that once flourished there. Read more

The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth. Read more

“Zubrin's vibrant, colorful, and stimulating narrative of how to get to, modify, settle, and prosper on Mars makes me a believer.” —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times–bestselling author When Robert Zubrin published his classic book The Case for Mars a quarter century ago, setting foot on the Red Planet seemed a fantasy. Today, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are building fleets of space vehicles to make interplanetary travel as affordable as Old-World passage to America. We will settle on Mars, and with our knowledge of the planet, analyzed in depth by Dr. Zubrin, we will utilize the resources and tackle the challenges that await us. What we will we build? Populous Martian city-states producing air, water, food, power, and more. Zubrin’s Martian economy will pay for necessary imports and generate income from varied enterprises, such as real estate sales—homes that are airtight and protect against cosmic space radiation, with fish-farm aquariums positioned overhead, letting in sunlight and blocking cosmic rays while providing fascinating views. Zubrin even predicts the Red Planet customs, social relations, and government—of the people, by the people, for the people, with inalienable individual rights—that will overcome traditional forms of oppression to draw Earth immigrants. After all, Mars needs talent. With all of this in place, Zubrin’s Red Planet will become a pressure cooker for invention in bioengineering, synthetic biology, robotics, medicine, nuclear energy, and more, benefiting humans on Earth, Mars, and beyond. We can create this magnificent future, making life better, less fatalistic. The New World on Mars proves that there is no point killing each other over provinces and limited resources when, together, we can create planets. Read more

"Robert Zubrin is a true engineering genius like the heroic engineers of the past." --Frederick Turner, American EnterpriseUsing nuts-and-bolts engineering and a unique grasp of human history, Robert Zubrin takes us to the not-very-distant future, when our global society will branch out into the universe. From the current-day prospect of lunar bases and Mars settlements to the outer reaches of other galaxies, Zubrin delivers the most important and forward-looking work on space and the true possibilities of human exploration since Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Sagan himself said of Zubrin's humans-to-Mars plan, "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue." With Entering Space, he takes us further, into the prospect of human expansion to the outer planets of our own solar system--and beyond. Read more

“The story of the dreams and the unbuilt spaceships for flights to Mars should be recorded so that in the future people can examine past ideas of space travel just as we can examine the unconsummated ideas of Leonardo da Vinci by reading his notebooks. Years from now people should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to go to Mars or if they prefer to stay earthbound. But let us not destroy the dream, simply because we do not wish to pursue it ourselves.” (Edward Ezell, 1979) In the past half century, visionary engineers have made increasingly realistic plans for launching astronauts to Mars to explore the planet. This monograph traces the evolution of these plans, taking into account such factors as on-going technological advancement and our improving knowledge of the red planet. More than 1,000 piloted Mars mission studies were conducted inside and outside NASA between about 1950 and 2000. Many were the product of NASA and industry study teams, while others were the work of committed individuals or private organizations. Due to space limitations, only 50 mission studies (one per year, or less than 5 percent of the total) are described in this monograph. The studies included are believed to be representative of most of the technologies and techniques associated with piloted Mars exploration. In addition to tracing the evolution of mission concepts, this monograph examines piloted Mars mission planning from a policy standpoint. Mars plans are affected by their societal context and by the policies that grow from that context. When the human species eventually decides to send a piloted mission to Mars, the political environment in which it develops will have at least as much impact on its shape as technology, human factors, and the Martian and interplanetary environments. Hence, it stands to benefit the space technologist to study the ways in which policy has shaped (and thwarted past Mars plans. This idea may seem obvious to some readers, yet the history of piloted Mars mission planning shows that this truism has often been ignored or imperfectly understood, usually to the detriment of Mars exploration. This history should be seen as a tool for building toward a future that includes piloted Mars exploration, not merely as a chronicle of events forgotten and plans unrealized. The author hopes to update and expand it in 15 or 20 years so that it tells a story culminating in the first piloted Mars mission. Perhaps a university student reading this monograph today will become a member of the first Mars mission crew tomorrow. Read more