Elegant design combined with beautiful images to explore and explain Earth's natural riches.This is an informative, visually arresting introduction to planet Earth. The core of the ebook features large, detailed photographs of single objects, many of them small enough to be held in one hand, that each speak volumes about an aspect of Earth's environments and how they work. For example, bubbles of ancient air trapped inside an Antarctic ice core reveal how Earth's climate has changed over time. A piece of pumice thrown several miles into the air by a volcano helps explain what happens when tectonic plates collide. The ebook is structured around an imaginary journey that takes the reader from the inner core to Earth's surface (including both land and oceans) and up to the top of the atmosphere. Taking in environments such as grasslands, forests, and reefs, the coverage includes both living and inanimate realms. Feature spreads each throw a spotlight on an iconic place, such as the Amazon Rainforest or the Dead Sea, or a particular process, such as glacial erosion. Many of the most fascinating parts of the natural world are beyond reach. This beautiful, informative ebook brings them up close and within our grasp. Read more

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In a tour de force of historical reportage, Timothy Egan’s National Book Award–winning story rescues an iconic chapter of American history from the shadows.The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Timothy Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, he does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet” (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful reminder about the dangers of trifling with nature.This e-book includes a sample chapter of THE IMMORTAL IRISHMAN. Read more

Understanding science has never been easier.Combining bold graphics with easy-to-understand text, Simply Science is the perfect introduction for those who are short on time but hungry for knowledge.The book covers not only the core sciences—physics, biology, and chemistry—but also Earth science and astronomy. Assuming no previous scientific knowledge, it covers more than 100 cornerstone ideas, ranging from photosynthesis to chemical reactions, the laws of motion, and the general theory of relativity. Pared-back entries each focus on a single concept and use a combination of clear text and simple graphics to explain it as directly and concisely as possible.Whether you are studying science in school or college, or simply want a jargon-free overview of the subject, this essential guide is packed with everything you need to understand the basics of science quickly and easily. Read more

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At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he was based, was to him preposterous, "an absurd delusion." It was 1900, a year when America felt bigger and stronger than ever before. Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, then a magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of the Gulf.That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nation and killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. Odd things seemed to happen everywhere: A plague of crickets engulfed Waco. The Bering Glacier began to shrink. Rain fell on Galveston with greater intensity than anyone could remember. Far away, in Africa, immense thunderstorms blossomed over the city of Dakar, and great currents of wind converged. A wave of atmospheric turbulence slipped from the coast of western Africa. Most such waves faded quickly. This one did not.In Cuba, America's overconfidence was made all too obvious by the Weather Bureau's obsession with controlling hurricane forecasts, even though Cuba's indigenous weathermen had pioneered hurricane science. As the bureau's forecasters assured the nation that all was calm in the Caribbean, Cuba's own weathermen fretted about ominous signs in the sky. A curious stillness gripped Antigua. Only a few unlucky sea captains discovered that the storm had achieved an intensity no man alive had ever experienced.In Galveston, reassured by Cline's belief that no hurricane could seriously damage the city, there was celebration. Children played in the rising water. Hundreds of people gathered at the beach to marvel at the fantastically tall waves and gorgeous pink sky, until the surf began ripping the city's beloved beachfront apart. Within the next few hours Galveston would endure a hurricane that to this day remains the nation's deadliest natural disaster. In Galveston alone at least 6,000 people, possibly as many as 10,000, would lose their lives, a number far greater than the combined death toll of the Johnstown Flood and 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.And Isaac Cline would experience his own unbearable loss.Meticulously researched and vividly written, Isaac's Storm is based on Cline's own letters, telegrams, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the hows and whys of great storms. Ultimately, however, it is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets nature's last great uncontrollable force. As such, Isaac's Storm carries a warning for our time. Read more

Jolly Copper is one of the few people who know the world is on the brink of cataclysmic destruction.... not because he had any scientific knowledge or prophetic dreams, but because he is nosey and read what was on a fellow bus passenger's phone one day.He learns there will be an unprecedented series of natural disasters, and the expected grand finale disaster is predicted to be a tidal wave massive enough to swallow half the globe.His discovery leads him to exhaust all his funds making relentless preparations, transforming Jolly into a modern-day Noah. However, only those closest to him believe him, while others around him see him as delusional.That is … until it all begins.Suddenly, "delusional" Jolly is now the expert...but, really, he’s not. He’s just a single father doing all he can to make sure he and his daughter survive.Even the best laid out plans can go awry, and despite everything he did and organized, Jolly and his family find themselves like everyone else … in the middle of it all at the end of the world.Can Jolly keep it together enough to keep his family and those he loves alive? Read more

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “thrilling” (The New York Times), “dazzling” (The Wall Street Journal) tour of the radically different ways that animals perceive the world that will fill you with wonder and forever alter your perspective, by Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong “One of this year’s finest works of narrative nonfiction.”—Oprah DailyONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, People, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Chicago Public Library, Outside, Publishers Weekly, BookPageONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine, Prospect (UK), Globe & Mail, Esquire, Mental Floss, Marginalian, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library JournalThe Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.”WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON AWARD Read more

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE LEADING GUT-HEALTH EXPERT, FOUNDER OF ZOE AND AUTHOR OF FOOD FOR LIFE* As seen on ITV's LORRAINE and heard on THE DIARY OF A CEO *This ground-breaking exploration debunks food myths, from what we should be eating for breakfast to whether we should really avoid ultra-processed foods.Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?Is there any point in counting calories?Is there any evidence that coffee is bad for us?Through his pioneering research, Professor Tim Spector busts these and many other myths about food.Spoon-Fed explores the scandalous lack of good science behind many diet plans, official recommendations, miracle cures and ultra-processed foods, and encourages us to rethink our whole relationship with food - not just for our health as individuals, but for the future of the planet.'Hugely enjoyable' Michael Mosley'Illuminating and so incredibly timely' Yotam Ottolenghi'This book should be available on prescription' Felicity Cloake'Will actually help you decide what to add to your next grocery shop' Bee Wilson, GuardianGo with your gut. Join the food revolution.**Tim Spector's number 1 bestselling Food for Life: Your Guide to the New Science of Eating Well is now available in paperback****ORDER THE FOOD FOR LIFE COOKBOOK, OUT NOW** Read more

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These fundamental materials have created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and greed for thousands of years. Without them, our modern world would not exist, and the battle to control them will determine our future. • Finalist for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year AwardThe fiber-optic cables that weave the World Wide Web, the copper veins of our electric grids, the silicon chips and lithium batteries that power our phones and cars: though it can feel like we now live in a weightless world of information—what Ed Conway calls “the ethereal world”—our twenty-first-century lives are still very much rooted in the material.In fact, we dug more stuff out of the earth in 2017 than in all of human history before 1950. For every ton of fossil fuels, we extract six tons of other materials, from sand to stone to wood to metal. And in Material World, Conway embarks on an epic journey across continents, cultures, and epochs to reveal the underpinnings of modern life on Earth—traveling from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan to the eerie green pools where lithium originates.Material World is a celebration of the humans and the human networks, the miraculous processes and the little-known companies, that combine to turn raw materials into things of wonder. This is the story of human civilization from an entirely new perspective: the ground up. Read more

A globe-trotting work of relentless investigative reporting, this is the first major book to expose the catastrophic reality of the multi-billion-dollar global garbage trade.                                                                                            Dumps and landfills around the world are overflowing. Disputes about what to do with the millions of tons of garbage generated every day have given rise to waste wars waged almost everywhere you look. Some are border skirmishes. Others hustle trash across thousands of miles and multiple oceans. But no matter the scale, one thing is true about almost all of them: few people have any idea they're happening. Journalist Alexander Clapp spent two years roaming five continents to report deep inside the world of Javanese recycling gangsters, cruise ship dismantlers in the Aegean, Tanzanian plastic pickers, whistle-blowing environmentalists throughout the jungles of Guatemala, and a community of Ghanaian boys who burn Western cellphones and televisions for cents an hour, to tell readers what he has figured out: While some trash gets tossed onto roadsides or buried underground, much of it actually lives a secret hot potato second life, getting shipped, sold, re-sold, or smuggled from one country to another, often with devastating consequences for the poorest nations of the world. Waste Wars is a jaw-dropping exposé of how and why, for the last forty years, our garbage — the stuff we deem so worthless we think nothing of throwing it away — has spawned a massive, globe-spanning, multi-billion-dollar economy, one that offloads our consumption footprints onto distant continents, pristine landscapes, and unsuspecting populations. If the handling of our trash reveals deeper truths about our Western society, what does the globalized business of garbage say about our world today? And what does it say about us? Read more

In this "important and pioneering" (The New York Times Book Review) book, a science writer reintroduces readers to The Snake, encouraging our initial reaction to the slithery creature to be one of awe rather than disgust. For millennia, depictions of snakes as alternatively beautiful and menacing creatures have appeared in religious texts, mythology, poetry, and beyond. From the foundational deities of ancient Egypt to the reactions of squeamish children today, it is a historically commonplace belief that snakes are devious, dangerous, and even evil. But where there is hatred and fear, there is also fascination and reverence. How is it that creatures so despised and sinister, so foreign of movement and ostensibly devoid of sociality and emotion, have fired the imaginations of poets, prophets, and painters across time and cultures?   In Slither, Stephen S. Hall presents a naturalistic, cultural, ecological, and scientific meditation on these loathed yet magnetic creatures. In each chapter, he explores a biological aspect of The Snake, such as their cold blooded metabolism and venomous nature, alongside their mythology, artistic depictions, and cultural veneration. In doing so, he explores not only what neurologically triggers our wary fascination with these limbless creatures, but also how the current generation of snake scientists is using cutting-edge technologies to discover new truths about these evolutionarily ancient creatures—truths that may ultimately affect and enhance human health. Read more

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The thrilling fourth installment of author Imogen Keeper's wild ride After the Plague Series. Frankie and Yorke have beaten the post-apocalyptic odds, but the stakes remain high in love and survival. For months, we fought to get out of the city, away from the gun collectors and kidnappers at the White House. And here we are at Thornewood, a historic hot-spring resort nestled in the wild green forests of the Blue Ridge mountains.It’s supposed to be our safe place, but while we may be far from DC, we’re not alone. Between an unfriendly local population, a mysterious stranger who leaves bodies and flowers while we sleep, and the unyielding ghosts of our past, life at Thornewood feels anything but safe.Friendships are forged, enemies made, and death ever-present.I sit on a precipice, my past behind me, the future before me, teetering between love for two very different men. One a memory, the other alive and hurting. Yorke needs me, and I will be strong for him even if it means turning my back on the past, even if it breaks me.One thing is clear: surviving the plague that killed humanity was the easy part. It’s living after the plague that hurts.Frankie and Yorke’s spellbinding journey continues through the chaos of life without law or order, the menacing rise of petty dictators, fomenting clans, the scramble for resources, and a love that proves that sometimes one true love actually can come twice.Safe is the fourth book in the After the Plague series. Don’t miss Broken (Book 1), Lost (Book 2), and Found (Book 3) to enjoy the series in order. Gripping, emotional, and packed with suspense, Fans of Outlander, Station Eleven, and The Leftovers will love this series. Read more

This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them. It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children. But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that: Carbon emissions per capita are actually down Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago? Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.       These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.   Read more

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Do you know which foods disappear first from store shelves in a disaster?Shelf-stable foods are critical to your survival, and they’re always the first items to sell out the moment disaster strikes. Many people are left frantically scrounging for whatever they can find at the last minute or, worse, left empty-handed.But with a solid plan, you can avoid the frenzied rush and guarantee your family has the right foods to survive, even thrive, with this cutting-edge guide.Join me, Damian Brindle, long-time survival blogger with many thousands of readers, as I detail 57 vital foods to stockpile during any survival situation. Whether it’s an earthquake, tornado, wildfire, hurricane or worse, your chances of survival drop dramatically if you don’t have the proper fuel for your body. I've spent decades ensuring my family will be safe from whatever life throws at them, and now I'm bringing my expert knowledge to you.Inside this powerful survival guide you’ll discover:What a healthy diet must include (miss any of these and you’re asking for trouble);27 of the best grocery store foods to stockpile to maximize your intake of essential nutrients (it's not only about vitamins and minerals);11 fundamental bulk foods to focus on above all others (including where to get them inexpensively and how to store them so they last decades);19 additional “superfoods” to boost nutrition, aid digestion, and support your immune system (I'll explain why each one is crucial to your survival);How to use all of these foods to their maximum potential so you and your family not only survive, but thrive, when disaster strikes.Don’t risk having the wrong foods or, worse, nothing to eat. Now you, too, can ensure your family are well-fed, healthy, and ready to face anything with this powerful survival guide in hand.What readers think about this book..."I have never read such a detailed food storage/survival guide!""Awesome book! Easy to read and thorough.""This book is not only an eye-opener but a practical guide to preparation.""Stuffed with a lot of informative information.""Great book with many ideas and resources I had never thought of! I appreciate how thorough this is.""A 'must have' book for anyone serious about these uncertain times." Read more

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | SELECTED AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND THE ECONOMIST | FINALIST FOR THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY’S HELEN BERNSTEIN AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM, AND THE PEN/E.O. WILSON AWARD FOR LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING.New York Times best-selling journalist Jeff Goodell presents a "masterful, bracing" (David Wallace-Wells) examination of the impact that temperature rise will have on our lives and on our planet, offering a vital new perspective on where we are headed, how we can prepare, and what is at stake if we fail to act.​  “When heat comes, it’s invisible. It doesn’t bend tree branches or blow hair across your face to let you know it’s arrived…. The sun feels like the barrel of a gun pointed at you.”    The world is waking up to a new reality: wildfires are now seasonal in California, the Northeast is getting less and less snow each winter, and the ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica are melting fast.  Heat is the first order threat that drives all other impacts of the climate crisis.  And as the temperature rises, it is revealing fault lines in our governments, our politics, our economy, and our values. The basic science is not complicated: Stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, and the global temperature will stop rising tomorrow. Stop burning fossil fuels in 50 years, and the temperature will keep rising for 50 years, making parts of our planet virtually uninhabitable.  It’s up to us.  The hotter it gets, the deeper and wider our fault lines will open.    The Heat Will Kill You First is about the extreme ways in which our planet is already changing. It is about why spring is coming a few weeks earlier and fall is coming a few weeks later and the impact that will have on everything from our food supply to disease outbreaks. It is about what will happen to our lives and our communities when typical summer days in Chicago or Boston go from 90° F to 110°F. A heatwave, Goodell explains, is a predatory event— one that culls out the most vulnerable people.  But that is changing. As heatwaves become more intense and more common, they will become more democratic.     As an award-winning journalist who has been at the forefront of environmental journalism for decades, Goodell’s new book may be his most provocative yet, explaining how extreme heat will dramatically change the world as we know it.  Masterfully reported, mixing the latest scientific insight with on-the-ground storytelling, Jeff Goodell tackles the big questions and uncovers how extreme heat is a force beyond anything we have reckoned with before. Read more

Partitioning Palestine is the first history of the ideological and political forces that led to the idea of partition—that is, a division of territory and sovereignty—in British mandate Palestine in the first half of the twentieth century. Inverting the spate of narratives that focus on how the idea contributed to, or hindered, the development of future Israeli and Palestinian states, Penny Sinanoglou asks instead what drove and constrained British policymaking around partition, and why partition was simultaneously so appealing to British policymakers yet ultimately proved so difficult for them to enact. Taking a broad view not only of local and regional factors, but also of Palestine’s place in the British empire and its status as a League of Nations mandate, Sinanoglou deftly recasts the story of partition in Palestine as a struggle to maintain imperial control. After all, British partition plans imagined space both for a Zionist state indebted to Britain and for continued British control over key geostrategic assets, depending in large part on the forced movement of Arab populations. With her detailed look at the development of the idea of partition from its origins in the 1920s, Sinanoglou makes a bold contribution to our understanding of the complex interplay between internationalism and imperialism at the end of the British empire and reveals the legacies of British partitionist thinking in the broader history of decolonization in the modern Middle East. Read more