Random House New Releases - Science

The Aftermath by Lawrence E. Joseph

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

The Aftermath A Guide to Preparing For and Surviving Apocalypse 2012
Written by Lawrence E. Joseph

Hardcover, 288 pages | Broadway | Science | $23.99 | 978-0-7679-3078-9 (0-7679-3078-9)

The Aftermath by Lawrence E. Joseph

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

The Aftermath A Guide to Preparing For and Surviving Apocalypse 2012
Written by Lawrence E. Joseph

eBook, 288 pages | Broadway | Science | $23.99 | 978-0-307-59246-0 (0-307-59246-4)

The End of the Long Summer by Dianne Dumanoski

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

The End of the Long Summer Why We Must Remake Our Civilization to Survive on a Volatile Earth
Written by Dianne Dumanoski

Trade Paperback, 320 pages | Three Rivers Press | Nature; Nature - Ecology; Science - Environmental Science | $15.00 | 978-0-307-39609-9 (0-307-39609-6)

For the past twelve thousand years, Earth’s stable climate has allowed human civilization to flourish. But this long benign summer is an anomaly in the Earth’s history and one that is rapidly coming to a close. The radical experiment of our modern industrial civilization is now disrupting our planet’s very metabolism; our future hinges in large part on how Earth responds. Climate change is already bearing down, hitting harder and faster than expected. The greatest danger is not extreme yet discrete weather events, such as Hurricane Katrina or the calamitous wildfires that now plague California, but profound and systemic disruptions on a global scale. Contrary to the pervasive belief that climate change will be a gradual escalator ride into balmier temperatures, the Earth’s climate system has a history of radical shifts–dramatic shocks that could lead to the collapse of social and economic systems.

The question is no longer simply how can we stop climate change, but how can we as a civilization survive it.

The guiding values of modern culture have become dangerously obsolete in this new era. Yet as renowned environmental journalist Dianne Dumanoski shows, little has been done to avert the crisis or to prepare human societies for a time of growing instability. In a work of astonishing scope, Dumanoski deftly weaves history, science, and culture to show how the fundamental doctrines of modern society have impeded our ability to respond to this crisis and have fostered an economic globalization that is only increasing our vulnerability at this critical time. She exposes the fallacy of banking on a last-minute technological fix as well as the perilous trap of believing that humans can succeed in the quest to control nature. Only by restructuring our global civilization based on the principles that have allowed Earth’s life and our ancestors to survive catastrophe——diversity, redundancy, a degree of self-sufficiency, social solidarity, and an aversion to excessive integration——can we restore the flexibility needed to weather the trials ahead.

In this powerful and prescient book, Dumanoski moves beyond now-ubiquitous environmental buzzwords about green industries and clean energy to provide a new cultural map through this dangerous passage. Though the message is grave, it is not without hope. Lucid, eloquent, and urgent, The End of the Long Summer deserves a place alongside transformative works such as Silent Spring and The Fate of the Earth.

From the Hardcover edition.

UFOs by Leslie Kean

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

UFOs A Call for Reason and Responsible Action
Written by Leslie Kean

Hardcover, 352 pages | Harmony | Science | $25.99 | 978-0-307-71684-2 (0-307-71684-8)

UFOs by Leslie Kean

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

UFOs A Call for Reason and Responsible Action
Written by Leslie Kean

eBook, 352 pages | Harmony | Science | $25.99 | 978-0-307-71685-9 (0-307-71685-6)

Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells

2010-06-08T00:30:00-05:00

Pandora's Seed The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
Written by Spencer Wells

Hardcover, 256 pages | Random House | Science | $26.00 | 978-1-4000-6215-7 (1-4000-6215-2)

Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells

2010-06-08T00:30:00-05:00

Pandora's Seed The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
Written by Spencer Wells

eBook | Random House | Science | $26.00 | 978-0-679-60374-0 (0-679-60374-3)

The Most Powerful Idea in the World by William Rosen

2010-06-01T00:30:00-05:00

The Most Powerful Idea in the World A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
Written by William Rosen

Hardcover, 416 pages | Random House | History - Modern - 19th Century; Science - History | $27.00 | 978-1-4000-6705-3 (1-4000-6705-7)

Brain Fuel by Joe Schwarcz

2010-05-11T00:30:00-05:00

Brain Fuel 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
Written by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

eBook | Anchor Canada | Science | $15.00 | 978-0-307-37256-7 (0-307-37256-1)

National Bestseller

From the #1 bestselling author – a cornucopia of mind-expanding insights into the science of the real world.

Dr. Joe – as he is affectionately known to millions of readers, listeners, viewers, and students – brings his magic formula to Doubleday Canada with Brain Fuel.

As with Dr. Joe’s previous best-selling books, Brain Fuel informs and entertains on a wild assortment of science-based topics. But this is not "science trivia." If you are looking for serious scientific discussions, you’ll find them here. If you are looking for practical consumer information, that’s here too. If you are searching for ways to stimulate interest in science, look no further, Mom. And if you are simply wondering why the birth of Prince Leopold was so different from Queen Victoria's previous seven; or why an iron rod that went through a man's head is now on display in a museum in Boston; or why white chocolate has such a short shelf life; or why eggs terrified Alfred Hitchcock – and what all of this means for the rest of us, and why – then bingo.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Brain Fuel by Joe Schwarcz

2010-05-11T00:30:00-05:00

Brain Fuel 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
Written by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

Trade Paperback, 288 pages | Anchor Canada | Science | $15.00 | 978-0-385-66603-9 (0-385-66603-9)

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

2010-05-04T00:30:00-05:00

The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science
Written by Richard Holmes

Trade Paperback, 576 pages | Vintage | Science - History | $17.95 | 978-1-4000-3187-0 (1-4000-3187-7)

A riveting history of the men and women whose discoveries and inventions at the end of the eighteenth century gave birth to the Romantic Age of Science.

When young Joseph Banks stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769, he hoped to discover Paradise. Inspired by the scientific ferment sweeping through Britain, the botanist had sailed with Captain Cook on his first Endeavour voyage in search of new worlds. Other voyages of discovery—astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical—swiftly follow in Richard Holmes’s original evocation of what truly emerges as an Age of Wonder.

Brilliantly conceived as a relay of scientific stories, The Age of Wonder investigates the earliest ideas of deep time and space, and the explorers of “dynamic science,” of an infinite, mysterious Nature waiting to be discovered. Three lives dominate the book: William Herschel and his sister Caroline, whose dedication to the study of the stars forever changed the public conception of the solar system, the Milky Way, and the meaning of the universe; and Humphry Davy, who, with only a grammar school education stunned the scientific community with his near-suicidal gas experiments that led to the invention of the miners’ lamp and established British chemistry as the leading professional science in Europe. This age of exploration extended to great writers and poets as well as scientists, all creators relishing in moments of high exhilaration, boundary-pushing and discovery.

Holmes’s extraordinary evocation of this age of wonder shows how great ideas and experiments—both successes and failures—were born of singular and often lonely dedication, and how religious faith and scientific truth collide. He has written a book breathtaking in its originality, its storytelling energy, and its intellectual significance.

From the Hardcover edition.

Avoid Boring People by James D. Watson

2010-05-04T00:30:00-05:00

Avoid Boring People Lessons from a Life in Science
Written by James D. Watson

Trade Paperback, 368 pages | Vintage | Science | $16.95 | 978-0-375-72714-6 (0-375-72714-0)

From a living legend—James D. Watson, who shared the Nobel Prize for having revealed the structure of DNA—a personal account of the making of a scientist. In Avoid Boring People, the man who discovered “the secret of life” shares the less revolutionary secrets he has found to getting along and getting ahead in a competitive world.

Recounting the years of his own formation—from his father’s birding lessons to the political cat’s cradle of professorship at Harvard—Watson illuminates the progress of an exemplary scientific life, both his own pursuit of knowledge and how he learns to nurture fledgling scientists. Each phase of his experience yields a wealth of age-specific practical advice. For instance, when young, never be the brightest person in the room or bring more than one date on a ski trip; later in life, always accept with grace when your request for funding is denied, and--for goodness’ sake--don’t dye your hair. There are precepts that few others would find occasion to heed (expect to gain weight after you win your Nobel Prize, as everyone will invite you to dinner) and many more with broader application (do not succumb to the seductions of golf if you intend to stay young professionally). And whatever the season or the occasion: avoid boring people.

A true believer in the intellectual promise of youth, Watson offers specific pointers to beginning scientists about choosing the projects that will shape their careers, the supreme importance of collegiality, and dealing with competitors within the same institution, even one who is a former mentor. Finally he addresses himself to the role and needs of science at large universities in the context of discussing the unceremonious departure of Harvard's president Larry Summers and the search for his successor.

Scorning political correctness, this irreverent romp through Watson’s life and learning is an indispensable guide to anyone plotting a career in science (or most anything else), a primer addressed both to the next generation and those who are entrusted with their minds.

From the Hardcover edition.

Bursts by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

2010-04-27T00:30:00-05:00

Bursts The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do
Written by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Science | $17.50 | 978-0-307-71460-2 (0-307-71460-8)

In the Empire of Ice by Gretel Ehrlich

2010-04-20T00:30:00-05:00

In the Empire of Ice Encounters in a Changing Landscape
Written by Gretel Ehrlich

Hardcover, 320 pages | National Geographic | Travel - Essays & Travelogues; Travel - Polar Regions; Science - Environmental Science | $28.00 | 978-1-4262-0574-3 (1-4262-0574-0)

In this gripping circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle, Gretel Ehrlich paints a vivid portrait of the indigenous cultures that inhabit the starkly beautiful boreal landscape surrounding the Arctic Ocean, an ice-bound wilderness that includes northern Siberia, northwestern Greenland, Canada’s vast Nunavut, and northern Alaska. Ehrlich’s expedition, supported by the National Geographic Society, documents what remains of these cultures, specifically the similarities and differences among them, including hunting traditions, shamanic and ceremonial practices, languages and legends—the ways in which they have survived, or have been assimilated, and how they are adapting to the impact of climate change on their ice-age cultures.

Ehrlich is fascinated by what she calls the ecology of culture—the ways in which the human presence of indigenous Arctic people is intricately interwoven with land, rock, river, sea, and ice. Depicting human-caused climate change as only the latest and most destructive of the ills and abuses first peoples have been suffering for 250 years, Ehrlich’s haunting and lovely prose portrays ancient tribes and traditions on the edge of extinction and captures the austere beauty of their various lifeways in the frozen dreamscape of the world they have always known.

Meeting the Family by Spencer Wells

2010-04-20T00:30:00-05:00

Meeting the Family One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry
Written by Donovan Webster
Foreword by Spencer Wells

Hardcover, 304 pages | National Geographic | Science - Genetics; Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs; Social Science - Anthropology | $26.00 | 978-1-4262-0573-6 (1-4262-0573-2)

Donovan Webster brings his vivid journalistic gifts to a new subject, tracing our deep genealogy using cutting-edge DNA research to map our eons-old journey from prehistoric Africa into the modern world. With the same genetic haplotype as many white American males, Webster makes an ideal subject—he is a genuine Everyman. While his voice and spirit are unique to him, in exploring his own ancestry, he shows us our own.

Drawing on National Geographic’s Human Genographic Project, the largest anthropologic DNA study of its kind, Webster traces centuries of migrations, everywhere finding members of his now far-flung genetic family. In Tanzania’s Rift Valley, he hunts with Julius, whose tribe speaks a click language, and wanders the ruins of ancient Mesopotamia with Mohamed and Khalid, now Jordanian citizens. In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, eastern frontier of his ancestral roaming, a circus ringmaster becomes both friend and link to his primal bloodline.

Webster’s genographic quest leads him to contemplate what traits he shares with those he meets, and considers what they and their ways of life reveal about the deep history of our species. A lifetime of journalistic travels among a wide range of cultures furnish Webster with a wealth of colorful threads to weave into a story as particularly personal as it is universally human.

Meeting the Family by Donovan Webster

2010-04-20T00:30:00-05:00

Meeting the Family One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry
Written by Donovan Webster
Foreword by Spencer Wells

eBook, 304 pages | National Geographic | Science - Genetics | $26.00 | 978-1-4262-0604-7 (1-4262-0604-6)

Nasty, Brutish, and Short by Pat Senson

2010-04-13T00:30:00-05:00

Nasty, Brutish, and Short The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird Behaviour
Written by Pat Senson

eBook, 224 pages | McClelland & Stewart | Science; Science - Biology; Science - Zoology | $18.95 | 978-0-7710-7969-6 (0-7710-7969-9)

Birds do it, and bees do it, so do all animals, some of them in weird and wonderful ways. Quirks & Quarks' latest book explores the more bizarre behaviours of more than 100 creatures, from barnacles to Panda bears.

The tiny spider that has to tear off one of its two huge sex organs just to be able to get around; the sea slug that produces a powerful love drug and mates with both males and females; the bedbug that stabs its penis into the female's abdomen — the range of animal sexual practices is mind-boggling. And it's not only reproduction that has them doing very strange things. There's a beetle that shoots a stream of boiling hot, toxic liquid when it's threatened; a lizard that can run on water; a shrimp that explodes its prey.

Quirks & Quarks' latest guide is much more than a catalogue of peculiar practices, it's an engrossing look at the astonishing behaviours different animals have evolved in order to survive and reproduce.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Nasty, Brutish, and Short by Pat Senson

2010-04-13T00:30:00-05:00

Nasty, Brutish, and Short The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird Behaviour
Written by Pat Senson

Trade Paperback, 224 pages | McClelland & Stewart | Science; Science - Biology; Science - Zoology | $18.95 | 978-0-7710-7968-9 (0-7710-7968-0)

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody by Robert Brockway

2010-04-06T00:30:00-05:00

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You Dead
Written by Robert Brockway

eBook, 288 pages | Three Rivers Press | Science; Humor | $14.00 | 978-0-307-46435-4 (0-307-46435-0)

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody by Robert Brockway

2010-04-06T00:30:00-05:00

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You Dead
Written by Robert Brockway

Trade Paperback, 288 pages | Three Rivers Press | Science; Humor | $14.00 | 978-0-307-46434-7 (0-307-46434-2)

Random House New Releases - Science

The Aftermath by Lawrence E. Joseph

The Aftermath A Guide to Preparing For and Surviving Apocalypse 2012Written by Lawrence E. Joseph

The Aftermath by Lawrence E. Joseph

The Aftermath A Guide to Preparing For and Surviving Apocalypse 2012Written by Lawrence E. Joseph

The End of the Long Summer by Dianne Dumanoski

The End of the Long Summer Why We Must Remake Our Civilization to Survive on a Volatile EarthWritten by Dianne Dumanoski

UFOs by Leslie Kean

UFOs A Call for Reason and Responsible ActionWritten by Leslie Kean

UFOs by Leslie Kean

UFOs A Call for Reason and Responsible ActionWritten by Leslie Kean

Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells

Pandora's Seed The Unforeseen Cost of CivilizationWritten by Spencer Wells

Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells

Pandora's Seed The Unforeseen Cost of CivilizationWritten by Spencer Wells

The Most Powerful Idea in the World by William Rosen

The Most Powerful Idea in the World A Story of Steam, Industry, and InventionWritten by William Rosen

Brain Fuel by Joe Schwarcz

Brain Fuel 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday LifeWritten by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

Brain Fuel by Joe Schwarcz

Brain Fuel 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday LifeWritten by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of ScienceWritten by Richard Holmes

Avoid Boring People by James D. Watson

Avoid Boring People Lessons from a Life in ScienceWritten by James D. Watson

Bursts by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

Bursts The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We DoWritten by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

In the Empire of Ice by Gretel Ehrlich

In the Empire of Ice Encounters in a Changing LandscapeWritten by Gretel Ehrlich

Meeting the Family by Spencer Wells

Meeting the Family One Man's Journey Through His Human AncestryWritten by Donovan Webster Foreword by Spencer Wells

Meeting the Family by Donovan Webster

Meeting the Family One Man's Journey Through His Human AncestryWritten by Donovan Webster Foreword by Spencer Wells

Nasty, Brutish, and Short by Pat Senson

Nasty, Brutish, and Short The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird BehaviourWritten by Pat Senson

Nasty, Brutish, and Short by Pat Senson

Nasty, Brutish, and Short The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird BehaviourWritten by Pat Senson

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody by Robert Brockway

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You DeadWritten by Robert Brockway

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody by Robert Brockway

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You DeadWritten by Robert Brockway

The Aftermath A Guide to Preparing For and Surviving Apocalypse 2012
Written by Lawrence E. Joseph

The Aftermath A Guide to Preparing For and Surviving Apocalypse 2012
Written by Lawrence E. Joseph

The End of the Long Summer Why We Must Remake Our Civilization to Survive on a Volatile Earth
Written by Dianne Dumanoski

UFOs A Call for Reason and Responsible Action
Written by Leslie Kean

UFOs A Call for Reason and Responsible Action
Written by Leslie Kean

Pandora's Seed The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
Written by Spencer Wells

Pandora's Seed The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
Written by Spencer Wells

The Most Powerful Idea in the World A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
Written by William Rosen

Brain Fuel 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
Written by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

Brain Fuel 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life
Written by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

The Age of Wonder The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science
Written by Richard Holmes

Avoid Boring People Lessons from a Life in Science
Written by James D. Watson

Bursts The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do
Written by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

In the Empire of Ice Encounters in a Changing Landscape
Written by Gretel Ehrlich

Meeting the Family One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry
Written by Donovan Webster
Foreword by Spencer Wells

Meeting the Family One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry
Written by Donovan Webster
Foreword by Spencer Wells

Nasty, Brutish, and Short The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird Behaviour
Written by Pat Senson

Nasty, Brutish, and Short The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird Behaviour
Written by Pat Senson

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You Dead
Written by Robert Brockway

Everything Is Going to Kill Everybody The Terrifyingly Real Ways the World Wants You Dead
Written by Robert Brockway