"This illustrated narrative explains the universe from the solar system to the farthest reaches of space"--|cProvided by publisher.

"An insider's guide to astronomy reveals everything you need to know about the planets, their satellites, and our place in the solar system. We have the impression that the solar system is perfectly regular like a clock or a planetarium instrument. On a short timescale it is. But, seen in a longer perspective, the planets, and their satellites, have exciting lives, full of events"--

3.8 billion years and counting -- there's a lot to know about the fundamentals of life. This friendly, jargon-free guide takes you from the primordial soup to the present, explaining how specialized cells have given rise to everything living, from the humbles amoeba to walking, talking humans. Whether you're taking a cell or molecular biology course, catching up on fast-evolving fields like DNA microarrays or genetics for your career -- or are just...

In the ten years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's classic work has become a landmark volume in scientific writing, with more than nine million copies in forty languages sold worldwide. That edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But the intervening years have seen extraordinary advances in the technology of observing both the micro- and the macrocosmic worlds. These observations...

At the edge of time -- A world of time and space -- A world without a beginning? -- Glimpses of the big bang -- The universe and the accelerator -- The origins of everything -- Hearts of darkness -- A beacon in the dark? -- Radically rethinking dark matter -- A flash in time -- Endless worlds most beautiful -- Touching the edge of time.

America's funniest science writer (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn't the stomach digest itself?...

"Mass media in the late nineteenth century was full of news from Mars. In the wake of Giovanni Schiaparelli's 1877 discovery of enigmatic dark, straight lines on the red planet, astronomers and the public at large vigorously debated the possibility that it might be inhabited. As rivalling scientific practitioners looked to marshal allies and sway public opinion--through newspapers, periodicals, popular books, exhibitions, and encyclopaedias--they...

"Dr. Perlmutter's #1 New York Times bestseller about the devastating effects of gluten, sugar, and carbs on the brain and body -- updated with the latest nutritional and neurological science." -- Publisher annotation.