Science Books
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Napoleon's Buttons
Le Couteur, Penny
(Paperback)
List Price: $24.99 Sale: $9.51
Napoleon's Buttons is the fascinating account of seventeen groups of molecules that have greatly influenced the course of history. These molecules provided the impetus for early exploration, and made possible the voyages of discovery that ensued. The molecules resulted in grand feats of engineering and spurred advances in medicine and law; they determined what we now eat, drink, and wear. A change as small as the position of an atom can lead to enormous alterations in the properties of a substance - which, in turn, can result in great historical shifts. With lively prose and an eye for colorful and unusual details, Le Couteur and Burreson offer a novel way to understand the shaping of civilization and the workings of our contemporary world.
Caesar's Last Breath: And Other True Tales of History, Science, and the Sextillions of Molecules in the Air Around Us
Kean, Sam
(Paperback)
List Price: $24.99 Sale: $8.36
The fascinating science and history of the air we breatheIt's invisible. It's ever-present. Without it, you would die in minutes. And it has an epic story to tell.In Caesar's Last Breath, New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean takes us on a journey through the periodic table, around the globe, and across time to tell the story of the air we breathe, which, it turns out, is also the story of earth and our existence on it.With every breath, you literally inhale the history of the world. On the ides of March, 44 BC, Julius Caesar died of stab wounds on the Senate floor, but the story of his last breath is still unfolding; in fact, you're probably inhaling some of it now. Of the sextillions of molecules entering or leaving your lungs at this moment, some might well bear traces of Cleopatra's perfumes, German mustard gas, particles exhaled by dinosaurs or emitted by atomic bombs, even remnants of stardust from the universe's creation.Tracing the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere, Kean reveals how the alchemy of air reshaped our continents, steered human progress, powered revolutions, and continues to influence everything we do. Along the way, we'll swim with radioactive pigs, witness the most important chemical reactions humans have discovered, and join the crowd at the Moulin Rouge for some of the crudest performance art of all time. Lively, witty, and filled with the astounding science of ordinary life, Caesar's Last Breath illuminates the science stories swirling around us every second.
Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie - A Tale of Love and Fallout
Redniss, Lauren
(Softcover)
List Price: $29.99 Sale: $9.51
Through words and her own gorgeously crafted illustrations, artist and journalist Lauren Redniss tells the story of Marie Curie, née Marya Sklodowska, and her working and romantic relationship with Pierre Curie, including their discovery of two new scientific elements with startling properties—as well as the tragic car accident that killed Pierre, Marie’s two Nobel Prizes, and her scandalous affair with a married scientist. And Radioactive looks beyond the contours of Marie’s life, surveying the changes wrought by the Curies’ discoveries—nuclear weapons, radiation in medical treatment, and nuclear energy as a possible energy source—to create an eerie, wondrous, and moving evocation of one of history's most intriguing figures.
Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table (Bloomsbury Sigma)
Chapman, Kit
(Hardcover)
List Price: $37.99 Sale: $11.91
An in-depth look at how elements are discovered, why they matter and where they will take us.The science of element discovery is a truly fascinating field, and is constantly rewriting the laws of chemistry and physics as we know them. Superheavy is the first book to take an in-depth look at how synthetic elements are discovered, why they matter and where they will take us. From the Cold War nuclear race to the present day, scientists have stretched the periodic table to 118 elements. They have broken the rules of the periodic table, rewriting the science we're taught in school, and have the potential to revolutionize our lives.Kit Chapman takes us back to the very beginning, with the creation of the atomic bomb. He tells the story of the major players, such as Ernest Lawrence who revolutionized the field of particle physics with the creation of the cyclotron; Yuri Oganessian, the "guerilla scientist" who opened up a new era of discovery in the field and is the only living scientists to have an element named after him; and Victor Ninov, the disgraced physicist who almost pulled off the greatest fraud in nuclear science. This book will bring us in a full circle back to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the first atomic bomb was developed, and that has more recently been an essential player in creating the new superheavy element 117.Throughout, Superheavy explains the complex science of element discovery in clear and easy-to-follow terms. It walks through the theories of atomic structure, discusses the equipment used and explains the purpose of the research. By the end of the book readers will not only marvel at how far we've come, they will be in awe of where we are going and what this could mean for the worlds of physics and chemistry as we know them today.
Death By Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts
Harkup, Kathryn
(Hardcover)
List Price: $37.99 Sale: $11.91
An in-depth look at the science behind the creative methods Shakespeare used to kill off his characters.In Death By Shakespeare, Kathryn Harkup, best-selling author of A is for Arsenic and expert on the more gruesome side of science, turns her expertise to William Shakespeare and the creative methods he used to kill off his characters. Is death by snakebite really as serene as Cleopatra made it seem? How did Juliet appear dead for 72 hours only to be revived in perfect health? Can you really kill someone by pouring poison in their ear? How long would it take before Lady Macbeth died from lack of sleep? Harkup investigates what actual events may have inspired Shakespeare, what the accepted scientific knowledge of the time was, and how Elizabethan audiences would have responded to these death scenes. Death by Shakespeare reveals this and more in a rollercoaster of Elizabethan carnage, poison, swordplay and bloodshed, with an occasional death by bear-mauling for good measure.In the Bard's day death was a part of everyday life. Plague, pestilence and public executions were a common occurrence, and the chances of seeing a dead or dying body on the way home from the theater was a fairly likely scenario. Death is one of the major themes that reoccurs constantly throughout Shakespeare's canon, and he certainly didn't shy away from portraying the bloody reality of death on the stage. He didn't have to invent gruesome or novel ways to kill off his characters when everyday experience provided plenty of inspiration.Shakespeare's era was also a time of huge scientific advance. The human body, its construction and how it was affected by disease came under scrutiny, overturning more than a thousand years of received Greek wisdom, and Shakespeare himself hinted at these new scientific discoveries and medical advances in his writing, such as circulation of the blood and treatments for syphilis.Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions--shock, sadness, fear--that they did over 400 years ago when these plays were first performed. But how realistic are these deaths, and did Shakespeare have the science to back them up?
The Case Against Sugar
Taubes, Gary
(Hardcover)
List Price: $36.99 Sale: $10.79
From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening exposé that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick. Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.
The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York
Burr, Chandler
(Softcover)
List Price: $20.99 Sale: $5.40
No journalist has ever been allowed into the ultrasecretive, highly pressured process of originating a perfume. But Chandler Burr, the New York Times perfume critic, spent a year behind the scenes observing the creation of two major fragrances. Now, writing with wit and elegance, he juxtaposes the stories of the perfumes - one created by a Frenchman in Paris for an exclusive luxury-goods house, the other made in New York by actress Sarah Jessica Parker and Coty, Inc., a giant international corporation. We follow Coty's mating of star power to the marketing of perfume, watching Sex and the City's Parker heading a hugely expensive campaign to launch a scent into the overcrowded celebrity market. Will she match the success of Jennifer Lopez? Does she have the international fan base to drive worldwide sales? In Paris at the elegant Hermes, we see Jean Claude Ellena, his company's new head perfumer, given a challenge: he must create a scent to resuscitate Hermes's perfume business and challenge le monstre of the industry, bestselling Chanel No. 5. Will his pilgrimage to a garden on the Nile supply the inspiration he needs? The answer lies in Burr's informative and mesmerizing portrait of some of the extraordinary personalities who envision, design, create, and launch the perfumes that drive their billion-dollar industry.
The Chemistry Book: From Gunpowder to Graphene, 250 Milestones in the History of Chemistry
Lowe, Derek B.
(Hardcover)
List Price: $40.99 Sale: $14.31
From atoms and fluorescent pigments to sulfa drug synthesis and buckyballs, this lush and authoritative chronology presents 250 milestones in the world of chemistry. As the "central science" that bridges biology and physics, chemistry plays an important role in countless medical and technological advances. Covering entertaining stories and unexpected applications, chemist and journalist Derek B. Lowe traces the most important--and surprising--chemical discoveries.
The Periodic Kingdom
Atkins, P.W.
(Paperback)
List Price: $20.99 Sale: $7.19
This book introduces readers to the most important unifying concept in chemistry: the periodic table. From the 100 or so elements at the heart of the story, everything tangible is made, whether a planet or a microscopic organism. The Periodic Kingdom is cleverly arranged like a travel guide. With vivid imagery, the author describes the organization of the kingdom of the elements, the history of its discovery, and where the elements came from. Atkins shows how the elements relate to one another and explains how the location of an element in this imaginary landscape can be used to predict its properties.
Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements
Strathern, Paul
(Hardcover)
List Price: $37.99 Sale: $11.91
The wondrous and illuminating story of humankind's quest to discover the fundamentals of chemistry, culminating in Mendeleyev's dream of the Periodic Table.In 1869 Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev was puzzling over a way to bring order to the fledgling science of chemistry. Wearied by the effort, he fell asleep at his desk. What he dreamt would fundamentally change the way we see the world.

Framing this history is the life story of the nineteenth-century Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev, who fell asleep at his desk and awoke after conceiving the periodic table in a dream-the template upon which modern chemistry is founded and the formulation of which marked chemistry's coming of age as a science. From ancient philosophy through medieval alchemy to the splitting of the atom, this is the true story of the birth of chemistry and the role of one man's dream.

In this elegant, erudite, and entertaining book, Paul Strathern unravels the quixotic history of chemistry through the quest for the elements.

The Pathway: Follow the Road to Health and Happiness
Mellin, Laurel
(Softcover)
List Price: $20.99 Sale: $7.19
Two simple skills - self-nurturing and effective limit setting - are at the roots of personal balance. Studies show that when people master these two skills, the whole range of common excesses fades away. They lose weight without diets or drugs and keep it off years later. What's more, they say they are happier and healthier than they have ever been and that these skills will soon supersede all current healing methods for one reason: it works! The Pathway shows you how to use the method that was developed over the last twenty years at one of the nation's most prestigious medical schools - and why it works. There is a warm, wonderful community of support for mastering these skills in Solution Groups across the country and on the Internet, as well as a complete Solution course. As you read this book, you will find yourself using the skills and starting on the pathway to your own Solution.
The Secret Life of the Periodic Table: Unlocking the Mysteries of All 118 Elements
Still, Ben
(Softcover)
List Price: $33.99 Sale: $10.79
The Secret Life of the Periodic Table gives a fascinating insight into the discovery and use of all 118 elements. It uncovers fascinating and sometimes incredible stories of how Mendeleev's table was formulated and the individual elements found.This book explains the fundamentals of atomic science and brings to life each element's character and place in our universe in a bright and engaging way.
The Elements We Live By: How Iron Helps Us Breathe, Potassium Lets Us See, and Other Surprising Superpowers of the Periodic Table
Royne, Anja
(Hardcover)
List Price: $25.99 Sale: $7.75
The periodic table as you’ve never seen it before - starring the elements that power our bodies and our way of lifeSome elements get all the attention: glittering gold, radioactive uranium - materials we call “precious” because they are so rare. But what could be more precious than the building blocks of life - from the oxygen in our air to the carbon in all living things?In The Elements We Live By, physicist and award-winning author Anja Røyne reminds us that we’d be lost without the quiet heroes of the periodic table. Our bodies need phosphorous to hold our DNA together, potassium to power our optic nerves, and many more elements - in just the right amounts - to function. Other fundamental elements keep our technology (and society) running: Our phones contain arsenic, boron, and gallium to control signals and store information; indium and tin for the touch screen; and lithium for the battery.Everything is made of elements - every galaxy, star, and planet - from the iron in Earth’s core to the silicon in its sand. But that doesn’t mean the elements we rely on will never run out; for example, about half of the lithium we need is extracted from rocks in Australia, and the other half is from saltwater in Argentina and Chile. As Røyne travels the world to find where these elements exist (some in ever-shrinking amounts), she shows how vitally urgent it is for us to protect them - the elements of our very existence.
The Genie in the Bottle
Schwarcz, Joe
(Paperback)
List Price: $26.99 Sale: $7.19
Did you know that bug juice can be used to color ice cream? Or that willow bark will cure a headache? In The Genie in the Bottle, popular science writer Joe Schwarcz lets us in on these and other fun and fascinating secrets from the chemistry of everyday life. Blending quirky chemistry with engaging tales from the history of science, Schwarcz offers a different twist on licorice, hot leads on travel to the dark side of the sun, and the straight skinny on chocolate research, ginko biloba, and blueberries. Read about the ups of helium and the downs of drain cleaners, how to control stinky feet and bend spoons (and minds!). Find out how spies used secret links, and how acetone changed the course of history. "Dr. Joe" also solves the mystery of exploding shrimp and, finally, lets us in on the secret of the genie in the bottle.
Chemistry (30-Second)
Tro, Nivaldo (Edt)
(Paperback)
List Price: $17.99 Sale: $4.79
You may be familiar with atoms and molecules, but do you know why certain particles behave differently from others, or what happens when they join together? What are polymers and why are they so useful? Why is energy released when an atom splits, and where does it come from? How many nanocars would fit across the diameter of a human hair?30-Second Chemistry breaks the subject down into the 50 most significant ideas that help us understand the nature of matter, explaining each in just 300 words and one picture. Explore the properties and behaviour of solids, liquids and gases and examine the elements of the periodic table. Discover the structures of natural and synthetic materials and their fascinating range of uses, from fuel and food to manufacturing and medicine. Get to grips with chemical equations, acids and bases, nuclear fission and the laws of thermodynamics, and find out how the particles around and inside you are making it all possible.
The Elements Bible: The Definitive Guide to 350 Years of Scientific Discovery
Mileham, Rebecca
(Paperback)
List Price: $26.99 Sale: $7.75
From the discovery of the very first elements to the naming of the most recent elements in 2016, this book makes every daunting scientific concept understandable and memorable, and explains everything you need to know about the fundamental materials that make up our world.
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