Full AspenCat Catalog

"For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike—either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by...

Award-winning food writer Bee Wilson's secret history of kitchens, showing how new technologies - from the fork to the microwave and beyond - have fundamentally shaped how and what we eat. Since prehistory, humans have braved sharp knives, fire, and grindstones to transform raw ingredients into something delicious -- or at least edible. But these tools have also transformed how we consume, and how we think about, our food. In Consider the Fork,...

This is the foundation of all: that we are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover what nature does, or may be made to do. Thus did Francis Bacon, early in the 17th century, outline the future of science and technology. This drive for knowledge and power has now given us a world dominated by science, and this text tells the story of how we have arrived there. The achievements of the great scientific thinkers of the ages — Copernicus, Newton,...

"A myth-shattering view of the medieval Islamic world's myriad scientific innovations, which preceded-and enabled- the European Renaissance. The Arabic legacy of science and philosophy has long been hidden from the West. British- Iraqi physicist Jim Al-Khalili unveils that legacy to fascinating effect by returning to its roots in the hubs of Arab innovation that would advance science and jump- start the European Renaissance. Inspired by the Koranic...

"In this page-turning, myth-busting history, acclaimed author Rodney Stark shows exactly why Western civilization triumphed over other cultures?and why we all should be thankful it did."--Publisher's website.

"Materials scientist Mark Miodownik answers all the questions you've ever had about your pens, spoons, and razor blades, while also introducing a whole world full of materials you've never even heard of: the diamond five times the size of Earth; concrete cloth that can be molded into any shape; and graphene, the thinnest, strongest, stiffest material in existence--only a single atom thick. Stuff Matters tells enthralling stories that explain the science...

Timetables format provides instant access to key events in major scientifice disciplines year by year.

From the emergence of life, to Leewenhoek's microscopic world, to GMO crops, The Biology Book presents 250 landmarks in the most widely studied scientific field. Brief, engaging, and colorfully illustrated synopses introduce readers to every major subdiscipline, including cell theory, genetics, evolution, physiology, thermodynamics, molecular biology, and ecology. With information on such varied topics as paleontology, pheromones, nature vs. nurture,...

The story of a ranch in Wyoming, the geologist who grew up there, and the high-country geology of the surrounding land.

Tells the story of humankind's quest to understand the enormities of cosmic space and time.