Beyond Einstein takes readers on an exciting excursion into the discoveries that have led scientists to the brightest new prospect in theoretical physics today -- superstring theory. What is superstring theory and why is it important? This revolutionary breakthrough may well be the
fulfillment of  Albert Einstein's lifelong dream of a Theory of Everything, uniting the laws of physics into a single description explaining all the known forces in the universe. Co-authored by one of the leading pioneers in superstrings, Michio Kaku, and completely revised and updated with the newest groundbreaking research, the book approaches scientific questions with the excitement of a detective story, offering a fascinating look at the new science that may make the impossible possible.

Are we alone in the universe, or are there other life forms 'out there'? This is one of the most scientifically and philosophically important questions that humanity can ask. Now, in the early 2020s, we are tantalizingly close to an answer. As this book shows, the answer will almost certainly be that life forms are to be found across the Milky Way and beyond. They will be thinly spread, to be sure. Yet the number of inhabited planets probably runs into the trillions. Some are close enough for us to detect evidence of life by analysing their atmospheres. This evidence may be found within a couple of decades. Its arrival will be momentous. But even before it arrives we can anticipate what life elsewhere will be like by examining the ecology and evolution of life on Earth. This book considers the current state of play in relation to these titanic issues.

The two most fascinating questions about extraterrestrial life are where it is found and what it is like. In particular, from our Earth-based vantage point, we are keen to know where the closest life to us is, and how similar it might be to life on our home planet. This book deals with both of these key issues. It considers possible homes for life, with a focus on Earth-like exoplanets. And it examines the possibility that life elsewhere might be similar to life here, due to the existence of parallel environments, which may result in Darwinian selection producing parallel trees of life between one planet and another. Understanding Life in the Universe provides an engaging and myth-busting overview for any reader interested in the existence and nature of extraterrestrial life, and the realistic possibility of discovering credible evidence for it in the near future.

The most distant planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune were unknown by the ancients - Uranus was discovered in the 1780s and Neptune only in the 1840s. Our discovery and observation of both planets has been hampered by their sheer distance from Earth: there has only been one close encounter, Voyager 2 in the late 1980s. The Voyager mission revealed many enticing details about the planets and their moons, but also left many more questions unanswered. This book is an informative and accessible introduction to Uranus, Neptune and their moons. It takes the reader on a journey from discovery to the most recent observations made from space- and ground-based telescopes, and will appeal to amateur and professional astronomers alike.

The Starflight Handbook A Pioneer’s Guide to Interstellar Travel "The Starflight Handbook is an indispensable compendium of the many and varied methods for traversing the vast interstellar gulf—don’t leave the Solar System without it!" —Robert Forward "Very sensible, very complete and useful. Its good use of references and technical ‘sidebars’ adds to the book and allows the nontechnical text to be used by ordinary readers in an easy fashion. I certainly would recommend this book to anyone doing any thinking at all about interstellar flight or the notion of possibilities of contacts between hypothetical civilizations in different stat systems." —Louis Friedman Executive Director, The Planetary Society The Starflight Handbook is the first and only compendium on planet Earth of the radical new technologies now on the drawing boards of some of our smartest and most imaginative space scientists and engineers. Scientists and engineers as well as general readers will be captivated by its:

• In-depth discussions of everything from nuclear pulse propulsion engines to in-flight navigation, in flowing, non-technical language
• Sidebars and appendices cover technical and mathematical concepts in detail
• Seventy-five elegant and enlightening illustrations depicting starships and their hardware

See the Solar System like never before The Planets is an awe-inspiring and informative journey through the Solar System, with all-new 3D globes and models built using the latest data gathered by NASA and the European Space Agency that can be viewed from any angle and layer by layer. You can even move in for a closer look with 3D terrain models that take you on a trip to the surfaces of the rocky planets. As well as covering the Sun, the planets, hundreds of moons and thousands of asteroids and comets, The Planets includes all the major Solar System missions, right up to the latest Mars rovers. Timelines explore our relationship with each planet and infographics present fascinating Solar System facts and planet facts. The Planets is ideal for anyone interested in space exploration and all armchair astronauts or astronomers.

This new and beautifully illustrated account of Venus takes in the most recent research into this mysterious, inhospitable world. Looking at the history of our observations of the planet, from early astronomy to future space missions, it seeks to answer many of the questions that remain unanswered, such as why Venus and Earth, so similar in size and mass, evolved in such different directions, and how Venus acquired its dense carbon-dioxide atmosphere. Above all, it assesses whether life might have escaped from the oven-like temperatures at the surface and evolved to become perpetually airborne - in which case Venus may not be lifeless after all.

Enjoy Our Universe is a guide for an enjoyable visit to the Universe. The "Universe" refers to all "observable things," ranging in size from the entire cosmos to elementary particles. This small tome on fundamental physics, cosmology, Higgs bosons, time travel and all that, is unlike any other analogous book. Its scientific statements are correct or, at least, they coincide with the opinions held by the vast majority of experts. It establishes clear distinctions between things we know for sure - in the sense of having strong observational support for them - and things that we know that we do not know, or we do not understand. In this sense, it is scientifically honest. In descriptions of our Universe and of the way it functions, beauty is a recurring word. In an attempt to portray its beauty from the eyes of the beholder, the book is profusely illustrated. Its offbeat, tongue-in-cheek illustrations greatly enhance its readability, particularly in those chapters whose understanding, admittedly, requires a little extra effort. This book's idiosyncracies remind us of our own smallness and eccentricities even as we read about the logic, function and magnificence of the Universe.

Mailer's superb account, written as it was happening, of the first attempt to land men on the moon 'Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.' A Fire on the Moon tells the scarcely credible story of the Apollo 11 mission. It is suffused with Mailer's obsession both with the astronauts themselves and with his own anxieties and terrors about the extremity of what they were trying to achieve. Mailer is both admiring and appalled and the result is a book which is both a gripping narrative and a brilliant depiction of the now-forgotten technical issues and uncertainties around the mission. A Fire on the Moon is also a matchless portrait of an America caught in a morass of introspection and misery, torn apart by the war in Vietnam. But for one, extraordinary week in the summer of 1969 all eyes were on the fates of three men in a rocket, travelling a quarter of a million miles away from Earth. With an introduction by Geoff Dyer.

'Inspirational' Buzz Aldrin When exactly did life begin? What really happened during the big bang - and before it? Is the universe expanding? Is dark matter real? Do we live in one of many worlds? What's more, how can we prove any of this? This book is all about how we - any of us - can gain an understanding of the Universe in all its awe-inspiring glory. Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw take us on an epic journey of scientific exploration, revealing how the biggest questions - from the size of the earth to the distance to the stars - are answerable from our own back gardens. You don't need a Large Hadron Collider or a Hubble Space Telescope to explore the cosmos. You just need this book.

A tight-knit, high-powered group of scientists and engineers spent eight years building a satellite designed, in effect, to read the genome of the universe. Launched in 2001, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) reported its first results two years later with a set of brilliant observations that added focus, detail, and insight to our formerly fuzzy view of the cosmos.

For more than a year, the WMAP satellite hovered in the cold of deep space, a million miles from Earth, in an effort to determine whether the science of cosmology--the study of the origin and evolution of the universe--has been on the right track for the past two decades. What WMAP was looking for was a barely perceptible pattern of hot and cold spots in the faint whisper of microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang, the event that almost 14 billion years ago gave birth to all of space, time, matter, and energy.

The pattern encoded in those microwaves holds the answers to some of the great unanswered questions of cosmology: What is the universe made of? What is its geometry? How much of it consists of the mysterious dark matter and dark energy that continue to baffle astronomers? How fast is it expanding? And did it undergo a period of inflationary hyper-expansion at the very beginning? WMAP has now given definitive answers to these mysteries.

On February 11, 2003, the team of researchers went public with the results. Just some of their extraordinary findings: The universe is 13.7 billion years old. The first stars--turned on--when the universe was only 200 million years old, five times earlier than anyone had thought. It is now certain that a mysterious dark energy dominates the universe. Michael Lemonick, who had exclusive access to the researchers as WMAP gathered its data, here tells the full story of WMAP and its surprising revelations. This book is both a personal and a scientific tale of discovery. In its pages, readers will come to know the science of cosmology and the people who, seventy-five years after we first learned that the universe is expanding, deciphered some of its deepest mysteries in the patterns of its oldest light.

Thank your lucky stars for this completely comprehensive guide to our Universe. From asteroids and constellations to galaxies and planets, this star-studded look at space is the perfect package for space cadets and amateur astronomers. ?? Part of DK's best-selling Nature Guide series, Stars and Planets takes you out of this world to experience the beautiful sights and intricate details of our incredible Solar System. Packed with stunning images and expert information, you'll enjoy the whole world at your fingertips. You'll visit each and every planet and fly past the Kuiper Belt on this intrepid, intergalactic adventure. Come back down to Earth to discover all the tools and techniques you need to observe the spectacular night skies. You'll see all 88 constellations in their sparkling splendour and read the stories behind their amazing shapes and patterns. The monthly sky guide will keep your eyes on the skies all year round.?? Grab this guide and get started!

The solar system has always been a messy place in which gravity wreaks havoc. Moons form, asteroids and comets crash into planets, ice ages commence, and dinosaurs disappear. By describing the dramatic consequences of such disturbances, this authoritative and entertaining book reveals the fundamental interconnectedness of the solar system--and what it means for life on Earth.

After relating a brief history of the solar system, Alan Rubin describes how astronomers determined our location in the Milky Way. He provides succinct and up-to-date accounts of the energetic interactions among planetary bodies, the generation of the Earth's magnetic field, the effects of other solar-system objects on our climate, the moon's genesis, the heating of asteroids, and the origin of the mysterious tektites. Along the way, Rubin introduces us to the individual scientists--including the famous, the now obscure, and the newest generation of researchers--who have enhanced our understanding of the galactic neighborhood. He shows how scientific discoveries are made; he discusses the uncertainty that presides over the boundaries of knowledge as well as the occasional reluctance of scientists to change their minds even when confronted by compelling evidence. This fresh historical perspective reveals science as it is: an imperfect but self-correcting enterprise.

Journeying to the frontiers of knowledge, Rubin concludes with the exciting realm of astrobiology. He chronicles the history of the search for life on Mars and describes cutting-edge lines of astrobiological inquiry, including panspermia (the possible transfer of life from planet to planet), the likelihood of technologically advanced alien civilizations in our galaxy, and our probable responses to alien contact.

Authoritative and up-to-date but also entertaining and fluidly written, "Disturbing the Solar System" will appeal to any reader who has ever picked up a rock or gazed at the moon with a sense of wonder.

The space race was perhaps the greatest technological contest of the 20th century. It was a thrilling era of innovation, discovery and exploration, as astronauts and cosmonauts were launched on space missions of increasing length, complexity and danger. The Greatest Adventure traces the events of this extraordinary period, describing the initial string of Soviet achievements: the first satellite in orbit; the first animal, man and woman in space; the first spacewalk; as well as the ultimate US victory in the race to land on the moon. The book then takes the reader on a journey through the following decades of space exploration to the present time, detailing the many successes, tragedies, risks and rewards of space exploration.

This volume collects both essays and fictional material around two core topics in the long career of the Serbian writer, essayist, researcher, publisher and translator. The first topic - first contact - is chiefly represented by his comprehensive essay on "The Theme of First Contact in the SF Works of Arthur C. Clarke" and reflected on the literary level with his short stories "The Bookshop" and "The Puzzle". Two shorter essays on the second topic - time travel in SF literature - introduce, amongst others, the well-known and fascinating mosaic novel Time Gifts, which skillfully explores the more literary side of the notions of past, present and future. In the annotations the author provides insights into his take on the subjects presented.

'Witty, approachable and captivating' - Robin Ince 'A fascinating exploration of how we learned what matter really is' - Sean Carroll 'A delightfully fresh and accessible approach to one of the great quests of science' - Graham Farmelo 'Lays out not just what we know, but how we found out (and what is left to be discovered' - Katie Mack 'If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe' - Carl Sagan Inspired by Sagan's famous line, How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch sets out on a journey to unearth everything we know about our universe: how it started, how we found out, and what we still have left to discover. Will we ever be able to understand the very first moments of the world we inhabit? What is matter really made of? How did anything survive the fearsome heat of the Big Bang? In pursuit of answers, we meet the scientists, astronomers and philosophers who brought us to our present understanding of the world - offering readers a front-row seat to the most dramatic journey human beings have ever embarked on. Harry Cliff's How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch is an essential, fresh and funny guide to how we got to where we are now - and what we have to come.

Mars is a small world with a big reputation. This mysterious planet - with volcanoes that dwarf Mount Everest, a canyon system that would stretch fully across the USA and curious landscapes that may support life - has fascinated us for centuries. In the most up-to-date account available of the elusive `Red Planet', Stephen James O'Meara follows our longstanding love affair with this bewildering world, from the musings of humanity's first stargazers, to the imaginings of science-fiction writers and film-makers, to the latest images and discoveries from orbiting spacecraft and robotic rovers. The book also reviews plans for piloted missions to Mars, and what it will take for those missions to succeed.