'The most important advance of our era. One of the pioneers of the field describes the exciting hunt for the key breakthrough and what it portends for our future' Walter Isaacson World-famous scientist Jennifer Doudna - winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR - explains her discovery, describes its power to reshape the future of all life and warns of its use. A handful of discoveries have changed the course of human history. This book is about the most recent and potentially the most powerful and dangerous of them all. It is an invention that allows us to rewrite the genetic code that shapes and controls all living beings. As a result, dreams of genetic manipulation have become a stark reality: the power to cure disease and alleviate suffering, as well as to re-design any species, including humans, for our own ends. Jennifer Doudna is the co-inventor of this technology - known as CRISPR - and a scientist of worldwide renown. Writing with fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg, here she provides the definitive account of her discovery, explaining how this wondrous invention works and what it is capable of. She also asks us to consider what our new-found power means: how do we enjoy its unprecedented benefits while avoiding its equally unprecedented dangers? _________________ PRAISE FOR A CRACK IN CREATION: 'The future is in our hands as never before, and this book explains the stakes like no other' George Lucas 'One of the most PIONEERING women in science . . . Exhilarating' Arianna Huffington 'Thrilling' Adam Rutherford 'An instant classic' Siddhartha Mukherjee

The international bestseller from the author of Breakfast with Einstein Emmy is no ordinary dog. When adopted from the shelter by physics professor Chad Orzel, she becomes immediately fascinated by his work. Could she use quantum tunnelling to get through the neighbour's fence? How about diffracting round a tree to chase squirrels? Or using virtual particles to catch bunnies made of cheese? Taking Emmy's anarchic behaviour as a starting point, Orzel explains the key theories of quantum physics. From quarks and gluons to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, this is a uniquely entertaining way to unlock the secrets of the universe.

What the f*ck is 5G, and how does it even work? The world loves 4G phones, tablets and other gizmos and we take the tech for granted...but when that 4 grew up into the next-gen 5, it seems everyone perked up and started caring about phone networking tech. Journalists journaled, politicians, er, politicked, and tin-foil hat wearers reached for the extra-thick reinforced foil. Why all this fuss? Believe it or not, 5G could change the way you live. Because though it seems like smartphones are only good for tiktok and texting, 5G has the power to revolutionise how we interact with public spaces - from concerts and gigs to coffee shops, paving the way for foundational tech like virtual and augmented reality. This book will explain this missing radio link that will propel us into the future of self-driving cars and VR. Oh, and along the way we'll explore why 5G and coronavirus are very definitely and completely, utterly, not the same thing

What is neuroplasticity? Is it possible to change your brain? Norman Doidge's inspiring guide to the new brain science explains all of this and more An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable, and proving that it is, in fact, possible to change your brain. Psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity, its healing powers, and the people whose lives they've transformed--people whose mental limitations, brain damage or brain trauma were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

Plate tectonics is a revolutionary theory on a par with modern genetics. Yet, apart from the frequent use of cliches such as 'tectonic shift' by economists, journalists, and politicians, the science itself is rarely mentioned and poorly understood. This book explains modern plate tectonics in a non-technical manner, showing not only how it accounts for phenomena such as great earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, but also how it controls conditions at the Earth's surface, including global geography and climate. The book presents the advances that have been made since the establishment of plate tectonics in the 1960s, highlighting, on the 50th anniversary of the theory, the contributions of a small number of scientists who have never been widely recognized for their discoveries. Beginning with the publication of a short article in Nature by Vine and Matthews, the book traces the development of plate tectonics through two generations of the theory. First generation plate tectonics covers the exciting scientific revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, its heroes and its villains. The second generation includes the rapid expansions in sonar, satellite, and seismic technologies during the 1980s and 1990s that provided a truly global view of the plates and their motions, and an appreciation of the role of the plates within the Earth 'system'. The final chapter bring us to the cutting edge of the science, and the latest results from studies using technologies such as seismic tomography and high-pressure mineral physics to probe the deep interior. Ultimately, the book leads to the startling conclusion that, without plate tectonics, the Earth would be as lifeless as Venus.

'Fascinating ... so enlightening that suddenly maths doesn't seem so fearsome as it once did' SIMON WINCHESTER From Aristotle to Ada Lovelace: a brief history of the mathematical ideas that have forever changed the world and the everyday people and pioneers behind them. The story of our best invention yet. From our ability to calculate the passing of time to the algorithms that control computers and much else in our lives, numbers are everywhere. They are so indispensable that we forget how fundamental they are to our way of life. In this international bestseller, Mickael Launay mixes history and anecdotes from around the world to reveal how mathematics became pivotal to the story of humankind. It is a journey into numbers with Launay as a guide. In museums, monuments or train stations, he uses the objects around us to explain what art can reveal about geometry, how Babylonian scholars developed one of the first complex written languages, and how 'Arabic' numbers were adopted from India. It All Adds Up also tells the story of how mapping the trajectory of an eclipse has helped to trace the precise day of one of the oldest battles in history, how the course of the modern-day Greenwich Meridian was established, and why negative numbers were accepted just last century. This book is a vital compendium of the great men and women of mathematics from Aristotle to Ada Lovelace, which demonstrates how mathematics shaped the written word and the world. With clarity, passion and wisdom, the author unveils the unexpected and at times serendipitous ways in which big mathematical ideas were created. Supporting the belief that - just like music or literature - maths should be accessible to everyone, Launay will inspire a new fondness for the numbers that surround us and the rich stories they contain.

Plants That Kill is not a field guide, clinical care manual, or pharmacology textbook-it is a fascinating and beautifully presented natural history of the world's most poisonous plants, the extraordinary strategies they employ for survival, and the impact these have on humans, other animals, and on other plants. Some of these seriously harmful and potentially lethal plants can cause their effects if eaten only once, others when consumed repeatedly over a longer period. For some, their effects are felt after skin or eye contact, or following inhalation. These extraordinary plants occur on all continents, and in many different plant families, producing a range of chemicals as part of their strategy for survival. The positive uses that humans and other animals have found for these plants and the chemicals they contain are also an important part of the story. This great diversity is showcased and brought to life through fascinating examples, beautiful illustrations andclear, explanatory diagrams. Anyone with an interest in plants, or with more ecological or pharmacological inclinations, will be fascinated and engaged by this book.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR WRITING ON GLOBAL CONSERVATION 'Pilcher is both very funny and very, very clever.' Gillian Burke 'Richly entertaining throughout.' Sunday Times For the last three billion years or so, life on Earth was shaped by natural forces. Evolution tended to happen slowly, with species crafted across millennia. Then, a few hundred thousand years ago, along came a bolshie, big-brained, bipedal primate we now call Homo sapiens, and with that, the Earth's natural history came to an abrupt end. We are now living through the post-natural phase, where humans have become the leading force shaping evolution. This thought-provoking book considers the many ways that we've altered the DNA of living things and changed the fate of life on earth. We have carved chihuahuas from wolves and fancy chickens from jungle fowl. We've added spider genes to goats and coral genes to tropical fish. It's possible to buy genetically-modified pets, eat genetically-modified fish and watch cloned ponies thunder up and down the polo field. Now, as our global dominance grows, our influence extends far beyond these species. As we warm our world and radically reshape the biosphere, we affect the evolution of all living things, near and far, from the emergence of novel hybrids such as the pizzly bear, to the entirely new strains of animals and plants that are evolving at breakneck speed to cope with their altered environment. In Life Changing, Helen introduces us to these post-natural creations and talks to the scientists who create, study and tend to them. At a time when the future of so many species is uncertain, we meet some of the conservationists seeking to steer evolution onto firmer footings with novel methods like the 'spermcopter', coral IVF and plans to release wild elephants into Denmark. Helen explores the changing relationship between humans and the natural world, and reveals how, with evidence-based thinking, humans can help life change for the better.

One of Bill Gates's Favorite Books of 2016 A revelatory look at our national power grid--how it developed, its current flaws, and how it must be completely reimagined for our fast-approaching energy future. America's electrical grid, an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, is turning out to be a poor fit for the present. It's not just that the grid has grown old and is now in dire need of basic repair. Today, as we invest great hope in new energy sources--solar, wind, and other alternatives--the grid is what stands most firmly in the way of a brighter energy future. If we hope to realize this future, we need to reimagine the grid according to twenty-first-century values. It's a project which forces visionaries to work with bureaucrats, legislators with storm-flattened communities, moneymen with hippies, and the left with the right. And though it might not yet be obvious, this revolution is already well under way. Cultural anthropologist Gretchen Bakke unveils the many facets of America's energy infrastructure, its most dynamic moments and its most stable ones, and its essential role in personal and national life. The grid, she argues, is an essentially American artifact, one which developed with us: a product of bold expansion, the occasional foolhardy vision, some genius technologies, and constant improvisation. Most of all, her focus is on how Americans are changing the grid right now, sometimes with gumption and big dreams and sometimes with legislation or the brandishing of guns. The Grid tells--entertainingly, perceptively--the story of what has been called "the largest machine in the world": its fascinating history, its problematic present, and its potential role in a brighter, cleaner future.

""What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?"" This was the question posed by John Brockman to a group of leading scientists and thinkers via his Edge.org website. The subsequent answers created a media storm and prompted a fiery debate about all aspects of science, technology and even the nature of ""proof"". WHAT WE BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE brings together the very best answers from the most eminent contributors. Here is Ian McEwan on the absence of an afterlife; Richard Dawkins on the relationship between design and evolution; and Jared Diamond on when humans first reached the Americas. Other contributions from luminaries like Steven Pinker, John Horgan and Martin Rees span the whole range of scientific endeavour and human experience, from the future of computing to the origins of intelligence; from insights into childhood behaviour to cutting-edge cosmology. Thought-provoking and hugely compelling, this collection is both a fascinating insight into the instinctive beliefs of some of the most brilliant minds alive today -- and an invitation to answer the question yourself . . .

We like to think of ourselves as exceptional beings, but are we really any more special than other animals? Humans are the slightest of twigs on a single family tree that encompasses four billion years, a lot of twists and turns, and a billion species. All of those organisms are rooted in a single origin, with a common code that underwrites our existence. This paradox - that our biology is indistinct from all life, yet we consider ourselves to be special - lies at the heart of who we are.

In this original and entertaining tour of life on Earth, Adam Rutherford explores how many of the things once considered to be exclusively human are not: we are not the only species that communicates, makes tools, utilises fire, or has sex for reasons other than to make new versions of ourselves. Evolution has, however, allowed us to develop our culture to a level of complexity that outstrips any other observed in nature.

THE BOOK OF HUMANS tells the story of how we became the creatures we are today, bestowed with the unique ability to investigate what makes us who we are. Illuminated by the latest scientific discoveries, it is a thrilling compendium of what unequivocally fixes us as animals, and reveals how we are extraordinary among them.

With illustrations by Alice Roberts

The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year 2017 'Does Einstein proud . . . Eminently readable' Guardian 'No one has covered the topic with such a light touch and joie de vivre . . . a delight' Brian Clegg Gravity was the first force to be recognised and described yet it is still the least understood. If we can unlock its secrets, the force that keeps our feet on the ground holds the key to understanding the biggest questions in science: what is space? What is time? What is the universe? And where did it all come from? Award-winning writer Marcus Chown takes us on an unforgettable journey from the recognition of the 'force' of gravity in 1666 to the discovery of gravitational waves in the twenty-first century. And, as we stand on the brink of a seismic revolution in our worldview, he brings us up to speed on the greatest challenge ever to confront physics.

Can We Travel Through Time? addresses 20 of the most fundamental and frequently asked questions in physics. What is the God particle? Does chaos theory spell disaster? Am I unique in the universe? What is light? Each 3,000 word essay examines these eternally perplexing questions in a way that is comprehensible to everyone, providing the ultimate guide to understanding the very nature of the world we live in.

In Our Mathematical Universe, Max Tegmark, one of the most original physicists at work today, leads us on an astonishing journey to explore the mysteries uncovered by cosmology and to discover the nature of reality Part-history of the cosmos, part-intellectual adventure, Our Mathematical Universe travels from the Big Bang to the distant future via parallel worlds, across every possible scale - from the sub-atomic to the intergalactic - showing how mathematics provides the answers to our questions about the world. Where do we come from? What makes the universe the way it is? In essence, why are we here? With dazzling clarity, Max Tegmark ponders these deep mysteries and allows us to grasp the most cutting-edge and mind-boggling theories of physics. What he proposes is an elegant and fascinating idea: that our physical world not only is described by mathematics, but that it is mathematics. 'Our Mathematical Universe is nothing if not impressive. Brilliantly argued and beautifully written, it is never less than thought-provoking about the greatest mysteries of our existence' - New York Times 'An amazing ride through the rich landscape of contemporary cosmology... Physics could do with more characters like Tegmark... an imaginative intellect and a charismatic presence' - Clive Cookson, Financial Times Max Tegmark is author or co-author of more than 200 technical papers, twelve of which have been cited more than 500 times. He has featured in dozens of science documentaries, and his work with the SDSS collaboration on galaxy clustering shared the first prize in Science magazine's "Breakthrough of the Year: 2003". He holds a Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a physics professor at MIT.

Geoffrey West's research centres on a quest to find unifying principles and patterns connecting everything, from cells and ecosystems to cities, social networks and businesses. Why do organisms and ecosystems scale with size in a remarkably universal and systematic fashion? Is there a maximum size of cities? Of animals and plants? What about companies? Can scale show us how to create a more sustainable future? By applying the rigour of physics to questions of biology, visionary physicist Geoffrey West found that despite the riotous diversity in the sizes of mammals, they are all, to a large degree, scaled versions of each other. This speaks to everything from how long we can expect to live to how many hours of sleep we need. He then made the even bolder move of exploring his work's applicability to cities and to the business world. These investigations have led to powerful insights about the elemental natural laws that bind us together in profound ways, and how all complex systems are dancing to the same simple tune, however diverse and unrelated they may seem.

How smart machines are transforming us all ― and what we should do about it.

The smart-machines revolution is re-shaping our lives and our societies. Here, Nigel Shadbolt, one of Britain’s leading authorities on artificial intelligence, and Roger Hampson dispel terror, confusion, and misconception. They argue that it is human stupidity, not artificial intelligence, that should concern us.

Lucid, well-informed, and deeply human, The Digital Ape offers a unique approach to some of the biggest questions about our future.

Explaining the science behind science fiction and fantasy-from the probable to the impossible From space elevators to interstellar travel, science fiction and fantasy writers have come up with some brilliant, innovative ideas. Yet how plausible are these ideas-for instance, could Mr. Weasley's flying car in the Harry Potter books really exist? Which concepts might happen, and which ones wouldn't work? From the works of Ursula K. Le Guin to Star Trek and Avatar, this book delves into the most extraordinary details in science fiction and fantasy-such as time warps, shape changing, and rocket launches-and shows readers the physics and math behind the phenomena.

This book describes in detail numerous geological sites throughout the mountains of Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Eastern Arabia. The region is well known for its oil and gas reserves in the desert interior, and Permian-Mesozoic shelf carbonates exposed in the mountains of the Musandam peninsula, Jebel al-Akhdar and Saih Hatat, where deep wadi canyons provide impressive three-dimensional views into the crust. The region has numerous globally important geological sites, including the world's largest and best-exposed ophiolite complex, the Semail Ophiolite, which is a vast thrust sheet of Cretaceous ocean crust and upper mantle emplaced onto the Arabian continental margin. Other sites include spectacular fossil localities, subduction zone metamorphic rocks (eclogites, blueschists, amphibolites), fold-thrust belts, giant sheath folds and Precambrian salt domes, as well as the huge sand dunes of the Rub al'Khali, the Empty Quarter, and the separate Wahiba (Sharkiyah) sandsea of Eastern Oman. Written by Mike Searle, who has worked on geological research projects throughout Oman and UAE almost every year since 1978, this book describes the field geology of each site and includes a wealth of maps, field photos and diagrams illustrating key features. It also discusses the history of exploration of Arabia and the search for its hidden geological secrets. The book provides the geological basis for the establishment of a series of World Heritage Sites, National GeoParks and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) throughout the region. As such, it is of interest to geologists, tourists, mountaineers, trekkers, rock climbers and naturalists.

A relatable, interactive, and funny exploration of algorithms, those essential building blocks of computer science - and of everyday life - from the author of the wildly popular Bad Arguments. Algorithms -- processes that are made up of unambiguous steps and do something useful -- make up the very foundations of computer science. Yet, they also inform our choices in approaching everyday tasks, from managing a pile of clothes fresh out of the dryer to deciding what music to listen to. With Bad Choices, Ali Almossawi, presents twelve scenes from everyday life that help demonstrate and demystify the fundamental algorithms that drive computer science, bringing these seemingly elusive concepts into the understandable realms of the everyday. Readers will discover how: * Matching socks can teach you about search and hash tables * Planning trips to the store can demonstrate the value of stacks * Deciding what music to listen to shows why link analysis is all-important * Crafting a succinct Tweet draws on ideas from compression * Making your way through a grocery list helps explain priority queues and traversing graphs * And more As you better understand algorithms, you'll also discover what makes a method faster and more efficient, helping you become a more nimble, creative problem-solver, ready to face new challenges. Bad Choices will open the world of algorithms to all readers making this a perennial go-to for fans of quirky, accessible science books.

Failure is always an option... For more than 50 years, NASA's Mission Control has been known for two things: perfect decision making in extreme situations and producing generations of steely-eyed missile men and women who continue that tradition. A key to that legacy of brilliant performance is a particular brand of leadership, especially at the working level in Mission Control. Take the ultimate insiders look at the leadership values and culture that created the best team on this planet. Paul Sean Hill was responsible for NASA's Mission Operations support for manned space flight from 2007-2011. In this candid book he shows that the secret to Mission Control's success has never been rocket science and that the real practice of perfect decision making can be applied to any organisation or team. By demonstrating how his Mission Control team nurtured a culture which has delivered impossible wins for decades, Hill provides a guide for all leaders to boost their company's performance at all levels. Whether failure means cost and schedule overruns, quality reduction, loss of market share, bankruptcy - or putting someone's life a risk, how we lead can determine whether even small mistakes are dealt with or are left to snowball out of control and destroy an enterprise. Discover how to take leadership from the Mission Control Room to your boardroom and beyond, and achieve this out-of-this-world leadership environment in your team.

'Probably the most readable, exciting and authoritative writer on science we have. A new Lawrence Krauss book always goes to the top of the curious mind's wish list.' Stephen Fry "I loved the fight scenes and the sex scenes were excellent." (Eric Idle) 'In the span of a century, physics progressed from skepticism that atoms were real to equations so precise we can predict properties of subatomic particles to the tenth decimal place. Lawrence Krauss rightly places this achievement among the greatest of all stories, and his book-at once engaging, poetic and scholarly-tells the story with a scientist's penetrating insight and a writer's masterly craft.' (Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe, and Director, Center for Theoretical Physics, Columbia University) "Unlike some very clever scientists, Lawrence Krauss is not content to bask on the Mount Olympus of modern physics. A great educator as well as a great physicist, he wants to pull others up the rarefied heights to join him. But unlike some science educators, he doesn't dumb down. In Einstein's words, he makes it 'as simple as possible but no simpler.'" (Richard Dawkins, author of The Magic of Reality) "In every debate I've done with theologians and religious believers their knock-out final argument always comes in the form of two questions: Why is there something rather than nothing? and Why are we here? The presumption is that if science provides no answers then there must be a God. But God or no, we still want answers. In A Universe From Nothing Lawrence Krauss, one of the biggest thinkers of our time, addressed the first question with verve, and in The Greatest Story Ever Told he tackles the second with elegance. Both volumes should be placed in hotel rooms across America, in the drawer next to the Gideon Bible." (Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, columnist Scientific American, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author The Moral Arc.) "A Homeric tale of science, history, and philosophy revealing how we learned so much about the universe and its tiniest parts." (Sheldon Glashow, Nobel Laureate, 1979 in physics) "The Greatest Story Ever Told-So Far ranges from Galileo to the LHC and beyond. It's accessible, illuminating, and surprising-an ideal guide for anyone interested in understanding our accidental universe." (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction) "College students, hippies, squares, Christians, Muslims, democrats, republicans, libertarians, theists, even atheists-all of us-sit around BS-ing like: 'So, how did all this, I mean everything, all of us, the whole universe, you know, man, everything, how did this all get here?' While we were doing that, Lawrence Krauss and people like him were doing the work to figure it out. Then Krauss wrote this great book about it. 'Wow, man, you mean, like we're getting closer to really knowing? I guess we'll have to go back to talking about politics and sex.'" (Penn Jillette, author of Presto!) "Discovering the bedrock nature of physical reality ranks as one of humanity's greatest collective achievements. This book gives a fine account of the main ideas and how they emerged. Krauss is himself close to the field, and can offer insights into the personalities who have led the key advances. A practiced and skilled writer, he succeeds in making the physics 'as simple as possible but no simpler.' I don't know a better book on this subject." (Martin Rees, author of Just Six Numbers) "It is an exhilarating experience to be led through this fascinating story, from Galileo to the Standard Model and the Higgs boson and beyond, with lucid detail and insight, illuminating vividly not only the achievements themselves but also the joy of creative thought and discovery, enriched with vignettes of the remarkable individuals who paved the way. It amply demonstrates that the discovery that 'nature really follows the simple and elegant rules intuited by the 20th- and 21st-century versions of Plato's philosophers' is one of the most astonishing achievements of the human intellect." (Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), MIT) "Charming... Krauss has written an account with sweep and verve that shows the full development of our ideas about the makeup of the world around us... A great romp." (Walter Gilbert, Nobel Award, Chemistry, 1980) "History of science with an edge-humorous, personal, passionate, yet intellectually serious and authoritative." (Frank Wilczek, Nobel Laureate, Physics) In the beginning there was light but more than this, there was gravity. After that, all hell broke loose... This is how the story of the greatest intellectual adventure in history should be introduced - how humanity reached its current understanding of the universe, one that is far removed from the realm of everyday experience. Krauss connects the world we know with the invisible world all around us, which is removed from intuition and direct sensation. He explains our current understanding of nature and the struggle to construct the greatest theoretical edifice ever assembled, the Standard Model of Particle Physics -- and then to understand its implications for our existence. Writing in the critically acclaimed style of A Universe from Nothing, Krauss celebrates the beauty and wonders of the natural world and details our place within it and how this shapes our understanding of it. Krauss makes this story accessible through profiles of the scientists responsible for these advances, and clear explanations of their discoveries. Krauss takes us on a tour of science and the brilliant personalities who shaped it, often against political and religious indoctrination, enduring persecution and ostracism. Krauss creates a captivating blend of research and narrative to invite us into the lives and minds of these figures,creating a landmark work of scientific history.

The NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING account of the new frontier of sports recovery science, which shows what we should and shouldn't be doing between exercising to achieve maximum performance.

'Christie Aschwanden is simply one of the best science writers in the world. Whether you’re striving for a personal best or simply wondering about that post-workout beer, Good to Go is the definitive tour through a bewildering jungle of scientific (and pseudo-scientific) claims that comprise a multi-billion dollar recovery industry.' - David Epstein, bestselling author of The Sports Gene.

All athletes from Olympians to weekend warriors must toe the line between training and recovery to maximize the benefits of workouts and reach optimal performance. For the longest time, coaches and training manuals have emphasized training. But now sports science is homing in on an even more fundamental part: recovery.

The aim of training is to force the body to adapt to stress, and this adaptation is what makes you fitter and better able to perform. But to adapt, you need to optimize recovery too. You only benefit from training that you can recover from, and the ability to recover determines how much training your body can handle. Recovery, the science shows, is a crucial component of exercise training and it’s starting to look like it may be the most important one.

Good to Go is the first definitive account of this new frontier in sports and exercise science. This developing science informs not only professional athletes and sports teams, but also people who are exercising for health or fitness and those who are aiming to take a little off their personal record.

Good to Go will take readers on an intimate, light-hearted journey through the science of exercise recovery, from ice-baths and cryogenic freezing chambers to the science behind Usain Bolt’s love of chicken nuggets and Tom Brady’s recovery pyjamas. In the same vein as David Epstein’s The Sports Gene and Bill Gifford’s Spring Chicken, Good to Go assesses the science and claims of a wide variety of recovery methods and potions, and debunks the junk to give a clear picture of what we should actually be doing to look after our bodies better between exercising.

An essential guide to recognizing bogus numbers and misleading data Numbers are often intimidating, confusing, and even deliberately deceptive-especially when they are really big. The media loves to report on millions, billions, and trillions, but frequently makes basic mistakes or presents such numbers in misleading ways. And misunderstanding numbers can have serious consequences, since they can deceive us in many of our most important decisions, including how to vote, what to buy, and whether to make a financial investment. In this short, accessible, enlightening, and entertaining book, Brian Kernighan teaches anyone-even diehard math-phobes-how to demystify the numbers that assault us every day. Giving you the simple tools you need to avoid being fooled by dubious numbers, Millions, Billions, Zillions is an essential survival guide for a world drowning in big-and often bad-data.

Find the happiness of emptiness.

Few things scare us more than inner emptiness. The presumed emptiness of coma or dementia scares us so much that we even sign living wills to avoid these states. Yet as Zen masters have long known, inner emptiness can also be productive and useful. We can reach this state through meditation, concentration, music, or even during sex. In fact, our brain loves emptiness ― it makes us happy.

Leading brain researcher Niels Birbaumer investigates the pleasure in emptiness and how we can take advantage of it. He explains how to overcome the evolutionary attentiveness of your brain and take a break from thinking ― a skill that’s more important than ever in an increasingly frantic world.

In this latest edition of the successful Cartoon Guide series, master cartoonist and former Harvard instructor Larry Gonick offers a complete and up-to-date illustrated course to help students understand and learn this core mathematical course taught in American schools. Using engaging graphics and lively humor, Gonick covers all of the algebra essentials, including linear equations, polynomials, quadratic equations, and graphing techniques. He also offers a concise overview of algebra's history and its many practical applications in modern life. Combining Gonick's unique ability to make difficult topics fun, interesting, and easy-to-understand-while still relaying the essential information in a clear, organized and accurate format-The Cartoon Guide to Algebra is an essential supplement for students of all levels, in high school, college, and beyond.