An amazing journey from our moon to the most distant stars, revealing the magic and majesty of our universe.

An in-depth, easy-to-understand examination of the basic physical laws of nature and how they influence our universe.

Trace the development of astronomy from early Greek stargazers to the ambitious pioneers: Brahe, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton - who braved persecution and ridicule to fight for a science that relied not on ancient authorities and scriptures, but on logic, math, and careful observation. As Motz and Weaver show, the fruits of this noble pursuit - the elegant, simple natural laws - opened our eyes to the elusive rotations of the heavenly bodies, and gave rise to classical physics, and, finally, the vigorous, thriving science of astronomy today. These engaging authors go on to depict the brilliant revolution in astronomy that shattered classical physics and transformed our concepts of time, space, and matter. Beginning with Einstein's theory of relativity, Motz and Weaver celebrate and savor the twentieth century's greatest advances in physics, chemistry, and mathematics, each of which have dramatically reshaped modern astronomy.

Writing specifically for the statistically scared, Jeff Weaver exposes the mathematics behind statistical analysis and shows how an understanding of probability, standard deviation, margins of error, and test groups can help in the reader's understanding of everything from the lottery to national polls to scientific data. With vivid and humorous examples, Conquering Statistics opens the world of statistics to the average reader as well as the student and offers an invaluable look at the science behind the statistics.