Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Science & Engineering

This collection of nine performance pieces by naturalists is inspired by the words of Margaret Mead, who said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful individuals can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Together, these individuals provide a diverse story that memorializes the diversity, beauty, and fragility of our planet.

Our world is infinitely richer than previously guessed, yet it is so ravaged by human activity that half its species could be gone by the end of the century. In this dazzlingly intelligent and ultimately hopeful work, biologist E.O. Wilson describes what treasures of the natural world we are about to lose forever—in many cases animals, insects, and plants we have only just discovered—and what we can do to save them. Wilson explores the ethical and religious bases of the conservation movement and deflates the myth that environmental policy is antithetical to economic growth.

On April 1On April 10, 1912, The RMS Titanic embarked on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. But on the night of April 14, the British passenger liner collided with an iceberg, which resulted in the loss of more than 1,500 lives. Merely one day after the Titanic survivors arrived in New York City, a United States Senate committee began an investigation into the wreck of the great "unsinkable" ship.

John Muir, who was born in Scotland and emigrated to America in 1849, was an advocate of U.S. forest conservation and was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia and Yosemite national parks in California. Muir has emerged as perhaps the greatest prophet of an era which finds itself suddenly aware of the urgent need to care for our planet.

For centuries, it was assumed that our universe was static. In the late 1920s, astronomers defeated this assumption with a startling new discovery. From Earth, the light of distant galaxies appeared to be red, meaning that those galaxies were receding from us. This led to the revolutionary realization that the universe is expanding. The Red Limit is the tale of this discovery, its ramifications, and the passionately competitive astronomers who charted the past, present, and future of the cosmos.

From paleontology, dinosaurs, and fossils to the fascinating and strange phenomena of life on Earth today, come the inspiration for this collection of Stephen Jay Gould's best essays. Fads to fungus, baseball to beeswax, Gould always circles back to the great themes of time, change, and history. Gould's inimitable style makes history and science accessible and relevant to all.

Few would question that humankind is the crowning achievement of evolution—that history yields progress over time from the primitive and simple to the more advanced and complex—or that identifying an existing trend can be helpful in making important life decisions. We have always identified trends as bad or good. But Stephen Jay Gould argues that this mode of interpretation is a bias that needs correcting.

For anyone who has ever looked up at the stars and wondered what it all means, Issac Asimov’s Guide to Earth and Space is indispensible. Issac Asimov’s gift for popular and entertaining exposition has never been better deployed, with his succinct answers to the most intriguing questions about planets stars and galaxies. What are quasars? How was the Earth formed? Puzzled by pulsars? Perplexed by the Big Bang? Bewildered by black holes?

In this intriguing recording, Professor Emeritus Timothy Ferris—one of the world's most respected science writers—explores man's search for life elsewhere in the universe. Ferris combines new discoveries about the origins of life as we know it on Earth with recent revelations about the sun's planets and their moons. Ferris explains why many scientists are convinced that life is abundant throughout the cosmos, and he considers how one day radio telescopes may be used to connect us to an intergalactic Internet and link us to alien civilizations in the far reaches of the universe.

In brave and unforgettable terms, Al Gore, the passionate and lifelong defender of the environment, describes how human actions and decisions can endanger or safeguard the vulnerable ecosystem that sustains us.

For anyone who has ever looked up at the stars and wondered what it all means, Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space is indispensable. Isaac Asimov's gift for popular and entertaining exposition has never been better deployed, with his succinct answers to the most intriguing questions about planets, stars, and galaxies. What are quasars? How was the Earth formed? Puzzled by pulsars? Perplexed by the Big Bang? Bewildered by black holes? Asimov has answers everyone can understand and enjoy.

This is the story of a generation, shaped by the 60s, that has reached its time of reckoning, and of a man who must uncover the secrets of his father's past before he can live and love in the present. Mitch Rozier has spent half of his 50 years writing an environmental column for an alternative West coast paper. Now he finds himself back under his father's roof. Sisters Lexa and Mariah McCaskill wrestle with the past that has driven them away from domesticity:

Our earth home is in trouble: acid rain, the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, hazardous waste. However, we don't have to go out with a whimper. We can fight back. Even better, we can win. The battlegrounds are our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our holiday spots. By changing our actions, we can stop the downward spiral. Here are more than 365 ways to be environmentally responsible.

Explore the secrets of the universe with selections from the works of three of the greatest scientific minds of our lifetime. Widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein, Stephen W. Hawking has delved into today's most important scientific ideas about the cosmos, expanded upon the rich history of scientific thought, and reveled in the complexities of the universe in which we live.

The best selling author and evolutionary scientist holds the mirror up to all of our millennial passions in this wide-ranging discussion that reveals our foibles, absurdities, and uniqueness - in other words, our humanity.

The first popular introduction to Hawking's work, this program discusses the mysterious world of black holes, singularities, and the "big bang"--the point at which our universe may have begun.

In Florida, there exists a very special ecosystem where sub-tropical and north-temperate vegetation meet—Bulow Hammock. Saved by conservationists, it is one of the last stands of forest on the East Coast. This hardwood grove in Florida's open marshes and pine wood is now a State Park where complex life thrives. In the tradition of Peter Matthiessen and Stephen Jay Gould, David Rains Wallace links natural history with the imagination for an intensive study of this unique and beautiful ecosystem.

From the creation of life to the exploration of the heavens and the stars—from the origins of the earth to the possibility of life on other planets, Ben Bova unveils the beauty and science behind the phenomenon of light. Bova masterfully explains how light affects us every day of our lives—from our religions to our sex drives. He examines how we use light in art, science, industry, entertainment, cosmetics, jewelry, and myriad other ways. Using accessible language, Bova provides easy-to-understand examples that explain even the most difficult and mind-bending concepts.

There is a major revolution sweeping astronomy as amateur astronomers, linked by the Internet, make important discoveries that are the envy of the professionals. In Seeing in the Dark, Timothy Ferris invites us all to become stargazers, capturing the exquisite experience when ancient starlight strikes the eye and incites the mind.

Since the Renaissance, people have been plagued by the tense battle between science and religion. Revered evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould suggests, instead of choosing between the two, why not opt for a golden mean that accords dignity and distinction to each realm? With intelligence and clarity, Gould renders the complex simple and sheds new light on this dilemma. In this dazzling gem of contemporary cultural philosophy, Gould posits that science defines the natural world, while religion defines our moral world, and they both can coexist peacefully in respectful noninterference.