Secondhand Natural Science Bargain Book Box SP2902

Secondhand Natural Science Bargain Book Box SP2902

Eighteen books for the reader who finds science as compelling as any novel — from the origin of life to the unweaving of the rainbow, from Darwin's biography to the science of extreme survival. Dawkins, Stephen Jay Gould, Martin Rees, Paul Davies, Frances Ashcroft: popular science writing at its very best.

1. Eclipse — David and Carol Allen — a comprehensive guide to the astronomy and spectacle of solar and lunar eclipses, beautifully illustrated.
2. Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others — Martin Rees — the Astronomer Royal on the nature and origins of the universe, and the possibility that ours is just one of many.
3. Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival — Frances Ashcroft — how life survives at the deepest ocean, the highest altitude, the hottest desert, and the coldest ice: extraordinary biology told as adventure.
4. The Mismeasure of Man — Stephen Jay Gould — the definitive scientific and historical refutation of biological determinism and the misuse of intelligence testing.
5. Darwin — Adrian Desmond and James Moore — the landmark biography that placed Darwin's ideas in their full social and political context. Essential Darwin.
6. The Story of Light — Ben Bova — the science, history, and philosophy of light, from ancient optics to Einstein and the laser.
7. Science at the Extreme — Peter Lane Taylor (foreword by Thomas E. Lovejoy, Smithsonian Institution) — profiles of scientists working at the extreme limits of the knowable world.
8. Unravelling Piltdown: The Science Fraud of the Century and Its Solution — John Evangelist Walsh — the detective story behind palaeontology's greatest hoax and how it was finally exposed.
9. Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History — Stephen Jay Gould — Gould's fifth collection of Natural History essays, covering evolution, extinction, and the contingency of life.
10. The Weather (BBC) — John Lynch — the authoritative companion to the science of weather, from daily forecasting to the global systems that drive climate.
11. The Pocket Guide to Fossils — Chris Pellant — a field guide to identifying and understanding fossils, compact enough to take into the field.
12. The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin of Life — Paul Davies — the physicist and cosmologist investigates how life began, and whether its origin was inevitable or miraculous.
13. Darwin and Fundamentalism (Postmodern Encounters) — a short, sharp examination of the conflict between Darwinian evolution and religious literalism.
14. Einstein and the Birth of Big Science (Postmodern Encounters) — how Einstein's work transformed physics into a collaborative, government-funded enterprise.
15. Unravelling Genes: A Layperson's Guide to Genetic Engineering — Mark Walker and David McKay — a clear and honest guide to what genetic engineering is, can do, and might do.
16. Animals without Backbones: Volume 1 — Ralph Buchsbaum (Pelican) — the classic introduction to invertebrate biology, as clear and engaging as when it was first published.
17. Animals without Backbones: Volume 2 — Ralph Buchsbaum (Pelican) — the companion volume, completing the survey of the most diverse creatures on earth.
18. Unweaving the Rainbow — Richard Dawkins — Dawkins's answer to the idea that science diminishes beauty, arguing instead that understanding deepens wonder.