New Science

For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence? Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses map-like structures to build a model of the world - not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know. This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought.

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in 21st century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive.

The Sword of the Lictor is the third volume in Wolfe's remarkable epic, chronicling the odyssey of the wandering pilgrim called Severian, driven by a powerful and unfathomable destiny, as he carries out a dark mission far from his home.

Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" is one of speculative fiction's most-honored series. In a 1998 poll, Locus Magazine rated the series behind only "The Lord of the Rings" and The Hobbit as the greatest fantasy work of all time.

Moons have passed since six cats set out on a journey to save their Clans. Now, they are traveling home again, but on their way through the mountains, they meet a tribe of wild cats with a secret...and their own mysterious prophecy to fulfill. In the forest, Firestar and Leafpaw watch ThunderClan’s world crumbling around them. Will the questing cats make it back in time to save the Clans, or will they be too late?

Leading a cultural revolution driven by identity politics and so-called 'social justice', the new puritanism movement is best understood as a religion - one that makes grand claims to moral purity and tolerates no dissent. In The New Puritans, Andrew Doyle powerfully examines the underlying belief-systems of this ideology and how it has risen so rapidly to dominate all major political, cultural and corporate institutions. He reasons that, to move forward, we need to understand where these New Puritans came from and what they hope to achieve.

Journalist Jeff Bercovici spent extensive time with professional and Olympic athletes, coaches, and doctors to find how today's sports superstars seemed to be able to defy the limits of physical aging that inevitably sideline their competitors. Through fascinating profiles and first-person anecdotes, Bercovici illuminates the science and strategies extending the careers of elite older athletes, uncovers the latest advances in fields from nutrition to brain science to virtual reality, and offers empowering insights about how the rest of us can find peak performance at any age.

Whimbrel House is changing. Merritt and Hulda are raising a family. Owein has signed a marriage contract with the magically compatible Lady Cora, a heavyweight of British nobility who’s an ocean away. And the lovely shape-shifting druid Fallon makes a distractingly fetching friend for Owein. But another change is in the air, and this time it’s something wicked. The greatest wizard of the millennium, Silas Hogwood, is back—after five years dead. New body, same foul scent, and driven by madness and revenge.

Life on the wild frontier isn’t for everyone. Leading her own team now, Tomi Ryan is stuck with a mundane escort mission and dealing with irritating scientists. She’d much rather have a more interesting assignment. When her geologist boyfriend’s survey ship crashlands on a hostile planet, Tomi’s team is called in. Conducting a rescue operation on an untamed planet filled with malevolent wildlife, hostile natives, and its share of secrets, she’ll be going in nearly blind. Time is running out for the stranded survey team which is acclimated to civilization–not fighting for ...

Learn what you need to succeed as a developer beyond the code. The lessons in this book will supercharge your career by sharing lessons and mistakes from real developers.

According to numerous neuroscience studies, 95% of our thoughts, emotions, and learnings occur before we are consciously aware of them. However, much of today’s technology is built based on the other 5%; the part users are able to articulate in focus groups, interviews, and when filling out surveys. It’s our job to decode the other 95%. Technology has driven progress for decades, and industries have reacted accordingly by dedicating enormous amounts of time and resources to progress in this domain by building bigger, faster, and more sophisticated systems. But what if the key to ...

The young cats who set off on a quest many moons ago have returned with a chilling message: The Clans must move to a new home or risk extermination. But the dangers waiting for them beyond their borders are impossible to predict, and the cats have no idea where to go. What they need is a sign from StarClan....

A nuclear EMP attack would shove the USA back 150 years. Death, chaos, and lawlessness would prevail.... Zack Johnson is no hero, but he does have some valuable prepper skills to help him survive. There is nothing like a nuclear apocalypse to help a man grow up and become a hero as he helps his family and friends survive. He is 2,000 miles from home; the grid and all modern transportation have failed. The country is degenerating into violence and dog-eat-dog scenarios. People are killing their neighbors for a scrap of moldy bread or a sip of water.

The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together 18 essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with 36 poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance.

Samantha “Reena” Barker is out of her element—WAY out. As the first (and only) human at an elite intergalactic university, Reena has somehow become an unofficial representative of the entire human race. No pressure, right? Navigating a campus full of aliens is hard enough, but add a grumpy, musically-challenged roommate to the mix, and things get seriously awkward. Thankfully, it’s not all bad. She’s got Panda, a quirky alien friend with an endearing love for humans. And then there’s the devastatingly handsome alien prince who might just have a crush on her. Too bad his ex-...

Walking upright on two feet is a uniquely human skill. It defines us as a species. It enabled us to walk out of Africa and to spread as far as Alaska and Australia. It freed our hands and freed our minds. We put one foot in front of the other without thinking - yet how many of us know how we do that, or appreciate the advantages it gives us? In this hymn to walking, neuroscientist Shane O’Mara invites us to marvel at the benefits it confers on our bodies and minds. In Praise of Walking celebrates this miraculous ability.

The stories you’ve dreamed of; the people you crave to meet; or would love to be. The aliens who’d make you shiver, or laugh. The huge risks of guiding your spacecraft here, or there. The adventures you’d have if only you had the nerve… Or the utter romance of doing that… The humour of orbital disasters and alien conflicts; the perils of ill-advised time-interference; the sheer romance of null-gravity love; the terrors of a leaky hull; the fear of a bullying boss when you’re a thousand light years beyond.; the choices you face in the big, black Vac. Mostly a laugh or a satisfied...

We like to think that we're gradually making progress towards equality. With the advent of ever more high-tech equipment at our fingertips, we tend to assume that progress will be hastened, as new technology is used in positive and democratising ways. But there is a new wave of technologies which threaten this notion. Deepfakes. The metaverse. Cyber brothels. With misogyny being baked into their design, these technologies are dragging women back to the dark ages.

A few years have passed since the devastating Sarassian attack on Earth. Millions are dead. Earth is rebuilding whatever can be rebuilt, but with little progress. Making ready for the inevitable return of the enemy. The world has been awakened to the truth: humans are no longer alone in the universe. Technically, they never were, but still. Only a select few people had known the truth for years, and most of us were none the wiser. Now everybody knows that our planet has a target on its back, and it is only a matter of time until someone takes the shot. The world also became aware of yet ...

What does it take to raise a great dog? This was the question that husband-and-wife team Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods hoped to answer when they enrolled one hundred and one puppies in the Duke Puppy Kindergarten. With the help of a retired service dog named Congo, Brian, Vanessa, and their team set out to understand the secrets of the puppy mind: What factors might predict whether a puppy will grow up to change someone’s life?

PLEASE NOTE: Feel free to read the first two books in the series in any order—they both will work just fine! This is deliberate—both storylines are intertwined, but they do not necessarily impose, which part in the series should be read first. The first human interstellar flight. A terrorist organization working against all sanity. And a terrifying discovery to be made just outside the Solar system. Humanity is working tirelessly at getting ready to travel to the stars and spread its eggs around several cosmic baskets. Julius Cousteau, a long-thought-dead former captain of a failed ...