Wonder Science

Pass through fairy tales into the magic of invisible worlds in these opulent stories by a beloved fantasy icon and author of the classic Riddlemaster trilogy.

It’s a huge, smelly monster that stomps through the woods. It roars in the night as it hunts for food. Stories of Bigfoot are heard all over North America. Is it possible the legends are true?

Thomas Sowell takes aim at a range of legal, social, racial, educational, and economic issues in this latest collection of his controversial, never boring, always thought-provoking essays. From "gun control myths" to "mealy mouth media" to "free lunch medicine," Sowell gets to the heart of the matters we all care about with his characteristically unsparing candor.

One boy: Jack McKinley is an ordinary kid with an extraordinary problem. In a few months, he's going to die. One mission: Jack needs to find seven magic loculi that, when combined, have the power to cure him. One problem: The loculi are the relics of a lost civilization and haven't been seen in thousands of years. Seven wonders: Because they're hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Animals plainly know where they're going, but how they get there has remained surprisingly mysterious - until now. In Supernavigators, award-winning author David Barrie catches us up on the cutting-edge science. Here are astounding animals of every stripe: Dung beetles that steer by the light of the Milky Way. Ants and bees that rely on patterns of light invisible to humans. Sea turtles and moths that find their way using Earth's magnetic field. Humpback whales that swim thousands of miles while holding a rock-steady course.

Walter Tschinkel has spent much of his career investigating the hidden subterranean realm of ant nests. This book takes you inside an unseen world where thousands of ants build intricate homes in the soil beneath our feet. Tschinkel describes the ingenious methods he has devised to study ant nests, showing how he fills a nest with plaster, molten metal, or wax and painstakingly excavates the cast.

Based on the hit feature in National Geographic Kids magazine, Amazing Animals, we bring you three heartwarming tales of animals with incredible talents, including the stories of Norman the bike-riding dog and Eddie the otter who shoots hoops! These action-packed stories will leave listeners thirsty for more.

They're walking dead people who are dazed and confused! Stories of zombies are in many parts of the world. Is it possible the legends are true?

The Sun gives life to our planet, but it also produces some amazing phenomena. From sun dogs and green flash to solar flares and sunspots, The Science Behind Wonders of the Sun looks at some of these phenomena, explaining how and why they occur.

If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic.

A pig that does math tricks. A parrot that seems to know what she's saying. A flying pig...um, pug. These animals know what it means to be in the spotlight. Meet Mudslinger the superstar pig, Einstein the parrot genius, and Otis the skydiving dog. Hear the stories of these three amazing animal superstars in Parrot Genius.

Traditional stories endure generation after generation because, although they are not literal, they resound in truths on a human scale. Folktales remind us of wisdom so elemental it is often lost in the rush of everyday life - sometimes common sense makes no sense at all.

We think we know photosynthesis: Plants convert of sunlight, CO2, and water into energy and, ultimately, the food we eat and air we breathe. But Raffael Jovine shows how this incredible process goes beyond what we learned in grade school. First, it's not only about plants: Corals partner with photosynthetic organisms to create the most productive habitat on Earth, slugs eat chloroplasts to create a photosynthesis-based camouflage, hornets use photosynthesis for a very unconventional form of air conditioning—and much more!

She will become one of the world's greatest heroes: Wonder Woman. But first she is Diana, princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law - risking exile - to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war. Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey - from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England...and finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin.

There are many amazing sights to be seen in the sky. In the daytime there may be unusual cloud formations, rainbows, and moonbows. At night you might see a comet, meteorites, or the Aurora Borealis. The Science Behind Wonders in the Sky looks at some of these phenomena, explaining how and why they occur.

Birds, Jim Robbins posits, are our most vital connection to nature. They compel us to look to the skies, both literally and metaphorically, draw us out into nature to seek their beauty, and let us experience vicariously what it is like to be weightless. Birds have helped us in so many of our human endeavors: learning to fly, providing clothing and food, and helping us better understand the human brain and body.

Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists—many of them women, many underrecognized—and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal.

Journey through the awe-inspiring cosmos with celebrated Jesuit astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno in his masterful exploration of the universe and our place in it. To listen to A Jesuit's Guide to the Stars is to appreciate anew the graceful alignment of God and science. Br. Guy leads the way as we discover the unbroken connection between Scripture, tradition, and humankind’s quest to see God in all things—even, or maybe especially, in the stars.

It's a big, long necked monster that lives in the waters of Loch Ness. Stories of the Loch Ness Monster are told all around the world. Is it possible the legends are true?