Science Universe

The story of our Universe, from its beginning in the first milliseconds of the Big Bang up to our present moment and beyond, told in a gripping narrative by one of the world's leading astronomers.

The Short Story of the Universe is a new introduction to the subject of the universe. Covering 130 key components that make it up - from dwarf galaxies and spiral arms to red giants and the planets of the solar system - and linking these to the universe's structure and the theories that help us understand it, this book simplifies this riveting yet mind-boggling subject, telling the story of how it came into being and how it will eventually be no more.

In Psychedelic Apes, best-selling author Alex Boese will delve into the curious scientific subculture of weird theories. Thoroughly bizarre and contrary to the established norm, these ideas are often vehemently rejected by the intellectual community. From the creation of the universe to the evolution of humans, the birth of civilisation right through to our more recent past, Psychedelic Apes explores some of the craziest ideas from science and history and shows that, sometimes, even the weirdest theories may be proved true.

In 1911, a relatively unknown physicist named Albert Einstein published his preliminary theory of gravity. But it hadn't been tested. To do that, he needed a photograph of starlight as it passed the sun during a total solar eclipse. So began a nearly decade-long quest by seven determined astronomers from observatories in four countries, who traveled the world during five eclipses to capture the elusive sight. Over the years, they faced thunderstorms, the ravages of a world war, lost equipment, and local superstitions.

A 3,000-year-old secret has put Zack Lancestrom within reach of power most interstellar empires would go to war over. There’s just one problem: In order to claim it, he’ll need to leave the planet, and there are gang members, feral aliens, and security forces sent by his own father standing in his way. With the starports closed to him, Zack has no choice but to assemble his own crew and steal a starship. He knows where he can find one, but the path leads straight through the Boneyard, the most lawless place on the planet.

It’s been three years since Esa left her backwater planet to join the ranks of the Justified. Together, she and fellow agent Jane Kamali have been traveling across the known universe, searching for children who share Esa’s supernatural gifts. On a visit to a particularly remote planet, they learn that they’re not the only ones searching for gifted children. They find themselves on the tail of a mysterious being with impossible powers who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the very children that Esa and Jane are trying to save.

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history, it is 1976, but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice.

Hot diggity dog! Meet Pluto! The runt of a litter of eight planets. Pluto may not be the biggest or fastest planet to revolve around the Sun, but it has a unique story to tell. From the tale of how it was found by humans to its naming as a dwarf planet, it’s Pluto’s turn to take the spotlight and properly re-introduce itself.

The people of Stephen's Point have put years into rebuilding the Chimera, their last hope for a return to Earth. As preparations continue, the ancient ship sleeps, bound by her strict protocols. Theo Puck finds himself drawn to the mysterious girl from the rim, Selena Samuelson, convinced that she holds the secret to waking the Chimera. Marcus, too, wants the Chimera woken. But his leadership has nothing to do with saving Stephen's Point - his hatred for Selena nearly equals his desire to control Theo.

The fate of Earth's first colony rests on the shoulders of a pair of misfits: Theo Puck, a rogue hacker with a gift for speaking to machines, and Selena Samuelson, a brash but talented pilot with a dark secret in her past. Earth went silent over a decade ago. No contact, no resupply. If something doesn't change, the colony will go extinct. Theo and Selena's futures become intertwined as they carve out places for themselves in the crew that will navigate the Chimera back to Earth.

Following a humiliating, defeated effort to conquer Earth, Klawde has had it with this dismal planet. And anyway, what's the point in conquering such an insignificant corner of the galaxy, when there's an entire universe to rule? Luckily for Klawde, the position of Emperor of the Universe is now open for the taking. So with Barx and Raj by his side, and enemies around every corner, Klawde begins the campaign of his life. Can he win enough hearts and minds to become...Emperor of the Universe?

After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn't commit and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows. Gabriel Sullivan alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue is supposed to be dead.

Joshua has a life. He's attending college. He's in love. A secret crime fighting agency brings him into their fold and gives him a new name, Bear. A world opens up with aliens, and drugs that can control the minds of the strongest men. They want Bear to find the leader of the biggest crime syndicate on Earth, Centurian. They make him point on missions, and it makes him feel like he's doing the right thing.

The marvelous complexity of the universe emerges from several deep laws and a handful of fundamental constants that fix its shape, scale, and destiny. Where did these laws and these constants come from? And why are the laws so fruitful when written in the language of mathematics? Author Peter Atkins considers the minimum effort needed to equip the universe with its laws and its constants. He explores the origin of the conservation of energy, of electromagnetism, of classical and quantum mechanics, and of thermodynamics, showing how all these laws spring from deep symmetries.

Centuries ago, the principle of Ockham’s razor changed our world by showing simpler answers to be preferable and more often true. In Life Is Simple, scientist Johnjoe McFadden traces centuries of discoveries, taking us from a geocentric cosmos to quantum mechanics and DNA, arguing that simplicity has revealed profound answers to the greatest mysteries. This is no coincidence. From the laws that keep a ball in motion to those that govern evolution, simplicity, he claims, has shaped the universe itself.

For nearly a century, the Justified have been searching for gifted children to help prevent the return of the pulse. Until recently, they thought they were the only ones. Jane Kamali and her telekinetic protégé, Esa, now 17, barely managed to claim victory against a Cyn - a being of pure energy - hell bent on hunting down the gifted. Now, they face an army. The Cyn and their followers will stop at nothing to find Esa and the others. No one knows what they want, but Jane, Esa, and their allies in the Justified are determined to find out.

Whatever Navigator Selena Samuelson expected when her Fractal Class ship, Chimera, arrived at Earth, it certainly wasn't a brutal attack from an unknown enemy that killed more than half her crew and all but destroyed her ship. Deserted by their captain and the only other navigator, Selena makes a terrible gamble and flees for Damascene - a colony that lost contact with Earth hundreds of years ago.

This audiobook tries to project to you an imminent truth that is more real than the air that you breath. If you are willing to open up your mind, God shall take off the thick scales that are covering your eyes, and...you shall be able to understand your destiny, and know how to make the right choice, you shall have a tremendous understanding of the secret truth hidden in plain sight of the world around you, you shall acquire the ability to distinguish between the truth, and the lie, you shall be able to devise a plan for the near future, so you can escape this terrible destruction.

Miriam Beckstein is a young, hip, business journalist in Boston. She discovered in The Family Trade and The Hidden Family that her family came from an alternate reality, that she was very well-connected, and that her family was too much like the mafia for comfort. She found herself caught in a family trap in The Clan Corporate and betrothed to a brain-damaged prince, and then all hell broke loose. Now, in The Merchants' War, Miriam has escaped to yet another world and remains in hiding from both the Clan and their opponents.

Meet Earth. Planet Awesome! And your awesome home! Actually, Earth is home to all the plants and all the animals in the solar system, including nearly eight billion people. Humans have accidentally moved Earth's climate change into the fast lane, and she need your help to put on the brakes. Earthlings need Earth, and Earth needs Earthlings, so let’s save Earth together!