Brief Lives: Newton by Peter Ackroyd

$15.00 AUD

Category: Science - Popular | Series: Brief Lives S.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727), the English genius, made his greatest contributions to original thought before the age of twenty-five, while at home in Lincolnshire escaping the great plague of 1665, a period of which he wrote: "I was in the prime of age for invention." Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, an MP, Master of the Mind and President of the Royal Society, Newton, the author of "Principia", one of the most important books in the history of science, was fascinated by calculus, the planets and the 'laws of motion', and, in keeping with his age, blurred the borders between natural philosophy and speculation: he was as passionate about astrology as astronomy and dabbled in alchemy, while his religious faith was never undermined by his scientific efforts. ...Show more

Eureka!: The Birth of Science by Andrew Gregory

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Category: Science - Popular | Series: Icon Science

Medicine, anatomy, astronomy, mathematics and cosmology, science began with the Greeks, and Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Archimedes and Hippocrates were amongst its stars. That man ever managed to develop a 'scientific' attitude to the natural world at all is one of the true wonders of human thought. E ureka! shows how, free from intellectual and religious dogma, these early thinkers rejected myths and capricious gods and, in distinguishing between the natural and supernatural, effectively discovered nature. Andrew Gregory, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, unravels the genesis of science in this fascinating exploration of the origins of Western civilisation, and our desire for a rational, legitimating system of the world. ...Show more

Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf by Oliver Sacks

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Category: Science - Popular

The bestselling author and "one of the greatest clinical writers of the twentieth century" (New York Times) explores the world of deafness and ponders the nature of human communication.

The Human Superorganism: How the Microbiome is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life by Rodney Dietert

$20.00 AUD

Category: Science - Popular

A cutting-edge new book that reveals how foreign microbes might actually be good for us, contrary to past belief. The microorganisms that we have sought to eliminate have been supporting our ancestors for centuries. They comprise 90 percent of the cells in our bodies and yet we have significantly reduce d their power, sparking an epidemic of new diseases, or superbugs. The Human Superorganism presents pioneering research and offers a blueprint for a revolution in public health, by going against what we always thought was true: that foreign microbes are bad for us. ...Show more

Sex, Botany and Empire : The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks by Patricia Fara

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Category: Science - Popular | Series: Icon Science

When the imperial explorer James Cook returned from his first voyage to Australia, scandal writers mercilessly satirised the amorous exploits of his botanist Joseph Banks, whose trousers were reportedly stolen while he was inside the tent of Queen Oberea of Tahiti. Was the pursuit of scientific truth re ally what drove Enlightenment science? In Sweden and Britain, both imperial powers, Banks and Carl Linneaus ruled over their own small scientific empires, promoting botanical exploration to justify the exploitation of territories, peoples and natural resources. Regarding native peoples with disdain, these two scientific emperors portrayed the Arctic North and the Pacific Ocean as uncorrupted Edens, free from the shackles of Western sexual mores. In this 'absorbing' (Observer) book, Patricia Fara reveals the existence, barely concealed under Banks' and Linnaeus' camouflage of noble Enlightenment, of the altogether more seedy drives to conquer, subdue and deflower in the name of the British Imperial state. ...Show more

Restless Creatures The Story of Life in Ten Movements

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Category: Science - Popular

The Body: A Guide for Occupants (HB) by Bill Bryson

$49.99 AUD

Category: Science - Popular | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

In the bestselling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe. Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functi ons and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories The Body- A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up. A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this book will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.   ...Show more

Chomsky: A Graphic Guide by John Maher

$12.99 AUD

Category: Science - Popular | Series: Introducing... S.

'Lucid, witty and exact.' New Statesman. Linguist Noam Chomsky maintains that the human brain has an innate language faculty, and that part of this biological endowment is a 'universal grammar', a theory of principles common to all languages. Thus, all human languages and the ways in which children lear n them are remarkably similar. Chomsky's book Syntactic Structures was a turning-point in 20th-century linguistics, challenging assumptions in many areas such as philosophy, psychology and intellectual history. Heir to the Enlightenment tradition, Chomsky has introduced new perspectives on language, the creative individual and the nature of human freedom in society. Introducing Chomsky traces Chomsky's understanding of the cognitive realities involved in the use of language, and the technical apparatus needed to represent it. The book also describes Chomsky's radical critique of the institutions of power and the pathways of oppression, and his commitment to freedom and justice. ...Show more

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

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Category: Science - Popular

Musicophilia Tales of Music and the Brain

The Minds Eye by SACKS OLIVER

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Category: Science - Popular

The Mind's eye By Oliver Sacks

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks

$15.00 AUD

Category: Science - Popular

Have you ever seen something that wasn't really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing?   Hallucinations don't belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illnes s, or injury. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliputian figures of animals and people. People with failing eyesight, paradoxically, may become immersed in a hallucinatory visual world. Hallucinations can be brought on by a simple fever or even the act of waking or falling asleep, when people have visions ranging from luminous blobs of color to beautifully detailed faces or terrifying ogres. Those who are bereaved may receive comforting "visits" from the departed. In some conditions, hallucinations can lead to religious epiphanies or even the feeling of leaving one's own body.   Humans have always sought such life-changing visions, and for thousands of years have used hallucinogenic compounds to achieve them. As a young doctor in California in the 1960s, Oliver Sacks had both a personal and a professional interest in psychedelics. These, along with his early migraine experiences, launched a lifelong investigation into the varieties of hallucinatory experience.   Here, with his usual elegance, curiosity, and compassion, Dr. Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all, a vital part of the human condition. ...Show more

Introducing Psychoanalysis: A Graphic Guide by Ivan Ward

$12.99 AUD

Category: Science - Popular | Series: Introducing... Ser.

INTRODUCING guide to the history and theory of still controversial 'speaking cure'. The ideas of psychoanalysis have permeated Western culture. It is the dominant paradigm through which we understand our emotional lives, and Freud still finds himself an iconic figure. Yet despite the constant stream of anti-Freud literature, little is known about contemporary psychoanalysis. Introducing Psychoanalysis redresses the balance. It introduces psychoanalysis as a unified 'theory of the unconscious' with a variety of different theoretical and therapeutic approaches, explains some of the strange ways in which psychoanalysts think about the mind, and is one of the few books to connect psychoanalysis to everyday life and common understanding of the world. How do psychoanalysts conceptualize the mind? Why was Freud so interested in sex? Is psychoanalysis a science? How does analysis work? In answering these questions, this book offers new insights into the nature of psychoanalytic theory and original ways of describing therapeutic practice. The theory comes alive through Oscar Zarate's insightful and daring illustrations, which enlighten the text. In demystifying and explaining psychoanalysis, this book will be of interest to students, teachers and the general public.About the author:Ivan Ward has a background in social sciences and anthropology. He is a lecturer at the London Guildhall University and the Director of Education at the Freud Museum, London Oscar Zarate is one of the UK's leading graphic artists. He has illustrated numerous Introducing titles. His graphic novel A Small Killing won the Will Eisner Prize. ...Show more