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Author recounts spending the summer of 2008 in mission control of the Phoenix Mars expedition with one hundred thirty scientists…
and engineers. Describes the team's discovery of ice on Mars, discusses the possibility of life on the planet, and addresses conspiracy stories about the mission's findings. 2011
Panorama des faits marquants de l'égyptologie depuis le début du XIXe siècle : la découverte des momies royales et de…
la tombe de Toutankhamon, le déchiffrement des hiéroglyphes ou encore le déplacement des obélisques en Europe.
Detailed account of college intern Thad Roberts's theft of moon rocks from NASA in 2002 and the FBI sting that…
snared him. Describes Roberts's sheltered upbringing, his estrangement from his parents, and his romance with a coworker that motivated the heist. Some strong language. 2011
British Museum director profiles one hundred pieces from the institution's collection that trace human history, from a stone chopping tool…
discovered in Tanzania in 1931--and estimated to be one of the first manmade objects--to a solar-powered lamp and charger manufactured in China in 2010. Bestseller. 2010
Relic hunter and naturalist exposes the dark side of archaeology. Discusses the reasons people loot, citing cases of antiquities traffickers,…
immoral museum curators, and wealthy collectors. Argues that taking artifacts separates them from their history. Explains his own low-impact method of exploration. 2010
Renowned activist and public intellectual David Graeber teams up with professor of comparative archaeology David Wengrow to deliver a trailblazing…
account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution--from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality--and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could only be achieved by sacrificing those original freedoms, or alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. Graeber and Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what's really there. If humans did not spend 95% of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.
Anthropology professor and author of Cro-Magnon (DB 72886) surveys fifteen thousand years of Native American history and culture in North…
America. Discusses controversies over the first settlement and humans' role in animal extinction. Covers immigration routes and the diversity of hunter-gatherer societies. 2011
Theoretical physicist and author of From Eternity to Here (DB 71474) explains the research involved in and the potential impact…
of the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the God particle, that gives particles their mass. Details the role of engineers, theorists, and experimentalists. 2012
Journalist explores the rivalry between financier Henry Graves Jr. and automobile magnate James Ward Packard to build and own the…
most remarkable watch in history. Graves and Packard spurred Swiss watchmaker Patek Phillipe to manufacture the Graves Supercomplication--the most complex mechanical watch ever created. Details early-twentieth-century watchmaking techniques. 2013
Arizona State University cosmologist challenges belief in a divine creator and describes modern research in quantum mechanics that suggests the…
universe originated out of nothing--and could eventually return to that. Includes afterword by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The Greatest Show on Earth (DB 70102). 2012
Physicist and author of The House of Wisdom (DB 75023) discusses nine theories and ideas that seem to defy common…
sense, including the Paradox of the Twins and Achilles and the Tortoise. Explains the science and math required to understand these brainteasers. 2012
An exploration of the mythos of the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors. Discusses the stories told in many cultures…
about them and the past conclusions that they must have been merely myth. The author, however, uses research and archeological discoveries to demonstrate that they did, in fact, exist. 2018
One of the world's most dangerous volcanoes and capable of destroying entire cities, Vesuvius has fascinated many for over two…
millennia. Scarth draws on research, eyewitness accounts, and other sources to depict the story of this violent volcano from ancient times until the early twenty-first century. 2009
Journalist chronicles historical and contemporary explorations into the nature of light, both scientific and artistic. Discusses creation myths, Greek philosophers,…
religious representations, scientific investigations and feuds, filmmaking, and the development of such artistic movements as Romanticism. 2016
Examination of those who choose a career in the field of archaeology--the study of the material remains of culture. Discusses…
the ways in which people are drawn into the field--such as a love of Indiana Jones--challenges archaeologists face in the twenty-first century, and day-to-day lives of practitioners. 2014
Explores the mysteries of the Mawangdui (mah-wahng-dway) tombs, one of China's top archaeological finds, and sheds light on what life…
was like during the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.). Details the burial and condition of Lady Dai's body and cause of death. For grades 6-9 and older readers. 2014
Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, scientific advisor for Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar, guides readers through the science at work throughout the…
movie. Chapters provide context for each of the film's scientific concepts, in addition to explaining the theory and mechanics of such subjects as wormholes, planet dynamics, and quantum gravity. 2014
Philosopher Crease and physicist Goldhaber discuss the lasting legacy of the research into quantum physics in the early 1900s. Present…
material from their cross-disciplinary course that explores how science and human behavior meet in the definition of "quantum." Describe the impact of quantum research on science and popular culture. 2014
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Weinberg examines the development of scientific reasoning across the world in a number of different fields. Chronologically…
examines the advancements of the ancient Greeks, Europe, and the Arab world in the Middle Ages, and the scientific revolution during the Enlightenment. 2015
Ecologist examines the natural history of the papyrus plant, from ancient Egypt to the modern era. Describes its usage in…
paper, and as a building material, food, and fuel. Explains the role it plays in its ecosystem. Theorizes on its uses in the future. 2014