What does society owe each of us? And what do we owe in return?Our answer to these inescapable questions - known as the social contract - shapes our politics, economic systems and every...
When did globalization begin? Most observers have settled on 1492, the year Columbus discovered America. But as celebrated Yale professor Valerie Hansen shows, it was the year 1000, when for the fi...
The knife can be the most functional utensil or the most exquisite piece of design - avid collectors pay jaw-dropping sums for a piece of Japanese hand-crafted steel, made according to traditions t...
Reducing energy use is the single biggest challenge facing architecture today. From the humblest prehistoric hut to the imposing monuments of Rome or Egypt to super-connected modern airports, build...
This book takes a dramatically original approach to the history of humanity, using objects which previous civilisations have left behind them, often accidentally, as prisms through which we can exp...
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, logician, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguisti...
‘Because ‘God’ is infinite, nobody can have the last word.’What is this thing, religion, which has supposedly been the cause of bloodshed and warring for centuri...
Humanity's greatest feat is our incredible ability to learn. Even in their first year, infants acquire language, visual and social knowledge at a rate that surpasses the best supercomputers. But ho...
Do you know how to use semicolons, where to put your apostrophes and when to use commas? Do you know the difference between affect and effect, if and whether, or who and whom? Do you know why this ...
A Brief History of Secret Societies examines the significant hidden power wielded by clandestine organisations from ancient times right up to the present day. Throughout history, humankind’s ...
An entertaining and thought-provoking guide to what laws are, who makes them and how people enforce them. It covers crime and punishment as well as social and citizenship issues such as politics an...
A guide to putting cognitive diversity to workEver wonder what it is that makes two people click or clash? Or why some groups excel while others fumble? Or how you, as a leader, can mak...
Cylinders, spheres and cubes are a small handful of shapes that can be defined by a single word. However, most shapes cannot be found in a dictionary. They belong to an alternative plastic world de...
The definitive account of the race to create artificial intelligence'This colourful page-turner puts artificial intelligence into a human perspective . . . Metz explains this transforma...
‘The story of the quest to understand life’s genesis is a universal one, in which everyone can find pleasure and fascination. By asking how life came to be, we are implicitly asking why...
Act now to avert calamity!This expertly curated compilation of step-by-step survival advice, drawn from more than 100 years of official documentation from around the world, demonstrates...
'This book is dynamite' - ROBERT GILDEA, author of Empires of the MindA searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentie...
It is only in the last three centuries that the formidable knowledge-making machine we call modern science has transformed our way of life and our vision of the universe - two thousand years after ...
So much is still misunderstood about the menopause and how to manage it successfully - GP and menopause specialist, Dr Louise Newson, is here to change that. Managing the Perimenopause...
'If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by the time you're done. Powerful, persuasive, and in these truth-defying times, indispensable' - Caroline Criado Perez, auth...