The Human Cosmos
The Human Cosmos

Author: Jo Marchant

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0593183045

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A Best Book of 2020 (NPR) A Best Book of 2020 (The Economist) A Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 (Smithsonian) A Best Science and Technology Book of 2020 (Library Journal) A Must-Read Book to Escape the Chaos of 2020 (Newsweek) Starred review (Booklist) Starred review (Publishers Weekly) A historically unprecedented disconnect between humanity and the heavens has opened. Jo Marchant's book can begin to heal it. For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are—our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost. Our relationship to the stars and planets has moved from one of awe, wonder and superstition to one where technology is king—the cosmos is now explored through data on our screens, not by the naked eye observing the natural world. Indeed, in most countries, modern light pollution obscures much of the night sky from view. Jo Marchant's spellbinding parade of the ways different cultures celebrated the majesty and mysteries of the night sky is a journey to the most awe-inspiring view you can ever see: looking up on a clear dark night. That experience and the thoughts it has engendered have radically shaped human civilization across millennia. The cosmos is the source of our greatest creativity in art, in science, in life. To show us how, Jo Marchant takes us to the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux in France, and to the summer solstice at a 5,000-year-old tomb at Newgrange, Ireland. We discover Chumash cosmology and visit medieval monks grappling with the nature of time and Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars. We discover how light reveals the chemical composition of the sun, and we are with Einstein as he works out that space and time are one and the same. A four-billion-year-old meteor inspires a search for extraterrestrial life. The cosmically liberating, summary revelation is that star-gazing made us human.

Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond
Super Volcanoes: What They Reveal about Earth and the Worlds Beyond

Author: Robin George Andrews

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0393542076

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An exhilarating, time-traveling journey to the solar system’s strangest and most awe-inspiring volcanoes. Volcanoes are capable of acts of pyrotechnical prowess verging on magic: they spout black magma more fluid than water, create shimmering cities of glass at the bottom of the ocean and frozen lakes of lava on the moon, and can even tip entire planets over. Between lava that melts and re-forms the landscape, and noxious volcanic gases that poison the atmosphere, volcanoes have threatened life on Earth countless times in our planet’s history. Yet despite their reputation for destruction, volcanoes are inseparable from the creation of our planet. A lively and utterly fascinating guide to these geologic wonders, Super Volcanoes revels in the incomparable power of volcanic eruptions past and present, Earthbound and otherwise—and recounts the daring and sometimes death-defying careers of the scientists who study them. Science journalist and volcanologist Robin George Andrews explores how these eruptions reveal secrets about the worlds to which they belong, describing the stunning ways in which volcanoes can sculpt the sea, land, and sky, and even influence the machinery that makes or breaks the existence of life. Walking us through the mechanics of some of the most infamous eruptions on Earth, Andrews outlines what we know about how volcanoes form, erupt, and evolve, as well as what scientists are still trying to puzzle out. How can we better predict when a deadly eruption will occur—and protect communities in the danger zone? Is Earth’s system of plate tectonics, unique in the solar system, the best way to forge a planet that supports life? And if life can survive and even thrive in Earth’s extreme volcanic environments—superhot, superacidic, and supersaline surroundings previously thought to be completely inhospitable—where else in the universe might we find it? Traveling from Hawai‘i, Yellowstone, Tanzania, and the ocean floor to the moon, Venus, and Mars, Andrews illuminates the cutting-edge discoveries and lingering scientific mysteries surrounding these phenomenal forces of nature.

Illustoria: Issue #9: Food
Illustoria: Issue #9: Food

Author: Elizabeth Haidle

Publisher: Illustoria Magazine

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781944211783

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This food-themed issue features recipes for grapefruit, appreciations of potato chips, guides to the diets of literary giants, contributions by Tunde Olaniran, Mar Hernandez, Chef Tamearra Dyson, Brian McMullen, Hein Koh, and more. "Illustoria" is the beloved print magazine for creative kids and their grownups. We celebrate visual storytelling, makers and DIY culture through stories, art, comics, interviews, crafts and activities.

Three Shadows
Three Shadows

Author: Cyril Pedrosa

Publisher: First Second

Published: 2008-04-01

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781596432390

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Can you ever escape your fate? Three shadows stand outside the house - and Louis and Lise know why the spectral figures are there. The shadows have come for Louis and Lise's son, and nothing anyone can do will stop them. Louis cannot let his son die without trying to prevent it, so the family embarks on a journey to the ends of the earth, fleeing death. Poignant and suspenseful, Three Shadows is a haunting story of love and grief, told in moving text and sweeping black and white artwork by Cyril Pedrosa.

The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker
The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker

Author: Elizabeth Miller

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2012-03-08

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1849543291

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Recently a long-lost journal belonging to Dracula author Bram Stoker was discovered in his great-grandson Noel's dusty attic. Published now to coincide with the centenary of Stoker's death, the text of this stunning find, written between 1871 and 1881, mostly in his native Dublin, will captivate scholars of Gothic literature and Dracula fans alike. Painstakingly transcribed and researched, the journal offers intriguing new insights into the complex nature of the man who wrote Dracula more than one hundred years ago. Assisted by a team of scholars and Stoker historians, Dacre Stoker and Professor Elizabeth Miller neatly connect the dots between the contents of the journal and Bram Stoker's later work, most significantly Dracula. Until now, discussion of the very private Bram Stoker has, by necessity, been largely speculative. Other than names and dates provided by biographers, and Bram Stoker's own sparse self-revelation in his non-fiction, little has been available to support character studies of this fascinating Victorian gentleman. This personal journal shows Stoker's private thoughts and his developing style, and is a veritable treasure trove of oddities, musings and anecdotes.