How is it that boomerangs can turn in mid-air?

And why do cats always land on their feet?

From the solar system to spinning tops; hurricanes to hula hoops; powerplants to pendulums, one mysterious force shapes almost every aspect of our lives. A force which, despite its ubiquity, continues to confound, baffle and surprise.

Artfully moving between astrophysics and anthropology, The Science of Spin provides a sweeping journey through space and time, from the creation of the Earth to the advent of the ‘fidget spinner’. Charting the development of engineering and technology from the earliest prehistoric drills to the turbine engine, critically acclaimed author and scientist Roland Ennos presents a riveting account of human ingenuity and the seemingly infinite ways spin affects our daily lives.

The world is shaped by complexity. In this enlightening book, Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work to show us how. It all starts with investigating the principles of physics by observing the sophisticated flight patterns of starlings. Studying the movements of these birds, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds – collections of everything from atoms to planets to other animals like ourselves.

Along the way, Parisi reflects on the lessons he’s taken from a life in pursuit of scientific truth: the importance of serendipity to the discovery of new ideas, the surprising kinship between physics and other fields of study and the value of science to a thriving society. In so doing, he removes the practice of science from the confines of the laboratory and into the real world. Complexity is all around us – from climate to finance to biology, it offers a unique way of finding order in chaos.

Part elegant scientific treatise, part thrilling intellectual journey, In a Flight of Starlings is an invitation to find wonder in the world around us.

‘Crawls with curious facts’ Sunday Times
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We are unprepared for the greatest discovery of modern science. Scientists are confident that there is alien life across the universe yet we have not moved beyond our perception of ‘aliens’ as Hollywood stereotypes. The time has come to abandon our fixation on alien monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing.

Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin’s theory of evolution – which applies throughout the universe – Cambridge zoologist Dr Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like. This is the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.
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‘An entertaining, eye-opening and, above all, a hopeful view of what – or who – might be out there in the cosmos’ Philip Ball, author of Nature’s Patterns

‘A fascinating insight into the deepest of questions: what might an alien actually look like’ Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins

‘If you don’t want to be surprised by extraterrestrial life, look no further than this lively overview of the laws of evolution that have produced life on earth’ Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s Last Hug

‘An authoritative and beautifully written account of the quest to understand quantum theory and the origin of space and time.’ Professor Brian Cox  

Quantum physics is not mystifying. The implications are mind-bending, and not yet fully understood, but this revolutionary theory is truly illuminating. It stands as the best explanation of the fundamental nature of our world.

Spanning the history of quantum discoveries, from Einstein and Bohr to the present day, Something Deeply Hidden is the essential guide to the most intriguing subject in science. Acclaimed physicist and writer Sean Carroll debunks the myths, resurrects and reinstates the Many-Worlds interpretation, and presents a new path towards solving the apparent conflict between quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity. In doing so, he fills a gap in the science that has existed for almost a century.

A magisterial tour, Something Deeply Hidden encompasses the cosmological and everyday implications of quantum reality and multiple universes. And – finally – it all makes sense.