24 Science


76575 JUDAS PAIR: An Original Lovejoy Murder


Mystery by Jonathan Gash ‘Not so long ago, like any other antiques dealer worth his salt, if you had asked me to find the Judas Pair, I would have laughed until I fell down. Everybody knew that they simply didn’t exist. The antiques business is riddled with myths that this supposedly exquisite, unique pair of 18th


century duelling pistols was one of the greatest. Even when a thoroughly respectable new client offered me hard cash to track them down, I had to tell him that the pistols were a fantasy. But he knew different. You see, they had been used to murder his brother.’ Another collectors’ piece in this original murder mystery series. 251pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


76563 GOLD FROM GEMINI: An Original


Lovejoy Murder Mystery by Jonathan Gash ‘To my mind, making love is a lot like picking blackberries - you need both hands and a lot of skill to do it properly and get away unscathed, yet your mind can be miles away. When my mind wanders, it’s invariably in the direction of an antiques deal, and what could attract an antique dealer’s mind more irresistibly than a trail of clues leading to a treasure trove of Roman gold? It might have put me off a bit had I known that following the trail would involve violence and murder, but not for long, and when your friends are in the firing line, you have to make sure your enemies get what’s coming to them.’ A decidedly exciting treasure hunt with Manx climax, some gore and buckets of lore. 236pp, paperback.


£6.99 NOW £3.50 76568 GRAIL TREE: An Original Lovejoy


Murder Mystery by Jonathan Gash ‘Antiques dealers are mostly lustful, greedy, savage, crude and vulgar. The difference between you and me is that I bet I am a lot more honest about myself. I was entirely honest with an old little forger who claimed he had the real Holy Grail - I told him he was nuts. If I had a penny for every crackpot ‘grail’ story I’ve come across, I’d be loaded by now. Yet he was a decent bloke and whatever it was he had, someone thought it was worth murdering him for it. What choice did I have but to find out what the hell it was all about?’ Lovejoy, ingeniously dishonest Norfolk antique dealer is nicely on form. 248pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


76557 FIREFLY GADROON: An Original


Lovejoy Murder Mystery by Jonathan Gash ‘I don’t like to pack too much into an ordinary day and this one had already been pretty eventful - two arguments with women, a fight in a pub and a warning from the Old Bill. Then it got worse. A fiasco at auction lost me an exquisite antique Japanese firefly cage. The trouble was somebody wanted that little gem even more than I did. It was the key that would unlock a secret they’d do anything to keep under wraps, even murder. If they had gone about their dirty business without dragging me or my friends into it I wouldn’t have given a hoot, but when the master craftsman bravely trying to teach me the art of gadrooning fell foul of them and paid for it with his life, they had me to deal with.’ An ingenious murder mystery featuring Lovejoy. 215pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


76592 SLEEPERS OF ERIN: An Original


Lovejoy Murder Mystery by Jonathan Gash ‘I knew things were going badly when I’d been hospitalised and arrested for a crime that not only did I not commit, I had actively attempted to prevent. Top that off with a pending court appearance before a judge whose wife I knew rather better than he did, and the idea of tunnelling into an ancient Irish tomb with a gang of ruthless villains, a deranged scarecrow poet and an Eastern European hit man (whom I knew for a fact had been no further east than Billericay in his entire life) sounded perfectly reasonable to me. All I had to do was make sure that I didn’t end up joining ancient Irish tomb’s inhabitants.’ 247pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


76594 SPEND GAME: An Original Lovejoy


Murder Mystery by Jonathan Gash ‘The antiques game is nothing but trouble - beautiful, lovely trouble, all the time. Normally I can glide through it by turning on the trademark Lovejoy charm, or skip round it with a delicate sidestep. Sometimes, I simply blunder into it up to my neck. Standing by a roadside ditch in a thunderstorm, holding hands with a terrified woman and staring down at the lifeless body of an old friend, I was blundering in deeper than ever. In truth, I was probably more scared than she was. You see, I had a pretty good idea why he had been murdered.’ 252pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


76599 VATICAN RIP: An Original Lovejoy


Murder Mystery by Jonathan Gash Love says ‘Stopping my friends from getting broken when an Italian gentleman made me an offer I couldn’t refuse meant stealing a very valuable antique table. But who had it? Without a flicker of a smile he replied ‘The Pope.’ If you think the Pope lives in a big church called the Vatican, then think again. The Vatican is a complete walled city guarded by the ridiculously costumed Swiss Guard. Look a bit daft, don’t they? But they are highly trained young men. Well, if stealing antiques from the Pope was easy, everybody would be doing it, wouldn’t they?’ Fast paced fiction with the loveable rogue and a text stuffed with a magpie’s selection of antique information. 248pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.50


76760 ORIGINAL LOVEJOY MURDER


MYSTERIES: Set of 7 by Jonathan Gash Buy all seven paperbacks and save even more. £48.93 NOW £21


ORDER HOTLINE: 020 74 74 24 74 SCIENCE & MATHS


I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. - Albert Einstein


76928 WHY DON’T SPIDERS


STICK TO THEIR WEBS? And 317 Other Everyday Mysteries of Science by Robert Matthews Not only are the explanations provided herein marvellous ointment for that mental itch that has been afflicting you for ages, but can actually help you make the correct choices for major life decisions. No longer will the family Monopoly


game slip through your fingers, as we learn here the properties that pay back the most, and in addition we are shown at which point we should smell a rat when any game of chance keeps favouring your opponent! We also discovered how the Bibliophile felines make their contented purrs and why they are impossible to train to react to anything other than a tapped can of Whiskas. Snowflakes really are all unique, but Eskimos actually have no more words for snow than we do. You would in fact require five Isles of Wight to accommodate the world’s population standing up and nobody really knows why humans are so predominantly right-handed. 237pp, paperback.


£7.99 NOW £3.50 77195 NUMBERLAND: The


World in Numbers by Mitchell Symons


Pythagoras thought that numbers rule the universe - and how right he was. They are everywhere - in every single thing we encounter in our lives, from tiny ones, like the 6,000,000,000 dust mites in our beds, to the vast 27,000 kilos of food that we shall eat in our lifetimes. This book is addictive


reading. It views the world from a different perspective, taking in the flora and fauna of the natural world, the human body, creepy-crawlies, music, art, literature, love and marriage, TV, celebrities, religion, history, science - we could go on and on. Did you know, for instance, that during your lifetime you are likely to shed 57 litres of tears. No wonder Alice nearly drowned when she cried. Could you believe that there are 20,000 living organisms in a glass of water or that lightning strikes the earth 100 times per second? Now we are afraid to go out, and have just said ‘No thanks’ to a cup of tea. 256 mind-stretching pages lavishly furnished with line drawings in tasteful red. £12.99 NOW £6


76930 BUILD YOUR OWN TIME MACHINE: The Real


Science of Time Travel by Brian Clegg


An acclaimed science writer takes inspiration from his childhood heroes Dr Who and H. G. Wells to explain that there is no physical law to prevent time travel, and nothing in physics to say it is impossible. So who is to say that it cannot be done? In a scintillating book, he


explains the nature of time, how we understand it and why we measure it the way we do. He also goes into how the theories of one man changed the way in which time was perceived by everybody. Readers also discover why H. G. Wells’ time machine would not in fact have worked, and what they would need to do to make the fictional one into a real one. Here too, the amazing and exotic possibilities of quantum entanglement, superluminal speeds, neutron star cylinders and wormholes in space are explored. Finally, the author uses the most famous of Einstein’s theories - special and general relativity - to explain the real science of time travel and discover how possible it actually is. 311 amazingly convincing pages. £14.99 NOW £5


76887 WIRED FOR CULTURE: Origins of the Human Social


Mind by Mark Pagel This volume by a professor of evolutionary biology sheds light on the many fascinating contradictions that make up human nature: morality and self-interest, honesty and deception, philanthropy and prejudice. In the process, it offers surprising new insights into what it means to be human. Its author


reveals how being ‘hard-wired’ for culture - in other words, having an innate propensity to contribute and conform to the culture of our birth - has facilitated human progress in the past and continues to influence our behaviour today. Humans demonstrate remarkable altruism. They help those in need, make sacrifices for their communities and perform acts of heroism. At the same time, they also have a tendency to distrust those who are different from them. Can we reconcile such disparate aspects of our nature? To answer this question, the professor takes readers back 80,000 years to the development of culture. As our ancestors began to live in larger tribal societies, it became advantageous for them to work together, and to distinguish themselves from other groups with which they competed for resources. To that end, they created shared customs and beliefs, spread ideas, skills and technologies, formed language, and developed dance, music and art. Thanks to culture, humans could learn from one another and benefit from the support and wisdom of their communities. The message of this book is that our genes have created in us a machine capable of greater


inventiveness and common good than any other on Earth and that, if we are to survive, we must encourage the conditions that give people everywhere a sense of shared purpose and shared outcomes. This book makes you stop and think. 416 pages. $29.95 NOW £6.50


76941 CIRCULATION: William Harvey’s


Revolutionary Idea by Thomas Wright


Diminutive, brilliant and choleric, William Harvey had a huge impact on anatomy and modern biology. His obsessive quest was to understand the movement of blood which overturned beliefs held by physicians since Roman times. His


circulation theory was as controversial in its day as Copernicus’ idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Set in late Renaissance London, his vivid and visceral biography shows how Harvey drew inspiration not only from his dissections and vivisections but also from England’s bustling trade networks and technology. Francis Bacon, England’s Lord Chancellor and a recalcitrant patient of Harvey’s; John Donne, a poet and preacher fascinated by anatomy and the human heart; and King Charles I, Harvey’s beloved patron and witness to many of his experiments. His theory altered the culture and language of its time, influencing poets and economists and even encouraging radical political ideas. The King was toppled during the Civil War. The biography charts the remarkable rise of a Yeoman’s son to the position of King’s Physician. 246pp, illus. £16.99 NOW £6.50


77181 LIFE AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital


Life by J. Craig Venter What is life? This authoritative study by the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, the scientist who is best known for sequencing the human genome, provides readers with an opportunity to ponder anew the age-old question. In 2010,


headlines around the world announced one of the most amazing accomplishments in modern science - the creation of the first synthetic life form. This landmark was not only a remarkable technical feat, drawing upon the work of decades of discoveries in molecular biology, it also placed humankind at the threshold of the most important and exciting phase of biological research. With the ability to actually write the software of life, we now have the knowledge to guide our own future development and to design new species to help us adapt and evolve. In this thrilling book, J. Craig Venter recounts how he led a team of scientists in a pioneering effort in synthetic genomics and how that work will have a profound impact on our existence in the years to come. After tracing the history of key discoveries in genetics, and his own ground-breaking work in sequencing the human genome, he describes the long, often frustrating, but ultimately rewarding process of creating a self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell. That narrative makes for one of the most gripping scientific quests of recent times - a biological detective story that demands all of his team’s resources, the ability to develop novel techniques, unimaginable levels of precision, and enormous amounts of computer power. The result is a thrilling technology that has the potential for chemical and energy generation, clean water and food production, environmental control and novel medical treatments. A wow of a book. 224 pages. £20 NOW £6


76450 UNIVERSE ROCKS:


The Complete Guide to Space by Windmill Books Ltd Explore the stars, planets and galaxies and the awesome inventions that transport human beings into outer space. Construct your own balloon rocket, create your own constellations, make a rainbow, fashion a paper-cup sundial


or, and these are really way out, how about building your own Milky Way, watching an erupting volcano, wondering at icy volcanoes, or creating a time-line of the universe? How about galaxies in a cup or a toilet paper solar system? 120 pages in colour with Top Ten Universe Facts, useful websites. £9.99 NOW £4


75151 ENCYCLOPEDIA ANATOMICA by Monika von Dürling, Marta Pogessi and Georges Didi-Huberman


!


From the eccentric Museo La Specola in Florence comes this amazing collection of waxworks depicting the human anatomy in all its dazzling complexity. The 27 wax bodies and 1500 part and organ studies that make up the museum’s collection are presented here; from skeletons to vein structures, organs to nerves, and arteries to the delicate pores of the skin, the human body is mapped out in meticulous and exacting detail. Texts explaining the human anatomy in laypersons’ terms and exploring the historical and cultural significance of the wax figures complete this “total body experience.” Softcover, 140mm x 195mm, 704 pages, Taschen. ONLY £12.50


75738 EMPIRE OF ICE: Scott, Shackleton And the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science by Edward J. Larson


The first book to place the famed expeditions of British explorers Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, their Norwegian rival Roald Amundsen and others in a larger scientific, social and geopolitical context. Amundsen earned his place in history to be the first to reach the South Pole. Scott meanwhile has been reduced in the public mind to a dashing incompetent, defeated. By looking at the British effort for what they were, massive scientific enterprises, the book focuses on scientific purposes and accomplishments. Whether he is discussing the first observations of the lifecycle of the Emperor


JANIE BOLITHO Rose Trevelyan Mysteries. 76968 BURIED IN


CORNWALL by Janie Bolitho After her husband’s death, Rose Trevelyan lives peacefully in Cornwall, working as an artist and photographer. But when she hears terrified screams as she paints the rugged Cornish countryside, and a local woman is reported missing, Rose finds herself caught at the centre of a police investigation. With so many people who trust her Rose is. reluctantly at times, privy


to the secrets of many. When the things she is told in confidence appear connected to the investigation, Rose must decide how far the bonds of friendship reach. 316pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


76969 CAUGHT OUT IN CORNWALL by Janie Bolitho


When Rose Trevelyan sees a young girl being carried away by someone who appears to be her father, she thinks nothing of it at all. That is until the appearance of a frantic mother who cannot find her child. Beth Jones is only four years old, and her mother is adamant that the man Rose saw taking her away must be a stranger. Wracked with guilt for not intervening, Rose finds herself entangled in a criminal investigation. As time passes it becomes clear that the chances of getting Beth back unharmed are very bleak indeed. 318pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


76970 KILLED IN CORNWALL by Janie Bolitho


DI Jack Pearce is investigating a series of burglaries and brutal attacks on young women. Once again his on-off girlfriend Rose Trevelyan finds herself at the heart of the investigation. With her intimate knowledge of the private lives of those connected to the case, she must work hard not to jump to conclusions. As the crimes become more serious, both newcomers to the area and familiar faces become suspects, but who should Rose and Jack believe? Collect the series of three from this writer who sadly died in 2002. 317pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


77286 JANIE BOLITHO: Set of Three by Janie Bolitho


Buy all three paperbacks and save even more. £23.97 NOW £9


Penguin, the mapping of the ocean floor, or experiments in terrestrial magnetism, Larson’s book sparkles and is a wonderful achievement. 326pp with 16 pages of images and other illus such as the track of the journey from Cape Evans to Cape Crozier. £20 NOW £6


75830 SCHOOLBOY SCIENCE REMEMBERED by Dr Keith Souter


Packed with fascinating facts and ever-so-easy-but- exciting experiments. Did you know, for instance, that Tycho Brahe, the great Renaissance scientist, had an artificial silver nose and was assisted in his experiments by his court jester, or that an ancient Greek inventor, Hero of Alexandria, invented a steam machine 1,700 years before James Watt built his machine? You will also be thrilled to hear that you can make a battery from a stack of coins, blotting paper, silver foil and some salt and vinegar and that you can equally easily produce a crystal set radio from a toilet tube, copper wire, a pencil, a safety pin, a few drawing pins and paper clips, and an old razor blade. 244 jolly paperback pages, illus. £14.99 NOW £5


75992 UNNATURAL: The Heretical Idea of Making People by Philip Ball


Can we make a human being starting with nothing? And if we can, should we? Can an artificially created person be truly human? All the myths express fears about the allegedly treacherous, Faustian nature of this type of experiment. From the legendary inventor Daedalus to Goethe’s tragic Faust, and from the automata-making magicians of E.T.A. Hoffman to Mary Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein, the old myths are still subtly manipulating the current debates about assisted conception, embryo research and the aforementioned cloning, which have at last given the fantasy some kind of reality. 373 page paperback, illus. £9.99 NOW £3.50


75998 LEONARDO’S LEGACY by Stefan Klein Sub-titled ‘How Da Vinci Reimagined the World’, here is a fresh exploration of Da Vinci’s real ‘code’ - science. Revered today as perhaps the greatest of Renaissance painters, Leonardo da Vinci was a scientist at heart who designed functioning robots and digital computers, constructed flying machines and built the very first heart valve. Read about the artist as neuroscientist, how he became a writer, why flying does not mean flapping wings, in the mortuaries of Santa Maria Nuova, an x-ray view of sex, man as a machine, expeditions into the beating heart and questions about the soul of the foetus. Illus, 291pp in paperback. £10.99 NOW £4


76344 MAMMOTH BOOK OF SPACE


EXPLORATION AND DISASTERS edited by Richard Russell Lawrence Here are over 50 of the greatest true stories of sub-orbital and deep-space exploration. Among the astronauts and cosmonauts featured are John Glenn, Pavel Belyayev, Jim Lovell, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The first walk in space by Sergei Leonov culminates in his traumatic return to Earth. Apollo 13 has a problem. The crew describe docking with the frozen, empty Salyut 7 space station. Challenger explodes 73 seconds after launch, sending the crew module into freefall. Jerry Linenger has a panic attack during a spacewalk and Rosetta embarks on a daring journey to chase and land on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. 495 paperback pages illus. Space, Fact and Fiction. $13.95 NOW £3.50


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36