Wat is werkelijkheid?

Bestaan ruimte en tijd wel echt?

Valt de ware aard van ons bestaan eigenlijk wel te doorgronden?

Sinds vele jaren probeert de natuurkundige Carlo Rovelli de grenzen van ons begrip op te rekken. In dit boek neemt hij ons mee op reis, van het werkelijkheidsbegrip van de oude Grieken tot de lus kwantumzwaartekracht. Een kosmologie zonder oerknal en parallelle universa, die hier door de bedenker ervan voor de eerste keer en voor een breed publiek uitvoerig en toegankelijk wo...

1815, de vulkaan Tambora barst met zoveel kracht uit dat temperaturen over de hele wereld dalen - het is de start van een jaar zonder zomer en wereldwijde hongersnood

1859, een krachtige zonnestorm legt het globale telegraafnetwerk plat

1908, een steen uit de ruimte slaat in en legt in Siberië een gebied ter grootte van Luxemburg plat

1918, de Spaanse griep eist vijftig miljoen slachtoffers.

Het zijn zeldzame scenario’s, maar ooit is het opnieuw prijs. Zijn we klaar als de alarmniveaus wee...

A concise, coherent and easily readable textbook about the field of science communication, connecting the practice of science communicators with theory. In the book, recent trends and shifts in the field resonate, such as the transition from telling about science to interacting with the public and the importance of science communication in health and environmental communication. The chapters have been written by experts in their disciplines, coming from philosophy of science and communication...

'Another masterpiece from one of my favorite authors . . . If you want a brief but thorough education in numeric thinking about many of the fundamental forces that shape human life, this is the book to read. It's a tour de force' BILL GATES

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We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don't know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, ...

A beloved introductory physics textbook, now including exercises and an answer key, explains the concepts essential for thorough scientific understanding In this concise book, R. Shankar, a well-known physicist and contagiously enthusiastic educator, explains the essential concepts of Newtonian mechanics, special relativity, waves, fluids, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. Now in an expanded edition—complete with problem sets and answers for course use or self-study—this work p...

Multivariate Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, Second Edition is designed to show how a variety of statistical methods can be used to analyse data collected by psychologists and other behavioral scientists. Assuming some familiarity with introductory statistics, the book begins by briefly describing a variety of study designs used in the behavioral sciences, and the concept of models for data analysis. The contentious issues of p-values and confidence intervals are also discussed in the i...

Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the Earth was at the centre of a Universe that was at most a few million miles in extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this centre. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the Universe was created essentially in its present state about 6000 years ago. Even less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation by God was still dominant.

The recognition by Charles Darw...

The study of human evolution is advancing rapidly. Newly discovered fossil evidence is adding ever more pieces to the puzzle of our past, whilst revolutionary technological advances in the study of ancient DNA are completely reshaping theories of early human populations and migrations. In this Very Short Introduction Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to the very latest fossil finds.

In this new edition he discusses how Ancient D...

A preeminent geneticist hunts the Neanderthal genome to answer the biggest question of them all: what does it mean to be human?

A revelatory and vibrant story of measurement which will make you look at the world around you anew.