A case manager shares stories of patients’ and families’ journeys and “deftly conveys the frustrations and inequities of traumatic brain injury” (Mary Roach, The New York Times Book Review).Head Cases takes us into the dark side of the brain in an astonishing sequence of stories, at once true and strange, about the effects of brain damage. Michael Paul Mason is one of an elite group of experts who coordinate care in the complicated aftermath of tragic injuries that can last a lifetime. On the road with Mason, we encounter survivors of brain injuries as they struggle to map and make sense of the new worlds they inhabit.Underlying each of these survivors’ stories is an exploration of the brain and its mysteries. When injured—by a bad fall, a viral infection, or some other misfortune—the brain must figure out how to heal itself, reorganizing its physiology in order to do the job. Mason gives us a series of vivid glimpses into brain science, the last frontier of medicine, and we come away in awe of the miracles of the brain’s workings and astonished at the fragility of the brain and the sense of self, life, and order that resides there. Head Cases “[achieves] through sympathy and curiosity insight like that which pulses through genuine literature” (The New York Sun); it is at once illuminating and deeply affecting.“Vivid, heartbreaking [and] movingly written.” —The Seattle Times“Tells stories of tremendous courage and perseverance as survivors and their families work to re-establish the everyday skills they had before their injury. The strange effects of neurological damage will draw fans of Oliver Sacks, but Mason’s poignant and caring accounts of his clients’ lives are sure to touch the hearts of a wide range of readers.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

New York Times–bestselling Author: An “entertainingly written” account of the scientific revolution that emerged amid the horrors of seventeenth-century London (Kirkus Reviews).In the late seventeenth century, chaos and disease reigned. Streets overflowed with filth and the murder rate was five times higher than it is today. Sickness was divine punishment, astronomy and astrology were indistinguishable, and the world’s most brilliant, ambitious, and curious scientists were tormented by contradiction. They believed in angels, devils, and alchemy, yet also believed that the universe followed precise mathematical laws that were as intricate and perfectly regulated as the mechanisms of a great clock.The Clockwork Universe captures these thinkers as they wrestled with nature’s most sweeping mysteries. Award-winning writer Edward Dolnick illuminates the fascinating personalities of Newton, Leibniz, Kepler, and others, and vividly animates their momentous struggle during an era when little was known and everything was new—battles of will, faith, and intellect that would change the course of history itself.“Dolnick’s book is lively and the characters are vivid.” —The New York Times Book Review“A free-for-all of ideas in a character-rich, historical narrative.” —The Wall Street Journal“Dolnick writes clearly and unpretentiously about science, and writes equally well about the tumultuous historical context for these men’s groundbreaking discoveries: the English Civil War, the Thirty Years’ War, and in 1665 and 1666 respectively, the Black Plague and the Great Fire of London. Dolnick also offers penetrating portraits of the geniuses of the day, many of them idiosyncratic in the extreme, who offer fertile ground for entertaining writing.” —Publishers Weekly

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An exhilarating tour of humanity's next great technological achievement—quantum computing—which may supercharge artificial intelligence, solve some of humanity's biggest problems, like global warming, world hunger, and incurable disease, and eventually illuminate the deepest mysteries of science, by the bestselling author of The God Equation. • “Expertly describes and rectifies common misconceptions about quantum computing." —Science"[Kaku's] lucid prose and thought process make abundant sense of this technological turning point.” —The New York Times Book ReviewThe runaway success of the microchip may finally be reaching its end. As shrinking transistors approach the size of atoms, the phenomenal growth of computational power inevitably collapses. But this change heralds the birth of a revolutionary new type of computer, one that calculates on atoms themselves.Quantum computers promise unprecedented gains in computing power, enabling advancements that could overturn every aspect of our daily lives. While the media has mainly focused on their startling potential to crack any known encryption method, the race is already on to exploit their incredible power to revolutionize industry. Automotive makers, medical researchers, and consulting firms are all betting on quantum computing to design more efficient vehicles, create life-saving new drugs, and streamline businesses. But this is only the beginning. Quantum computing could be used to decode the complex chemical processes needed to produce cheap fertilizers and unleash a second Green Revolution; create a super battery that will enable the Solar Age; or design nuclear fusion reactors to generate clean, safe, renewable energy. It may even unravel the fiendishly difficult protein folding that lies at the heart of as-yet-incurable diseases like Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Parkinson’s. Already, quantum computers are being put to work to help solve the greatest mystery in science—the origin of the universe.There is no single problem humanity faces that might not be addressed by quantum computers. With his signature clarity and enthusiasm, Dr. Michio Kaku, who has spent his entire professional life working on the quantum theory, tells the thrilling story of this exciting scientific frontier and the race to claim humanity’s future.

“Bonnan combines wit and passion with the sensibilities of a talented instructor in this encyclopedic tour of the vertebrate skeleton.” —Publishers WeeklyWhat can we learn about the evolution of jaws from a pair of scissors? How does the flight of a tennis ball help explain how fish overcome drag? What do a spacesuit and a chicken egg have in common? Highlighting the fascinating twists and turns of evolution across more than 540 million years, paleobiologist Matthew Bonnan uses everyday objects to explain the emergence and adaptation of the vertebrate skeleton. What can camera lenses tell us about the eyes of marine reptiles? How does understanding what prevents a coffee mug from spilling help us understand the posture of dinosaurs? The answers to these and other intriguing questions illustrate how scientists have pieced together the history of vertebrates from their bare bones. With its engaging and informative text, plus more than 200 illustrative diagrams created by the author, The Bare Bones is an unconventional and reader-friendly introduction to the skeleton as an evolving machine.“No bones about it, a text like The Bare Bones was sorely needed in the popular literature of vertebrate paleontology. Matthew Bonnan’s tome on the evolution, form, and function of the vertebrate skeleton may seem daunting in size, but it is written in an enjoyable and readable fashion that will absolutely delight all sorts of readers from expert to soon-to-be-expert.” —Palaeontologia Electronica“A remarkably fun book to read . . . his conversational style and wit make this an unintimidating yet highly informative book that would work wonderfully in college courses.” —The Quarterly Review of Biology

A complete history of the universe, spanning 13.8 billion years in an ultra-accessible, uncommonly illuminating, exhilarating chronicle of key events“Baker introduces us not only to the history of our species and our planet, but the history of our vast universe.”—from the foreword by John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and The Fault in Our StarsIn this thrilling history, David Baker captures the longest-possible time span—from the Big Bang to the present day—in an astonishingly concise retelling. His impressive timeline includes the “rise of complexity” in the cosmos and the creation of the first atoms; the origin of all galaxies, stars, and our solar system; and the evolution of life on Earth, from tiny single-celled organisms to human beings.Weaving together insights across the sciences—including chemistry, physics, biology, archaeology, and anthropology—Baker answers the fundamental questions: How did time begin? Why does matter exist? What made life on Earth the way it is? He also argues that never before has life on Earth been forced to adjust to a changing climate so rapidly, nor has one species ever been responsible for such sudden change. Baker’s grand view offers the clearest picture of what may come next—and the role we can still play in our planet’s fate.

“Extraordinary. . . . takes the reader into the overlap of medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology to reveal an important domain of the human condition.” —Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Anthill and The Future of Life We evolved in a wilderness of parasites, mutualists, and pathogens, but we no longer see ourselves as being part of nature. In the name of progress and clean living, we scrub much of nature off our bodies and try to remove whole kinds of life—parasites, bacteria, mutualists, and predators—to allow ourselves to live free of wild danger. Nature, in this new world, is the landscape outside, a kind of living painting that is pleasant to contemplate but nice to have escaped. The truth, though, according to biologist Rob Dunn, is that while “clean living” has benefited us in some ways, it has also made us sicker in others. As Dunn reveals, our modern disconnect from the web of life has resulted in unprecedented effects that immunologists, evolutionary biologists, psychologists, and other scientists are only beginning to understand. Diabetes, autism, allergies, many anxiety disorders, autoimmune diseases, and even tooth, jaw, and vision problems are increasingly plaguing bodies that have been removed from the ecological context in which they existed for millennia. In this eye-opening book, Dunn considers the crossroads at which we find ourselves. Through the stories of visionaries, Dunn argues that we can create a richer nature, one in which we choose to surround ourselves with species that benefit us, not just those that, despite us, survive. “A pleasure to read.” —Boston Globe “[Dunn’s] sure use of language, scientific research, and humor . . . keep the reader highly engaged.” —New York Journal of Books “Not merely interesting but gripping.” —Booklist, starred review