Explore and understand the natural and human wonders of our planet.Now, in its third edition, this landmark encyclopedia celebrates our planet and explains the science underpinning the forces and processes that have made and shaped it. Artworks, photographs, terrain models, and maps are combined to capture the power of landscapes and natural events and show their hidden sides, explaining, for example, how an earthquake is triggered and how burning fossil fuels is driving a climate emergency.In this earth book, you will find:-More than 3,000 photographs, artworks, and maps-A 40-page timeline of Earth's history includes human evolution and the story of human colonization of the planet-Sections that explore human impact features - on subjects from deforestation to population growth-An atlas section includes original maps centered on Earth's seven major tectonic platesParts of the book lay out systematic and in-depth reference guides to core scientific information, such as more than 100 types of rocks and minerals. Similar sections contain visual profiles of some of the wonders of the natural world, from the Andes and Himalayas to the Grand Canyon, Sahara Desert, and Amazon Rainforest.Revised and updated to include the latest developments in fast-changing geology and Earth science areas - including Earth history, climate change, and urban geography - this is a classic reference book for anyone who wants to understand how our planet works.

In this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times bestselling author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven’s Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startling connections between the furthest reaches of space and life here on Earth.Sixty-six million years ago, an object the size of a city descended from space to crash into Earth, creating a devastating cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs, along with three-quarters of the other species on the planet. What was its origin? In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Lisa Randall proposes it was a comet that was dislodged from its orbit as the Solar System passed through a disk of dark matter embedded in the Milky Way. In a sense, it might have been dark matter that killed the dinosaurs.Working through the background and consequences of this proposal, Randall shares with us the latest findings—established and speculative—regarding the nature and role of dark matter and the origin of the Universe, our galaxy, our Solar System, and life, along with the process by which scientists explore new concepts. In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Randall tells a breathtaking story that weaves together the cosmos’ history and our own, illuminating the deep relationships that are critical to our world and the astonishing beauty inherent in the most familiar things.

This volume, aimed at the general reader, presents life and times of the amazing animals that inhabited Earth more than 500 million years ago. The Cambrian Period was a critical time in Earth's history. During this immense span of time nearly every modern group of animals appeared. Although life had been around for more than 2 million millennia, Cambrian rocks preserve the record of the first appearance of complex animals with eyes, protective skeletons, antennae, and complex ecologies. Grazing, predation, and multi-tiered ecosystems with animals living in, on, or above the sea floor became common. The cascade of interaction led to an ever-increasing diversification of animal body types. By the end of the period, the ancestors of sponges, corals, jellyfish, worms, mollusks, brachiopods, arthropods, echinoderms, and vertebrates were all in place. The evidence of this Cambrian "explosion" is preserved in rocks all over the world, including North America, where the seemingly strange animals of the period are preserved in exquisite detail in deposits such as the Burgess Shale in British Columbia. Cambrian Ocean World tells the story of what is, for us, the most important period in our planet's long history.

“A refreshing collection of superb mathematical essays . . . from choosing up sides to choosing names, the topics are intriguingly nonstandard . . . First-rate.” —John Allen Paulos, author of InnumeracyA science and technology journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in multiple anthologies, Brian Hayes now presents a selection of his most memorable pieces—including the National Magazine Award–winning “Clock of Ages”—in this enjoyable volume. In addition, Hayes embellishes the collection with an overall scene-setting preface, reconfigured illustrations, and a refreshingly self-critical “Afterthoughts” section appended to each essay.“You don’t have to be a geek to appreciate Hayes’s lively, self-effacing style . . . The first essay explains how clockmakers developed the gears and linkages that enabled fabled medieval clocks to reach remarkable accuracy, as well as predict the day Easter would fall on. Other essays celebrate the notion of random numbers and why they are so hard to achieve. Numerical analysis also plays a role in economic models based on the kinetic theory of gases or simplified markets involving iterations of buying and selling. Hayes goes on to explain how statistics have been applied to compute which quarrels—from interpersonal to world wars—are the deadliest (surprising results here) . . . Challenging but rewarding for anyone intrigued by numbers.” —Kirkus Reviews“As much as any book I can name, Group Theory in the Bedroom conveys to a general audience the playfulness involved in doing mathematics: how questions arise as a form of play, how our first attempts at answering questions usually seem naive in hindsight but are crucial for finding eventual solutions, and how a good solution just feels right.” —David Austin, Notices of the AMS

From Tyrannosaurus rex to Heteropoda davidbowie: scientific naming as a joyful and creative act.Tyrannosaurus rex. Homo sapiens. Heteropoda davidbowie. Behind each act of scientific naming is a story. In this entertaining and illuminating book, Michael Ohl considers scientific naming as a joyful and creative act. There are about 1.8 million discovered and named plant and animal species, and millions more still to be discovered. Naming is the necessary next step after discovery; it is through the naming of species that we perceive and understand nature. Ohl explains the process, with examples, anecdotes, and a wildly varied cast of characters. He describes the rules for scientific naming; the vernacular isn't adequate. These rules—in standard binomial nomenclature, the generic name followed by specific name—go back to Linnaeus; but they are open to idiosyncrasy and individual expression. A lizard is designated Barbaturex morrisoni (in honor of the Doors' Jim Morrison, the Lizard King); a member of the horsefly family Scaptia beyonceae. Ohl, a specialist in “winged things that sting,” confesses that among the many wasp species he has named is Ampulex dementor, after the dementors in the Harry Potter novels. Scientific names have also been deployed by scientists to insult other scientists, to make political statements, and as expressions of romantic love: “I shall name this beetle after my beloved wife.” The Art of Naming takes us on a surprising and fascinating journey, in the footsteps of the discoverers of species and the authors of names, into the nooks and crannies and drawers and cabinets of museums, and through the natural world of named and not-yet-named species.