Prepare to see a few millennia worth of light bulb moments. Know It All Great Inventions traces 50 of mankinds greatest inventions, from the wheel to in-home air conditioning, and tells their stories.

Universal change is often the ultimate result of one individual's lightbulb moment--an invention that triggers a ripple effect across countries, continents, or even out into space. Know-It-All Great Inventions looks at fifty of these great ideas that really did change the world.

This title covers a wide range, from early days (the wheel) through materials (the invention of steel and plastic) to communications (the alphabet, printing press, and Worldwide Web) and the conveniences of--relatively--modern daily life (refrigeration, indoor plumbing, and central heating).

It is a sharp reminder that almost every aspect of life in the second decade of the 21st century is the result of someone's bright idea, one that they actually made work. Along the way you'll learn the stories behind each and every invention, revealing and intriguing in equal measures.

The definitive account of epidemics in our time, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning public heath expert Laurie Garrett.

A New York Times notable book

Unpurified drinking water. Improper use of antibiotics. Local warfare. Massive refugee migration. Changing social and environmental conditions around the world have fostered the spread of new and potentially devastating viruses and diseases--HIV, Lassa, Ebola, and others. Laurie Garrett takes you on a fifty-year journey through the world's battles with microbes and examines the worldwide conditions that have culminated in recurrent outbreaks of newly discovered diseases, epidemics of diseases migrating to new areas, and mutated old diseases that are no longer curable. She argues that it is not too late to take action to prevent the further onslaught of viruses and microbes, and offers possible solutions for a healthier future.

Dive into the gene pool and understand all the basics of biology with Know It All Biology. You'll have a scientific groundwork in less than a minute

The Know-It-All series takes a revolutionary approach to learning about the subjects you really feel you should understand but have never gotten around to studying. Each title selects a popular topic and dissects it into the 50 most significant ideas at its heart. Each idea, no matter how complex, is explained in 300 words and one picture, all digestible in under a minute.

Know-It-All Biology tackles the vital science of life, dissecting the 50 most thought-provoking theories of our ecosystem and ourselves. At a time when discoveries in DNA allow us to feel more connected than ever to the natural world, this is the fastest route to an understanding of the tree of life.

Whether you're dipping into the gene pool, unlocking cells, or conversing on biodiversity, this is all the knowledge you need to bring life to any dinner-party debate.

In Visions, physicist and author Michio Kaku examines the great scientific revolutions that have dramatically reshaped the twentieth century--the quantum mechanics, biogenetics, and artificial intelligence--and shows how they will change and alter science and the way we live.

The next century will witness more far-reaching scientific revolutions, as we make the transition from unraveling the secrets of nature to becoming masters of nature. We will no longer be passive bystanders to the dance of the universe, but will become creative choreographers of matter, life, and intelligence.

The first section of Visions presents a shocking look at a cyber-world infiltrated by millions of tiny intelligence systems. Part two illustrates how the decoding of DNA's genetic structure will allow humans the godlike ability to manipulate life almost at will. Finally, VISIONS focuses on the future of quantum physics, in which physicists will perfect new ways to manipulate matter and harness the cosmic energy of the universe.

What makes Michio Kaku's vision of the science of the future so compelling--and so different from the mere forecasts of most thinkers--is that it is based on the groundbreaking research taking place in labs today, as well as the consensus of over 150 of Kaku's scientific colleagues. Science, for all its breathtaking change, evolves slowly; we can accurately predict, asserts Kaku, what the direction of science will be, based on the paths that are being forged today.

A thrilling, unique narrative that brings together the thinking of many of the world's most accomplished scientists to explore the world of the future, Visions is science writing at its best.

From the first cavemen to light a fire to the elusive dark energy in outer space Know It All Energy explores energy in all its forms.

The Know-It-All series takes a revolutionary approach to learning about the subjects you really feel you should understand but have never gotten around to studying. Each title selects a popular topic and dissects it into the 50 most significant ideas at its heart. Each idea, no matter how complex, is explained in 300 words and one picture, all digestible in under a minute.

As a phenomenon that resides everywhere and in everything, energy is best understood by example. Exploring energy shows how it cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed--and how plankton and other ancient ocean-dwelling organisms can be used to power your car. Reducing the subject to its essential areas, Know-It-All Energy charts fascinating and fundamental topics, from the nuclear fusion reactor at the heart of the sun and civilization's discovery of our first hands-on energy source in fire almost 400,000 years ago, to the elusive dark energy which makes up most of the content of the universe.

The Know It All series takes a revolutionary approach to learning about the subjects you really feel you should understand but have never gotten around to studying. Each book selects a popular topic and dissects it into the 50 most significant ideas at its heart. Each idea, no matter how complex, is explained in 300 words and one picture, all digestible in under a minute.

Other titles in this series include: Know It All Anthropology, Know It All Chemistry, Know It All Classical Music, Know It All Fashion, Know It All Great Inventions, Know It All Jazz, Know It All Medicine, Know It All Shakespeare, Know It All Whiskey, Know It All Wine, Space In 30 Seconds, Sports in 30 Seconds.

Uses new research about the brain to explore how we can transcend our current physical and cultural limitations

- Reveals that transcendence of current modes of existence requires the dynamic interaction of our fourth and fifth brains (intellect and intelligence)

- Explores the idea that Jesus, Lao-tzu, and other great beings in history are models of nature's possibility and our ability to achieve transcendence

- 17,000 sold in hardcover since April 2002

Why do we seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet not seem to reach the same state?

In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can go beyond the limitations and constraints of our current capacities of body and mind--how we can transcend. Recent research in the neurosciences and neurocardiology identifies the four neural centers of our brain and indicates that a fifth such center is located in the heart. This research reveals that the evolutionary structure of our brain and its dynamic interactions with our heart are designed by nature to reach beyond our current evolutionary capacities. We are quite literally, made to transcend.

Pearce explores how this "biological imperative" drives our life into ever-greater realms of being--even as the "cultural imperative" of social conformity and behavior counters this genetic heritage, blocks our transcendent capacities, and breeds violence in all its forms. The conflict between religion and spirit is an important part of this struggle. But each of us may overthrow these cultural imperatives to reach "unconflicted behavior," wherein heart and mind-brain resonate in synchronicity, opening us to levels of possibility beyond the ordinary.

The mind behind the infamous Ig Nobel Prizes presents an addictive collection of improbable research all about us - and you

Marc Abrahams collects the odd, the imaginative and the brilliantly improbable. Here he turns to research on the ins and outs of the very improbable evolutionary innovation that is the human body (brain included):

- What's the best way to get a monkey to floss regularly?

- How much dandruff do Pakistani soldiers have?

- If you add an extra henchman to your bank-robbing gang, how much more money will you 'earn'?

- How many dimples will be found on the cheeks of 28,282 Greek children?

- Who is the Einstein of pork carcasses?