In this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist andNew York Times bestselling author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven’s Dooruses 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? InDark 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.

In Catastrophobia Barbara Hand Clow shows that a series of cataclysmic disasters 11,500 years ago rocked the world and left humanity's collective psyche chronically scarred. This unprocessed fear is responsible for our constant expectations of apocalypse, from Y2K to the famed end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. But according to the author there is every indication that the changes in consciousness over the last 30 years are the beginnings of a collective healing from these deep fears.

From the speed of light to moving mountains--and everything in between--ZOOM explores how the universe and its objects move. If you sit as still as you can in a quiet room, you might be able to convince yourself that nothing is moving. But air currents are still wafting around you. Blood rushes through your veins. The atoms in your chair jiggle furiously. In fact, the planet you are sitting on is whizzing through space thirty-five times faster than the speed of sound. Natural motion dominates our lives and the intricate mechanics of the world around us. In ZOOM, Bob Berman explores how motion shapes every aspect of the universe, literally from the ground up. With an entertaining style and a gift for distilling the wondrous, Berman spans astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology, and the history of science, uncovering how clouds stay aloft, how the Earth's rotation curves a home run's flight, and why a mosquito's familiar whine resembles a telephone's dial tone. For readers who love to get smarter without realizing it, ZOOM bursts with science writing at its best.

Beach stones, abundant and free for the taking, are objects of contemplation, beauty, and sentiment. They come in many colours, shapes and patterns, are fun to collect and even have sensuous qualities. This book helps you understand the life of beach stones. It also brings us the stories of such stones.

You may have heard that Minnesota's ten thousand lakes are the hoofprints of Paul Bunyan's big blue ox, Babe. “Don't you believe it!

"Superbly done ... should be high on everyone's 'must have' list." --Rock and Gem Agates, the first popular guide to the brilliantly banded and highly prized gemstones, sold 7,000 copies in hardcover, no doubt for the glorious color photographs that capture collectors' enthusiasm for the stones' distinctive shapes and vivid colors. Agates is a comprehensive, easy-to-use identification guide and a worldwide listing of where they are found. The book describes: - Names of agates--mineralogical, geological, local, trade, trivial - Properties of agates--e.g., color, wall-banded, level-banded, cracked, thunder eggs - Sources of agates--e.g., eruptions, lava, sediment, limestone beds, and fissures - Lapidary--sawing, grinding, sanding, polishing - Imitations and forgeries of agates - Uses of agates through the ages, with beautiful photographs of artifacts and jewelry - Early writing and collections - Use of agates in science and technology - Collecting - National and regional maps showing agate-producing areas. Amateur gemologists and agate collectors alike will find this informative and beautifully illustrated book to be an indispensable resource.

An innovative and holistic approach to triggering the body's self-healing energies combines the healing powers of gemstones with reflexology therapy, offering therapeutic techniques to treat numerous mental and physical disorders. Original.

From one of our finest and most popular science writers, the best-selling author of Your Inner Fish, comes the answer to a scientific mystery story as big as the world itself: How have astronomical events that took place millions of years ago created the unique qualities of the human species? In his last book, Neil Shubin delved into the amazing connections between human anatomy—our hands, our jaws—and the structures in the fish that first took over land 375 million years ago. Now, with his trademark clarity and exuberance, he takes an even more expansive approach to the question of why we are the way we are. Starting once again with fossils, Shubin turns his gaze skyward. He shows how the entirety of the universe's 14-billion-year history can be seen in our bodies. From our very molecular composition (a result of stellar events at the origin of our solar system), he makes clear, through the working of our eyes, how the evolution of the cosmos has had profound effects on the development of human life on earth.