By Stephen Pyne

The fate of humanity, like the fate of the earth, is tied to the fires that have made the world as we know it. This book follows the story of fire from prehistoric times to the present. Natural fire existed before human habitation, when lightning put flame on land.

Hominids seized that spark and began transforming the Earth to meet their needs and expectations. "Fire: A Brief History" surveys the principles behind aboriginal and agricultural fire practises, the characteristics of urban fire and the relationship between controlled combustion and technology.

The author describes how fire's role in cities, suburbs, countryside and the wild has been shaped by an industrialized, urban way of thinking. With fresh insight into issues such as the energy crisis and global warming, this book should be of value to anyone interested in the environment from the standpoint of anthropology, geography, forestry, science and technology, history or the humanities.
Softcover, 204 Seiten, British Museum Press

Preis: EUR 16.99

Author: Peter Cattermole

Building Planet Earth presents a description of Earth as a planet, commencing with its physical and chemical evolution out of the primordial solar nebula.

The condensation of elements and their redistribution are described, leading into a section dealing with mapping, geophysical and geochemical studies.

Hardcover, Cambridge University Press

282 Seiten

Preis: EUR 29.99

Author:Deborah Cadbury
This is a tale of intrigue and deception, of burning ambition and failed dreams. The bitter clashes between the men who dominated 19th- century geology are exquisitely portrayed by Deborah Cadbury in this scholarly yet exhilarating book.
Hardcover, Verlag: 4th, 374 Seiten

Preis: EUR 14.99

Author: Jack Challoner

• 
  
  MIND READERS
• NATURAL -BORN GENIUS
• PHANTOM BRAINS
• LIVING DANGEROUSLY
• THIN AIR
• LIES AND DELUSIONS

For centuries we have been intrigued by why we behave as we do. The brain is the most complex of all our organs and the most mysterious. In Equinox scientists have demonstrated some astonishing discoveries and in this book Jack Challoner has assembled some of their recent revelations.

In The Brain he looks at how we asses risk.Why do some people seek it out while others try to avoid it? We see the results of an experiment with mountaineers of Everest into how our brains adapt to low concentrations of oxygen and how this can affect our ability to process ideas, remember facts, or even count.

Other doctors have investigated patients with conditions that affect how they sympathize with others, in an attempt to understand what makes us social animals. The age-old question of nature versus nurture returns, this time applied to intelligence. The work of Professor Ramachandran is revealed in two chapters, the first of the phenomenon of phantom limbs and the second on anomalies in the human brain, in which he considers whether all perceive the world differently.

As well as describing the findings of the programmes, Jack Challoner also looks at the background to these findings and investigates the subject further, making The Brain an excellent introduction to a compelling area of contemporary biological science.

Verlag: Channel 4 Books, Hardcover, 228 Seiten

Preis: EUR 6.99