Popular Science

The world-famous cosmologist and #1 bestselling author of A Brief History of Time leaves us with his final thoughts on the universe's biggest questions in this brilliant posthumous work.

Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly?

This book answers all of life's big questions and more. An amazing account of our incredible lives - from insignificant atoms to sophisticated space explorers.

What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?

This work abandons the conventional distinctions between history and science. Diamond focuses on what ancient people were endowed with in the way of land, animals and plants, and on the confrontations between less and more advanced people to see how this led to today's inequalities.

Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? This title reviews some of the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time, from the Big Bang to black holes, via spiral galaxies and strong theory.

The Sunday Times bestseller Shortlisted for the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize