THE MODERN LAUNDRY : ITS CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND MANAGEMENT - INCLUDING DRY CLEANING AND DYEING - 2 VOLUME SET by G CADOGAN ROTHERY, H O EDMONDS AND ARTHUR MORRIS

$110.00 AUD

Category: RARE AND COLLECTIBLE

SKIN : A NATURAL HISTORY by NINA G JABLONSKI

$20.00 AUD

$49.95 (59% off)

Category: SECONDHAND BOOKS

The Mission: a True Story by David W. Brown

$34.99 AUD

Category: SCIENCE

A masterful, genre-defying narrative of the most ambitious science project ever conceived: NASA's deep-space mission to Europa--the Jovian moon where might swim the first known alien life in our solar system--powered by a motley team of obsessives and eccentrics.When scientists discovered the first ocea n beyond Earth, they had two big questions: "Is it habitable?" and "How do we get there?" To answer the first, they had to answer the second, and so began a vivacious team's twenty-year odyssey to mount a mission to Europa, the ocean moon of Jupiter. Standing in their way: NASA, fanatically consumed with landing robots on Mars; the White House, which never saw a science budget it couldn't cut; Congress, fixated on going to the moon or Mars--anywhere, really, to give astronauts something to do; rivals in academia, who wanted instead to go to Saturn; and even Jupiter itself, which guards Europa in a pulsing, rippling, radiation belt--a halo of death whose conditions are like those that follow a detonated thermonuclear bomb. The Mission, or: How a Disciple of Carl Sagan, an Ex-Motocross Racer, a Texas Tea Party Congressman, the World's Worst Typewriter Saleswoman, California Mountain People, and an Anonymous NASA Functionary Went to War with Mars, Survived an Insurgency at Saturn, Traded Blows with Washington, and Stole a Ride on an Alabama Moon Rocket to Send a Space Robot to Jupiter in Search of the Second Garden of Eden at the Bottom of an Alien Ocean Inside of an Ice World Called Europa (A True Story) is the Homeric, never-before-told story of modern space exploration, and a magnificent portrait of the inner lives of scientists who study the solar system's mysterious outer planets. David W. Brown chronicles the remarkable saga of how Europa was won, and what it takes to get things done--down here, and up there. Written with verve, humor, and uncanny empathy, The Mission is an exuberant masterclass in how a few determined cogs can change an entire machine. ...Show more

Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star That Gives Us Life - SIGNED by Richard Cohen

$35.00 AUD

$45.00 (22% off)

Category: SECONDHAND BOOKS

The Sun is so powerful, so much bigger than us, that it is a terrifying subject. Yet though we depend on it, we take it for granted. Amazingly the first book of its kind, CHASING THE SUN is a cultural and scientific history of our relationship with the star that gives us life. Richard Cohen, applying th e same mix of wide-ranging reference and intimate detail that won outstanding reviews for By the Sword, travels from the ancient Greek astronomers to modern-day solar scientists, from Stonehenge to Antarctica (site of the solar eclipse of 2003, when penguins were said to sing), Mexico's Aztecs to the Norwegian city of Tromso, where for two months of the year there is no Sun at all. He introduces us to the crucial 'sunspot cycle' in modern economics, the religious dances of Indian tribesmen, the histories of sundials and calendars, the plight of migrating birds, the latest theories of global warming, and Galileo recording his discoveries in code, for fear of persecution. And throughout, there is the rich Sun literature -- from the writings of Homer through Dante and Nietzsche to Keats, Shelley and beyond. Blindingly impressive and hugely readable, this is a tour de force of narrative non-fiction. ...Show more

Simply Quantum Physics by DK

$19.99 AUD

Category: SCIENCE

Discovering quantum physics has never been easier. Combining bold graphics with easy-to-understand text, Simply Quantum Physics is an essential introduction to the subject for those who are short of time but hungry for knowledge. It is a perfect beginner's guide to the strange and fascinating world of subatomic physics that at times seems to conflict with common sense. Covering more than 100 key ideas from the basics of quantum mechanics to the uncertainty principle and quantum tunnelling, it is divided into pared-back, single- or double-page entries that explain concepts simply and visually. Assuming no previous knowledge of physics, Simply Quantum Physics demystifies some of the most groundbreaking ideas in modern science and introduces the work of some of the most famous physicists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, and Richard Feynman. Whether you are studying physics at school or college, or simply want a jargon-free overview of the subject, this essential guide is packed with everything you need to understand the basics quickly and easily. ...Show more

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates

$39.99 AUD

Category: SCIENCE

Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.   Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about cli mate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe." ...Show more

Flesh Made New: The Unnatural History and Broken Promises of Stem Cell Research by Carl Power; John Rasko

$34.99 AUD

Category: SCIENCE

The dazzling promise of stem-cell treatment: does it work and will it save us? Two experts look at the hype For decades, we've been anticipating the dawn of regenerative medicine. Again and again, we've been promised that stem cells will soon cure just about every ill imaginable. If not tomorrow, then t he next day, or the day after that, and so on. We're still waiting.This book is an antidote to hype and a salve to sooth the itch for stem-cell salvation. In it, Professor John Rasko, a leading physician-scientist, and writer-historian Carl Power take us on a wild historical tour of this scandal-prone field. They expose all the dirty little secrets that the hype merchants prefer to ignore - the blunders and setbacks, confusions and delusions, tricks and lies. It's a history rife with colourful characters. You'll meet Alexis Carroll, who discovered how to cultivate cells in a test tube: celebrity surgeon, scientific genius and Nazi sympathiser, he opened the field of modern cell science with an experiment so bogus it blocked the way forward for the next 50 years. You'll meet Don Thomas, who developed bone marrow transplantation - the first successful stem-cell therapy - but only after a miserable decade in which all of his patients died. Alongside true stem-cell pioneers, you'll meet charlatans who cooked their data and claimed fake cures - sometimes with fatal consequences.Is there any good news? Which of the many promises of stem-cell research have been kept? And what of the future? Rasko and Power insist that we can only know where we're going if we have a sense of where we've been. Their study tears down the hype surrounding stem cells in order to reveal what's still worth hoping for. ...Show more

Heaven and Earth: Global Warming -The Missing Science by Ian Plimer

$12.00 AUD

$39.95 (69% off)

Category: SECONDHAND BOOKS | Reading Level: very good

Climate, sea level, and ice sheets have always changed, and the changes observed today are less than those of the past. Climate changes are cyclical and are driven by the Earth's position in the galaxy, the sun, wobbles in the Earth's orbit, ocean currents, and plate tectonics. In previous times, atmosp heric carbon dioxide was far higher than at present but did not drive climate change. No runaway greenhouse effect or acid oceans occurred during times of excessively high carbon dioxide. During past glaciations, carbon dioxide was higher than it is today. The non-scientific popular political view is that humans change climate. Do we have reason for concern about possible human-induced climate change? This book's 504 pages and over 2,300 references to peer-reviewed scientific literature and other authoritative sources engagingly synthesize what we know about the sun, earth, ice, water, and air. Importantly, in a parallel to his 1994 book challenging creation science, Telling Lies for God, Ian Plimer describes Al Gore's book and movie An Inconvenient Truth as long on scientific misrepresentations.Trying to deal with these misrepresentations is somewhat like trying to argue with creationists, he writes, who misquote, concoct evidence, quote out of context, ignore contrary evidence, and create evidence ex nihilo. ...Show more

The Invisible History of the Human Race : How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures by Christine Kenneally

$15.00 AUD

$29.00 (48% off)

Category: SECONDHAND BOOKS

We are doomed to repeat history if we fail to learn from it, but how are we affected by the forces that are invisible to us? In The Invisible History of the Human Race, Christine Kenneally draws on cutting-edge research to reveal how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going.While some books explore our genetic inheritance and some popular television shows celebrate ancestry, this is the first book to explore how everything from DNA to emotions to names and the stories that form our lives are all part of our human legacy. Kenneally shows how trust is inherited in Africa, how silence is passed down in Tasmania, and how the history of nations is written in our DNA. From fateful ancient encounters to modern mass migrations and medical diagnoses, Kenneally explains how the forces that shaped the history of the world ultimately shape each human who inhabits it. ...Show more

The Body Book

$25.00 AUD

$39.95 (37% off)

Category: SECONDHAND BOOKS

Transcendence - How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time by Gaia Vince

$22.99 AUD

Category: SCIENCE

* A TIMES BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the prize-winning author of Adventures in the Anthropocene, the astonishing story of how culture enabled us to become the most successful species on Earth 'A wondrous, visionary work' Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers Humans are a planet-alterin g force. Gaia Vince argues that our unique ability - compared with other species - to determine the course of our own destiny rests on a special relationship between our genes, environment and culture going back into deep time. It is our collective culture, rather than our individual intelligence, that makes humans unique. Vince shows how four evolutionary drivers - Fire, Language, Beauty and Time - are further transforming our species into a transcendent superorganism: a hyper-cooperative mass of humanity that she calls Homo omnis. Drawing on leading-edge advances in population genetics, archaeology, palaeontology and neuroscience, Transcendence compels us to reimagine ourselves, showing us to be on the brink of something grander - and potentially more destructive. 'Richly informed by the latest research, Gaia Vince's colourful survey fizzes like a zip-wire as it tours our species' story from the Big Bang to the coming age of hypercooperation' Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox 'Wonderful ... enlightening' Robin Ince, The Infinite Monkey Cage ...Show more

Gem Magic - Precious Stones and Their Mystical Qualities by Raymond Walters

$24.99 AUD

Category: SCIENCE

Gem Magic guides the reader through the uses of and stories surrounding a cornucopia of stones, including how each stone is formed and what beliefs (both occult and scientific) have been associated with it. Precious stones, gems and crystals have been valued throughout history not only for their rarity and expense, but for their mystical properties too. Garnet is rumoured to stimulate the heart, while the pearl offers the protection of the goddess Diana - coral, so-called 'witch-stone', is said to guard against the evil eye, and amethyst is said to prevent drunkenness. Introducing the inherent properties of dazzling selection of gems, gemologist Raymond Walters describes how each stone is formed and its key properties, what beliefs have been associated with them through history and around the world, and both their scientific and occult uses. Famous stones, both real and mythical, are lyrically described - from the infamous Koh-i-Noor diamond to unicorn horn and bezoar. ...Show more