Earth Science

A passionate eyewitness account of the mysteries and looming demise of glaciers—and what their fate means for our shared future

The little-known history of how the Sahara was transformed from a green and fertile land into the largest hot desert in the world

Quantum physicist, New York Times bestselling author, and BBC host Jim Al-Khalili reveals how 8 lessons from the heart of science can help you get the most out of life

A garden of geologic delights for all Earthlings

The classic case for why government must support science—with a new essay by physicist and former congressman Rush Holt on what democracy needs from science today

A fresh look at electricity and its powerful role in life on Earth

"Fascinating and exhilarating—Sean B. Carroll at his very best."—Bill Bryson, author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants

From acclaimed writer and biologist Sean B. Carroll, a rollicking, awe-inspiring story of the surprising power of chance in our lives and the world

A practical guide to making good decisions in a world of missing data

An eminent philosopher explains why we owe it to future generations to take immediate action on global warming

A new way of thinking about the climate crisis as an exercise in delimiting knowable, and habitable, worlds

The first field guide that allows amateur rock enthusiasts to identify basic rocks and rock formations in a systematic way

An illustrated look at the art and science of paleontology from its origins to today

A richly illustrated guide to the gemstones of the world

A comprehensive introduction to ocean ecology and a new way of thinking about ocean life

A definitive new investigation of the science of snowflakes by the world’s leading expert

A valuable synthesis of the physics of magmatism for students and scholars

The essential introduction to magnetic reconnection—written by a leading pioneer of the field

How technological advances and colonial fears inspired utopian geoengineering projects during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

A provocative and inspiring look at the future of humanity and science from world-renowned scientist and bestselling author Martin Rees

A gripping history of the polar continent, from the great discoveries of the nineteenth century to modern scientific breakthroughs

Inside the epic quest to find life on the water-rich moons at the outer reaches of the solar system

A thrilling tour of the sea's most extreme species, coauthored by one of the world's leading marine scientists

A marvelously illustrated look at the world’s diverse forests and their ecosystems

Why the social character of scientific knowledge makes it trustworthy

A quantitative, broad, hands-on introduction to the cutting-edge science of global warming

An updated and expanded edition of the acclaimed writing guide for scientists

A fully updated tutorial on the basics of the Python programming language for science students

The world’s leading textbook on astrobiology—ideal for an introductory one-semester course and now fully revised and updated

A must-have introduction to this fundamental driver of the climate system

An essential primer on atmospheric processes and their important role in the climate system

The oceans exert a vital moderating influence on the Earth's climate system. They provide inertia to the global climate, essentially acting as the pacemaker of climate variability and change, and they provide heat to high latitudes...

The cryosphere encompasses the Earth's snow and ice masses. It is a critical part of our planet's climate system, one that is especially at risk from climate change and global warming. The Cryosphere provides an essential introduction...

This concise, sophisticated introduction to planetary climates explains the global physical and chemical processes that determine climate on any planet or major planetary satellite--from Mercury to Neptune and even large moons such as...

Earth's climate has undergone dramatic changes over the geologic timescale. At one extreme, Earth has been glaciated from the poles to the equator for periods that may have lasted millions of years. At another, temperatures were once so...

The Earth's climate system depends entirely on the Sun for its energy. Solar radiation warms the atmosphere and is fundamental to atmospheric composition, while the distribution of solar heating across the planet produces global wind...

How does life on our planet respond to--and shape--climate? This question has never been more urgent than it is today, when humans are faced with the daunting task of guiding adaptation to an inexorably changing climate. This concise...

The impact on climate from 200 years of industrial development is an everyday fact of life, but did humankind's active involvement in climate change really begin with the industrial revolution, as commonly believed? Plows, Plagues, and...

A richly illustrated account of the story of ancient viniculture

In the 1990s Richard B. Alley and his colleagues made headlines with the discovery that the last ice age came to an abrupt end over a period of only three years. In The Two-Mile Time Machine, Alley tells the fascinating history of...

Why a warmer climate may be humanity’s longest-lasting legacy

Until a few decades ago, the ocean depths were almost as mysterious and inaccessible as outer space. Oceans cover two-thirds of the earth's surface with an average depth of more than two miles--yet humans had never ventured more than a...

Sixty-five million years ago, a comet or asteroid larger than Mount Everest slammed into the Earth, inducing an explosion equivalent to the detonation of a hundred million hydrogen bombs. Vaporized detritus blasted through the...

Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites--such fossils conjure up images of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms. But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites, form only the half-billion-year tip of a...

Some 250 million years ago, the earth suffered the greatest biological crisis in its history. Around 95 percent of all living species died out—a global catastrophe far greater than the dinosaurs' demise 185 million years later. How...

A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century fluids and elastic solids and their applications

A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century plasma physics and its applications

A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century statistical physics and its applications

A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century waves of all sorts and their applications

A groundbreaking textbook on twenty-first-century general relativity and cosmology

A groundbreaking text and reference book on twenty-first-century classical physics and its applications