The seminal Epicurean text, in a brilliant new translation The Epicureans of ancient Rome discarded the ideas of life after death and of an interventionist God in favor of the tactile pleasures of nature. In The Nature of Things , Lucretius celebrates with wit and sharp perception the extraordinary breadth of the Epicurean belief system, ranging from the indestructibility ...(展开全部)

Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus) lived ca. 99-ca. 55 BCE, but the details of his career are unknown. He is the author of the great didactic poem in hexameters, "De Rerum Natura" ("On the Nature of Things"). In six books compounded of solid reasoning, brilliant imagination, and noble poetry, he expounds the scientific theories of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, with the aim of ...(展开全部)

Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus) lived ca. 99-ca. 55 BCE, but the details of his career are unknown. He is the author of the great didactic poem in hexameters, "De Rerum Natura" ("On the Nature of Things"). In six books compounded of solid reasoning, brilliant imagination, and noble poetry, he expounds the scientific theories of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, with the aim of ...(展开全部)

Reissued on the tenth anniversary of its publication, this classic work on our environmental crisis features a new introduction by the author, reviewing both the progress and ground lost in the fight to save the earth. This impassioned plea for radical and life-renewing change is today still considered a groundbreaking work in environmental studies. McKibben's argument that th...(展开全部)

Start with a single shape. Repeat it in some way - translation, reflection over a line, rotation around a point - and you have created symmetry. Symmetry is a fundamental phenomenon in art, science, and nature that has been captured, described, and analyzed using mathematical concepts for a long time. Inspired by the geometric intuition of Bill Thurston and empowered by his own...(展开全部)

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is the great lost scientist: more things are named after him than anyone else. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there's a penguin, a giant squid - even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon. His colourful adventures read like something out of a Boy's Own story: Humboldt explored...(展开全部)

Computational complexity is one of the most beautiful fields of modern mathematics, and it is increasingly relevant to other sciences ranging from physics to biology. But this beauty is often buried underneath layers of unnecessary formalism, and exciting recent results like interactive proofs, phase transitions, and quantum computing are usually considered too advanced for the...(展开全部)

This classic introductory text is best known for its vivid examples fromnatural history, comprehensive coverage of evolution, and quantitative approach. The Sixth Edition builds on the book's hallmark features: its strong evolutionary focus, its breadth and diverse set of examples, its extensive coverage of behavioral ecology, and a thorough presentation of population ecology.

This concise and accessible introduction offers a broad and balanced view of all the major aspects of ecology, from the ecosystem and evolution to population and community. Full of vivid examples from natural history, the Fifth Edition of The Economy of Nature blends the major principles and concepts of natural history with the idea of ecology as a practical science that confro...(展开全部)

Originally published in 1920 and based on the Tarner Lectures in the philosophy of science, this early work by Alfred North Whitehead made an important contribution to the development of philosophic naturalism. It also featured his assessment of the impact of Einstein's theories and the new findings of modern physics on the concept of nature.