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  Patrons of Paleontology - How...

  Jane P. Davidson

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  In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, North American and European governments generously funded the discoveries of such famous paleontologists and geologists as Henry de la Beche, William Buckland, Richard Owen, Thomas Hawkins, Edward Drinker Cope, O. C. Marsh, and Charles W. Gilmore. In Patrons of Paleontology, Jane Davidson explores the motivation behind this rush to fund exploration, arguing that eagerness to discover strategic resources like coal deposits was further fueled by patrons who had a genuine passion for paleontology and the fascinating creatures that were being unearthed. These early decades of government support shaped the way the discipline grew, creating practices and enabling discoveries that continue to affect paleontology today.

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  The Edge of Reality - Two...

  J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallee,...

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  From the outset, Hynek and Vallee make their position clear: UFOs represent an unknown but real phenomenon. The far-reaching implications take us to the edge of what we consider the known and real in our physical environment. Perhaps UFOs signal the existence of a domain of nature as yet totally unexplored. These two eminent scientists studied the UFO phenomenon for decades and collaborated on this landmark report. 
   
   
   
  The authors sample UFO reports, including those allegedly involving humanoids, and describe the patterns that have been perceived in the behavior of the phenomenon. They also establish a framework for the further study of the UFO phenomenon. Where might such study lead? What can be studied, and how? What is the real nature of the UFO phenomenon? Does it originate with the actions of other intelligences in the universe? If so, where, and what, might they be? Does the UFO phenomenon have a purely physical explanation, or is there a vaster, hidden realm that holds the solution? 
   
   
   
  These are the questions that have concerned the authors for many years, and it is with possible answers to them that The Edge of Reality is concerned. This book is a deep dive in discussion between Hynek and Vallee and covers many facets of the UFO phenomena. The Edge of Reality was originally published in 1975 and has been available for many years.

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  A Brief History of Timekeeping -...

  Chad Orzel

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  Predating written language and marching on through human history, the desire for ever-better timekeeping has spurred technological innovation and sparked theories that radically reshaped our understanding of the universe and our place in it. 
   
   
   
  Chad Orzel, a physicist and bestselling author, continues his tradition of demystifying thorny scientific concepts by using the clocks and calendars central to our everyday activities as a jumping-off point to explore the science underlying the ways we keep track of our time. Ancient solstice markers depend on the basic astrophysics of our solar system; mechanical clocks owe their development to Newtonian physics; and the ultra-precise atomic timekeeping that enables GPS hinges on the predictable oddities of quantum mechanics. 
   
    
   
  Along the way, Orzel visits the delicate negotiations involved in Gregorian calendar reform, the intricate and entirely unique system employed by the Maya, and how the problem of synchronizing clocks at different locations ultimately required us to abandon the idea of time as an absolute and universal quantity. Sharp and engaging, A Brief History of Timekeeping is a story not just about the science of sundials, sandglasses, and mechanical clocks, but also the politics of calendars and time zones, the philosophy of measurement, and the nature of space and time itself.

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  Astrotopia - The Dangerous...

  Mary-Jane Rubenstein

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  As environmental, political, and public health crises multiply on Earth, we are also at the dawn of a new space race in which governments team up with celebrity billionaires to exploit the cosmos for human gain. The best-known of these pioneers are selling different visions of the future: while Elon Musk and SpaceX seek to establish a human presence on Mars, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin work toward moving millions of earthlings into rotating near-Earth habitats. Despite these distinctions, these two billionaires share a core utopian project: the salvation of humanity through the exploitation of space. 
   
   
    
  In Astrotopia, philosopher of science and religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein pulls back the curtain on the not-so-new myths these space barons are peddling, like growth without limit, energy without guilt, and salvation in a brand-new world. As Rubenstein reveals, we have already seen the destructive effects of this frontier zealotry in the centuries-long history of European colonialism. But Rubenstein does more than expose the values of capitalist technoscience as the product of bad mythologies. She offers a vision of exploring space without reproducing the atrocities of earthly colonialism, encouraging us to find and even make stories that put cosmic caretaking over profiteering.

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  Forgotten Forests: Twelve...

  Jonathan Mullard

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  Ancient trees, some over a thousand years old, are dotted around the British Isles, the last survivors of a lost world. Now, new scientific studies of these trees and of fossilised forests and of our oldest wooden artifacts can help us to understand the many woodlands that have disappeared from our landscapes. 
  Locked in ice for more than twenty thousand years, the lands that now make up Britain and Ireland were some of the last settled by humans. The earliest people, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers like Cheddar Man, arrived around eleven thousand years ago to find dense forests. While they lived lightly, they did introduce fire, which they used to create clearings, and this was the beginning of the reshaping of Britain’s forests. 
  When Neolithic farmers migrated to Britain from Europe some six thousand years ago, it meant a violent end to the hunter-gatherers’ way of life. It also indicated a dramatic change for the ecosystems. Forests were cleared for fields, trees and plants fed to livestock and predators hunted. A wild, forested world became one of agriculture and villages. 
  As humans learned to work bronze, then iron, they also used wood in myriad ways, building homes, then cathedrals, hand tools then furniture and early machines, boats and eventually immense ships. The forests of Britain and Ireland fuelled the burgeoning human civilisation, from the Romans, Anglo Saxons, Vikings and Normans, to the British, Scottish, Welsh and Irish peoples through to the present day. In that time our woodlands have changed beyond recognition, but clues to their story remain. Biologist and Britain’s first senior officer for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty Jonathan Mullard retraces the history of the forgotten forests of Britain and Ireland, piecing together historical records going as far back as the written word and archaeological evidence going back far further. The result is a wealth of arcane anecdotes and the latest scientific understanding of our natural history, as well as a fascinating journey through the forests, landscapes and human history of Britain. 
  In his latest non-fiction work, Forgotten Forests, Jonathan Mullard takes us on a journey through time, exploring the habitats that once covered Britain and Ireland. His deep understanding of ecology and passion for nature shine through in this compelling narrative of human impact and ecological transformation. 
  For fans of Robert Macfarlane (Is a River Alive?), and Rough Guides (The Rough Guide to Morocco). 
  HarperCollins 2025

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  The New Creationism - Building...

  Paul Garner

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  The academic culture in which science is practiced today is one of tacit - if not explicit - atheism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the scientific study of how the universe began and developed - the field of origins. This book has been written in the conviction that the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis - the Bible's book of beginnings - provide a trustworthy and accurate account of the early history of the universe. In the increasingly secular age in which we live, it is all too easy to forget that the major disciplines of science were founded by men of broadly Christian convictions. Their names are perhaps familiar to us - Boyle, Ray, Hooke, Newton, Faraday - but there is often an embarrassed silence concerning the spiritual beliefs that motivated these scientific giants. Like the astronomer, Kepler, these men perceived that in their scientific insights they were thinking God's thoughts after him'. Today, however, there is a sense of collective amnesia about the religious motivations of these men.

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