Bøger udgivet af Basic Books

From a bestselling and beloved author, an intensely personal collection of poetry "rich with political and human resonance." (Ursula K. LeGuin)

A contemporary guide to life inspired by the extraordinary artist Frida Kahlo

A top expert on human trauma argues that the psychiatric community vastly overestimates how common PTSD is--and demonstrates how resilient people really are.

A respected physics professor and author breaks down the great debate over the Big Bang and the continuing quest to understand the fate of the universe. Today, the Big Bang is so entrenched in our understanding of the cosmos that to doubt it would seem crazy. But as Paul Halpern shows in Flashes of Creation, just decades ago its mere mention caused sparks to fly. At the center of the debate were Russian American physicist George Gamow and British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. Gamow insisted that a fiery explosion explained how the elements of the universe were created. Attacking the idea as half-baked, Hoyle countered that the universe was engaged in a never-ending process of creation. The battle was fierce. In the end, Gamow turned out to be right -- mostly -- and Hoyle, despite his many achievements, is remembered for giving the theory the silliest possible name: "The Big Bang." Halpern captures the brilliance of both thinkers and reminds us that even those proved wrong have much to teach us about boldness, imagination, and the universe itself.

A dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King that transforms our understanding of the twentieth century's most iconic African American leaders

The pioneering contribution to infant psychology that gave us separation and individuation documents with standard-setting care the intrapsychic process of a child's emergence from symbiotic fusion wi

A reissue of the classic work by John Horgan wherein he makes the powerful case that science is ending

An inspiring story of gaining new senses in adulthood

A biography of Thomas Sowell, one of America's most influential conservative thinkers

A global tour of energy--the catalyst of human civilization and one of the biggest challenges facing mankind today

A pioneering neuroscientist argues that we are more than our brains

"Arthur Benjamin... joyfully shows you how to make nature's numbers dance. Let his book be your partner for a lifetime of learning."-Bill Nye, Science Educator and CEO, The Planetary Society

The definitive biography of the brilliant, charismatic, and very human physicist and innovator Enrico Fermi

"[Sowell's] take on how culture, geography, politics and social factors affect how societies progress"or don't"will rile those addicted to political correctness but leave everyone else wiser."-Forbes

Miller's wide and profound book about childhood trauma has provided thousands of readers with guidance and hope, and is essential reading for those interested in psychology, psychotherapy, and more.

"Bold and provocative... Regenesis tells of recent advances that may soon yield endless supplies of renewable energy, increased longevity and the return of long-extinct species."-New Scientist

The natural and cultural history of how people, birds, and the feather came together

Everyone talks to their pets; Chad Orzel tells his about relativity.

"In December 1937, in what was then the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (Na"

As a fundamental aspect of our knowledge of the physical world, quantum mechanics remains a vital subject in physics. This is a collection of the late Richard P Feynman's lectures. It is suitable for students of physics and those seeking an introduction to the field from the inimitable Richard Feynman.

In a memoir more chilling than a John le Carre novel, we meet the senior KGB officer who recruited and handled two of America's most dangerous traitors, and whose career spanned four continents

A preeminent music historian and critic presents a global history of music from the bottom up

How anyone can become a data ninja

A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of lifeWhy are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't. For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded us. But in Every Life Is on Fire, physicist Jeremy England argues that the answer has been under our noses the whole time, deep within the laws of thermodynamics. England explains how, counterintuitively, the very same forces that tend to tear things apart assembled the first living systems.But how life began isn't just a scientific question. We ask it because we want to know what it really means to be alive. So England, an ordained rabbi, uses his theory to examine how, if at all, science helps us find purpose in a vast and mysterious universe.In the tradition of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Every Life Is on Fire is a profound testament to how something can come from nothing.

The classic work on the rules of sex, still as provocative as the day it was published, updated for a new generation.

A Turing Award-winning computer scientist and statistician shows how understanding causality has revolutionized science and will revolutionize artificial intelligence"e;Correlation is not causation."e; This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality--the study of cause and effect--on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet; and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl's work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to understand either needs The Book of Why.

A teenage genius and his teacher take readers on a wild ride to the extremes of mathematicsEveryone has stared at the crumpled page of a math assignment and wondered, where on Earth will I ever use this? It turns out, Earth is precisely the place. As teen math prodigy Agnijo Banerjee and his teacher David Darling reveal, complex math surrounds us. If we think long enough about the universe, we're left not with material stuff, but a ghostly and beautiful set of equations. Packed with puzzles and paradoxes, mind-bending concepts, and surprising solutions, Weird Math leads us from a lyrical exploration of mathematics in our universe to profound questions about God, chance, and infinity. A magical introduction to the mysteries of math, it will entrance beginners and seasoned mathematicians alike.