From the Southern Cross to the mysterious dark companions of the Dog Stars, the constellations in this guide will help readers see the night sky in a whole new way, allowing them to enjoy the vast beauty of the solar system.

From the Southern Cross to the mysterious dark companions of the Dog Stars, the constellations in this guide will help readers see the night sky in a whole new way, allowing them to enjoy the vast beauty of the solar system.

A major scientific revolution has begun, a new paradigm that rivals Darwin's theory in importance. At its heart is the discovery of the order that lies deep within the most complex of systems, from the origin of life, to the workings of giant corporations, to the rise and fall of great civilizations. And more than anyone else, this revolution is the work of one man, Stuart Kauffman, a MacArthur Fellow and visionary pioneer of the new science of complexity. Now, in At Home in the Universe, Kauffman brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at this new science--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. We all know of instances of spontaneous order in nature--an oil droplet in water forms a sphere, snowflakes have a six-fold symmetry. What we are only now discovering, Kauffman says, is that the range of spontaneous order is enormously greater than we had supposed. Indeed, self-organization is a great undiscovered principle of nature. But how does this spontaneous order arise? Kauffman contends that complexity itself triggers self-organization, or what he calls 'order for free,' that if enough different molecules pass a certain threshold of complexity, they begin to self-organize into a new entity--a living cell. Kauffman uses the analogy of a thousand buttons on a rug--join two buttons randomly with thread, then another two, and so on. At first, you have isolated pairs; later, small clusters; but suddenly at around the 500th repetition, a remarkable transformation occurs--much like the phase transition when water abruptly turns to ice--and the buttons link up in one giant network. Likewise, life may have originated when the mix of different molecules in the primordial soup passed a certain level of complexity and self-organized into living entities (if so, then life is not a highly improbable chance event, but almost inevitable). Kauffman uses the basic insight of 'order for free' to illuminate a staggering range of phenomena. We see how a single-celled embryo can grow to a highly complex organism with over two hundred different cell types. We learn how the science of complexity extends Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection: that self-organization, selection, and chance are the engines of the biosphere. And we gain insights into biotechnology, the stunning magic of the new frontier of genetic engineering--generating trillions of novel molecules to find new drugs, vaccines, enzymes, biosensors, and more. Indeed, Kauffman shows that ecosystems, economic systems, and even cultural systems may all evolve according to similar general laws, that tissues and terra cotta evolve in similar ways. And finally, there is a profoundly spiritual element to Kauffman's thought. If, as he argues, life were bound to arise, not as an incalculably improbable accident, but as an expected fulfillment of the natural order, then we truly are at home in the universe. Kauffman's earlier volume, The Origins of Order, written for specialists, received lavish praise. Stephen Jay Gould called it 'a landmark and a classic.' And Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson wrote that 'there are few people in this world who ever ask the right questions of science, and they are the ones who affect its future most profoundly. Stuart Kauffman is one of these.' In At Home in the Universe, this visionary thinker takes you along as he explores new insights into the nature of life.

Fifty years of space exploration Foreword by Arthur C Clarke In October 1957 a metallic sphere the size of a basketball bleeped its way into orbit. It was called 'Sputnik'. From this modest beginning, an epic new adventure was born. In less than the span of a human lifetime we have explored the Moon and launched robot probes to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and far beyond. Space explores the major themes of rocket exploration, past, present and future, and celebrates the first half-century of space exploration. Specially selected images recall an age when giant rockets were the last word in modernity, and silver-suited astronauts were household names. Now we are preparing for a historic return to the Moon in the coming decade, and making serious plans to explore Mars. What awaits us in the next 50 years of space exploration? Contents: From literature to launch day - Science fiction predicts rockets and space exploration The Heavens and the Earth - Experimental missiles and satellites inspire the politicians Selling the Space Age - Consumer culture absorbs the romance of rockets Red Star in Orbit - Russian triumphs and tragedies in orbit, and on earth Machine Ambassadors - Robot probes explore Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn The Way Ahead - Do we have a long-term future in space?

This series has done so well that we have produced a smaller, more portable size for those who wish to have a more manageable gift book. These are also available in the original oversized coffee table format of 16 1/2 x 11 3/4 with 256 pages. Beautifully illustrated throughout with stunning photos, most of them panoramic.

This richly illustrated book contains over 200 photographs, nearly half of which are in full colour. It constitutes the best collection of available photographs of the planets that have been obtained from space over the past two decades. Also included, wherever available, are global maps of the planets and their satellites. Each of the following chapters is devoted to one of the planets, summarizing what has been learned about that planet and explaining in non-technical terms the features that can be seen in the many breathtaking photographs that are presented. The chapters are set out with the text first, followed by the figures, each accompanied by a long caption describing its essential points.

'A brilliant account of the latest research in astrophysics, not only the book of the year, but probably also the book of the decade'.--Patrick Moore.