Science - History - Philosophy Archives - Michael O'Mara Books

The One Thing You Need to Know

Publicity — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:31:13 +0000

From gravity to black holes, special relativity to global warming, this authoritative and entertaining book from bestselling author Marcus Chown breaks down complex science into manageable chunks, explaining the one thing you really need to know to get to grips with the subject.

Rather than trying to bend your mind around all the vast and confounding details of things such as gravitational waves, electricity and black holes, wouldn’t it be easier to understand just one central concept from which everything else follows?

If you’ve ever found yourself fascinated by the idea of quantum computing but feel a little overwhelmed by the mindblowing subject of quantum mechanics or concerned by climate change but haven’t been able to get to grips with the details of global warming, this book is for you. Let’s take atoms, for example – what on earth are they? Well, if you start to think of them less like things you can’t see with complex little nuclei and more like the alphabet of nature, which in different configurations can make a rose, a galaxy or a newborn baby, they might start to feel a little more understandable. Or gravitational waves – they sound poetic, but why are they creating so much excitement? Think of them as the voice of space, vibrations on the drumskin of space-time – before delving into all their complexities.

In twenty-one short and engaging chapters, Chown explains the one thing you need to know to understand some of the most important scientific ideas of our time. Packed full of astounding facts, scientific history and the entertaining personalities at the heart of the most pivotal discoveries about the workings of our universe, this is an accessible guide to all the tricky stuff you’ve always wanted to understand more about.

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One-Armed Jack

Emma Burton — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:23:15 +0000

This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time: Jack the Ripper.

Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a named perpetrator as Jack the Ripper by linking eye-witness accounts of the killer’s distinctive physical characteristics to his official medical records. It argues that his broken left arm, which left him unable to work in early 1888, was one of his triggers to kill as part of a serious physical and mental decline caused by severe epilepsy.

This new perpetrator fits the profile as stated by the police of the day: a local man of low class of whom they became aware after the final murder, when they launched an unsuccessful surveillance operation against him. As has never been done before, the author – an experienced former government researcher with specific expertise in research and analysis – formulates a complete analysis of the killer and his methodology, including how he accosted his victims, where he took them to their deaths, his unique modus operandi of a blitz-style attack, and how he escaped from each crime scene without detection.

Each of the six murders – from Martha Tabram to Marie Kelly – is discussed and reconstructed as perpetrated by this man, with his escalating violence clearly demonstrated.

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Hurricane

Emma Burton — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:23:07 +0000

Britain’s first-ever wartime fighter plane, the Hawker Hurricane, shot down more enemy planes than any other fighter. It was the true aviation hero of the Battle of Britain.

Often eclipsed by the legend and aerial heroics of the Spitfire, the Hurricane was the authentic warhorse of aviation history. Stable, rugged, less expensive to build – and far more easily repaired and maintained than the Spitfire – the ‘Hurri’ as it was affectionately known, proved to be the most fearsome fighter plane in aerial combat – at a time when Britain’s survival was at stake like never before.

In 1940 the Hurricane made its mark: more than half of the 1,200 German aircraft that were shot down in the war were taken down by Hurricanes. At the time, the RAF could call on 32 squadrons of Hurricanes and 19 Spitfires: the Hurricane was, in fact, the dominant British fighter plane, developing a reputation as a plane that could take more than a few hits from the enemy – and continue to fly. The Spit was the aviation thoroughbred, superb until damaged. The Hurri was much stronger. The skilled airmen came from all over the world; one of them from RAF 80 Squadron would later become a very famous author – Roald Dahl.

Using documents, letters and first-hand accounts, this is the historic untold story of the Hawker Hurricane and the lives of the men and women who flew, helped design and construct, fit and worked behind the scenes of the ‘Hurri’, all contributing in ways big and small, to its outstanding success as a legend of the Second World War.

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Artificial Intelligence in Byte-sized Chunks

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:22:59 +0000

Artificial intelligence is headline news with the launch of the latest ChatGPT and Google Gemini. But when did we start making computers mimic the human mind? And what is the reality of the capabilities of AI now, and in the future?

AI has always stirred emotions, and caused great excitement as well as great concern. Since the launch of large language models such as ChatGPT, the scope and capabilities of AI look set to transform our technology, in both good and bad ways. AI can help teach us how to write better or help us generate amazing artworks. But in the wrong hands, AI can create fake images and fake information that can be used to damage our societies. A new addition to the popular Bite-sized Chunks series, this expert-led book will explore how AI has developed from humble beginnings in the 1950s to today’s extraordinary AIs that have more neurons than the human brain. Focusing on specific AIs and their creators over the years, it explains the science and engineering behind each AI, discusses ethical issues and covers all the most fascinating information about one of the most important and contentious developments in human technology (including the latest on generative AI/ChatGPT), as well as what we can expect to see in the future of this field – all in short, accessible bite-sized chunks.

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What’s Her Name

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:21:55 +0000

Journey through thousands of years of human history (now with the women put back in).

From the earliest human civilizations through to the present day, the stories of countless influential women – leaders, artists, warriors, scientists and more – have been ignored, forgotten, or actively suppressed. You may not have encountered the likes of Fatima al-Fihri (an Islamic World visionary who founded the world's first university), Ching Shih (the most successful pirate in history), or Huda Sha'arawi (a pioneering Egyptian feminist leader, suffragist, nationalist, and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union), but that's about to change.

In What’s Her Name: A History of the World in 80 Lost Women, authors – and sisters – Olivia Meikle and Katie Nelson weave together the captivating stories of these fascinating figures to tell an alternative, enthralling and deeply researched historical narrative. A truly global history, What’s Her Name features biographies of incredible women spanning six continents and thousands of years, from Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire to imperial China, the Americas and post-war Europe. Drawing on years of study and interviews with dozens of experts, this is an entertaining, thought-provoking look at the trailblazing women you may not have heard of (but should have).

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The Men Who Were Sherlock Holmes

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:19:32 +0000

In 1893, young army officer Cecil Hambrough was murdered at the sprawling Ardlamont estate in Scotland, unleashing one of the most gripping court cases Victorian Britain had ever known. Even more remarkably, the case brought together two pioneering forensic experts – Joseph Bell and Henry Littlejohn – two men upon whom Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes happened to be based. It is their involvement in the Ardlamont affair that reveals how the world’s most famous detective came to be: the worlds of crime fiction and crime fact were about to collide spectacularly.

In this extraordinary book, Daniel Smith outlines the key roles of the two men whose powers of deduction had so inspired Doyle and explores the real-world origins of Sherlock Holmes through the prism of a mystery as engrossing as any case the Great Detective ever tackled.

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The Secret Library

alex — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:16:05 +0000

How much do you know about the Victorian novelist who outsold Dickens? Or the woman who became the first published poet in America? Do you know what connects Homer’s Iliad to Aesop’s Fables?

The Secret Library explores these intriguing morsels of lesser-known history, along with the familiar literary heavyweights we know and love. Bringing together an eclectic literary mix of novels, plays, travel books, science books and joke books, author Oliver Tearle explores how the history of the Western World has intersected with all kinds of books over the last 3,000 years.

Delve into this treasure trove of curious literary examples to learn how our history and books are inextricably linked.

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Young Elizabeth

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:13:58 +0000

Elizabeth I is one of England's most famous monarchs, whose story as the ‘Virgin Queen’ is well known. But queenship was by no means a certain path for Henry VIII’s younger daughter, who spent the majority of her early years as a girl with an uncertain future.

Before she was three years old Elizabeth had been both a princess and then a bastard following the brutal execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn. After losing several stepmothers and then her father, the teenage Elizabeth was confronted with the predatory attentions of Sir Thomas Seymour. The result was devastating, causing a heartbreaking rift with her beloved stepmother Katherine Parr.

Elizabeth was placed in further jeopardy when she was implicated in the Wyatt Rebellion of 1554 – a plot to topple her half-sister, Mary, from her throne. Imprisoned in the Tower of London where her mother had lost her life, under intense pressure and interrogation Elizabeth adamantly protested her innocence. Though she was eventually liberated, she spent the remainder of Mary’s reign under a dark cloud. On 17 November 1558, however, the uncertainty of Elizabeth’s future came to an end when she succeeded to the throne at the age of twenty-five.

When Elizabeth became queen, she had already endured more tumult than many monarchs experienced in a lifetime. This colourful and immensely detailed biography charts Elizabeth’s turbulent and unstable upbringing, exploring the dangers and tragedies that plagued her early life. Nicola Tallis draws on primary sources written by Elizabeth herself and her contemporaries, providing an extensive and thorough study of an exceptionally resilient youngster whose early life would shape the queen she later became. The heart racing story of Elizabeth’s youth as she steered her way through perilous waters towards England’s throne is one of the most sensational of its time.

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24 Hours in Ancient China

alex — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:11:33 +0000

Spend 24 hours with the ancient Chinese.

The year is AD 17. The Han dynasty is in power and we are in and around Chang’an, the capital and one of the most developed regions of the empire, which is enjoying a prolonged economic and cultural pinnacle.

There are extraordinary palaces, military bases and city walls. Households are benefitting from the invention of numerous agricultural technologies and an unprecedented level of craft production, which includes ceramics, bronzes, iron objects and many other elaborate goods.

This is an age that is both vibrant and innovative but also riven with conflict and contradictions. For as successful as the empire is, the reality is that life for the ordinary inhabitants is still about the same problems: earning money, work struggles and family dramas.

Discover what one day in ancient China is like by spending twenty-four hours with the people who lived there. Every hour we meet a different person – from dancers to doctors, priests to convicts, textile workers to tomb looters – and build a multi-layered picture of the social fabric of ancient China and this fascinating period in history.

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Gods, Heroes and Monsters

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 03:09:16 +0000

Gods, Heroes and Monsters retells the ancient stories from around the world, which have been passed down by generation after generation of storytellers, each bringing a clearer understanding of life’s biggest questions.

Since the dawn of communication, humankind has looked around itself and used myths and legends to make sense of the world. Imaginative tales of goddesses, heroes, villains and beasts bring understanding to the biggest questions in life: Who made the world? What happens when we die? Where did we come from? How should we live our lives?

Gods, Heroes and Monsters invites you to take your place at the campfire that’s been glowing since the first tale was told. Featuring myths and legends from around the world, discover the fascinating variety – and several surprising similarities – of the stories that have been shared for millennia, from one person to another, one lesson at a time.

Discover ancient stories on love, death, monsters and spirits and listen to tales of love, revenge and war between the pantheon of gods. Hear the tales of ordinary men and women who have stepped up and overcome life-threatening challenges, from Mulan to Hercules.

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