Genetic World

Brought to you by Penguin. From the award-winning scientist who identified the bones of Richard III in a Leicester carpark and genetically analysed Hitler, discover the myth-busting book that provides a window into the world of modern genetics and reveals the extraordinary true stories and...

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.

'An entertaining, expert guide to the precarious, miraculous and wondrous journey to where we are now' – Dara Ó Briain 'What a fun book! Like having a chat with a friendly scientist over a coffee' – Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs What is life? How did it first...

While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place. Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically grounded explanation for our love of alcohol.

Just outside Los Angeles, a prisoner hidden away for 70 years sits up, gets off the bed and disappears through a solid wall. In Australia, a magician impresses audiences by producing real elephants. Nobody realizes it's not an illusion. Across the world, individuals and organizations with supernatural power suddenly detect the presence of something even they can't understand. At the center of it all, Seb Varden, a 32-year old musician with a secret in his past, slits his wrists, is shot dead and run over on the freeway.

Dinosaurs. Majestic giants. They’ve captured our imagination for generations. On planet Mintari, they live again. Mintari is far from Earth. Wild. Pristine. A world where triceratops herd across grasslands, pterosaurs soar over golden mountains, and T-rexes prowl the misty forests. But these magnificent beasts might soon disappear. And only one man can save them. They call him Jurassic Joe; a semi-mythical figure, a ranger who lives in the wilderness of Mintari. He is the defender of dinosaurs and the bane of poachers. A folk hero...but is he real?

Es ist nichts Geringeres als eine medizinische Sensation: Durch die Entdeckung eines neuen Wundermittels kann der Alterungsprozess des Menschen aufgehalten werden! Wer das Medikament regelmäßig nimmt bleibt nicht nur ewig jung, er ist auch schöner und stärker als "normale" Menschen. Doch die neue Wunderdroge hat einen Haken: Man braucht dazu das Blut von Menschen, deren DNA eine besondere Sequenz aufweist. Oft werden diese "Träger" entführt und in Blutfarmen gefangen gehalten.

More than 12,000 years ago, in one of the greatest triumphs of prehistory, humans colonized North America, a continent that was then truly a new world. Just when and how they did so has been one of the most perplexing and controversial questions in archaeology.

L'attesissima ed epica conclusione della tanto amata serie che ha tenuto gli ascoltatori (e i dipendenti) di Audible incollati alle cuffie; un amore a primo Bob narrato ancora una volta dall'impareggiabile Alberto Onofrietti. Essere una nave spaziale senziente dovrebbe essere molto più divertente, ma dopo aver viaggiato in lungo e in largo per lo spazio, è chiaro che Bob e i suoi cloni proprio non riescano a tenersi fuori dai guai.

In The Synthetic Age, Christopher Preston argues that what is most startling about this coming epoch is not only how much impact humans have had but, more important, how much deliberate shaping they will start to do. Emerging technologies promise to give us the power to take over some of Nature's most basic operations. It is not just that we are exiting the Holocene and entering the Anthropocene; it is that we are leaving behind the time in which planetary change is just the unintended consequence of unbridled industrialism.

“There is no good reason why human societies should not be described and explained with the same precision and success as the rest of nature.” Thus argues evolutionary psychologist Pascal Boyer in this uniquely innovative book. Integrating recent insights from evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics, and other fields, Boyer offers precise models of why humans engage in social behaviors such as forming families, tribes, and nations, or creating gender roles.

Joni, the daughter of World Walker Seb Varden, has never met her father. And the world he left behind has become a dangerous place for the last generation of Manna users. Mee and John insist Seb will return, but what if they're wrong? Could it be possible she has none of Seb Varden's powers? Or might her abilities reveal themselves as she leaves childhood behind? In her 17th year, Joni will be forced to leave those she loves, face a great evil, and finally learn the truth about her father.

Seb Varden is starting to get used to life as a World Walker. With a body full of alien nanotechnology, the ability to travel anywhere instantly and - most surprising of all - a steady relationship with Meera Patel, things are finally looking up. Until Seb has his first blackout, starts meeting aliens and discovers a plan that threatens the entire human race. And, of course, Mason, the most dangerous Manna user, picks this particular moment to come after him and Meera.

Alexandra Tashen is a brilliant student, adoring daughter, merry wit, and exuberant prankster. After a blissful childhood on a Texas ranch, she learns the truth: She is a refuse, an illegal refugee smuggled into the Allied Nations as an infant. Everyone from her birth region carries a harmless but detectable bit of viral DNA from a flu vaccine. If detected by the rapid genetic testing at security screens, Alex will be returned to the Federation and a likely death.

In Born in Africa, Martin Meredith follows the trail of discoveries about human origins made by scientists over the last hundred years, recounting their intense rivalry, personal feuds, and fierce controversies, as well as their feats of skill and endurance. The results have been momentous. Scientists have identified more than 20 species of extinct humans. They have firmly established Africa as the birthplace not only of humankind but also of modern humans.

The fourth book in the best-selling The World Walker series. Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? Maybe Seb Varden is in a good position to find out. Depending on your point of view, he has either spent a few days, six months, or 17 years playing a potentially deadly game. At stake: the freedom of the alien who saved his life, the future of all intelligent species in the universe, and his sanity. Not only does Seb not fully understand the rules, but it's just possible the game itself is rigged.

Could humans unknowingly be a part of a larger superorganism—one with its own motivations and goals, one that is alive, and conscious, and has the power to shape the future of our species? This is the fascinating theory from author and futurist Byron Reese, who calls this human superorganism “Agora.” In We Are Agora, Reese starts by asking the question, “What is life and how did it form?” From there, he looks at how multicellular life came about, how consciousness emerged, and how other superorganisms in nature have formed.

An important, hopeful book that looks at the urgent problem of childhood malnutrition worldwide and the revolutionary progress being made to end it. A healthy Earth requires healthy children. Yet nearly one-fourth of the world’s children are stunted physically and mentally due to a lack of...

A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the...