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Natural & Physical Sciences Books in this online selection represent only a sliver of what we offer in the store. If you've got a particular book in mind and want to check on its availability, call us at 415-362-8193.

1 2 >>>     sort list by title | author Robert Oppenheimer A Life Inside the Center Ray Monk Robert Oppenheimer was among the most brilliant and divisive of men. As head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, he oversaw the successful effort to beat the Nazis in the race to develop the first atomic bomb—a breakthrough that was to have eternal... Gulp Adventures on the Alimentary Canal Mary Roach The irresistible, ever-curious, and always best-selling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside. The Violinist's Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code Sam Kean From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes more incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA. In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table... How the Hippies Saved Physics Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival David Kaiser A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut. Darwin's Ghosts The Secret History of Evolution Rebecca Stott Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin received an unsettling letter. He had expected criticism; in fact, letters were arriving daily, most expressing outrage and accusations of heresy. In the Sierra Mountain Writings Kenneth Rexroth, Kim Stanley Robinson Nature writings by one of America's greatest poets, written out of a deep experience of the Sierras. Over the course of his life, Kenneth Rexroth wrote about the Sierra Nevada better than anyone. Progressive in terms of environmental ethics and... Turing's Cathedral The Origins of the Digital Universe George Dyson "It is possible to invent a single machine which can be used to compute any computable sequence," twenty-four-year-old Alan Turing announced in 1936. Sex at Dawn How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships Cacilda Jetha, Christopher Ryan In this controversial, thought-provoking, and brilliant book, renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha debunk almost everything we "know" about sex, weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology... The Disappearing Spoon And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements Sam Kean Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why is gallium (Ga, 31) the go-to element for laboratory pranksters?* The Periodic Table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a... The Poisoner's Handbook Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York Deborah Blum Fascinating and entertaining, tinged with both humor and horror, this account of the early years of forensic medicine in New York City is near unputdownable. We follow the city's Medical Examiner and head toxicologist as they develop the techniques for... Quadrivium The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology Anthony Ashton, Miranda Lundy, John Martineau,Dr. Jason Martineau, Daud Sutton The quadrivium—the classical curriculum—comprises the four liberal arts of number, geometry, music, and cosmology. It was studied from antiquity to the Renaissance as a way of glimpsing the nature of reality. Geometry is number in space; music is... The Selfish Gene 30th Anniversary Edition Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of... The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill A Love Story . . . with Wings Mark Bittner Like a lot of young people in the 1970s, Mark Bittner took the path of the “dharma bum.” When the counterculture faded, Mark held on, seeking shelter in the nooks and crannies of San Francisco’s fabled bohemian neighborhood, North... Guns, Germs, and Steel The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance... 1 2 >>>