From the authors of The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs comes an introduction to the study of dinosaurs for non-specialists designed to excite readers about science by using dinosaurs to illustrate and discuss geology, natural history and evolution. While focusing on dinosaurs it also uses them to convey other aspects of the natural sciences, including fundamental concepts in evolutionary biology, physiology, life history, and systematics.
The complex idea of "species" has evolved over time, yet its meaning is far from resolved. This comprehensive work takes a fresh look at an idea central to the field of biology by tracing its history from antiquity to today. John S. Wilkins explores the essentialist view, a staple of logic from Plato and Aristotle through the Middle Ages to fairly recent times, and considers the idea of species in natural history--a concept often connected to reproduction.
This remarkable reference book tells the story of science from earliest times to the present day, taking in everything from ancient Greek geometry to quantum physics, and the wedge to the worldwide web. Exploring science in a thematic, highly approachable manner, each spread takes as its theme a specific event, discovery, invention, experiment, theory, or individual and explains why this subject was so significant in the development of scientific thought and what its impact on history has been.
Where did math come from? Who thought up all those algebra symbols, and why? What's the story behind ...negative numbers? ...the metric system? ...quadratic equations? ...sine and cosine? The 25 independent sketches in "Math through the Ages" answer these questions and many others in an informal, easygoing style that's accessible to teachers, students, and anyone who is curious about the history of mathematical ideas. Each sketch contains Questions and Projects to help you learn more about its topic and to see how its main ideas fit into the bigger picture of history.
The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and MethodsThe second edition of this popular compendium provides the necessary intellectual equipment to engage with and participate in effective philosophical argument, reading, and reflection
* Features significantly revised, updated and expanded entries, and an entirely new section drawn from methods in the history of philosophy * This edition has a broad, pluralistic approach--appealing to readers in both continental philosophy and the history of philosophy, as well as analytic philosophy
