NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence. “A magical, metaphysical realm ... Captivating, enchanting, delightful.” —The New York Times Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar. Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.

Thirty years ago Albert Einstein died, his dream of a theory that would unify the universe unfulfilled. He spent the last decades of his life searching for such a theory-a theory that would explain everything from elementary particles and their interac tions to the overall structure of the universe. But he failed, not because he didn't try hard enough, but because the attempt was ahead of its time. When Einstein worked on the problem liter ally nothing was known about black holes, white holes, sin gularities, the Big Bang explosion and the early universe, quarks, gauge invariance, and weak and strong nuclear forces. Today we know that all these things are important in relation to a unified theory, and that they must be incorporated in and explained by such a theory. Thus, in a sense, our problem is much more complex today than it was in Einstein's day. But scientists have persevered and as a result we are now tan talizingly close to achieving this long-sought goal. Important breakthroughs have been made. In this book we will look at these breakthroughs and at recent unified theories-theories that go by the names supergravity, superstrings, GUTs, and twistor theory. In order to understand the problem, however, we must begin at the beginning.

The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.

A provocative and timely call for a moral approach to economics, drawing on philosophers, political theorists, writers, and economists from Aristotle to Marx to Keynes. What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long hours merely to acquire greater wealth? These are some of the questions that many asked themselves when the financial system crashed in 2008. This book tackles such questions head-on. The authors begin with the great economist John Maynard Keynes. In 1930 Keynes predicted that, within a century, per capita income would steadily rise, people’s basic needs would be met, and no one would have to work more than fifteen hours a week. Clearly, he was wrong: though income has increased as he envisioned, our wants have seemingly gone unsatisfied, and we continue to work long hours. The Skidelskys explain why Keynes was mistaken. Then, arguing from the premise that economics is a moral science, they trace the concept of the good life from Aristotle to the present and show how our lives over the last half century have strayed from that ideal. Finally, they issue a call to think anew about what really matters in our lives and how to attain it. How Much Is Enough? is that rarity, a work of deep intelligence and ethical commitment accessible to all readers. It will be lauded, debated, cited, and criticized. It will not be ignored.

A biography of the scientist Albert Einstein.

CATALOG COPY DESCRIPTION: In the Little Einsteins’ latest adventure, June gets a brand-new pair of ballet shoes. She can’t wait to try them out, but each time she attempts a leap or twirl, she falls. It’s up to the Little Einsteins team to help their friend to gain the confidence she needs to use her shoes to save the day! Building on the success of the Baby Einstein’s 93% U.S. brand awareness, Little Einsteins keeps with the unique educational philosophy of using classical music, art, and real-world imagery to engage and teach preschoolers about the natural world around them. Anchored by a U.S.Video/DVD premiere in August 2005 and followed by a much-anticipated TV series in October 2005, the Little Einsteins series is sure to be the next beloved brand on the preschool reading level.

Somewhere in the Multiverse, in a lab distant from the Makers’ Planet, Tunnel Maker, Creator of Bridges, answers an alarm. His inter-universe probe is detecting signals from another bubble universe, indicating that some new high-intelligence alien species is doing high-energy physics and creating hyperdimensional signals. Tunnel Maker knows that, in another bubble universe, the predatory Hive Mind should be receiving the same signals. It is time to make a Bridge . . . George Griffin, experimental physicist working at the newly-operational Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), observes a proton-proton collision that doesn’t make sense. He chases it down and discovers a Bridgehead, a wormhole link to the Makers’ universe. With help from theorist Roger Coulton and writer Alice Lancaster, he establishes communication with the Makers, only to learn that a Hive invasion of Earth is imminent. As the Hive invasion is destroying humanity, by wormhole the Makers transport George and Roger back to 1987, where they must undertake the task of manipulating the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations to change the future and prevent construction of the SSC. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

In Einstein in Love, Dennis Overbye has written the first profile of the great scientist to focus exclusively on his early adulthood, when his major discoveries were made. It reveals Einstein to be very much a young man of his time-draft dodger, self-styled bohemian, poet, violinist, and cocky, charismatic genius who left personal and professional chaos in his wake. Drawing upon hundreds of unpublished letters and a decade of research, Einstein in Love is a penetrating portrait of the modern era's most influential thinker.

From the bestselling author of Einstein’s Dreams comes this harrowing tale of one man's struggle to cope in a wired world, even as his own biological wiring short-circuits. As Boston’s Red Line shuttles Bill Chalmers to work one summer morning, something extraordinary happens. Suddenly, he can't remember which stop is his, where he works, or even who he is. The only thing he can remember is his corporate motto: the maximum information in the minimum time. Bill’s memory returns, but a strange numbness afflicts him. As he attempts to find a diagnosis for his deteriorating illness, he descends into a nightmarish tangle of inconclusive results, his company’s manic frenzy, and his family’s disbelief. Ultimately, Bill discovers that he is fighting not just for his body but also for his soul.