In 2008, science can only really account for four percent of our universe, and the rest, well, just seems to be missing. The effects of homeopathy don t go away under rigorous scientific conditions. Thirty years on, no one has an explanation for a seemingly intelligent signal received from outer space. The speed of light seems to have changed over the lifetime of the universe. The US Department of Energy is re-examining cold fusion (a nuclear reaction in which atoms release more energy than they consume) because the evidence is too solid to ignore. The placebo effect is put to work in medicine while doctors can t agree on whether it even exists. In an age when science is supposed to be king, scientists are beset by experimental results they simply cannot explain. But, if the past is anything to go by, these anomalies contain the seeds of future scientific revolutions.

From the acclaimed author of "When Smoke Ran Like Water", is a searing and revelatory account of how the War on Cancer has been distorted by economic interests. Even before its official launch more than three decades ago, the War on Cancer was fighting many of the wrong battles, with the wrong weapons and the wrong leaders. Little has changed since. Conceived in explicitly military terms, the campaign against cancer has always been about defeating an existing enemy - detecting, treating and curing the disease. The campaign has hardly addressed the basic causes of the disease such as tobacco, the workplace of the general environment; proof that the world in which we live and work has a lot to do with whether we get cancer was either overlooked or suppressed, often by people who had a major economic interest in making this happen.This has been no accident. The War on Cancer has been directed, from the beginning, by leaders who came from industries that generated a host of cancer-causing materials and products, or who controlled firms that profited directly from cancer treatment. Their economic interests lay in making the disease less deadly, but never in preventing its occurrence." The Secret History of the War on Cancer" shows, decade by decade, how this leadership acted to prevent research on prevention from ever being done - or, once done, from ever gaining widespread circulation or affecting either medical practice or government policy. Filled with compelling personalities and never-before-revealed information, this is the story of a major public health effort diverted and distorted for private gain.

On September 6, 2007, an African Grey parrot named Alex died prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were 'You be good. I love you'. What would normally be a quiet, very private event was, in Alex's case, headline news. Over the thirty years they had worked together, Alex and Irene had become famous - two pioneers who opened an unprecedented window into the hidden yet vast world of animal minds. Alex's brain was the size of a shelled walnut, and when Irene and Alex first met, birds were not believed to possess any potential for language, consciousness, or anything remotely comparable to human intelligence. Yet, over the years, Alex proved many things. He could add. He could sound out words. He understood concepts like bigger, smaller, more, fewer, and none. He was capable of thought and intention. Together, Alex and Irene uncovered a startling reality: We live in a world populated by thinking, conscious creatures. The fame that resulted was extraordinary. Yet there was a side to their relationship that never made the papers. They were emotionally connected to one another. They shared a deep bond far beyond science. Alex missed Irene when she was away. He was jealous when she paid attention to other parrots, or even people. He liked to show her who was boss. He loved to dance. He sometimes became bored by the repetition of his tests, and played jokes on her. Sometimes they sniped at each other. Yet nearly every day, they each said, 'I love you'. Alex and Irene stayed together through thick and thin - despite sneers from experts, extraordinary financial sacrifices, and a nomadic existence from one university to another. The story of their thirty-year adventure is equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond.

Sharyn Munro, author of the acclaimed The Woman on the Mountain, lives alone on her mountaintop refuge, surrounded by nothing but the Australian bush. As the only human resident, she has developed a keen interest in the lives and loves of her animal neighbours and it is their stories that she shares with us now. From quolls to kookaburras, snakes to kangaroos, frogs to koalas, Sharyn has encountered them all and has been both amused and infuriated by their behaviour. After all, how would you feel if your neighbours ate your roses, solicited for sex on your front lawn or took over your shed? So come and take a walk in Sharyn's gumboots, and discover the humorous, intriguing and sometimes poignant world of life on the wild side.

NOW IN B FORMAT. From the act of blushing and the amount of manganese in our tears (tears of pain contain more than tears of distress) to the curiousness of a kiss, The Kingdom of Infinite Space explores the astonishing range of activities that go on inside our heads, most of which are entirely beyond our control. After escorting his readers on a fantastic voyage through every chamber of the head and brain, Raymond Tallis demonstrates that not only does consciousness not reside between our ears, but that our heads are infinitely cleverer than we are.

It is often asserted that Charles Darwin had a fortunate and indeed privileged life. He came from a wealthy, upper middle class family; he studied at Edinburgh and Cambridge, and then never had to work at anything he did not wish to during his lifetime. He married an attractive and wealthy heiress who was devoted to him. On the other hand, one might make a case for saying that Darwin’s life was dogged by ill-luck. His mother died when he was seven; he was sent to a school at which he ‘learnt little’; he left Edinburgh Medical School after two years, unqualified. He undertook a five-year voyage although he was prone to sea-sickness; his one-time girlfriend (of whom there is evidence he was very fond) married someone else a few months into this voyage. He was affected by ill-health throughout much of his life. One of his children appears to have been mentally handicapped, and this child, and also his beloved Annie, died in infancy. His brother seems to have taken to drugs. Like most of us he had a mixture of good luck and ill-luck. At a number of key points in his life, he made a choice - or others made a choice, or circumstances occurred - which profoundly influenced the path that he took. He made mistakes, but he had the distinct knack of good instinct. Sometimes he displayed the characteristics that enabled him to ‘make his own luck’. This book reviews the role of chance and luck in the great Victorian naturalist’s life and career.