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Over 50 years ago, astronomers launched the world's first orbiting telescope. This allowed them to gaze further into outer space and examine anything that appears in the sky above our heads, from comets and planets to galaxy clusters and stars. Since then, almost 100 space telescopes have been launched from Earth and are orbiting our planet, with 26 still active and relaying information back to us.As a result of these space-based instruments, such as NASA's iconic Hubble Space Telescope, we know much more about the universe than we did half a century ago. But why is Hubble, orbiting just 540 kilometres above the Earth, so much more effective than a ground-based telescope? How can a glorified camera tell us not only what distant objects look like, but their detailed chemical composition and three-dimensional structure as well?

A stag leaps on an ancient brooch. A doe and a fawn step across a field at first light. A pair of antlers is silhouetted by the side of a busy road.From the earliest cave paintings to the present day, humans and deer have a long and complex history. Royal harts were the coveted quarry of European kings, while the first Americans relied on deer for everything from buckskins to arrow heads. Once hunted to the point of extinction in some parts of the world, deer numbers have exploded in recent years, causing tension between scientists and conservationists. And yet, this is our own story, as the fortune of deer is inextricably bound up with the actions that we humans take on the world around us.

Your expert guide to mastering the numbers behind the mysteries of modern mathematics. What with the mysteries of infinity and imaginary numbers, the power of mathematical modelling, and the logic and structures hiding behind real-life situations and digital worlds, the modern landscape of mathematics is an extraordinary place to explore. But how are you expected to navigate this enigmatic and abstract world?Short Cuts: Maths provides the map you need to start exploring seriously big ideas. Puzzling questions prompt ''short cut'' answers written by experts in their field, with each one the setting-off point for instructions to help you plot your path through the mathematical maze.

What is knowledge? What makes me, me? Do we have free will? People have been asking such fundamental questions about the nature of reality for centuries, but how can they help us make sense of our existence in a 21st-century world of social media, cyber wars, cloning, artificial intelligence and virtual reality?Short Cuts: Philosophy provides the map you need to travel beyond traditional foundations and explore a diverse array of deep thinkers. Soul-searching questions prompt 'short cut' answers written by experts in their field, with each one the setting-off point for instructions that plot a path through the philosophical landscape. With 'one-stop' graphics visualizing a memorable theory or idea for each concept, and 'route map' glossaries explaining key words and their connections, Short Cuts: Philosophy will help you wrestle with the meaning of ancient and modern philosophical thought.

Is there an epidemic of pandemics? Does climate change effect our health? Will AI ever replace doctors?Questions about medicine have always been central to society, but what can they tell us about our future well- being in a 21st-century world of antibiotic resistance and anti-vaxxers, organ transplants and gene therapies, miracle drugs and magic bullets?Short Cuts: Medicine provides the map you need to explore the latest thinking in ethics, practice, treatment and prevention. Incisive questions prompt 'short cut' diagnoses written by experts in their field, with each one the setting-off point for instructions to help you plot your path through the medical maze. With 'one-stop' graphics visualizing a theory or idea for each topic, and 'route map' glossaries explaining key words and connections, Short Cuts: Medicine will help you navigate the mysteries of the modern medical world.

Jean Baggott is 'the girl on the wall' - a 1948 photograph taken of her when she was eleven - whose life was never going to be remarkable and the pinnacle of whose achievements would come from being a wife and a mother. Almost 60 years later, with her children gone, dealing with the loss of the love of her life, Jean began the education denied to her as a girl. Inspired by ceilings of Lincolnshire's Burghley House and by the History degree she had begun, Jean began to stitch a tapestry which looked back at her life and the changing world around her. It took sixteen months to complete. The tapestry consists of over 70 intersecting circles, each telling some aspect of her life. Some represent extraordinary events such as the moon landings or world historical news stories like the Cuban Missile Crisis; some circles comment on famous people and places she remembers, others about the music she loves - Pink Floyd - and the games she played as a child, and growing up during the second world war with her brothers. Each chapter of "e;The Girl on the Wall"e; features a circle from the tapestry and Jean's accompanying narrative, exploring the circle and the memories it evokes. It reveals an ordinary life in extraordinary detail. The result is a truly unique, touching portrait of a seemingly average British woman's life. To stand back and look at the tapestry is to be struck by the richness of one human journey - from 1940 to the present day. The girl on the wall would be proud. The book includes a full-colour pull-out of Jean's tapestry inside the back cover.

Can you remember the first time you encountered true darkness? The kind that remains as black and inky whether your eyes are open or closed? Where you can't see your hand in front of your face?Jacqueline Yallop can. It was in an unfamiliar bedroom while holidaying in Yorkshire as a child, and ever since then she has been fascinated by the dark, by our efforts to capture or avoid it, by the meanings we give to it and the way our brains process it. Taking a journey into the dark secrets of place, body and mind, she documents a series of night-time walks, exploring both the physical realities of darkness and the psychological dark that helps shape our sense of self. Exploring our enduring love-hate relationship with states of darkness, she considers how we attempt to understand and contain the dark, and, as she comes to terms with her father's deteriorating Alzheimer's, she reflects on how our relationship to the dark can change with time and circumstance. Darkness captivates, baffles and appals us. It's a shifty thing of many textures, many moods, a state of fascination and of horror, an absence and a presence, solace and threat, a beginning and an end. Into the Dark is the story of the many darks that fascinate and assail us. It faces the darkness full on in all its guises and mysteries, celebrating it as a thing of beauty while peering into the void.

FROM FISHING AND FLYING TO FRENCH COOKING - BEN AITKEN'S YEAR OF ACTIVELY PURSUING FUN.

'I FELT RECOGNISED ON EVERY PAGE, LEARNT SO MANY NEW THINGS, AND LAUGHED SO HARD I CHOKED ON MY WATER. READ THIS!!!' NAOISE DOLAN, AUTHOR OF EXCITING TIMESObsessive was, still is, my natural state, and I never wondered why. I didn't mind, didn't know that other people could feel at peace. I always felt like a raw nerve, but then, I thought that everyone did. Writer and journalist Marianne Eloise was born obsessive. What that means changes day to day, depending on what her brain latches onto: fixations with certain topics, intrusive violent thoughts, looping phrases. Some obsessions have lasted a lifetime, while others will be intense but only last a week or two.Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is a culmination of a life spend obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne's brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. From death to Medusa, to Disneyland to fire, to LA to her dog, the essays explore the intersection of neurodivergence, fixation and disorder, telling the story of one life underpinned and ultimately made whole by obsession.

A NEW EDITION OF MICHAEL VLISMAS' EYE-OPENING BIOGRAPHY OF ELON MUSK, NOW WITH NEW MATERIAL COVERING THE LATEST IN MUSK'S FAMILY AND BUSINESS LIFE In 2022 Elon Musk - one of the richest and best-known people on earth - made headlines worldwide with his bid to buy Twitter, and he is often in the news for his entrepreneurial exploits and his controversial tweets. Who is this boundary-pushing billionaire with grand plans of inhabiting Mars, and what lies at the heart of his vision? Why is he so utterly unafraid of risk? As an awkward Pretoria schoolboy who loved comics and science fiction, Musk's early years and singular family background were crucial in forming his stellar ambitions. Journalist and author Michael Vlismas, who attended the same high school as Musk, knows well the environment that shaped him and offers new insights into Musk's development, including his troubled relationship with his father. Tracing his remarkable life, from his South African childhood to his move to Canada at 17 and then to the US - where Musk made millions out of PayPal and built Tesla and SpaceX into two of the world's most famous companies - this is the revealing new story of a man driven to preserve the optimism he sees in humanity and find a future for humans 'out there among the stars'.

AN INTRIGUING AND BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF YORICK WILKS'' INSIDERS GUIDE TO AIThe benefits and potential nightmares of artificial intelligence have long inspired science-fiction writers, but in a world where most of us carry a portable device that knows infinitely more than we do, these are increasingly real concerns.Artificial Intelligence is the essential companion to this unsettling science. It surveys the history, philosophies, and current state of AI, and asks key questions such as how should robots think, and can machines really learn? With subjects ranging from the World Wide Web to artificial companions, the book considers such ethical issues as automated warfare, internet surveillance, and fake news, speculating on just how far robots will infiltrate our future.This illustrated edition combines compelling photographs with ''circuit-board'' infographics to lift the curtain on the hidden world of AI.

A NEW EYE-OPENING ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF MEERA SENTHILINGAM'S TIMELY GUIDE