How did our mastery of artificial cold help give birth to at least four million babies, create the golden age of Hollywood and unlock the secrets of the universe? And what about our battle against dirt? How did that create the flat screen and the iPhone?This book is a celebration of ideas: how they ha... read more

What if you're not who you think you are?  What if you don't really know the people closest to you?  And what if your most deeply-held beliefs turn out to be...wrong?  In Stop Being Reasonable,philosopher Eleanor Gordon-Smith tells gripping true stories... read more

In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life- which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features ea... read more

When you explore older atheisms, you will find some of your firmest convictions - secular or religious - are highly questionable. If this prospect disturbs you, what you are looking for may be freedom from thought.'For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by ... read more

Of all the writing that emerged from the existentialist movement, Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking study of women will probably have the most extensive and enduring impact. It is at once a work of anthropology and sociology, of biology and psychoanalysis, from the pen of a writ... read more

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed... read more

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience.
He noticed that it was the men who comfo... read more

The daily lives of ordinary people are replete with objects, common things used in commonplace settings. These objects are our constant companions in life. As such, writes Soetsu Yanagi, they should be made with care and built to last, treated with respect... read more

In god is Not Great Hitchens turned his formidable eloquence and rhetorical energy to the most controversial issue in the world: God and religion. The result is a devastating critique of religious faith
god Is Not Great is the ultimate case ... read more

In these inspiring essays about why we read, Proust explores all the pleasures and trials that we take from books, as well as explaining the beauty of Ruskin and his work, and the joys of losing yourself in literature as a child. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transfo... read more

Four of Australia's most interesting religious - and anti-religious - thinkers come together to ask and answer the big questions, such as: What is the nature of the universe? What is a good life? How do we account for evil? and Where do we find hope? Along the way we are introduced to the detail of di... read more

We are hard-wired to believe that the world is more predictable than it is. We chase 'winning streaks' that are often just illusions, and we are all too predictable exactly when we try hardest not to be. In the 1970s, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky coined the phrase 'representativeness' to describe ... read more