History & Philosophy

John Green, the #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and a passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science....

Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science...

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Find out....

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine....

Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos....

The science of emotion is in the midst of a revolution on par with the discovery of relativity in physics and natural selection in biology....

For the millions of Americans who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris’s new book is a guide to meditation as a rational spiritual practice informed by neuroscience and psychology....

An oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem....

Here for the first time, in rich human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed....

Bringing his cosmic perspective to civilization on Earth, Neil deGrasse Tyson shines new light on the crucial fault lines of our time—war, politics, religion, truth, beauty, gender, and race—in a way that stimulates a deeper sense of unity for us all....

Richard Dawkins turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes....

Today's "machine-learning" systems, trained by data, are so effective that we've invited them to see and hear for us - and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Systems cull résumés until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases.

Science is a force for good in the world—at least usually. But sometimes, when obsession gets the better of scientists, they twist a noble pursuit into something sinister. Under this spell, knowledge isn’t everything, it’s the only thing—no matter the cost....

A captivating exploration of climate change that uses nine different emotions to better understand the science, history, and future of our evolving planet.

If there is one belief that has united the left and the right, psychologists and philosophers, ancient thinkers and modern ones, it is the tacit assumption that humans are bad. It's a notion that drives newspaper headlines and guides the laws that shape our lives....

From the author of The Moth in the Iron Lung comes a riveting exploration of how science, technology, and fear transformed our relationship with one of humanity's most ancient foods.

Merchants of Doubt tells, with “brutal clarity” (Huffington Post), the disquieting story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades....

In The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of 19th-century surgery on the eve of profound transformation....

Listeners learn the difference between how the world works at the quantum level, the cosmic level, and the human level - and then how each connects to the other....

The follow-up to Pinker's groundbreaking The Better Angels of Our Nature presents the big picture of human progress: People are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives....

From the world's leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest—a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery....

An engaging and far-reaching exploration of refrigeration, tracing its evolution from scientific mystery to globe-spanning infrastructure, and an essential investigation into how it has remade our entire relationship with food—for better and for worse....

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman....

A theoretical physicist takes listeners on an awe-inspiring journey-found in "no other book" (Science)—to discover how the universe generates everything from nothing at all.

Many scientists and doctors believe that there is no such thing as the soul. That there is no part of us that persists beyond death. We are not spiritual in any respect. We are made up of cells and tissue, and completely controlled by a material organ in our heads: the brain. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Michael Egnor makes the case—based on 40 years of practice and over 7,000 brain surgeries—that science has gotten it all wrong.

Human Nature is a deeply felt inquiry into our rapidly changing Earth. In each chapter, Marvel uses a different emotion to explore the science and stories behind climate change. As expected, there is anger, fear, and grief—but also wonder, hope, and love. With her singular voice, Marvel takes us on a soaring journey, one filled with mythology, physics, witchcraft, bad movies, volcanoes, Roman emperors, sequoia groves, and the many small miracles of nature we usually take for granted.

Quantum physics is the cornerstone of our world, offering a framework so expansive and precise that it underpins nearly every piece of modern technology. Yet, at the same time, it’s one of the hardest subjects to grasp. In Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics, a leading scientist and a literary mind unite to explain the revolutionary discoveries and astounding phenomena at the heart of quantum physics. From the greenness of grass to the solidity of matter, they unravel why the universe behaves in the peculiar ways it does and why it's so important.

Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among humanity's finest scientific achievements. But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's solipsistic and poorly reasoned Copenhagen interpretation. Indeed, questioning it has long meant professional ruin, yet some daring physicists, such as John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett, persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics. What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.

A mother kisses her child's scraped knee. A father embraces his long-lost son. A dog greets its owner with desperate joy. Every culture, every species, every corner of the living world engages in these intimate acts of connection. We've been told these are merely displays of affection. But what if there’s something more? WHAT IF A KISS IS MORE THAN JUST A KISS? For the first time in human history, we are starting to see the hidden force that builds life through connection—not because we discovered something new, but because we have broken something ancient.

When Neil Armstrong first set foot in the lunar dust, the Earth held its breath. That one small step forever changed our view of what was possible, sparking a dramatic expansion of humankind's cosmic awareness. When we gain a new perspective, a transformation begins, profoundly altering the understanding of the world our human experience had previously granted us.

What began as a utopian environment, where mice had sumptuous accommodations, had all the food and water they could want, and were free from disease and predators, turned into a mouse hell. Science writer and animal behaviorist Lee Alan Dugatkin introduces listeners to the work of rodent researcher John Bumpass Calhoun. Dugatkin shows how an ecologist-turned-psychologist-turned-futurist became a science rock star embedded in the culture of the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1869, the Atlantic Monthly magazine published a new novella in serial form. This bizarre tale, The Brick Moon, was written by a historian (and Unitarian minister) named Edward Everett Hale, who had already written several well-received novels and articles. However, this was something completely different today, as it was in the genre of what is today considered science fiction. Many people compared the new work to the previous novels of French writer Jules Verne, including From the Earth to the Moon, but Hale’s work was presented as a genuine account of a previous experiment.

In "Icarus; or, The Future of Science," Bertrand Russell explores the potential consequences of scientific advancement, drawing parallels between the myth of Icarus and the development of technology. He argues that while science can lead to progress, it also poses risks, particularly regarding power and societal structures. Russell suggests that scientific advancements, especially in the physical sciences, can increase power, lead to industrialism and war, and necessitate large-scale organization, which could potentially be used for oppressive purposes.

Fun, funny, blasphemous, easy to understand but hard to refute: GOD DOES NOT EXIST BUT, IF HE DOES, HE’S NOT GOOD, AND ANYWAY, A GOOD GOD WOULD NOT WRITE YOUR BIBLE OR ENDORSE YOUR RELIGION is a comprehensive look at all the ways in which it is possible to deny the existence of God, and what it means for someone to say that they're an atheist.

Imagine if Bill Nye the Science Guy and Monty Python teamed up to host a TED Talk... while drunk... at a theology convention... in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Then you'd land smack in the middle of this loony book: "Crossing the God Line, What Frankenstein Knew that Darwin Didn't." This book doesn't ask "Where did we come from?" so much as it kicks that question in the shins and shouts, "Are you sure about that, Darwin?" Armed with equal parts curiosity, sarcasm, and a suspicious amount of caffeine, the author drags readers on a whirlwind safari through human development, evolution, ...

20 UNsung Inventions Brilliant Breakthroughs That Silently Shaped the World Discover the incredible stories behind the quiet inventions that made modern life possible. We often celebrate the flashy, the famous, and the headline-grabbing breakthroughs. But what about the zipper? The shipping container? The ball bearing? What about the inventions that didn’t make the front page—but changed everything anyway? In this fascinating journey through 20 underappreciated innovations, you'll uncover how simple, practical ideas became the backbone of our global society. From laboratory flasks to ...

What if the secrets of existence were hiding in plain sight—in shapes, spirals, and symmetry? 'Sacred Geometry: The Blueprint of Everything' is a journey through the invisible code behind the visible world. This book isn’t just about lines and patterns—it’s about unlocking the structures that build reality itself. From the infinite loop of the circle to the silent elegance of the Platonic Solids, JJ walks you through the visual grammar of creation.

What if everything you know about time is incomplete? What if the calendar you live by has been manipulated—altering your natural rhythm, disconnecting you from the cosmos, and removing an entire month? The Missing Month unveils ancient knowledge about humanity's original calendar systems and how we lost our alignment with nature’s time. Explore how timekeeping was once sacred and based on lunar and solar rhythms—before it was reshaped for control, commerce, and conquest. Discover how returning to the true calendar can awaken your natural flow, reset your biological clock, and deepen ...

The AI Revolution, Captured in Real Time This isn’t just a book — it’s a front-row seat to the greatest technological race of our lifetime.From the first shockwaves of ChatGPT to the arms race between OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta, Apple, Microsoft … and the rise of new power players like Sakana AI and Google DeepMind’s AlphaEvolve, to the rise of real-time AI agents, this book chronicles the defining breakthroughs, rivalries, and revelations that are shaping the future — as they happened. You’ll relive iconic moments like: 💡 The launch of Gemini 1, 1.5, and the game-...