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A Brief History of Mathematical Thought: Key concepts and where they come from
From the ancient geometries etched in sand to the abstract symmetries of modern logic, A Brief History of Mathematical Thought is a luminous journey through the minds that dared to measure the universe. This is not merely a chronicle of numbers, but a meditation on how we shape the world—and ourselves—through patterns, proofs, and paradoxes. As it weaves through the philosophical, the aesthetic, and the profoundly human aspects of mathematics, the book asks: what does it mean to understand reality through symbols we cannot touch? At once intellectual and intimate, it invites the reader to see mathematics not as a cold discipline, but as a creative force pulsing through the story of civilization.
- Originally Published: 2015
- Publisher: Constable & Robinson, 2015
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 321
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-1472117113
- Access: Members
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Chip War: The Fight For the World’s Most Critical Technology
Invisible to the naked eye yet powerful enough to shape empires, the microchip is the modern world’s most precious—and contested—resource. Chip War peels back the layers of global conflict not fought with missiles, but with silicon, code, and supply chains stretching across continents. In this high-stakes techno-thriller of nonfiction, nations race to control the circuitry that powers economies, armies, and everyday life. As alliances falter and dependencies deepen, one question echoes louder than ever: who holds the future when power lies in something smaller than a fingernail? Gripping, urgent, and chillingly real, this is the untold story of the silent war redefining our century.
- Originally Published: 2022
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2023
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 431
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781398504127
- Access: Members
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Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
A biography not of a person, but of a relentless adversary, The Emperor of All Maladies charts the epic, often harrowing saga of cancer—from its shadowy origins in ancient texts to the modern laboratories where science battles fate. It is a tale of human defiance, where hope flickers in the corridors of hospitals and the minds of those daring to outwit a shape-shifting foe. How do we confront an enemy that is, in many ways, a distorted mirror of ourselves—our cells, our evolution, our very survival instinct gone rogue? Lyrical, haunting, and deeply humane, this is a chronicle of resilience, of the fragile victories and sobering costs that define the war against one of humanity’s oldest diseases.
- Originally Published: 2011
- Publisher : Fourth Estate, 2011
- Genre: science
- Pages: 586
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0007250929
- Access: Members
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Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
What happens when humanity, having conquered war, famine, and plague, turns its gaze not toward survival—but toward godhood? Homo Deus is a hauntingly lucid exploration of our next great ambition: to engineer happiness, eternal life, and perhaps even divinity itself. As algorithms begin to understand us better than we understand ourselves, the book poses an unsettling question: will Homo sapiens remain masters of their destiny, or become relics of their own creation? With the cold fire of prophecy and the precision of science, this narrative beckons the reader to walk the fault line between intelligence and consciousness, freedom and programming, mortal limits and divine dreams.
- Originally Published: 2017
- Publisher: Vintage, 2015
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 526
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-1784703936
- Access: Members
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Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, artificial intelligence, and global entanglements, Nexus dares to ask: what does it mean to be human when every frontier—biological, technological, and ideological—collides? With lucid urgency, the book maps the shifting currents that bind data to power, consciousness to code, and ancient instincts to modern dilemmas. It is not a tale of answers, but of unsettling clarity, where the questions themselves become a mirror to our time: Can we master the tools we’ve built—or are we simply becoming extensions of them? At once sweeping and intimate, Nexus is a meditation on connection in the age of disconnection—a call to navigate the future with both reason and responsibility.
- Originally Published: 2024
- Publisher : Random House, 2024
- Pages: 492
- Genre: History
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0593736814
- Access: Prime Membership
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Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence
Power and Prediction explores the profound transformation unleashed when prediction—once a human art—is mastered by machines, reshaping economies, industries, and the very fabric of decision-making. With incisive clarity, it reveals how the ability to foresee outcomes redefines value and power, challenging us to reconsider who holds control in a world governed by algorithms. As prediction becomes both a tool and a force, the book asks: How will our choices change when uncertainty itself can be quantified, anticipated, and commodified? This is an urgent inquiry into the future’s architecture, where insight and influence converge in unpredictable ways.
- Originally Published: 2022
- Publisher: Harvard Business Publishing, 2022
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Pages: 288
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9781647824198
- Access: Members
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Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down
Structures unveils the hidden poetry of the physical world, where the strength and grace of bridges, buildings, and bones converge in an elegant dance of forces. Through lucid explanation and vivid metaphor, this book transforms the cold calculations of engineering into a vibrant exploration of resilience and balance. What invisible laws govern the tension between fragility and strength, order and chaos, in both man-made marvels and nature’s design? Challenging the reader to see beyond the surface, Structures invites a profound reflection on how the architecture of matter shapes the very fabric of existence.
- Originally Published: 1978
- Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2003
- Genre: Engineering
- Pages: 424
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 9780306812835
- Access: Members
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The Bomber Mafia: A Tale of Innovation and Obsession
In the smoke-shadowed crucible of World War II, a renegade band of idealists dared to believe that precision—rather than firestorms—could win the war and preserve humanity. The Bomber Mafia traces their dream with the tension of a moral thriller, where strategy clashes with conscience and the sky becomes a stage for salvation and destruction alike. Can technology be a force for mercy in the machinery of war, or does every innovation eventually bow to chaos? With haunting elegance, this is a story of obsession, invention, and the fragile line between vision and devastation.
- Originally Published: 2022
- Publisher: Penguin Books, 2022
- Genre: Self-help
- Pages: 237
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0141998404
- Access: Members
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The Naked Ape
The Naked Ape peels back the veneer of civilization to reveal humanity in its rawest, most primal form—an intricate dance of instincts, desires, and survival etched deep within our biology. Through sharp observation and vivid analogy, it challenges us to confront the paradox of a species both marvelously evolved and perpetually at odds with its own nature. What truths lie hidden beneath our skin, and how does understanding our animal origins reshape the story we tell about ourselves? This provocative exploration invites readers to reconsider what it truly means to be human, caught between instinct and intellect, flesh and culture.
- Originally Published: 1967
- Publisher : Vintage, 2005
- Genre: Sociology
- Pages: 192
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN-13: 978-0099482017
- Access: Members
