The Man Who Found Time

There are four men whose life's work helped free science from the straitjacket of religion. Three of the four - Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Charles Darwin - are widely heralded for their breakthroughs. The fourth, James Hutton, is comparatively unknown. A Scottish gentleman farmer, Hutton's observations on his small tract of land led him to a theory that directly contradicted biblical claims that the Earth was only 6,000 years old. Telling the story not only of Hutton, but of the rich intellectual milieu of the Scottish Enlightenment, which brought together some of the greatest thinkers of the age - from David Hume and Adam Smith to James Watt and Erasmus Darwin - The Man Who Found Time is an enlightening, engaging narrative about a little-known man and the science he established.

Featuring a new Afterword, this is the spectacular story of the 1991 discovery of a Stone Age man in the Alps, a lonely frozen figure who offers clues about the world of 3000 B.C. 33 halftones.

There are three men whose contributions helped free science from the straitjacket of theology. Two of them -- Nicolaus Copernicus and Charles Darwin -- are widely known and justly heralded for their breakthroughs. The third, James Hutton, never achieved the same recognition, yet he profoundly changed our understanding of the Earth and the dynamic forces that have shaped it. It was Hutton who proved that our planet was millions of years old rather than the biblically determined 6,000, and he who showed that it was continuously being shaped and re-shaped by myriad everyday forces rather than one cataclysmic event. In this expertly crafted narrative, Jack Repcheck tells the remarkable story of this Scottish gentleman farmer, and explores how Hutton's simple observations on his small tract of land led him to a theory that flew in the face of the Bible's teaching and also provided the scientific proof that would spark Darwin's theory of evolution. It is also a story of the Scottish Enlightenment, which brought together some of the greatest thinkers of the age, from David Hume and Adam Smith to James Watt and Erasmus Darwin. And running through the narrative is a theme about the power of the written word. Repcheck argues that Hutton's work was lost to history because he could not describe his findings in graceful and readable prose -- unlike Darwin's ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES, for example, Hutton's one and only book was impenetrable, and consequently its message was never embraced by a general audience. A gripping and enlightening exploration of a little-known man and the science he founded, THE MAN WHO FOUND TIME is also a parable about the power of books to shape the history of ideas.

The legendary explorer of Titanic and Lusitania reveals the secret military missions behind his famous exploits and unveils a major new discovery on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Titanic find. Best known for finding the wreck of the Titanic, celebrated adventurer Robert Ballard has a lifetime of stories about exploring the ocean depths. From discovering new extremophile life-forms thriving at 750°F hydrothermal vents in 1977 to finding famous shipwrecks including the Bismarck and PT 109, Ballard has made history. Now the captain of E/V Nautilus, a state-of-the-art scientific exploration vessel rigged for research in oceanography, geology, biology, and archaeology, he leads young scientists as they map the ocean floor, collect artifacts from ancient shipwrecks, and relay live-time adventures from remote-controlled submersibles to reveal amazing sea life. Now, for the first time, Robert Ballard gets personal, telling the inside stories of his adventures and challenges as a midwestern kid with dyslexia who became an internationally renowned ocean explorer. Here is the definitive story of the danger and discovery, conflict and triumph that make up his remarkable life.

A biography of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. The book gives a detailed account of his upbringing in India, his mathematical achievements, and his mathematical collaboration with English mathematician G. H. Hardy. The book also reviews the life of Hardy and the academic culture of Cambridge University during the early twentieth century.

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built fifty-five schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth. As it chronicles Mortenson’s quest, which has brought him into conflict with both enraged Islamists and uncomprehending Americans, Three Cups of Tea combines adventure with a celebration of the humanitarian spirit.

NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER • TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM DISNEY Read the ground-breaking science fiction and fantasy classic that has delighted children for over 60 years! "A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it so often, I know it by heart." —Meg Cabot Late one night, three otherworldly creatures appear and sweep Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe away on a mission to save Mr. Murray, who has gone missing while doing top-secret work for the government. They travel via tesseract--a wrinkle that transports one across space and time--to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murray is being held captive. There they discover a dark force that threatens not only Mr. Murray but the safety of the whole universe. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet.

When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1996 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it's up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.