The ideal gift for all amateur and seasoned astronomers.

"This is a great guide to the night sky at a great price"Astronomy Now
"A handy and straightforward guide ... attractive little booklet" British Astronomical Association's 'Journal'
"an ideal Christmas stocking-filler" The Observatory

From the Number One Astronomy publisher, the bestselling stargazing handbook to the planets, stars and constellations visible from the northern hemisphere.

6 pages for each month covering January-December 2022. This practical guidebook is an easy introduction to astronomy and a useful reference for seasoned stargazers. Designed for Britain and Ireland but usable anywhere in the world between 40 DegreesN and 60 DegreesN, covering most of Europe, southern Canada and the northern United States.

Advice on where to start looking and a map of dark sky sites to avoid light pollution. Charts for the circumpolar and seasonal constellations. Easy-to-use star charts for each month with descriptions of objects and events to look for in 2022.

Positions of the moon, visible planets and eclipses. Includes a section on comets and a detailed map of the moon. Now in three editions: Britain and Ireland; North America; Southern Hemisphere.

Written and illustrated by astronomical experts, Storm Dunlop and Wil Tirion, and approved by the astronomers of the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

'If bravery itself could write, it would write like she does' John Berger

Why rebel? Because our footprint on the Earth has never mattered more than now. How we treat it, in the spirit of gift or of theft, has never been more important. Because we need a politics of kindness, but the very opposite is on the rise.

Libertarian fascism, with its triumphal brutalism, its racism and misogyny - a politics that loathes the living world. Because nature is not a hobby. It is the life on which we depend, as Indigenous societies have never forgotten. Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars, and they are lining up now to write rebellion across the skies.
From the author of Wild, this passionate, poetic manifesto for urgent rebellion is also a paean to the deep and extraordinary beauty of the natural world. 'Jay's writing has reduced me to hot throbs of grief; through beauty and subtlety, to the depths of the hurt of these times .

. . and what a liberation to express this, to free the space in my chest to feel the love that propels me forwards' Gail Bradbrook'Chewy, erudite, filled with swing: this is a dazzling book, urgent without ever being worthy, a book that crackles.

Why Rebel is a Tardis, to read it is to enter the massive, a deep interior that hydrates vocation in a time of trouble' Martin Shaw'This short book is beautifully written, and packs a powerful emotional punch. I found myself welling up as I reached the end. At this desperate moment in human history, Why Rebel is surely part of the wake-up call we need' Prof.

Rupert Read'There's a book called Life and Fate and in it, it says that when surrounded by death and destruction the most human thing to do is to engage in an act of kindness. Jay's book is such an act' Roger Hallam

We know there's a climate emergency but what does that mean we should do? What does a 'better future' look like and how do we get there? Having spent over a decade on the frontlines of climate activism - organising, campaigning, and holding the powerful to account - Tamsin Omond discovered first-hand that this crisis is too big for one group of activists to solve. It needs everyone. Do Earth is about collective action and community engagement.

It's about healing our relationships with nature, each other and ourselves; and feeling inspired about what the next phase of human evolution might be. With practical guidance and gentle encouragement, Do Earth provides a blueprint for reimagining the world and reviving our beautiful planet.

'I have stood on the dim shore beyond time and matter and seen it. It moves through strange curves and outrageous angles. Some day I shall travel in time and meet it face to face.' Unlike nineteenth-century Gothic fiction, which tends to fixate on the past, the haunted and the ghostly, early weird fiction probes the very boundaries of reality - the laws and limits of time, space and matter.

Here, unimaginable terrors lurk in hitherto unknown mirror dimensions, calamities in ultra-space threaten to wipe clean all evidence of our universe and experiments in non-Euclidean geometry lead to sickening consequences. In twelve speculative tales of our universe's mathematics and physics gone awry, this new anthology presents an abundance of curiosities - and terrors - with stories from Jorge Luis Borges, Miriam Allen deFord, Frank Belknap Long and Algernon Blackwood.

Feeding the world, climate change, biodiversity, antibiotics, plastics, pandemics - the list of concerns seems endless. But what is most pressing, and what should we do first? Do we all need to become vegetarian? How can we fly in a low-carbon world? How can we take control of technology? And, given the global nature of the challenges we now face, what on Earth can any of us do, as individuals? Mike Berners-Lee has crunched the numbers and plotted a course of action that is full of hope, practical, and enjoyable. This is the big-picture perspective on the environmental and economic challenges of our day, laid out in one place, and traced through to the underlying roots - questions of how we live and think.

This updated edition has new material on protests, pandemics, wildfires, investments, carbon targets and of course, on the key question: given all this, what can I do?

It was 11pm when I checked my email for the last time and turned off my phone for what I hoped would be forever. No running water, no car, no electricity or any of the things it powers: the internet, phone, washing machine, radio or light bulb. Just a wooden cabin, on a smallholding, by the edge of a stand of spruce.

In this honest and lyrical account of a remarkable life without modern technology, Mark Boyle explores the hard won joys of building a home with his bare hands, learning to make fire, collecting water from the spring, foraging and fishing. What he finds is an elemental life, one governed by the rhythms of the sun and seasons, where life and death dance in a primal landscape of blood, wood, muck, water, and fire - much the same life we have lived for most of our time on earth. Revisiting it brings a deep insight into what it means to be human at a time when the boundaries between man and machine are blurring.

An exploration of the invisible connections sustaining the entire natural world from the bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees Did you know that trees can influence the rotation of the earth?Or that wolves can alter the course of a river?Or that earthworms control wild boar populations?The natural world is a web of intricate connections, many of which go unnoticed by humans. But it is these connections that maintain nature's finely balanced equilibrium. Drawing on the latest scientific discoveries and decades of experience as a forester, Peter Wohlleben shows us how different animals, plants, rivers, rocks and weather systems cooperate, and what's at stake when these delicate systems are unbalanced.

'Peter Wohlleben doesn't merely look, he sees. Let's all learn as much from him as we can, and quickly' Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows

Can horses feel shame? Do deer grieve? Why do roosters deceive hens? We tend to assume that we are the only living things able to experience feelings but have you ever wondered what's going on in an animal's head? From the leafy forest floor to the inside of a bee hive, The Inner Life of Animals opens up the animal kingdom like never before. We hear the stories of a grateful humpback whale, of a hedgehog who has nightmares, and of a magpie who commits adultery; we meet bees that plan for the future, pigs who learn their own names and crows that go tobogganing for fun. And at last we find out why wasps exist.

Bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben, invites you to reconnect with natureAs soon as we step out of the door, nature surrounds. Thousands of small and large processes are taking place, details that are long often fascinating and beautiful. But we've long forgotten how to recognise them.

Peter Wohlleben, bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees, invites us to become an expert, to take a closer look and interpret the signs that clouds, wind, plants and animals convey. Chaffinches become weather prophets, bees are live thermometers, courgettes tell us the time. The Weather Detective combines scientific research with charming anecdotes to explain the extraordinary cycles of life, death and regeneration that are evolving on our doorstep, bringing us closer to nature than ever before.

A walk in the park will never be the same again.

A Short History of the World in 50 Animals provides a new perspective on the grand sweep of our planet's making, taking readers from the time of the dinosaurs to the time of Dolly, the first cloned mammal. This book will include a great variety of beasts from across the animal kingdom, some well known and others far more surprising, from every continent in the world. Each entry will show the creature's influence on world development, economy, health, culture, religion and society.

The size of the animals range from hulking elephants to tiny bees but each one has made a significant impact on history. A Short History of the World in 50 Animals details the impact, legacy and role of fifty animals that determined the world's history and shows how many of them are essential for our future survival. Featuring charming black and white illustrations throughout, which celebrate these extraordinary animals.

In the same series: A Short History of the World in 50 Places.

A beautiful gift for anyone interested in the night sky. Follow the progress of constellations throughout the seasons with this beautiful companion to the night sky from Astronomy experts Collins. With the aid of easy-to-understand monthly calendars and maps, you will chart the rhythm of the lunar phases, discover events that light up the sky for brief periods, and explore the rich tapestry of characters that adorn the starry canvas overhead.

never miss a night sky event wherever you are in the world with this month-by-month guidego meteor spotting, track the phases of the moon and explore the constellationsworldwide coverage - with details for both the Northern and Southern hemispheresdiscover fascinating celestial facts and notable astronomical anniversaries Written and illustrated by astronomical experts, Storm Dunlop and Wil Tirion, and approved by the astronomers of the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

The awe-inspiring history of humanity told through our relationship with stars and the night sky.

'Excellent . .. This books makes you rethink the traditional story of the history of astronomy ... Effortlessly readable.' BBC Sky at Night'

Stuart Clark's picture of the yawning gaps in our understanding of the cosmos is fuller than most. From the Stone Age to the Space Age, Stuart Clark explores a fascination shared across the world, one that has unequivocally shaped us as civilisations and as individuals, housing our hopes and fears. In the stars, we can see our past - and ultimately, our fate.

BBC R4 Book of the Week

What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter? In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take.

But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually 'think for themselves'? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind - and on our own.

Why do human beings behave as they do?

'Awe-inspiring... You will learn more about human nature than in any other book I can think of' Henry Marsh, bestselling author of Do No Harm
One of the best scientist-writers of our time' Oliver Sacks

We are capable of savage acts of violence but also spectacular feats of kindness: is one side of our nature destined to win out over the other? Every act of human behaviour has multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even centuries, right back to the dawn of time and the origins of our species. In the epic sweep of history, how does our biology affect the arc of war and peace, justice and persecution? How have our brains evolved alongside our cultures? This is the exhilarating story of human morality and the science underpinning the biggest question of all: what makes us human?'

Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In The Emerald Planet, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future.

His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity. This new approach reveals howplummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf; how plants played a starring role in pushing oxygen levels upwards, allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous; and it strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozonelayer. Along the way, Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles.

This understanding of our planet's past sheds a sobering light on our own climate-changing activities, and offers clues to what our climatic and ecological futures might look like. There could be no more important time to take a close look at plants, and to understand the history of the world through the stories they tell. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

Every person on our home planet is affected by a worldwide deluge of man-made chemicals and pollutants - most of which have never been tested for safety. Our chemical emissions are six times larger than our total greenhouse gas emissions. They are in our food, our water, the air we breathe, our homes and workplaces, the things we use each day.

This universal poisoning affects our minds, our bodies, our genes, our grandkids, and all life on Earth. Julian Cribb describes the full scale of the chemical catastrophe we have unleashed. He proposes a new Human Right - not to be poisoned.

He maps an empowering and hopeful way forward: to rid our planet of these toxins and return Earth to the clean, healthy condition which our forebears enjoyed, and our grandchildren should too.

'Captivating. Will change the way you think about the natural world, and your place in it' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

In Feral, George Monbiot, one of the world's most celebrated radical thinkers offers a riveting tale of possibility and travel in the wild. How many of us sometimes feel that we are scratching at the walls of this life, seeking to find our way into a wider space beyond? That our mild, polite existence sometimes seems to crush the breath out of us? Feral is the lyrical and gripping story of George Monbiot's efforts to re-engage with nature and discover a new way of living. He shows how, by restoring and rewilding our damaged ecosystems on land and at sea, we can bring wonder back into our lives.

Making use of some remarkable scientific discoveries, Feral lays out a new, positive environmentalism, in which nature is allowed to find its own way.

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and A New York Times Notable Book of 2018. Our understanding of the 'tree of life', with powerful implications for human genetics, human health and our own human nature, has recently completely changed. This book is about a new method of telling the story of life on earth - through molecular phylogenetics.

It involves a fairly simple method - the reading of the deep history of life by looking at the variation in protein molecules found in living organisms. For instance, we now know that roughly eight per cent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection. In The Tangled Tree, acclaimed science writer David Quammen chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them - such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the twentieth century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about 'mosaic' creatures proved to be true; and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health.

Quammen explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life - including where we humans fit into it. Thanks to new technologies, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition - through sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing. The Tangled Tree is a brilliant exploration of our transformed understanding of evolution and of life's history itself.

A bold new history of how botany and global plant collecting - centred at Kew Gardens and driven by Joseph Banks - transformed the earth.

Botany was the darling and the powerhouse of the eighteenth century. As European ships ventured across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, discovery bloomed. Bounties of new plants were brought back, and their arrival meant much more than improved flowerbeds - it offered a new scientific frontier that would transform Europe's industry, medicine, eating and drinking habits, and even fashion.

Joseph Banks was the dynamo for this momentous change. As botanist for James Cook's great voyage to the South Pacific on the Endeavour, Banks collected plants on a vast scale, armed with the vision - as a child of the Enlightenment - that to travel physically was to advance intellectually. His thinking was as intrepid as Cook's seafaring: he commissioned radically influential and physically daring expeditions such as those of Francis Masson to the Cape Colony, George Staunton to China, George Caley to Australia, William Bligh to Tahiti and Jamaica, among many others.

Jordan Goodman's epic history follows these high seas adventurers and their influence in Europe, as well as taking us back to the early years of Kew Gardens, which Banks developed devotedly across the course of his life, transforming it into one of the world's largest and most diverse botanical gardens. In a rip-roaring global expedition, based on original sources in many languages, Goodman gives a momentous history of how the discoveries made by Banks and his collectors advanced scientific understanding around the world.

Leading political and environmental commentator on where we have gone wrong, and what to do about it " Without countervailing voices, naming and challenging power, political freedom withers and dies. Without countervailing voices, a better world can never materialise. Without countervailing voices, wells will still be dug and bridges will still be built, but only for the few.

Food will still be grown, but it will not reach the mouths of the poor. New medicines will be developed, but they will be inaccessible to many of those in need. " George Monbiot is one of the most vocal, and eloquent, critics of the current consensus.

"How Did We Get into this Mess?," based on his powerful journalism, assesses the state we are now in: the devastation of the natural world, the crisis of inequality, the corporate takeover of nature, our obsessions with growth and profit and the decline of the political debate over what to do. While his diagnosis of the problems in front of us is clear-sighted and reasonable, he also develops solutions to challenge the politics of fear. How do we stand up to the powerful when they seem to have all the weapons?What can we do to prepare our children for an uncertain future? Controversial, clear but always rigorously argued, "How Did We Get into this Mess?" makes a persuasive case for change in our everyday lives, our politics and economics, the ways we treat each other and the natural world."

The Mindful Universe explores the scientific workings of the Universe, its awe-inspiring nature and how it can be partnered with mindfulness to bring meaning to our lives. Part of the Mindfulness series, this book looks at science through the lens of mindfulness and spirituality, bringing together two seemingly opposed beliefs through topics such as: The journey of a photonOur chemical origins from the birth of starsThe nature of timeThe limits to our sensesThe beauty of nebulaeNon-duality and quantum theory... and much more. Mark Westmoquette takes you on a fascinating journey through space, time, our mind and the mysteries of the cosmos in this lovingly-written book.

Through practical meditations, facts and anecdote, he points the reader to a life-affirming realisation: that when we start to observe things mindfully, just as they really are, we start to find the secrets of the Universe revealing themselves before our very eyes. If you like this, you might also be interested in Einstein and the Art of Mindful Cycling . .

A remarkable, unprecedented account of the role of magic in cultures both ancient and modern -- from the first known horoscope to the power of tattoos. Three great strands of practice and belief run through human history: science, religion and magic. But magic - the idea that we have a connection with the universe - has developed a bad reputation.

It has been with us for millennia - from the curses and charms of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America and Africa, and even quantum physics today. Even today seventy-five per cent of the Western world holds some belief in magic, whether snapping wishbones, buying lottery tickets or giving names to inanimate objects. Drawing on his decades of research, with incredible breadth and authority, Professor Chris Gosden provides a timely history of human thought and the role it has played in shaping civilization, and how we might use magic to rethink our understanding of the world.

Ever looked at a bird and thought, 'I wonder why birds sing...'? Find the answer to this and many more intriguing questions about birds here. How do ducks on frozen ponds stop their feet from freezing solid in winter?Do birds sleep standing up?Why do some species migrate yet others don't?And do birds have knees?Stephen Moss answers 450 questions aimed at birdwatchers of all levels, conveying a veritable feast of bird-related information in his friendly and accessible style. Drawing on up-to-date research and illustrated with more than 200 colour photos, Do Birds Have Knees? will enthral, amuse and enlighten everyone with an interest in birds.

In Animate Earth Stephan Harding explores how Gaian science can help us to develop a sense of connectedness with the 'more-than-human' world. His work is based on careful integration of rational scientific analysis with our intuition, sensing and feeling - a vitally important task at this time of severe ecological and climate crisis. Stephan Harding replaces the cold, objectifying language of science with a way of speaking of our planet as a sentient, living being rather than as a dead, inert mechanism.

For example, chemical reactions are described using metaphors from human life, such as marriage, attraction, repulsion etc., so as to bring personality back into the world of rocks, atmosphere, water and living things. In this sense, the book is a contemporary attempt to rediscover anima mundi (the soul of the world) through Gaian science, whilst assuming no prior knowledge of science. Animate Earth argues that we need to establish a right relationship with the planet as a living entity in which we are indissolubly embedded - and to which, in the final analysis, we are all accountable.

The book inspires the reader to connect with a profound sense of the intrinsic value of the Earth, and to discover what it means to live as harmoniously as possible within a sentient creature of planetary proportions. This expanded second edition includes a new chapter on fungi, new contemplative exercises and an update on the global climate situation. The DVD of the Animate Earth film is available through animateearth.com.

Presented by Dr Stephan Harding, it features interviews with leading environmentalists, scientists and spiritual leaders, including Brian Goodwin, Iain McGilchrist, Fritjof Capra, Vandana Shiva, Jules Cashford and Satish Kumar.

Flipping the script on climate change, Eisenstein makes a case for a wholesale reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ in our journey to heal from ecological destruction.

With research and insight, Charles Eisenstein details how the quantification of the natural world leads to a lack of integration and our "fight" mentality. With an entire chapter unpacking the climate change denier's point of view, he advocates for expanding our exclusive focus on carbon emissions to see the broader picture beyond our short-sighted and incomplete approach. The natural and the material world--the rivers, forests, and creatures--are sacred and valuable in their own right, not simply for carbon credits or preventing the extinction of one species versus another. After all, when you ask someone why they first became an environmentalist, they're not likely to cite humanity's existential crisis, or our society going up in flames; they're likely to point to the river they played in, the ocean they visited, the wild animals they observed, or the trees they climbed when they were a kid. This refocusing away from impending catastrophe and our inevitable doom cultivates meaningful emotional and psychological connections and provides real, actionable steps to caring for the earth. Freeing ourselves from a war mentality and seeing the bigger picture of how everything from prison reform to saving the whales can contribute to our planetary ecological health, we resist reflexive postures of solution and blame and reach toward the deep place where commitment lives.