The square roots of negative numbers are called 'imaginary'. But do they really require any more imagination than other types of numbers, or other types of things. In Imagining Numbers Particularly √-15 Barry Mazur tries to find out.

It has long been a cause of concern that many otherwise well educated people have a very poor grasp of the basics of science. Well Natalie Angier has done something about this. In The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science, she provides an introduction to science for such people - in her own unique style.

Throughout history we have tried to understand what makes people tick, as well as trying to find rules for the best ways to live our lives. In Ten Theories of Human Nature, Leslie Stevenson and David Haberman look at some of the ideas which have stood the test of time.

The progress of science in the 20^th was impressive, but there are still plenty of gaps which need to be resolved. In What Remains to Be Discovered: Mapping the Secrets of the Universe, the Origins of Life, and the Future of the Human Race John Maddox discusses what some of these gaps are.

There are plenty of books that will tell you about relativity, but there are advantages of hearing it 'straight from the horse's mouth' as it were. Albert Einstein's book Relativity:The Special and the General Theory gives you the chance to do this.

Is there life elsewhere in the universe? And if so how might we find out about it and make contact with it. These are the questions which Jean Heidmann looks at in his book Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Although symmetry seems to be predominantly a geometrical property, this book shows that it really gained its importance in mathematics and physics via a different route - that of the solutions of polynomial equations. Going via the biographies of the mathematicians concerned allows the subject to be presented in a non-technical way and Stewart does well in making the book accessible to a wide readership. (Although it helps if the reader has a litle bit of mathematical knowledge)The book gives a wide ranging look at the history of some important parts of mathematics, and as long as you don't mind that it doesn't get on to some of the latest topics in mathematics then you're likely to find it to be a highly entertaining read.

A large solar storm can cause quite a lot of trouble on Earth in the form of power cuts, communication failures and the like. The link between solar activity and happenings on Earth isn't obvious though. This book tells the story of how this link came to be recognised.

Kurt Godel and Alan Turing were two of the most prominent mathematicians of the twentieth century, but their desire for privacy means that it is hard for a biography to tell what they were really like. Janna Levin solves this problem by making clear that much of what she is writing is fiction. In A madman dreams of Turing machines she tells their stories.

We tend to distinguish between reason and emotion. Even those who think reason should be a slave to the passions imply that they are different ways of thinking. Antonio Damasio doesn't agree. In Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain he argues that emotion is in fact a central part of rational thought.

Global Warming is much in the news nowadays and so it should be - most of the other problems we have pale into insignificance compared to what global warming might bring. In this book Mark Lynas tells the reader just how bad it might get. Lynas emphasises that business as usual is simply not an option and that we are not powerless to tackle the problem. One of the things I liked about this book was the way that Lynas packed in a great amount of detail, which can't just be dismissed with a few platitudes, but did so in a way that kept the readers interest.

When we percieve something via our senses the process seems fairly straightforward. In Making up the mind: how the brain creates our mental world , however, Chris Frith shows that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than you might think.

You may have come across coral in a piece of jewellery, or you may even have seen living coral while diving, but you probably wouldn't have thought of all of the links between coral and humans which Steve Jones describes in this new book. Indeed the book is more about looking at the world in general. Jones looks into the past, when exploring the world meant a voyage into the unknown, such as those of Captain Cook and of the Charles Darwin on the Beagle. Jones also looks to the future - now that we are able to reach all parts of the globe we are beginning to see what a mess we are making of it.

We hear a lot about the 'Theory of Everything' nowadays. But what would a theory of everything really be able to tell us. Would give us new insights into the working of the universe or would it just be an exercise in sterile reductionism. These are the sorts of questions addressed by John Barrow in new theories of everything

In the 1940's the botanist John Heslop Harrison reported finding several rare plants and insects on the remote Scottish island of Rum. But many were suspicious - no one else was finding such specimens and the findings fitted in too well with Harrison's own theories. In A Rum affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud Karl Sabbagh tells the story.

There are about 6000 languages spoken on earth today. Where did this diversity come from? Will it survive in a world in which English is becoming ever more dominant? In The Power of Babel John McWhorter takes a wide ranging look at such questions.

We live in an uncertain world, and an understanding of probability is vital to prevent us from being decieved by false claims of certainty. In Struck by Lightning:Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities , Jeffrey Rosenthal gives a gentle introduction to the subject to those untutored in the ins and outs of probability.

We've all seen the sort of futuristic life which science fiction promises us. But this is the future, so why don't we have colonies on the moon and Mars, and why aren't we surrounded by robots? In Where's My Jetpack?:A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived , Daniel Wilson looks at a number of futuristic technologies, and tell us if they have actually been implemented.

Craig Venter has caused quite a stir in the scientific community, in that he turned the sequencing of the Human Genome into something of a race. He has also been criticised for his part in the commercialisation of the genome. In this book, which shows how Venter's drive allowed him to overcome the obstacles which held up others, and to make major contributions to our understanding of living things, he tells his side of the story.

To make a decision we should carefully consider all aspects of the question before coming to a conclusion, shouldn't we? Not according to Gerd Gigerenzer. In this this book, based on experiments he has conducted at the Max Planck institute for Human Development, he argues that the quick, off the cuff decision will often be better than that reached by long deliberation. Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious is amusing and easy to read, but is also useful as a guide for those wishing to improve their decision making.

Global Warming is much in the news nowadays and so it should be - most of the other problems we have pale into insignificance compared to what global warming might bring. InSix degrees : our future on a hotter planet Mark Lynas tells the reader just how bad it might get.

From when we are very young we are likely to hear stories involving foxes, and these are likely to affect our views concerning these creatures as we grow older. In Fox, Martin Wallen looks at how foxes are viewed in different cultures, and how this has shaped our relationship with them.

The relationship between language and thought is a topic which has generated a considerable amount of argument. In The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature Steven Pinker shows that a deep look at the ins and outs of language can move us away from empty philosophising and give some valuable insights into the workings of our minds.

You might think that making ourselves more persuasive would require learning some complicated tactics and obscure details of human psychology. Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion shows that this is not the case, that sometimes the simplest of things will greatly improve our chances of getting what we want.

Bell's theorem

Bell's theorem says that any model which reproduces what happens in quantum theory has to satisfy one of two rather strange constraints. The first is that it allow faster than light transmission of information. The second is sometimes referred to as defying realism, but I would replace this by the model having to include the minds of experimenters. The aim of this project is to produce a framework in which such models can be tried out, to see how such constraints arise. In particular, it is planned to investigate the model described in Disproof of Bell's Theorem by Clifford Algebra Valued Local Variables by Joy Christian

Landauer's principle and the second law of thermodynamics

Landauer's principle states that you can do computations with an arbitrarily small amount of energy, but that getting rid of the data that is generated has a specific energy cost. The idea of this project is to investigate this by modelling thermodynamic systems at the scale of individual elements, but with enough of them to see thermodynamic effects arising. As well as looking at Landauer's principle, it is intended to look at the idea that interesting things happen on 'the edge of chaos', in certain kinds of dissipative systems.