States that the most important invention of the Industrial Revolution was invention itself. This book offers an account of how inventors first came to own and profit from their ideas - and how invention itself springs forth from logic and imagination. It explains how 'eureka' moments occur - when th[...]

How a seven-year cycle of rain, cold, disease, and warfare created the worst famine in European history
In May 1315, it started to rain. It didn't stop anywhere in north Europe until August. Next came the four coldest winters in a millennium. Two separate animal epidemics killed nearly 80 perce[...]

The Emperor Justinian reunified Rome's fractured empire by defeating the Goths and Vandals who had separated Italy, Spain, and North Africa from imperial rule. At his capital in Constantinople, he built the world's most beautiful building, married its most powerful empress, and wrote its most enduri[...]

Matematiske mysterier præsenterer nogle af matematikkens største gåder og mysterier - både løste og uløste. Mange af problemerne har en historie, der går helt tilbage til oldtiden. Det gælder f.eks. problemer med talteorien, egenskaber ved primtal og ligninger.

To [...]