{"title":"Philip Ball","description":"\u003cp\u003ePhilip Ball’s works explore the fascinating intersections of science, nature, and human experience with clarity and eloquence. From the mysteries of \u003cem\u003ealchemy\u003c\/em\u003e to the intricate \u003cem\u003epatterns in nature\u003c\/em\u003e and the depths of the human mind, his writing invites readers to discover the wonder behind complex phenomena and the stories they tell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDelving into subjects as diverse as the fundamental elements, scientific experiments, and compelling biographies, Ball brings a thoughtful and insightful perspective to both factual inquiry and cultural myth. His books appeal to anyone curious about how the world works and the modern myths shaped by science.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"alchemy-by-philip-ball-9780300280876","title":"Alchemy","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlchemy\u003c\/em\u003e by Philip Ball is flush with hundreds of illustrations, revisiting the histories of chemistry, medicine, ideas, and culture through the lens of alchemy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe craft of alchemy has intrigued and mystified people since antiquity. Many early cultures are known to have experimented with chemical transformations: from dyes, glazes, and cosmetics in Bronze Age Egypt to life-extending elixirs pursued by scholars in ancient China and India. Many have also attempted to transform lead, mercury, and other metals into gold—and some claim to have succeeded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this visually stunning volume, Philip Ball sets alchemy within the context of the history of science and culture, showing that it was not simply an esoteric fantasy but an important phase in the development of experimental science and natural philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRich illustrations complement a narrative history of the methods and techniques developed in alchemical workshops, the search for the philosopher’s stone and “elixirs of life” that extended across diverse cultures, and the controversies surrounding the practices of making alchemical gold and alchemical medicine. Ball explores the rise of alchemy from its inception in Hellenistic culture, through the golden age of Islamic natural philosophy in the eighth to the eleventh centuries, to the emergence of the tradition of natural magic in the Renaissance, and to the roles of alchemical thought and practice in the beginnings of early modern science in the seventeenth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe traces the persistence of alchemical ideas through the occult revival of the late nineteenth century and the fascination of the topic for modern artists and writers. This engaging and accessible book will provide readers of all backgrounds with a nuanced understanding of alchemy and its history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46788175364332,"sku":"9780300280876","price":71.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24806503482294.jpg?v=1756938921"},{"product_id":"beautiful-experiments-by-philip-ball-9780226825823","title":"Beautiful Experiments","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eFeaturing two hundred colour plates, this history of the craft of scientific inquiry is as exquisite as the experiments it documents.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis illustrated history of experimental science is more than just a celebration of the ingenuity that scientists and natural philosophers have used throughout the ages to study—and to change—the world. Here we see in intricate detail experiments that have, in some way or another, exhibited elegance and beauty: in their design, their conception, and their execution.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCelebrated science writer Philip Ball invites readers to marvel at and admire the craftsmanship of scientific instruments and apparatus on display, from the earliest microscopes to the giant particle colliders of today. With Ball as our expert guide, we are encouraged to think carefully about what experiments are, what they mean, and how they are used.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRanging across millennia and geographies, \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Experiments\u003c\/i\u003e not only demonstrates why \"experiment\" remains a contested notion in how the work of science is done, but also explains how we came to understand how the world functions, what it contains, and where the pursuit of that understanding has brought us today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854038421740,"sku":"9780226825823","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/20486513482268.jpg?v=1759232255"},{"product_id":"patterns-in-nature-by-philip-ball-9780226332420","title":"Patterns in Nature","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough at first glance the natural world may appear overwhelming in its diversity and complexity, there are regularities running through it, from the hexagons of a honeycomb to the spirals of a seashell and the branching veins of a leaf. Revealing the order at the foundation of the seemingly chaotic natural world, \u003cem\u003ePatterns in Nature\u003c\/em\u003e explores not only the math and science but also the beauty and artistry behind nature’s awe-inspiring designs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike the patterns we create in technology, architecture, and art, natural patterns are formed spontaneously from the forces that act in the physical world. Very often the same types of pattern and form—spirals, stripes, branches, and fractals—recur in places that seem to have nothing in common, as when the markings of a zebra mimic the ripples in windblown sand. That’s because, as \u003cem\u003ePatterns in Nature\u003c\/em\u003e shows, at the most basic level these patterns can often be described using the same mathematical and physical principles: there is a surprising underlying unity in the kaleidoscope of the natural world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRichly illustrated with 250 colour photographs and anchored by accessible and insightful chapters by esteemed science writer Philip Ball, \u003cem\u003ePatterns in Nature\u003c\/em\u003e reveals the organization at work in vast and ancient forests, powerful rivers, massing clouds, and coastlines carved out by the sea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy exploring similarities such as those between a snail shell and the swirling stars of a galaxy, or the branches of a tree and those of a river network, this spectacular visual tour conveys the wonder, beauty, and richness of natural pattern formation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854741033196,"sku":"9780226332420","price":72.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/5184ad545e3a8436f4f3ee1652219f98.jpg?v=1759265608"},{"product_id":"the-elements-by-philip-ball-9780500024539","title":"The Elements","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis book offers a largely chronological illustrated guide to how the chemical elements were discovered over the past three millennia. It provides a view not just of how we came to understand what everything is made of but also of how chemistry developed from a trial-and-error craft of making and transforming substances into a rational modern science that provides us with new materials, drugs, and much else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile other books have described the properties of the chemical elements and often delved into their histories, none has done so in this highly visual manner. The closest comparison is Theodore Gray's illustrated book \u003ci\u003eThe Elements\u003c\/i\u003e—but this does not take a historical approach as this does here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe pictorial material for this subject is very rich, including some gorgeous alchemical documents as well as portraits, colour charts, woodcuts of mining, artefacts such as John Dalton's wooden balls, advertisements (for example, for radium 'cures') and postage stamps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book contains separate short sections for each element or groups of related elements, which are gathered into several sections to order the sequence into several chronological eras of element discovery. Included are short 'interludes' (or 'feature spreads') presenting important intellectual milestones in how we think about elements.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith 192 illustrations, \u003ci\u003eThe Elements\u003c\/i\u003e is a visual and historical journey through the chemical components that form the world as we know it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Thames and Hudson (Australia) Pty Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46854935347436,"sku":"9780500024539","price":60.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/96ece1f37c505345d13cdb560d4d7de8.jpg?v=1759263015"},{"product_id":"the-modern-myths-by-philip-ball-9780226823843","title":"The Modern Myths","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eThe Modern Myths\u003c\/i\u003e, brilliant science communicator Philip Ball spins a new yarn. From novels and comic books to B-movies, it is an epic exploration of literature, new media and technology, the nature of storytelling, and the making and meaning of our most important tales.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMyths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today. From \u003ci\u003eRobinson Crusoe\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eBatman\u003c\/i\u003e, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called “modern myths.” But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did. Through the medium of narratives that all of us know in their basic outline and which have no clear moral or resolution, these modern myths explore some of our deepest fears, dreams, and anxieties. We keep returning to these tales, reinventing them endlessly for new uses. But what are they really about, and why do we need them? What myths are still taking shape today? And what makes a story become a modern myth?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Modern Myths\u003c\/i\u003e, Ball takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our collective imagination, asking what some of its most popular stories reveal about the nature of being human in the modern age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855031652588,"sku":"9780226823843","price":42.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/a4164fca50f6ba115fde3ef52e007cdf_e4ecd843-6aa9-47d2-8ca6-ab00c7a50be3.jpg?v=1759262268"},{"product_id":"the-modern-myths-by-philip-ball-9780226719269","title":"The Modern Myths","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Impressive. . . . Rich in cultural history and imagination. . . . To Ball, mythic writing is where the conditions of irrationality, superstition, and enchantment persist: forms of wonder that depend on the disconnect between what we know for sure and what we simply believe.”\u003c\/b\u003e —\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMyths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom \u003ci\u003eRobinson Crusoe\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eBatman\u003c\/i\u003e, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called “modern myths.” But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough the medium of narratives that all of us know in their basic outline and which have no clear moral or resolution, these modern myths explore some of our deepest fears, dreams, and anxieties. We keep returning to these tales, reinventing them endlessly for new uses. But what are they really about, and why do we need them? What myths are still taking shape today? And what makes a story become a modern myth?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Modern Myths\u003c\/i\u003e, Ball takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our collective imagination, asking what some of its most popular stories reveal about the nature of being human in the modern age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855031685356,"sku":"9780226719269","price":62.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/a4164fca50f6ba115fde3ef52e007cdf.jpg?v=1759262262"},{"product_id":"the-man-who-broke-reality-by-philip-ball-9780349136578","title":"The Man Who Broke Reality","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter Einstein and Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr was the most influential physicist of the 20th century. He was the central figure in the development of quantum mechanics (contra Einstein with whom he clashed).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDue to his Jewish ancestry, he had to escape from his native Denmark during the Second World War and ended up working on the Manhattan project to build an atomic bomb for America, a programme run by Robert Oppenheimer who idolised him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis first popular biography tells his remarkable life story, including what really happened in 1943 in Copenhagen when he famously challenged his former student Werner Heisenberg for working on the Nazi atomic bomb, and lucidly explains his revolutionary scientific ideas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Man Who Broke Reality\u003c\/em\u003e is a compelling read that sheds light on the life and work of a remarkable scientist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47874121957612,"sku":"9780349136578","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780349136578-the-man-who-broke-reality.jpg?v=1782982464"},{"product_id":"how-life-works-by-philip-ball-9781529096002","title":"How Life Works","description":"In How Life Works, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. Ball explains that there is no unique place to look for an answer to this question: life is a system of many levels-genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules such as the immune system and the nervous system-each with its own rules and principles. How Life Works explains how these levels operate, interface, and work together (most of the time).\n\nWith this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. As we discover the conditions that dictate the forms into which cells organize themselves, our ability to guide and select the outcomes becomes ever more extraordinary. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined.","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48242315034860,"sku":"9781529096002","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781529096002-how-life-works-1.jpg?v=1787971186"},{"product_id":"the-book-of-minds-by-philip-ball-9781529069167","title":"The Book of Minds","description":"Understanding the human mind and how it relates to the world that we experience has challenged philosophers for centuries. How then do we even begin to think about 'minds' that are not human?\n \nScience now has plenty to say about the properties of mind. In recent decades, the mind - both human and otherwise - has been explored by scientists in fields ranging from zoology to astrobiology, computer science to neuroscience. Taking a uniquely broad view of minds and where they might be found - including in plants, aliens, and God - Philip Ball pulls these multidisciplinary pieces together to explore what sorts of minds we might expect to find in the universe. In so doing, he offers for the first time a unified way of thinking about what minds are and what they can do, arguing that in order to understand our own minds and imagine those of others, we need to move on from considering the human mind as a standard against which all others should be measured, and to think about the 'space of possible minds'.\n \nBy identifying and mapping out properties of mind without prioritizing the human, Ball sheds new light on a host of fascinating questions. What moral rights should we afford animals, and can we understand their thoughts? Should we worry that AI is going to take over society? If there are intelligent aliens out there, how could we communicate with them? Should we? Understanding the space of possible minds also reveals ways of making advances in understanding some of the most challenging questions in contemporary science: What is thought? What is consciousness? And what (if anything) is free will?\n \nThe more we learn about the minds of other creatures, from octopuses to chimpanzees, and to imagine the potential minds of computers and alien intelligences, the greater the perspective we have on if and how our own is different. Ball's thrillingly ambitious The Book of Minds about the nature and existence of minds is more mind-expanding than we could imagine. In this fascinating panorama of other minds, we come to better know our own.","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244532543724,"sku":"9781529069167","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781529069167-the-book-of-minds-1.jpg?v=1787999309"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/philip-ball.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}