The Provocative Classic The Privileged Planet in a Fully Revised, 20th Anniversary Edition! Are we just an accident of cosmic evolution? Is Earth a “lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark” as the late Carl Sagan put it? Or is there more to the story? In this provocative book, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards marshal a staggering array of scientific evidence to counter the modern dogma that Earth is nothing more than the winner of a blind cosmic lottery. When The Privileged Planet was first published in 2004, it garnered both praise and rage. But its argument has stood the test of time. In this completely revised 20th anniversary edition, Gonzalez and Richards show how thousands of discoveries of extrasolar planets over the last two decades have only strengthened their case. They take readers on a mind-expanding journey through our solar system and beyond. Along the way, they explore the mystery of total solar eclipses, the crucial role of water and carbon, the fine-tuning of physics that makes advanced life possible, and the beginning of cosmic time. From our cozy blue planet to the edge of the known universe, they show how earthlike planets are exquisitely fit not only to sustain life but to provide the best platform to discover the hidden wonders of the cosmos. The Privileged Planet compels us to reconsider our place in the universe. Far from a cosmic fluke, our world is ingeniously designed not just for life but for discovery.

Earth. The Final Frontier Contrary to popular belief, Earth is not an insignificant blip on the universe’s radar. Our world proves anything but average in Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards’ The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery. But what exactly does Earth bring to the table? How does it prove its worth among numerous planets and constellations in the vastness of the Milky Way? In The Privileged Planet, you’ll learn about the world’s life-sustaining capabilities, water and its miraculous makeup, protection by the planetary giants, and how our planet came into existence in the first place.

Here again is the extraordinary bestselling book that taught America the social and personal significance of a new way of eating-- one that remains a complete guide for eating well in the 90s. Featuring: simple rules for a healthy diet; a streamlined, easy-to-use format; delicious food combinations of protein-rich meals without meat; hundreds of wonderful recipes, and much more. From the Paperback edition.

What determines whether complex life will arise on a planet, or even any life at all? Questions such as these are investigated in this groundbreaking book. In doing so, the authors synthesize information from astronomy, biology, and paleontology, and apply it to what we know about the rise of life on Earth and to what could possibly happen elsewhere in the universe. Everyone who has been thrilled by the recent discoveries of extrasolar planets and the indications of life on Mars and the Jovian moon Europa will be fascinated by Rare Earth, and its implications for those who look to the heavens for companionship.

Is Earth merely an insignificant speck in a vast and meaningless universe? On the contrary. "The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery" shows that this cherished assumption of materialism is dead wrong. Earth is far more significant than virtually anyone has realized. Contrary to the scientific orthodoxy, it is not an average planet around an ordinary star in an unremarkable part of the Milky Way. In this provocative book, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards present a staggering array of evidence that exposes the hollowness of this modern dogma. They demonstrate that our planet is exquisitely fit not only to support life, but also to give us the best view of the universe, as if Earth were designed both for life and for scientific discovery. Readers are taken on a scientific odyssey from a history of tectonic plates, to the wonders of water and solar eclipses, to our location in the Milky Way, to the laws that govern the universe, and to the beginning of cosmic time. In "The Privileged Planet," you will discover: Why the best scientific evidence refutes the misnamed Copernican Principle--the widely held idea that there is nothing special about Earth or its place in the universe Why the sheer number and size of galaxies does not mean that Earth's capacity to sustain life is the result of blind chance How Earth is precisely positioned in the Milky Way--not only for life, but also to allow us to find answers to the greatest mysteries of the universe Striking ways in which water doesn't behave like most other liquids--and how each of its quirks makes it perfectly suited for the existence of creatures like us The harmony of Earth and the Moon: how they work together to sustain Earthly life as one intricate system--and how that system produces the best solar eclipses where Earthly observers can see them How Jupiter and Saturn protect Earth from cataclysmic destruction How the laws and constants that govern the universe must be narrowly fine-tuned for the existence of any complex life "The Privileged Planet"'s astounding findings should lead any individual to reevaluate entrenched assumptions about the universe--and even to reconsider our very purpose on what so many have dismissed as nothing more than an accident of cosmic evolution.

The Not-So-Dark Dark Ages What they forgot to teach you in school: People in the Middle Ages did not think the world was flat The Inquisition never executed anyone because of their scientific ideologies It was medieval scientific discoveries, including various methods, that made possible Western civilization’s “Scientific Revolution” As a physicist and historian of science James Hannam debunks myths of the Middle Ages in his brilliant book The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution. Without the medieval scholars, there would be no modern science. Discover the Dark Ages and their inventions, research methods, and what conclusions they actually made about the shape of the world.

“Fascinating . . . memorable . . . revealing . . . perhaps the best of Carl Sagan’s books.”—The Washington Post Book World (front page review) In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time. Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier—space. In Pale Blue Dot, Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race. “Takes readers far beyond Cosmos . . . Sagan sees humanity’s future in the stars.”—Chicago Tribune