One of the world's top behavioural geneticists argues that we need a radical rethink about what makes us who we are

The blueprint for our individuality lies in the 1% of DNA that differs between people. Our intellectual capacity, our introversion or extraversion, our vulnerability to mental illness, even whether we are a morning person - all of these aspects of our personality are profoundly shaped by our inherited DNA differences.

In Blueprint , Robert Plomin, a pioneer in the field of behavioural genetics, draws on a lifetime's worth of research to make the case that DNA is the most important factor shaping who we are. Our families, schools and the environment around us are important, but they are not as influential as our genes. This is why, he argues, teachers and parents should accept children for who they are, rather than trying to mould them in certain directions. Even the environments we choose and the signal events that impact our lives, from divorce to addiction, are influenced by our genetic predispositions. Now, thanks to the DNA revolution, it is becoming possible to predict who we will become, at birth, from our DNA alone. As Plomin shows us, these developments have sweeping implications for how we think about parenting, education, and social mobility.

A game-changing book by a leader in the field, Blueprint shows how the DNA present in the single cell with which we all begin our lives can impact our behaviour as adults.

Few writers distinguish themselves by their ability to write about complicated, even obscure topics clearly and engagingly. In Chaos, James Gleick, a former science writer for the New York Times, shows that he resides in this exclusive category. Here he takes on the job of depicting the first years of the study of chaos--the seemingly random patterns that characterise many natural phenomena.
This is not a purely technical book. Instead, it focuses as much on the scientists studying chaos as on the chaos itself. In the pages of Gleick's book, the reader meets dozens of extraordinary and eccentric people. For instance, Mitchell Feigenbaum, who constructed and regulated his life by a 26-hour clock and watched his waking hours come in and out of phase with those of his coworkers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
As for chaos itself, Gleick does an outstanding job of explaining the thought processes and investigative techniques that researchers bring to bear on chaos problems. Rather than attempt to explain Julia sets, Lorenz attractors and the Mandelbrot Set with gigantically complicated equations, Chaos relies on sketches, photographs and Gleick's wonderful descriptive prose. --Christine Buttery

Updated for the first time, the classic book on why cooperation is not only natural but also the best survival strategy The Evolution of Cooperation addresses a simple yet age-old question: If living things evolve through competition, how can cooperation ever emerge? Despite the abundant evidence of cooperation all around us, there existed no purely naturalistic answer to this question until 1979, when Robert Axelrod famously ran a computer tournament featuring a standard game-theory exercise called The Prisoner's Dilemma. To everyone's surprise, the program that won the tournament, named Tit for Tat, was not only the simplest but the most "cooperative" entrant. This unexpected victory proved that cooperation--one might even say altruism--is mathematically possible and therefore needs no hidden hand or divine agent to create and sustain it. A great roadblock to the understanding of all sorts of behavior was at last removed. The updated edition includes an extensive new chapter on cooperation in cancer cells and among terrorist organizations. "This book, if read, grasped and applied, could have a profound effect." ( Wall Street Journal ) "A fascinating, provocative, and important book." (Douglas R. Hofstadter, author of Godel, Escher, Bach )

Quantum field theory is the basic mathematical framework that is used to describe elementary particles. This textbook provides a complete and essential introduction to the subject. Assuming only an undergraduate knowledge of quantum mechanics and special relativity, this book is ideal for graduate students beginning the study of elementary particles. The step-by-step presentation begins with basic concepts illustrated by simple examples, and proceeds through historically important results to thorough treatments of modern topics such as the renormalization group, spinor-helicity methods for quark and gluon scattering, magnetic monopoles, instantons, supersymmetry, and the unification of forces. The book is written in a modular format, with each chapter as self-contained as possible, and with the necessary prerequisite material clearly identified. It is based on a year-long course given by the author and contains extensive problems, with password protected solutions available to lecturers at www.cambridge.org/9780521864497.

John Bardeen was an unassuming man, a humble, soft-spoken Midwesterner whose life was filled with simple pastimes like a Sunday picnic with the family or a good game of golf. He was also a giant of modern physics, an extraordinary hero of twentieth century science. His seminal work earned him the distinction of being the only person ever to win two Nobel Prizes in physics -- both awarded for discoveries that were breathtaking in scope and responsible for advancing the course of human history.
Bardeen ranks among the most imaginative and inspired scientists of our time. But his genius was quiet and unobtrusive, hidden behind the façade of an average man, which perhaps why we know so little about him. As exuberantly talented as Albert Einstein, Bardeen had no desire to mug for the cameras or prove himself eccentric. Easily equal to the intellect of Richard Feynman, Bardeen was simply not irreverent and offbeat. As eccentricity and outsize personalities have come to symbolize the true nature of genius and creativity, Bardeen remains cloaked in obscurity.
Without Bardeen's first Nobel Prize-winning discovery -- the transistor -- the electronics revolution, which brought us desktop computers, supercomputers, and microelectronics, would still be the stuff of science fiction. His second great breakthrough -- the prevailing theory of electrical superconductivity which for years had stumped Einstein, Feynman, and many others -- promises to revolutionize twenty-first century technology with super-fast "mag-lev trains," supercolliding atom smashers, and other fantastic technological wonders.
Yet despite these achievements, this astonishing, though decidedly modest, Midwesterner was often overlooked by both the media as well as the public, simply because he differed radically from the popular stereotype of genius. Through an exploration of his science as well as his life, a fresh and thoroughly engaging portrait of genius and the nature of creativity emerges. This fascinating biography provides a whole new perspective on what it truly means to be a genius.

Reviews from the First Edition: 'An excellent text? The postulates of quantum mechanics and the mathematical underpinnings are discussed in a clear, succinct manner' - ("American Scientist"). 'No matter how gently one introduces students to the concept of Dirac's bras and kets, many are turned off. Shankar attacks the problem head-on in the first chapter, and in a very informal style suggests that there is nothing to be frightened of' - ("Physics Bulletin").Reviews of the Second Edition: 'This massive text of 700 and odd pages has indeed an excellent get-up, is very verbal and expressive, and has extensively worked out calculational details - all just right for a first course. The style is conversational, more like a corridor talk or lecture notes, though arranged as a text. It would be particularly useful to beginning students and those in allied areas like quantum chemistry' - ("Mathematical Reviews").R. Shankar has introduced major additions and updated key presentations in this second edition of "Principles of Quantum Mechanics". New features of this innovative text include an entirely rewritten mathematical introduction, a discussion of Time-reversal invariance, and extensive coverage of a variety of path integrals and their applications. Additional highlights include: clear, accessible treatment of underlying mathematics; a review of Newtonian, Lagrangian, and Hamiltonian mechanics; student understanding of quantum theory is enhanced by separate treatment of mathematical theorems and physical postulates; and, unsurpassed coverage of path integrals and their relevance in contemporary physics.The requisite text for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level students, "Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition" is fully referenced and is supported by many exercises and solutions. The book's self-contained chapters also make it suitable for independent study as well as for courses in applied disciplines.

An introduction to some of the most significant concepts in the physics of condensed matter. Emphasizes the general principles of many-body physics and perturbation theory, providing supporting mathematical structure. Paper.

《对称与不对称》深入浅出地说明了对称与不对称不仅在物理学中，也在艺术、文学、逻辑、数学、自然和日常生活等方面中有精彩的表现。内容包括：对称的重要性、物理学中的对称与不对称、自然与艺术中的对称性、标度对称性等。

这是一本具有李政道特色的统计力学专著。它凝聚了李先生在统计力学方面的治学结晶，自成体系。虽只有短短的四章，却几乎概括了统计力学的所有精髓。读者可以使用本书作为学习统计力学的入门教材，也可以在使用别的教材时用它作为学习的参考和补充材料。李政道先生治学严谨，一切推导都从最基本假定出发的研究风格，在本书中得到充分的体现。

A lucid presentation of statistical physics and thermodynamics which develops from the general principles to give a large number of applications of the theory.

《200道物理学难题》旨在使学生在实际应用中增强对物理概念和物理定律的掌握。与其用费力而复杂的数学技巧来解决书中的问题，倒不如利用物理直觉来得简单。问题的选择仅限于经典（非量子）物理学，但难度却并不因此而降低。书中大多数问题都采用常见的非技术性语言进行表述，这要求学生必须自己选择正确的杠架来分析问题。一般而言，书中问题的难度适合出众的高中生、优秀的本科生，以及良好的硕士生的水平。《200道物理学难题》对准备参加普通物理考试的本科生和准备参加各种物理竞赛的高中生无颖是有益的，可用于自学、课堂练习或者研讨会。物理教授们亦可望从中找到一些具有挑战性的难题。尽管物理上有难度，但是《200道物理学难题》对数学方面的要求很少，最多只是简单的微积分而已。这本题集不仅富于挑战性和指导性，而且富趣味性。