Bøger udgivet af Basic Books

The definitive history of the Vikings -- from arts and culture to politics and cosmology -- by a distinguished archaeologist with decades of expertiseThe Viking Age -- from 750 to 1050 -- saw an unprecedented expansion of the Scandinavian peoples into the wider world. As traders and raiders, explorers and colonists, they ranged from eastern North America to the Asian steppe. But for centuries, the Vikings have been seen through the eyes of others, distorted to suit the tastes of medieval clerics and Elizabethan playwrights, Victorian imperialists, Nazis, and more. None of these appropriations capture the real Vikings, or the richness and sophistication of their culture.Based on the latest archaeological and textual evidence, Children of Ash and Elm tells the story of the Vikings on their own terms: their politics, their cosmology and religion, their material world. Known today for a stereotype of maritime violence, the Vikings exported new ideas, technologies, beliefs, and practices to the lands they discovered and the peoples they encountered, and in the process were themselves changed. From Eirík Bloodaxe, who fought his way to a kingdom, to Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir, the most traveled woman in the world, Children of Ash and Elm is the definitive history of the Vikings and their time.

In this thoroughly revised and updated classic, a renowned psychologist shows that mourning is far from predictable and all of us share a surprising ability to be resilient

World-renowned urbanist Richard Florida's bestselling classic on the transformation of our cities in the twenty-first century -- now updated with a new preface

The definitive history of coffee, with a new introduction by the author.

"The Spinoza Problem is engrossing, enlightening, disturbing and ultimately deeply satisfying." --Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

Offers a critique about (but not for) intellectuals that explores their impact on public opinion, policy, and society at large. This title not only examines the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also analyzes the incentives and constraints under which their views and visions have emerged.

As a fundamental aspect of our knowledge of the physical world, quantum mechanics remains a vital subject in physics. This is a collection of the late Richard P Feynman's lectures. It is suitable for students of physics and those seeking an introduction to the field from the inimitable Richard Feynman.

"In December 1937, in what was then the capital of China, one of the most brutal massacres in the long annals of wartime barbarity occurred. The Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanking (Na"

The classic work on group psychotherapy

The book that started the computer revolution in education -- updated for a new generation.

Based on twenty years of clinical experience studying and treating chronic illness, a Harvard psychiatrist and anthropologist argues that diagnosing illness is an art tragically neglected by modern medical training, and presents a compelling case for bridging the gap between patient and doctor.

The groundbreaking history of how climate change transformed Europe and the world, from a renowned archaeologist -- updated with a new preface on the latest climate research

A modern classic, revised and expanded: How the age-old art of storytelling can transform the way we communicate-and the way we do business

"Filled with insight, surprises, and lucid explanations of the latest ideas and discoveries from the sciences of love and sex."-Steven Pinker

"A rigorously researched book that gracefully pivots between the world of the ring and the racial politics of the early'60s."-New York Times Book Review

A preeminent geneticist hunts the Neanderthal genome to answer the biggest question of them all: what does it mean to be human?

Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was sent to claim for Spain a vast area of today's southern United States. Cabeza de Vaca ultimately wrote an extraordinary chronicle of his journey. This work conjoins the facts recounted by Cabeza with the author's own research in the history and culture of 16th century North America to describe this epic journey.

As a fundamental aspect of our knowledge of the physical world, quantum mechanics remains a vital subject in physics. This is a collection of the late Richard P Feynman's lectures. It is suitable for students of physics and those seeking an introduction to the field from the inimitable Richard Feynman.

A biologist-turned-philosopher shows how scientific discoveries can help resolve some of philosophy's longest-debated issues

A broad-based and withering critique of America's current trajectory.

Gardner's seminal 1993 account of the practical applications of Multiple Intelligences theory is now completely updated and expanded to reflect the latest developments in the field.

"I have found The Einstein Syndrome filled with insight, acute observations, and fertile ideas...This is an invaluable contribution to human knowledge by one of the great minds of our time."--Steven Pinker, author of How the Mind Works

Every new parent desperately wants to know what goes on in the mind of a baby. Now a noted authority on infant development and psychiatry brings us closer than ever before to penetrating a your child's consciousness. In alternating sections of evocative prose, representing the baby's own voice, and explanatory text, Daniel Stern draws on the latest research findings to recreate the baby's world."

A New York Times bestseller and "a brilliant and bracing analysis" (Mark R. Levin) of Donald Trump, his presidency, and his vision of America's future--now updated for 2024 In The Case for Trump, award-winning historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson explains how a celebrity businessman with no political or military experience triumphed over sixteen well-qualified Republican rivals, a Democrat with a quarter-billion-dollar war chest, and a hostile media and Washington establishment to become an extremely successful president. Trump alone saw a political opportunity in defending the working people of America's interior whom the coastal elite of both parties had come to scorn, Hanson argues. And Trump alone had the instincts and energy to pursue this opening to victory, dismantle a corrupt old order, and bring long-overdue policy changes at home and abroad. After decades of drift, America needed the outsider Trump to do what normal politicians would not and could not do. Now updated for the 2024 election with a comprehensive new introduction, this is the essential book on what Donald Trump means for America.

An acclaimed parenting and childhood development expert argues that kids today are suffering, both physically and mentally, because parents have abdicated authority,and explains how to reverse this trend.

"At this very moment, we are moving through space at 130 miles per second, and yet we don't notice at all. Nothing slips and falls off the kitchen table as the Earth spins, and our bodies aren't catapulted against random buildings and trees by the planet orbiting the Sun. We, and everything around us, move at the same rate, so we simply don't notice the force that propels us through space. Nor do we notice the strangest fact of all: that we and everything around us ripple through the universe like whitecaps on the ocean, emerging from the cosmic backdrop and yet moving through it as though the backdrop wasn't even there. ... In [this book], theoretical physicist Matthew J. Strassler explains how our lives--every day and every moment-- are shaped by the core tenants of physics that make up the universe"--

From two New York Times-bestselling psychologists, “an engaging master class in how to foil purveyors of false promises” (Philip E. Tetlock, author of Superforecasting)   From phishing scams to Ponzi schemes, fraudulent science to fake art, chess cheaters to crypto hucksters, and marketers to magicians, our world brims with deception. In Nobody’s Fool, psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris show us how to avoid being taken in. They describe the key habits of thinking and reasoning that serve us well most of the time but make us vulnerable—like our tendency to accept what we see, stick to our commitments, and overvalue precision and consistency. Each chapter illustrates their new take on the science of deception, describing scams you’ve never heard of and shedding new light on some you have. Simons and Chabris provide memorable maxims and practical tools you can use to spot deception before it’s too late.    Informative, illuminating, and entertaining, Nobody’s Fool will protect us from charlatans in all their forms—and delight us along the way.

“A beautifully written evocation of Ukraine's brutal past and its shaky efforts to construct a better future.”—Financial Times Ukraine is gripped in a bloody crisis that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, and is transforming the world’s energy policies and security architecture. As celebrated journalist Anna Reid shows in Borderland, this conflict is the latest of many. Ukraine has been a borderland, and a battlefield, for more than seven centuries, from the Mongol invasion of 1240 to the Maidan protests of 2014—and, of course, the devastating Russian invasion of 2022.  In this penetrating book, Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraine’s tragic past and uncertain future. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalin’s famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Donbass to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraine’s struggle to build itself a national identity. Updated to include firsthand material from the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war, Borderland is essential reading for anyone looking to understand Ukraine and how its history is shaping its destiny.