Mind-blowing stuff . . . An original and gripping look at the universe and our place in it . . . I am pleased to report that this book, which aims to show us our place in the grand scheme of things, will not make you lose your marbles. However it may, to use the parlance of a bygone era, blow your mind a bit. In one four-page period, my marginal notes went from "!" to "!!" to "!!!" . . . A mind-expanding book . . . You won't be quite the same after reading it

The Copernicus Complex delivers its argument with comparable clarity, insight and humour. There is much to enjoy along the way, including a compelling account of the extraordinary diversity of planetary systems we now know to exist

The Copernicus Complex addresses a perennial mystery: the cosmic significance (or perhaps the insignificance) of life on Earth. Caleb Scharf summarizes current debates on how life began and how pervasive it is, explaining how our perspective has been changed by the recent discovery that there are millions of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way. He sets his theme in a historical context, writing in an engaging and accessible style

A tantalising approach to the mysteries of the universe

[A] witty, adroitly marshalled treatise on human significance

An intoxicating collection of questions answered with other questions, and startling discoveries that make creation even more mysterious . . . Books such as these remind us that we are lucky to be here at all, and even luckier to be here now

How reasonable is it to think that we are alone in the vast expanses of space? And how significant is life on Earth on the Universal (or multiversal) scale? These are the questions that astrobiologist Caleb Scharf addresses intelligently and comprehensively in his beautifully written The Copernicus Complex

Engaging, and written from an accessible personal perspective… Randall’s excitement about the areas she has studied…is evident.

Your inner five-year-old and inner geek are going to be thrilled.

The wonder and curiosity Lisa Randall so obviously feels about our world and the universe itself is evident on every page and brings this book to vivid life. Part of Randall’s significant genius is her ability to render complex subject matter into a gripping page-turner that is impossible to put down. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs is a fascinating, mind-expanding experience.

Lisa Randall has produced an intriguing, insightful book that brilliantly weaves together the disparate subjects of cosmology and biology … A simple, elegant theory that finally makes sense of mass extinctions. A must read for anyone interested in the precariousness of life on earth.

Randall has woven a beautiful account of how life on Earth is intimately connected to the cosmos… A satisfyingly elegant idea, linking cosmology and dark matter to the architecture of our solar system, cometary impacts and mass extinction… Randall argues with admirable clarity.

Intriguing book.

One of the sharpest scientific minds of our time presents a fascinating speculative theory linking the extinction of the dinosaurs to dark matter… an insightful exploration.

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs is a hugely ambitious and lucid account of broad swaths of modern science, and their surprising interconnections. It’s a masterpiece of science writing: a detective story that illuminates the nature of scientific research while explaining how our very existence may be connected to unexpected properties of the dark matter that fills the universe. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and emerged with my head swimming in fascinating new ideas.

Who would’ve thought that the mysterious dark matter of the Universe could have caused the extinction of dinosaurs on Earth? Physicist Lisa Randall, that’s who. Yes it’s speculative, but tantalizingly plausible. And that’s the best kind of science there is.

A provocative and revealing account of how scientists like herself are uncovering deep connections between human existence and the wider universe. A terrific read.

A cracking read, combining storytelling of the highest order with a trove of information on subjects as diverse as astrophysics, evolutionary biology, geology and particle physics. What’s remarkable is that is all fit’s together.

This is the grown-up version of science we need to see.

Extremely engaging… the chapters on dark matter go far beyond most other popular books on the subject. Randall paints a truly fascinating picture of the possibility that dark matter is as rich and varied as normal matter… This book is not about the destination, but the journey. And that is often delightful.

A compelling writer who presents a broad range of up-to-date science…in a lively and accessible way… Engagingly written.

A fascinating, and surprisingly simple, theory…and a tantalising premise.

Engaging summary of cosmology and quantum physics.

A whistle-stop tour of modern physics… A fascinating read.

A wildly exciting idea… Randall’s style is plain, clear to understand and engaging… A great read.

[Randall] is a lucid explainer, street-wise and informal. Without jargon or mathematics, she steers us through centuries of…astronomical history and is particularly illuminating when briefing us on the cosmic objects that sometimes land on planet Earth with unpleasant consequences.

Fascinating… [Randall] is a lucid explainer. Without jargon or mathematics, she steers us through astronomical history and is particularly illuminating when briefing us on the cosmic objects that sometimes land on planet Earth with unpleasant consequences.

Here’s the recipe for an intriguing popular science book: take two parts cosmological mystery, two parts death of the dinosaurs and one part origin of mankind. Add a dash of personal flavour and mix thoroughly. Serve with imagination and enthusiasm. If theoretical physicist Lisa Randall is your chef, you’re in for a wonderful treat.

Very enjoyable… a compelling and fascinating portrait of a compelling and fascinating place: the universe.

Engaging.

Randall tells it with great verve.

For its sheer originality and intellectual stimulation, I was captivated by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens

That fellow connected an awful lot of dots in that work. I thought the book would be a dense read, a slog, with a struggle for my brain on every page. I had a highlighter ready to mark the more pavement-thick paragraphs I’d have to go back and re-ponder. Instead, I flew through it like it was a nonfiction The Thorn Birds. Does that mean I’m getting smarter?

Ambitious and invigorating

Harari’s book is important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens

Brilliantly done and endlessly fascinating

Vast and intricate... Engaging and informative

A thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history

The book is maddeningly opinionated and insanely ambitious. It is also compulsively readable and impossibly learned. It is one of the best accounts by a Homo sapiens of the unlikely story of our violent, accomplished species

An enthusiastic and confident narrative that is relentlessly interesting from the first word to the last

The most exciting book I’ve read this year

One of the most talked about non-fiction bestsellers of the year... Harari is one of the very few thinkers around who’s really looking at what’s happening now. Sapiens is his attempt to tell the story of the past to understand the present: the great technological advances that we are all living through now

Eloquent and provocative

A headclutchingly provocative account of our species from the Stone Age to the present... Stunningly ambitious and compellingly written. They call it macro-history. They’re right.

Fascinating

Unforgettably vivid language. I urge everyone to read it

Contains a remarkable piece of information on almost every page and reminds us that we should be grateful to be human.

Thought-provoking

I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.

Read with an open mind and you might look at life in a whole new way.

A fantastic book about how homo sapiens came to conquer the world

A dark and thrilling epic.

I have continued to be driven bonkers by my current obsession: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, an extraordinary tome that charts the plight of the planet’s most destructive species since the dawn of time: us. Every paragraph gives you pause for thought, as it catalogues how nuts human beings really are… It may be the best book I’ve ever read; it’s certainly fascinating.

This doesn’t make you feel clever; it makes you feel included. It’s written so brilliantly… He’s written about the human family as a family.

It's one of the best books I’ve read recently and gives an excellent overview of how our species has developed and helps us understand why and who we are today.

A sweeping account of the history of our species, written in vivid prose.

It rattles along, firing glitter-coated bullets of wisdom as it goes. If Carlsberg made professors, they’d have fashioned them thus. You’ll never have quite as much fun while learning so much.

Reading this wonderful book feels like looking at life down the bigger end of the telescope. Its scope – which incorporates the history of our species and the question of what the future may have in store – is so magisterial, one has an increasingly godlike feeling while reading it.

An absolute trove that everyone who wants to understand everything from human evolution to diet, religions and limited liability companies should read.

Opening up a controversial topic with spirit and thoroughness, Sapiens will challenge your preconceptions, provoke discussion and, most importantly, push you to think for yourself… Bold and provocative.

A brilliant, interdisciplinary account of the past and future of our species… Some of Harari’s most interesting points are the ways in which the fundamental, unchanging traits that make us human (emotions, desires) relate to the modern world. Essential reading for any liberal arts degree.

In the unlikely event you haven’t already read it and…fancy learning some cool new stuff in a fun way, I wholeheartedly recommend it to you.

It’s so intense that you have to read a bit then have a rest. It has brilliant passages, such as where he argues humans became enslaved by agriculture. Vivid and invigorating.

Every now and then a book comes along that tilts your perspective on the world. This internationally best-selling phenomenon is one of them.