Books published by publisher DOUBLEDAY ANCHOR BOOK

On the eve of Granny Hazel's burial in the back garden, a stranger in his time machine visits five-year-old Edward with an odd request. Set against a backdrop of rural isolation, 'Half Sick of Shadows' is a tale of childhood wonder, familial dysfunction, poetry, theoretical physics and how men of vivid imagination get their ideas. A dark, dazzling, tragi-comic tale of childhood wonder, time-travelling poets and theoretical physics - joint winner of the inaugural Terry Pratchett Prize.

In this title, over 150 of the world's leading scientists and thinkers offer their choice of the ideas, strategies and arguments that will help all of us understand our world, and its future, better. It includes contributions from: Richard Dawkins, Stephen Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Clay Shirky, Daniel Goleman, Sam Harris, Lee Smolin, Matt Ridley, Mark Henderson, David Rowan, Sir Martin Rees, Craig Venter, Brian Eno, Jaron Lanier and David Brooks ...among others. With his organisation Edge.org, the literary agent and all-purpose intellectual impresario John Brockman has brought together the most influential thinkers of our age. Every year he sets them a question, this year that question was: What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit? Their answers are collected in this book and explore philosophy, psychology, economics, and other disciplines - and all share one aim: to provide the most reliable ways of gaining knowledge about anything, whether it be human behaviour, corporate behaviour, the fate of the planet, or the future of the universe.