This is the first book-length response to Richard Dawkins, author of some of the most popular scientific works, such as The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. Dawkins has become perhaps the world’s best-known atheist, noted for his hostile and controversial views on religion.

In Brainwashing, Kathleen Taylor brings together for the first time the worlds of neuroscience and social psychology to examine why humans have attempted througout history to influence and control the thoughts of others.

The technical term for this process, brainwashing, was coined shortly after the Korean War, but the concept has been with us ever since humans began to interact with one another.

In 1991, in Idaho Springs, Colo., a small town not far from Boulder, a young jogger was killed and partially eaten by a mountain lion.

Science can uncover the origins of the cosmos and the blueprints of life itself, but it can also explore some of the most inconsequential phenomena known to man. No less than three essays in this charming collection concern the spillage of breakfast foods, including the title piece on dripping honey and further investigations of why toast always falls with the buttered side down and why coffee stains are ring-shaped.

Other topics probed by Ingram, host of the Discovery Channel's Daily Planet and author of The Science of Everyday Life, include the physics of coin-spinning, stone-skipping and paper-crumpling; the math talents of animals and infants; the six degrees of separation myth; and the cognitive psychology behind a range of desultory human capabilities, from catching a fly ball to working an ATM machine.

Though the scientific theories Ingram unearths are fascinating, more hilarious is the disproportion between effort and importance, as with the elaborate experimental protocols scientists have developed to investigate the feeling people sometimes get of being watched.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County presents Collapse?, a thought-provoking exhibition that draws on ideas from UCLA professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond's book "Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed". This journey through time and place uses the Museum's diverse collections in an original, multimedia-rich installation that explores the links between societies and their environments, asking why some civilizations decline while others flourish. Throughout the exhibit's seven-month run, live evening programs will offer Museum audiences an opportunity to further engage in these ideas.

"A fascinating and important study of popular science in America after the mid-nineteenth century, filled with memorable characters and the amazing demonstrations of their wonders."

Albert Einstein achieved scientific fame by asking questions and solving problems that nobody else had realized were problems.

"A truly remarkable book."

"Genuinely magnificent ... the most stimulating book I have read in a long time."

"What a joy it is to read a book that doesn't simplify, doesn't dodge the difficult questions, and doesn't always pretend to have answers."

"We are addicted to explanation, constantly asking and answering 'why' questions."