Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Maryland

The Suppressed Scientific Discoveries of Stephen Gray and John Flamsteed

One of the great figures in history, Sir Isaac Newton personifies the triumph of scientific reason over ignorance. Yet for all his contributions to the Enlightenment, Newton was a deeply complex man who sometimes aggressively tried to obscure the intellectual achievements of others.

Newton’s Tyranny is the story of two men who felt the full wrath of the great man’s hostility—the Reverend John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, and Stephen Gray, a humble dyer and amateur scientist. United not only by a love of science, but by a bitter and protracted conflict with Newton, the two men made significant contributions to science despite the obstacles that Newton placed in their path. Gray produced the first experiment in electrical communications, and Flamsteed pioneered observational astronomy and navigation.

Drawing upon letters and historical documents,Newton’s Tyranny vividly recreates the British scientific community of the early 18th century. It was an era of great achievement, but the crucible of science was often heated by Machiavellian intrigue, uncontrollable ambition, and larger-than-life personalities. Against this dramatic setting, the saga of Newton, Flamsteed and Gray unfolds, a story of loyalty and commitment against great odds.

A fascinating look at a forgotten piece of science history,Newton’s Tyranny exposes the dark side of a flawed genius while celebrating the ultimate triumph of two unsung heroes.


Newton's Tyranny

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Neil Baldwin

An inspirational read for anyone dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur, inventor or pioneer

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Inventing the Century

A biography of an American legend reveals the ambitious, uneducated, contradictory man behind the myths--a man obsessed with knowledge. By the author of To All Gentleness: William Carlos Williams, The Doctor-Poet. 25,000 first printing.

Edison

991ec35f-4dd5-4d9d-9cdd-fc0516e063cc-1

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New Jersey

Twelve-year-old genius and outsider Willow Chance must figure out how to connect with other people and find a surrogate family for herself after her parents are killed in a car accident.

Counting By 7s

91eb9c64-2a0d-4dfb-bca5-0c45c2d3ccb9-1

Dava Sobel

Minnesota

The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives, and the increasing fortunes of nations, hung on a resolution.

The scientific establishment of Europe--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in both hemispheres in its certain pursuit of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest, and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Longitude

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New York

Stuart Gibbs

Michigan

"Fast-paced, smart, and action-packed...a real page-burner." --Chris Grabenstein, #1 New York Times bestelling author of the Mr. Lemoncello's Library series

A 2020 Texas Lone Star Reading List Pick

From New York Times bestselling author Stuart Gibbs comes the first novel in a thrilling new series about the world's youngest and smartest genius who's forced to use her unbelievable code-breaking skills to outsmart Einstein.

Charlie Thorne is a genius.
Charlie Thorne is a thief.
Charlie Thorne isn't old enough to drive.

And now it's up to her to save the world...

Decades ago, Albert Einstein devised an equation that could benefit all life on earth--or destroy it. Fearing what would happen if the equation fell into the wrong hands, he hid it.

But now, a diabolical group known as the Furies are closing in on its location. In desperation, a team of CIA agents drags Charlie into the hunt, needing her brilliance to find it first--even though this means placing her life in grave danger.

In a breakneck adventure that spans the globe, Charlie must crack a complex code created by Einstein himself, struggle to survive in a world where no one can be trusted, and fight to keep the last equation safe once and for all.

Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation

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Utah

Bryan Spektor

Virginia

1000 Fun Facts for Immature Adults: Random Trivia and Weird Truths You Should Know Vol. 1

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Pennsylvania

Is my dog a genius?

Oklahoma

Lessons from the World's Most Creative Places

Tag along on this New York Times bestselling "witty, entertaining romp" (The New York Times Book Review) as Eric Winer travels the world, from Athens to Silicon Valley--and back through history, too--to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times.

In this "intellectual odyssey, traveler's diary, and comic novel all rolled into one" (Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness), acclaimed travel writer Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. A "superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, and self-deprecating" (The Washington Post), he explores the history of places like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. With his trademark insightful humor, this "big-hearted humanist" (The Wall Street Journal) walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, "What was in the air, and can we bottle it?"

"Fun and thought provoking" (Miami Herald), The Geography of Genius reevaluates the importance of culture in nurturing creativity and "offers a practical map for how we can all become a bit more inventive" (Adam Grant, author of Originals).

The Geography of Genius

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Ethan Canin

Basically like-new condition with a small scrape on the top edge of the back cover (pictured).

Vermont

A Novel

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In this mesmerizing novel, Ethan Canin, the author of America America and The Palace Thief, explores the nature of genius, rivalry, ambition, and love among multiple generations of a gifted family.

Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo's eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there--and the rival he meets alongside her--will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo's brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.

Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A Doubter's Almanac tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A Doubter's Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as "the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation."

Praise for A Doubter's Almanac

"551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . . You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your relationships. It's a rare book that can do that, and it's a rare joy to discover such a book."--Esquire

"[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You might not know where he's taking you, but the characters are so vivid, Hans's voice rendered so precisely, that it's impossible not to trust in the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his prose."--Slate

"Alternately explosive and deeply interior."--New York ("Eight Books You Need to Read")

"A blazingly intelligent novel."--Los Angeles Times

"[A] beautifully written novel."--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

A Doubter's Almanac

7bd6c3a8-bbb2-4c6c-83a1-d8abec37c31e-1

Nigel Cawthorne

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Florida

The Life and Times of an Electric Messiah

Despite being incredibly popular during his time, Nikola Tesla today remains largely overlooked among lists of the greatest inventors and scientists of the modern era. Thomas Edison gets all the glory for discovering the light bulb, but it was his one-time assistant and lifelong arch nemesis, Tesla, who made the breakthrough in alternating current technology. Edison and Tesla carried on a bitter feud for years, but it was Tesla's AC generators that illuminated the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago; the first time that an event of such magnitude had ever taken place under artificial light. Today, all homes and electrical appliances run on Tesla's AC current. Born in Croatia in 1856, Tesla spoke eight languages and almost single-handedly developed household electricity. During his life, he patented more than 700 inventions. He invented electrical generators, FM radio, remote control robots, spark plugs and fluorescent lights. He had a photographic memory and did advanced calculus and physics equations in his head. Nikola Tesla was the ultimate mad scientist. Like many other geniuses throughout history, Tesla was wildly eccentric. He was prone to nervous breakdowns, reported receiving odd visions in the middle of the night, spoke to pigeons, and occasionally thought he was receiving electromagnetic signals from Mars. If he'd lived today, he'd likely be diagnosed with an obsessive compulsive disorder: he hated round objects and disliked numbers that weren't divisible by the three.

Tesla

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Rated an impressive 4.1 out of 5 on Goodreads

The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth

Based on a National Magazine Award-winning article, this masterful biography of Hungarian-born Paul Erdos is both a vivid portrait of an eccentric genius and a layman's guide to some of this century's most startling mathematical discoveries.

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

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Mary Pope Osborne

Jack and Annie travel five hundred years back in time to Florence, Italy, and spend a day helping Leonardo da Vinci in the hope of learning another secret of happiness.

Monday with a Mad Genius

ee86391b-d218-4faa-98d9-71c390469a2f-1

William A. Donius

Tennessee

How to Unlock Your Inner Genius

Encompassing twelve years of research, the book takes readers on an unexpected journey that will set them free, and it all begins with moving the pen from one hand to the other. The technique is called "Intuitive", or "nondominant" hand writing and is the basis for this revolutionary approach to making lasting life changes.

Thought Revolution

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If you're not lost, you might need to swim against the tide.

Gordon Korman

This NYT best selling author has written scores of books for middle-grade and teen readers. A troublemaker student is accidentally sent to a gifted academy, proving that genius I.Q.s are no match for alternative gifts like perseverance, street-smarts, and plain dumb luck. 280 pages. Size 6 x 8-1/2”. 

Illinois

The word gifted has never been applied to a kid like Donovan Curtis. It's usually more like Don't try this at home. So when the troublemaker pulls a major prank at his middle school, he thinks he's finally gone too far. But thanks to a mix-up by one of the administrators, instead of getting in trouble, Donovan is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction (ASD), a special program for gifted and talented students. It wasn't exactly what Donovan had intended, but there couldn't be a more perfect hideout for someone like him. That is, if he can manage to fool people whose IQs are above genius level. And that becomes harder and harder as the students and teachers of ASD grow to realize that Donovan may not be good at math or science (or just about anything). But after an ongoing experiment with a live human (sister), an unforgettably dramatic middle-school dance, and the most astonishing come-from-behind robot victory ever, Donovan shows that his gifts might be exactly what the ASD students never knew they needed.

Ungifted

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Margaret Cheney

Man Out of Time

Explores the life and career of the eccentric, trailblazing nineteenth-century scientist and inventor, the man who introduced the fundamentals of robotry and computer and missile science and who harnessed the alternating electrical current used today. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.

53ab0a18-0b12-4018-b83d-c4e95c4a73b0-1

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Bismarck

If you're lost, you might need to swim against the tide.

Darold A. Treffert

Summarizes reported cases and the observations of their chroniclers; outlines new theories put forward by various investigators; and discusses implications the savant syndrome has for understanding normal brain function. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Texas

Understanding "Idiot Savants"

The world's foremost expert on the amazing phenomenon of the Savant Syndrome describes this exceedingly rare condition in which persons with severe mental handicaps have spectacular islands of genius which stand in stark contrast to their disabilities. LG Featured Alternate.

Extraordinary People - First Edition 

83a75dbf-9cd2-4eba-9ba0-e98755f770e3-1

Charles Proteus Steinmetz

The Man Who Tamed Lightening 

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David H. Clark; Stephen P. H. Clark

Newton's Tyranny

Neil Baldwin

Edison

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Dava Sobel

Longitude

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Stuart Gibbs

Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Bryan Spektor

1000 Fun Facts for Immature Adults: Random Trivia and Weird Truths You Should Know Vol. 1

SJG

Is my dog a genius?

Eric Weiner

The Geography of Genius

Ethan Canin

A Doubter's Almanac

Nigel Cawthorne

Tesla

Paul Hoffman

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Mary Pope Osborne

Monday with a Mad Genius

William A. Donius

Thought Revolution

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Gordon Korman

Ungifted

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Margaret Cheney

Tesla

Crankshaw

Bismarck

Holly Goldberg Sloan

Counting By 7s

Darold A. Treffert

Extraordinary People - First Edition

Floyd Miller

The Man Who Tamed Lightening