Planetary Dreams: The Quest to Discover Life Beyond Earth

  • Robert Shapiro
Wiley, $16.95, £12.50

Survival Strategies

  • Raghavendra Gadagkar
Harvard University Press, $17.95, £12.50

The Scalpel and the Butterfly: The Conflict between Animal Research and Animal Protection

  • Deborah Rudacille
University of California Press, £12.95, $17.95

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea

  • Charles Seife
Souvenir Press, £9.99, $13

Travels to the Nanoworld: Miniature Machinery in Nature and Technology

  • Michael Gross
Perseus, $16, £11.99

“The style of writing is hard to place ... although Gross's humour and enthusiasm are considerable compensation ... This book provides captivating snapshots, but sometimes lacks the narrative of a good movie, or book for that matter.” Philip Ball, Nature 402, 119–120 (1999)