Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?

Edited by:
  • Mick O'Hare
Profile £7.99 1861978766 | ISBN: 1-861-97876-6

The book version of New Scientist's 'Last Word' column continues to top the bestseller lists in the run-up to Christmas with more than 180,000 copies sold in Britain so far.

Giant Leaps

  • John Perry &
  • Jack Challoner
Boxtree, £12.99 075222624X | ISBN: 0-752-22624-X

This is an amusing guide to the key discoveries, inventions and events in science, technology and medicine from UK newspaper The Sun and London's Science Museum, told in 'sensational' tabloid style (see picture).

Fly

  • Steven Connor
Reaktion Books, £12.95 $19.95 1861892942 | ISBN: 1-861-89294-2

Perhaps the perfect present for a Drosophila geneticist, this book is an exploration of flies through myth, literature, art and biology.

How to Cut a Cake

  • Ian Stewart
Oxford University Press, £9.99 $14.95 0199205906 | ISBN: 0-199-20590-6

Various mathematical conundrums are featured, such as why phone cords get tangled, which way of tying shoelaces uses he shortest amount of lace, and how to play never-ending chess.

Moths That Drink Elephants' Tears

  • Matt Walker
Portrait Books, £9.99 0749951281 | ISBN: 0-749-95128-1

Why Pandas Do Handstands

  • Augustus Brown
Bantam Press, £9.99 0593056930 1416531904 | ISBN: 1-416-53190-4

These two are collections of facts about curious animal behaviour. So if you want to know which cats purr and which don't, or why female brown trout fake orgasms, Walker's book is the one. Brown offers similar fare, including winking cuttlefish and tobogganing otters. Both have a bibliography but no index.

Bang!

  • Brian May,
  • Patrick Moore &
  • Chris Lintott
Carlton, £20 1844425525 | ISBN: 1-844-42552-5

Queen guitarist and astrophysicist May joins the presenters of The Sky At Night for this lavishly illustrated “complete history of the Universe”.

Ken Libbrecht's Field Guide to Snowflakes

  • Ken Libbrecht
Voyageur Press, $12.95 £7 0760326452 | ISBN: 0-760-32645-2

Explore the icy world of snowflakes, from stellar dendrites to sectored plates, with this wonder of microphotography.

The Brain Box

  • Brian &
  • Deborah Charlesworth
Oxford University Press, £25 0199207976 | ISBN: 0-199-20797-6

For more serious reading, Oxford University Press has themed box sets from its Very Short Introductions series. The Brain Box (£25) has books on evolution (by Brian and Deborah Charlesworth), consciousness (Susan Blackmore), intelligence (Ian Deary), cosmology (Peter Coles) and quantum theory (John Polkinghorne).