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Philip Ball profile picture
Philip Ball
Author · 31 books
Philip Ball (born 1962) is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Ball's most-popular book is the 2004 Critical Mass: How One Things Leads to Another, winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.

Series

Books

Branches book cover

Branches

Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts

2008

The Water Kingdom book cover

The Water Kingdom

A Secret History of China

2017

Beyond Weird book cover

Beyond Weird

2018

Curiosity book cover

Curiosity

How Science Became Interested in Everything

2012

H2O book cover

H2O

A Biography of Water

1999

The Self-Made Tapestry book cover

The Self-Made Tapestry

Pattern Formation in Nature

1999

Beautiful Experiments book cover

Beautiful Experiments

An Illustrated History of Experimental Science

2023

Stories of the Invisible book cover

Stories of the Invisible

A Guided Tour of Molecules

2003

Serving the Reich book cover

Serving the Reich

The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler

2013

How to Grow a Human book cover

How to Grow a Human

Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made

2019

Flow book cover

Flow

Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts

2008

Critical Mass book cover

Critical Mass

How One Thing Leads to Another

2003

The Modern Myths book cover

The Modern Myths

Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination

2021

How Life Works book cover

How Life Works

A User’s Guide to the New Biology

2023

Patterns in Nature book cover

Patterns in Nature

Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does

2016

The Elements book cover

The Elements

A Visual History of Their Discovery

2021

Universe of Stone book cover

Universe of Stone

Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind

2008

Unnatural book cover

Unnatural

The Heretical Idea of Making People

2011

The Beauty of Chemistry book cover

The Beauty of Chemistry

Art, Wonder, and Science

2021

The Devil's Doctor book cover

The Devil's Doctor

Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science

2006

Invisible book cover

Invisible

The Dangerous Allure of the Unseen

2014

Shapes book cover

Shapes

Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts

2008

Elegant Solutions book cover

Elegant Solutions

Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry

2005

The Music Instinct book cover

The Music Instinct

How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It

2010

Bright Earth book cover

Bright Earth

The Invention of Colour

1999

Designing the Molecular World book cover

Designing the Molecular World

Chemistry at the Frontier

1994

The Ingredients book cover

The Ingredients

A Guided Tour of the Elements

2002

The Elements book cover

The Elements

A Very Short Introduction

2004

Why Society is a Complex Matter book cover

Why Society is a Complex Matter

Meeting Twenty-first Century Challenges with a New Kind of Science

2012

Made to Measure book cover

Made to Measure

New Materials for the 21st Century

1997

The Book of Minds book cover

The Book of Minds

How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings, from Animals to AI to Aliens

2022

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Philip Ball