LATEST BOOKS
In the Nazi concentration camps, questions did not disappear. They became dangerous.
Why live when death is everywhere?
Why endure when hope is gone?
Why remain human in a world that has forgotten what it means to be human?
Told through four voices linked by one place and one crime, A World Without Why follows a young girl who survives and remembers, a camp commandant who believes cruelty is a duty, a Polish clerk who disappears yet continues to appear in her dreams, and a German guard who risks showing kindness in a system built on fear.
In a world where there was no why, the pursuit of meaning never ceased. It became the sole focus left.
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Life isn’t solely made up of majestic moments. It encompasses the comforting tick of daily rituals, the ordinary miracles of breathing, walking, thinking, laughing, worrying, daydreaming, learning, creating, exploring, empathising, reflecting, feeling and simply being.
This book offers a delightfully scientific stroll through those everyday moments. There are no mantras or manifestos — just short, simple and spirited stories supported by research rather than reverence. Consider it your field guide to being 100% you.
Read it from cover to cover, curled up on the couch, or dip into it randomly whenever you have a spare moment. It is an invaluable source for anyone interested in learning about things they do.
No lab coat or scientific background is required to enjoy these pages. Just bring your curiosity—and perhaps a cup of tea.
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We like to imagine delusions as rare, dramatic failures of the mind. In reality, they grow quietly inside all of us. A hunch becomes a pattern, a feeling becomes a fact, a story becomes a worldview. Intelligent people aren’t immune; they’re often better at building convincing illusions.
This book explores how ordinary minds create extraordinary beliefs, not out of madness but out of the brain’s need for meaning, certainty and coherence. If we can learn to see our illusions forming, we can loosen their grip and choose our stories more wisely.
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BOOKS PUBLISHED BY COMMERCIAL PUBLISHERS (1981 TO 2015) More recent books at the end of this long section
THE TUNGUSKA FIREBALL: SOLVING ONE OF THE GREAT MYSTERIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY
ICON BOOKS, UK, 2005, HB
PAPERBACK PUBLISHED AS THE MYSTERY OF THE TUNGUSKA FIREBALL
BOOKS, UK / TOTEM BOOKS, USA, 2006, PB
Translations
Polish (Amber, 2005, pb)
Italian (Mondadori, 2006, pb)
Hungarian (Partvonal, 2005, hb)
Chinese (Naihai Publishing, 2005, pb)
From Reviews
“Verma waltzes the reader through the process of scientific debate.”
The Guardian, UK
“Readers who like scientific detective stories will find this book very appealing.”
Astronomy Now, UK
WHY AREN’T THEY HERE?: THE QUESTION OF LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS
ICON BOOKS, UK, 2007, HB
ICON BOOKS, UK/TOTEM BOOKS, USA, 2008, PB
From reviews
“A masterpiece of science writing and journalism – in-your-face, direct and beautifully written … a gem of wisdom, scholarship and fun. Verma has the grace of great learning worn lightly.”
BBC Focus, UK
“A calm, intelligent and witty survey of the history of mankind’s search for extraterrestrial life.”
Daily Mail, UK
THE CAUSE OF MOSQUITOES SORROW: BEGINNINGS, BLUNDERS AND BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE
ICON BOOKS, UK, 2007, PB
Translations
Dutch (Veen Magazines, 2008, pb)
Japanese (Chikumashobo, pb 2008)
Korean (Yeuleumsa Publishing, 2008, pb)
From Reviews
“Verma assembles a punchy list … some entries are golden nuggets.”
New Scientist, UK.
“Each incident occupies a page of erudite and often witty information.”
The Sunday Age, Australia
BEGINNINGS, BLUNDERS AND BREAKTHROUGHS IN SCIENCE
US Edition of The Cause of Mosquitoes’ Sorrow: Beginnings, Blunders and Breakthroughs in Science
MJF Books, New York, 2008, hb
Updated and revised editions
In English / Orient Paperbacks, India, 2015, pb
In Portuguese / Autêntica Editora/Gutenberg, Brazil, 2016, pb
THE LITTLE BOOK OF SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES, THEORIES & THINGS
Two Australian editions / New Holland Publishers, Australia, 2005, pb; 2014, hb
One UK edition / New Holland Publishers, UK, 2006, pb
Two US editions / Sterling Publishing, USA, 2006, pb / Metro Books, USA, 2008, hb
Two Indian editions / Orient Paperbacks, 2011, pb/ Jaico Publishing, 2019, pb
Translations
French (Dunod, 2009, pb)
Greek (Ellinika Grammata, 2009, pb)
Farsi/Persian (Maziar Publications, 2008, 2016 pb)
Korean (Jisik-Naite Publishing, 2007, pb)
Turkish (Tubitak Yayihlari, 2013, 2018, pb)
Chinese (Hunan Science & Technology Press, 2010, pb)
Portuguese (Autêntica Editora/Gutenberg, Brazil, 2011, pb)
From Reviews
“Verma writes with wit and clear enjoyment, demystifying the most difficult concepts.”
The Good Book Guide, UK
“Verma’s remarkable little book combines hard practical worth with history and fun.”
Cosmos, Australia
THE LITTLE BOOK OF UNSCIENTIFIC PROPOSITIONS, THEORIES & THINGS
New Holland Publishers (Australia and the UK), 2011, pb / Published in the US 2012, pb
Indian edition / Orient Paperbacks, 2012, pb
Translations
Chinese (Hunan Science & Technology Press, 2012, pb)
Portuguese (Autêntica Editora/Gutenberg, Brazil, pb, 2014)
From reviews
“Verma, a science journalist, has a wicked sense of humour that makes this book a delight to read.”
The Daily Telegraph, Australia
“This is a highly enjoyable and informative little book, exploring some of the more likely terrain between science and fruit loopery.”
Popular Science, UK
THOMAS NELSON, AUSTRALIA
1991
LONGMAN CHESHIRE, AUSTRALIA
1993
UNIVERSITIES PRESS (ORIENT LONGMAN), INDIA
1997 and 1998
BOOKS PUBLISHED ON AMAZON’S KINDLE DIRECT PUBLISHING (KDP)
2011 to 2022
WHO KILLED T. REX?: UNCOVER THE MYSTERY OF THE VANISHED DINOSAURS
A popular science whodunit for children
New Holland Publishers, Australia, 2010, pb
From Reviews
“This is an excellent book, a must for all school libraries”
Reading Times, Children’s Book Council of Australia
“Straightforward and entertaining (who doesn’t love a prehistoric mystery?) … with detailed illustrations and lively prose, it’s a neat package for curious sleuths.”
The Sunday Age, Australia
THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE MIND: HOW WE THINK AND WHY WE THINK
New Holland Publishers, Australia and the UK, 2012, pb
Translations
Italian (De Agostini, 2013, hb)
Chinese (Hunan Science & Technology Press, 2013, pb
From Reviews
“Surendra Verma has built a career out of writing short, sharp books that tinker with big issues of science and existence. This one tackles how brain works and why. It pooh-poohs myths such as the innate differences between male and female brains and tries to tell us why we feel dreadful when a lover dumps us … Verdict: science lite, but heaps of fun.”
The Herald Sun, Australia
“Fascinating and entertaining … A great read for one and all.”
Bluewolf Reviews
SCIENCE IN 100 WORDS
Orient Paperbacks, India, 2015, pb
MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, AUSTRALIA
1981 and 1986
LEARN & UNLEARN: THE NOVEL WAY TO RETHINK THE THINGS THAT MATTER IN YOUR LIFE|New Holland Publishers, Australia and the UK, 2015, hb
From Reviews
“A thoughtful and practical book.”
Daily Mercury, Australia
“While not a life or attitude guide, it urges readers in a realistic, evidence-backed and subtly witty way to open up to new realties and possibilities by unlearning old habits and unhealthy behaviours, minus the condescending ‘how-to’ discourse that litters far too many bookshop shelves.”
The Retiree, Australia
EDUCATION BOOKS
THE LITTLE BOOK OF MATHS THEOREMS, THEORIES & THINGS
New Holland Publishers, Australia, 2008, pb / Published in the US in 2009, pb
Indian edition / Orient Paperbacks, 2010, pb
Translation
Portuguese (Autêntica Editora/Gutenberg, Brazil, 2013, pb)
From Reviews
“This fun book is a great way to discover the wonder of maths.”
Cosmos, Australia
“Despite complexities, the different mathematical theories have been handled with deftness … evoke the feeling of exciting narratives, the arguments sweep in epic style.”
Alive Magazine, India
RECENT BOOKS
The circle is more than just a shape—it is a symbol of existence. Science has traditionally favoured the straight line—cause and effect, past and future, input and output.
The Eternal Dance of Circles invites you to see the world differently: not as a machine, but as a dance of loops. From the spirals of galaxies to the feedback of thoughts, this book explores links between physics, biology and neuroscience to reveal the circular patterns that pulse through reality.
It’s science as a story, spun in circles, but no background in science is needed to read it—only wonder.
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Daydream Create Succeed is your creative partner for transforming vague ideas into bold realities. Using wit, science, psychology, stories and a touch of daydreaming, it demonstrates that wandering minds are not distractions but intentional features, explains how boredom fosters brilliance, why ‘unrealistic’ ideas spark innovation and shows how to turn invisible thoughts into visible breakthroughs.
It’s a book for anyone whose best ideas come when they are in the shower, walking or gazing out the window—a book about doing, the imaginative way.
For artists, entrepreneurs, inventors, students, thinkers or secret dreamers who dare to pursue what doesn’t yet exist.
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Science isn’t just about discovering answers; it’s about the glorious moment when the mind exclaims wow! and softly questions why? – all at once.
Science Interrobangs presents 25 of the most captivating questions science has ever dared to ask: each one a blend of wonder and curiosity, awe and enquiry. These extraordinary yet accessible explorations span from the quantum to the cosmic, from the origins of life to the frontiers of understanding. They transform physics, biology, and philosophy into a seamless dialogue: one that resonates with amazement and humility alike.
This book celebrates curiosity in its most thrilling form. Bring a cup of tea and join the long conversation between curiosity and the cosmos.
~*~
In the rush of daily life, we rarely pause to ask why:
Why does love change over time?
Why is saying sorry so hard?
Why does kindness feel so powerful?
Everyday Interrobangs offers 100 short reflections, each starting with a question about aspects of life such as love, memory and hope. Drawing on psychology, philosophy, science and daily experience, each chapter offers a brief meditation on what it means to be human.
Written for curious readers from all walks of life, Everyday Interrobangs offers comfort without clichés, depth without complexity and insight without pretension. It is a book to dip into, revisit and keep close—a companion for tranquil mornings, reflective evenings and thoughtful pauses.
Most importantly, it reminds us that wonder is not exclusive to scientists or philosophers. It belongs to everyone who has ever paused, even briefly and asked: Why does this matter to me?
~*~
Philosophy Interrobangs
Before there were answers, there were questions.
Someone looked at the world and wondered: Why is it like this?! That small spark has never gone out. It lives in late-night conversations, quiet doubts, and the sudden feeling that the obvious isn’t so obvious after all.
Philosophy isn’t a museum of old ideas. It’s a living conversation about the most important questions: how to live, what to believe, whether we’re free, what’s real and why any of it matters. These questions are not owned by any single thinker. They belong to everyone curious enough to ask.
This book is a collection of those big, persistent, beautiful questions. Not to settle them but to explore them. Each one invites us to pause, reflect, and perhaps see the familiar world with slightly wider eyes.
The interrobang—part question, part exclamation—perfectly captures the spirit. Philosophy begins with curiosity and persists in wonder. So, bring your questions; that's where the true conversation begins.
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As India seeks a new identity after the Raj, a wealthy businessman, Vijay Jaipal, is found dead in his mansion nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas—his eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. Long before his death, Jaipal had risen from obscurity by entangling Terry Lonsdale, a gentle British irrigation engineer, in a web of subtle manipulation.
When Detective Inspector Shakeel Sagar arrives to investigate, he uncovers not just a crime but a tangled web of pain, longing and hidden truths. There is Anika Jaipal, the deceased man’s granddaughter, trembling on the brink of collapse and seeking solace in her devotion to a holy man whose past is shrouded in darkness. There is Nisha, scarred by that darkness. And then there is Joseph Chase, a scandal-sheet editor who wields secrets as a means of survival and a weapon for destruction.
As Sagar navigates their complex lives, he begins to realise that the murder is merely a superficial disturbance of something quieter and more enduring: the stories people tell themselves to endure their own emptiness and the fierce, impossible desire to hold on to what was never truly theirs.
Cuddling the Air is a psychological fugue disguised as a mystery—an exploration of memory, self-deception and the fragile, futile attempt to hold on to what is already slipping away.
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Audio edition available in the US only
Updated 2024 edition of the most popular book on the riddle of the incredible Siberian explosion of 1908, The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball, first published by Icon Books, UK, in 2005.
At about 7:15 a.m. on June 30, 1908, a massive fireball exploded in the skies over Siberia. With force a thousand times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb, it levelled over 2,000 square kilometres of the remote Tunguska forest—an area larger than metropolitan London—sending a mushroom cloud towering into the stratosphere.
What was it? A wayward black hole, a crashing comet, a rogue asteroid, an exotic rock of antimatter or mirror matter, a methane gas blast from below, an alien spacecraft, a laser beam fired by extraterrestrials, or an early experiment in nuclear physics that got out of hand?
Nearly a century and a quarter on, this grand dame of science mysteries still fascinates scientists and charlatans alike.
Whichever way you look, the Tunguska event is a captivating journey in serious science, speculative science and science fiction. This informative and engaging book invites you to explore that journey and perhaps glimpse the truth behind this enigmatic explosion.
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First published in 2007 by Icon Books, UK, as Why Aren’t They Here: The Question of Life on Other Worlds
Is there anybody out there? Are other life forms lurking in outer space – or are they already here?
This calm, intelligent, and witty survey of humanity’s search for extraterrestrial life brilliantly outlines the historical, fictional, speculative, and emerging scientific opinions on what alien life might be like.
The fast-moving narrative examines facts, dispels myths and focuses on the possibilities lurking in space. In a popular and easy-to-read style, the author uses current research to speculate what life is like on exoplanets (or extra-solar planets), how we might communicate with it, and what Earth might seem like to visitors.
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When a young girl witnesses the brutal, cold-blooded murder of her parents by a Nazi commandant in a concentration camp, a fierce desire for vengeance consumes her. She dreams of seeing two bullet holes in the commandant’s forehead, his cruel face drenched in a cascade of crimson blood.
Her odyssey of revenge is not a tale of myth and legend. There are no stormy seas or enchanted traps—only the relentless pursuit of a monstrous Nazi who lurks in plain sight, first as a revered holy man in India and then as an unassuming teacher in Australia.
Years later, as she watches blood trickle from two precise holes in the monster’s forehead, one question lingers: who robbed her of her lifelong pursuit of justice?
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This book provides a refreshing walk-through of science from the 6th century BCE to the 21st century. It explains 200 hypotheses, theories, laws, principles, equations, rules, and other things that form the essence of science. The ideas are arranged in chronological order, though an alphabetical list is also included.
It is the perfect essence of scientific knowledge in one easy-to-read book. Read it from cover to cover, curled up on the couch, or dip into it randomly when you have a spare moment. It’s an invaluable source for anyone interested in science.
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