Disasters arise from a lack of preparedness, which may result from individual actions or a lack of political will. They arise from the political processes dictating where and what we build, and from social circumstances which create and perpetuate poverty and discrimination.

From a couples’ meet-cute to businesspeople who’ve turned misfires into multi-million dollar ideas, Christian reveals the secrets behind the hidden force that rules the universe – serendipity. Taking us from the everyday numbers that govern our health and wellbeing to the statistics used to wield enormous power and influence, ‘The Number Bias’ counsels us to think more wisely. Disaster by Choice really brings the examples and recommendations down to our daily lives and practices to make them more impactful. One day later a wildfire lit up the forest in the Cold Springs Fire, which killed numerous animals, forced 2000 people to evacuate, and destroyed eight homes.

The Geological Society of London is the UK's national society for geoscience, providing support to over 12,000 members in the UK and overseas. A thin, invisible layer of air surrounds the Earth, sustaining all known life on the planet and creating the unique climates and weather patterns that make each part of the world different. effective human action that limits damage, such as managing flooding in Toronto and villages in Bangladesh, or wildfires in Colorado. Disaster by Choice demonstrates in a vivid and engaging way why big issues like the current climate crisis, where people are starting to accept that their actions can contribute to a collective result on a global scale, are just the tip of the iceberg.

Sanne Blauw travels the world to unpick our relationship with numbers and demystify our misguided allegiance, from Florence Nightingale using statistics to petition for better conditions during the Crimean War to the manipulation of numbers by the American tobacco industry and the ambiguous figures pedalled during the EU referendum. Environmental psychology and philosophy take us from "solastalgia" to radical anticipation of a new era.Disasters arise when we fail to build suitable housing capable of withstanding 400 kph winds, fail to shun places subject to lava flows or tsunamis, or do not create a culture of warning and safe shelter for all – including for those with disabilities. This Way to the Universe’ is a celebration of the astounding, ongoing scientific investigations that have revealed the nature of reality at its smallest, at its largest, and at the scale of our daily lives. From the workings of its different layers to why carbon dioxide is special, from pioneers like Pascal to the unsung heroes working in the field to help us understand climate change, ‘Firmament’ introduces us to an oft-overlooked area of science and not only lays the ground work for us to better understand the debates surrounding the climate today, but also provides a glimpse of the future that is possible with this knowledge in hand. However, eight houses within the burnt area were participating in the Wildfire Partners programme of mitigation measures. They develop from the social preference to blame nature for the damage wrought, when in fact events such as earthquakes and storms are entirely commonplace environmental processes.