Renée Schroeder is a multi-faceted woman. A biochemist based in Vienna, she fought her way to the top of the international scientific community. No small undertaking for a woman in this field. Now in her 'unretirement', she has started a new career on her own farm, researching wild herbs. Renée Schroeder's life has never been conventional. Born in Brazil in 1953, her family moved to Luxembourg when she was a child and then to the Austrian town of Bruck an der Mur. After training in Munich, Paris and the US, she settled in Vienna to build her career. A staunch atheist, she has fought many battles relating to science and feminism. This is a compelling biography about an extraordinary and strong-minded woman.

70, 000 years ago, humans were first able to form a thought about something that didn't exist. What sounds simple actually marks the birth of human culture and poses the outset for a range of inventions that have formed human nature and haven't necessarily changed us for the better. We thought up myths and religions and invented languages, money and racism. Now humankind is about to complete its greatest invention: itself. Science allows us to continue our own evolution. Renée Schroeder looks back at the short period of humankind's existence, takes a detour into genetics and proclaims a new age of enlightenment.

Biochemist Renée Schroeder learns from cells and bacteria, which exist in an environment of controlled growth and selfless behavior. In light of uncontrolled economical growth and an explosive surge in birth rates, it has become clear: We can't continue on the path we're on! We are in need of a new society with new values, where quality is more important than quantity. Renée Schroeder draws parallels between her research and the world we live in, with remarkable results. She points out new ways for us to save our planet and ourselves! Her most important rule is: Keep on thinking! A fearless plea for responsibility, for rethinking our actions – a book that gives hope.

Are you a vegetarian? There are lots of reasons to be one – like our health or the conditions and ecological consequences of intensive livestock farming. But isn’t the idea that we do not have the right to eat animals because we do not have the right to kill animals reason enough? Nothing forces us to do it after all, least of all our nature. So why aren’t you a vegetarian yet? Nothing would be more decent and better for you, for everybody else and for our closest relatives: animals. Iris Radisch and Eberhard Rathgeb turn the tables and prove that there aren’t any good, convincing arguments to eat animals. They have collected literary and philosophical texts which full of shock and despair describe how we are still doing it. For centuries humans have dealt with the question of who is allowed to kill whom and why.

Economic crisis, migration, environmental problems and creating tolerance for diversity are some of the main issues of today’s world. Earlier societies dealt with these kinds of problems as well. In the end, every era finds its own answers. Sabine Ladstätter takes us on a tour into the past, to archeological sites and to the stories of their discovery – searching for the answers that people from other eras found for questions we still ask today. This book cleverly proves that archeology is more than bones, stones and shards. It’s a science that can deliver answers about the past that help us gain socially relevant insights for today. Archeology is adventure!