Barnes & Noble have chosen Michael Brooks's 13 Things That Don't Make Sense for an online Spotlight Review this week. Paul Di Filippo describes the book as "a fascinating and humbling perspective on humanity's vaunted scientific wisdom", adding that the chapters are "arranged with beautiful logic". "Concise historical backstory and vivid portraits of researchers offer a true sense of the Great Work of science and the still-murky dark corners of its realm", he says. The book was published last month by Doubleday in the US, and will appear in the UK early next year.

Bella Shand at Granta has acquired world English rights in a book that provides a radically new view of meteorites and their role in the evolution of life on Earth. In Incoming: Or Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Meteorite, the science writer Ted Nield shows that far from leading to pestilence, global holocaust and mass extinction, meteorites are coming to be seen as immensely useful messengers from the cosmos. Contrary to popular belief, he argues, scientists haven't identified the impact crater associated with the wipe-out of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago – lots besides meteorites were killing things off at the time. In fact, as Ted points out, new research is beginning to uncover the life-bringing aspects of meteorites. The latest evidence suggests, for example, that they may well have been responsible for one of our planet's greatest bursts in biodiversity, some 470 million years ago.

Deals for Jesse Bering's Under God's Skin have just been concluded with Nicholas Brealey Publishing for UK & Commonwealth rights and with Ediciones Paidos for Spanish rights. Nicholas Brealey is a London/Boston-based independent publisher of 'innovative books in business and economics, self-help and psychology, travel writing and crossing cultures', and Jesse's book will join their growing popular psychology list which includes such titles as Martin Seligman's Authentic Happiness. Paidos is the Spanish publisher of Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought, Daniel Dennett's Freedom Evolves and Nassim Taleb's The Black Swan.

Agent Research and Evaluation has given the Science Factory 'full marks' in its July email newsletter, Talking Agents. Headed by husband-and-wife team Bill and Beverly Swerling Martin, this US-based consultancy assesses the strengths and weaknesses of agents on both sides of the Atlantic and helps writers to find effective literary representation. Peter Tallack recently talked to Bill Martin about the Science Factory, and Bill reports that he was 'very impressed'. He goes on to say, 'One group Tallack's after is the special universe that years ago put John Brockman on the map, i.e. heavily credentialed scientists with a book that has some hope of interesting the general public. So if you're one of those with one of them, this guy looks especially good.' And after briefly describing a few Science Factory titles, he concludes, 'It is apparent that Tallack is not exactly like Brockman. You don't have to be a Nobel laureate to get a look-in (though it can't hurt)... [Tallack] is after the zeitgeist zinger... [he] has a backlist, a frontlist, and lots of irons in the fire. Full marks from us.' More information about Agent Research and Evaluation can be found at www.agentresearch.com.

Angela von der Lippe at Norton has acquired at auction North American rights in Jesse Bering's UNDER GOD'S SKIN: The Hidden Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life. In the book, Jesse examines how people's everyday thoughts, behaviours and emotions betray a default tendency to reason as though supernatural beings are deeply invested in their public lives and secret affairs. A lead researcher in the €2-million European Commission 'Explaining Religion' project, he also provides some of the first evidence for the 'naturalness' of beliefs in signs, omens and the afterlife. Publication is planned for Spring 2010, but those who want an early dose of the author's provocative thoughts should subscribe to his Psychology Today blog Quirky Little Things.