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books tagged “popular science”
books tagged “popular science”
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101 Things You Don't Know About Science and No One Else Does Eitherby James S. TrefilISBN 0395877407 (0-395-87740-7)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: '101 Things You Don't Know About Science and No One Else Does Either'Book summary:James Trefil takes the reader on a thrilling tour across the borders of current scientific knowledge-from astronomy to genetics, from information technology to cosmology, the great contested questions that preoccupy researchers today and will become headlines tomorrow. In elegant, witty three-page summations, Dr. Trefil "makes sense of science for the rest of us" (Washington Post).[via]More editions of 101 Things You Don't Know About Science and No One Else Does Either:
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Adam's Curse: A Future Without Menby Bryan SykesISBN 0393058964 (0-393-05896-4)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men'Book summary:Bryan Sykes follows up The Seven Daughters of Eve with the equally challenging and well-written Adam's Curse. This time, instead of following humanity's heritage back to the first women, Sykes looks forward to a possible future without men. The seeds of the book's topics were sown when Sykes met a pre-eminent pharmaceutical company chairman who shared his surname. Using the Y chromosome, which is passed nearly unchanged from father to son, the author found that he shared a distant ancestor with the other Sykes. Along the way, he discovered that the Y chromosome was worth examining more closely. The first third of Adam's Curse is devoted to a clear and comprehensive lesson about genetics, the second narrates several fascinating stories of tracing ancestry via the Y chromosome, and the last chapters explore the history of male humanity and its future. Some readers will eagerly skim until they reach Chapter 21, where Sykes gets to the heart of the matter--why and how the Y chromosome has created a world where men overwhelmingly own the wealth and power, commit the crimes, and fight the wars. He uses the structural puniness of the Y chromosome to demonstrate that men are as unnecessary biologically as they are dominant socially. Sykes' provocative and quite personal book is likely to be unpopular among science readers who prefer their biology divorced from sociology, but his points taken in context will be difficult to refute. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Adam's Curse: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Destinyby Bryan SykesISBN 0393326802 (0-393-32680-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Adam's Curse: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Destiny'Book summary:Bryan Sykes follows up The Seven Daughters of Eve with the equally challenging and well-written Adam's Curse. This time, instead of following humanity's heritage back to the first women, Sykes looks forward to a possible future without men. The seeds of the book's topics were sown when Sykes met a pre-eminent pharmaceutical company chairman who shared his surname. Using the Y chromosome, which is passed nearly unchanged from father to son, the author found that he shared a distant ancestor with the other Sykes. Along the way, he discovered that the Y chromosome was worth examining more closely. The first third of Adam's Curse is devoted to a clear and comprehensive lesson about genetics, the second narrates several fascinating stories of tracing ancestry via the Y chromosome, and the last chapters explore the history of male humanity and its future. Some readers will eagerly skim until they reach Chapter 21, where Sykes gets to the heart of the matter--why and how the Y chromosome has created a world where men overwhelmingly own the wealth and power, commit the crimes, and fight the wars. He uses the structural puniness of the Y chromosome to demonstrate that men are as unnecessary biologically as they are dominant socially. Sykes' provocative and quite personal book is likely to be unpopular among science readers who prefer their biology divorced from sociology, but his points taken in context will be difficult to refute. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Amateur Naturalist: A Practical Guide to the Natural Worldby Gerald Durrell, Lee DurrellISBN 0394533909 (0-394-53390-9)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Amateur Naturalist: A Practical Guide to the Natural World'Book summary:Now available in paperback, a practical guide to the natural world which offers advice on observing, monitoring, recording, studying and helping to conserve nature. First published in 1982. [via]
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Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?: Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topicsby Martin GardnerISBN 0393325725 (0-393-32572-5)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?: Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topics'Book summary:"Something about Gardner's prosestraight-ahead, factual, free of literary pretensionis deliciously addictive."Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World
Martin Gardner"one of the most brilliant men and gracious writers I have ever known," wrote Stephen Jay Gouldis the wittiest, most devastating debunker of scientific fraud and chicanery of our time. In this new book Gardner explores startling scientific concepts, such as the possibility of multiple universes and the theory that time can go backwards. Armed with his expert, skeptical eye, he examines the bizarre tangents produced by Freudians and deconstructionists in their critiques of "Little Red Riding Hood," and reveals the fallacies of pseudoscientific cures, from Dr. Bruno Bettelheim's erroneous theory of autism to the cruel farces of Facilitated Communication and Primal Scream Therapy. Ever prolific, and still engaging at the spry age of eighty-eight, Gardner has become an American institution unto himself, a writer to be celebrated. [via]More editions of Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries?: Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topics:
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Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshimaby Diana PrestonISBN 0425207897 (0-425-20789-7)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima'Book summary:In 1898, Marie Curie first described a phenomenon she called "radioactivity." A half-century later, two physicists would stand before dawn in the New Mexico desert, slathering themselves with sunscreen-and fearing that the imminent test detonation might ignite Earth's atmosphere in a cataclysmic chain reaction and transform our planet into a burning star.[via]
This is the epic story of Curie's quest to unlock the secrets of the material world; of the scientists-Rutherford, Bohr, Einstein, Oppenheimer-who built upon her work; of the day the first weapon of mass destruction dropped on Hiroshima, bringing both sudden terror and sudden peace, and of the new era of global uncertainty that emerged in its wake. With the clarity of great science writing, the vividness of historical narrative and the insight of biography, Before the Fallout is an unforgettable and sweeping account of the scientific discovery that changed the world.More editions of Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima:
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Beyond Freedom & Dignityby Burrhus Frederic SkinnerISBN 0394425553 (0-394-42555-3)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beyond Freedom & Dignity'Book summary:In this profound and profoundly controversial work, a landmark of 20th-century thought originally published in 1971, B F Skinner makes his definitive statement about humankind and society. The book urges us to re-examine the ideals we have taken for granted and to consider the possibility of a radically behaviourist approach to human problems -- one that has appeared to some incompatible with those ideals, but which envisions the building of a world in which humankind can attain its greatest possible achievements. [via]
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Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Manby John Allen PaulosISBN 0394586409 (0-394-58640-9)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beyond Numeracy: Ruminations of a Numbers Man'Book summary:Beyond Numeracy by bestselling author John Allen Paulos is, according to the introduction, "in part a dictionary, in part a collection of short mathematical essays, and in part the ruminations of a numbers man." This book is genuinely different from other books on mathematics intended for a wide audience as the essay topics are indisputably diverse. (Titles include "Human Consciousness, Its Fractal Nature" and "Mathematics in Ethics.") Furthermore, Paulos's unique sense of humor and ability to intelligently editorialize are delightful--especially in a book on such a dry subject. [via]
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A Book of Bees: And How to Keep Themby Sue HubbellISBN 0395883245 (0-395-88324-5)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Building Bigby David MacaulayISBN 0395963311 (0-395-96331-1)
Hardcover, Walter Lorraine
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Can You Speak Venusian: A Guide to the Independent Thinkersby Patrick MooreISBN 0393063941 (0-393-06394-1)
Hardcover, Norton
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The Case of the Missing Neutrinos: And Other Curious Phenomena of the Universeby John GribbinISBN 0425174077 (0-425-17407-7)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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Catastrophesby Isaac AsimovISBN 0449244253 (0-449-24425-3)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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Chariots of the Godsby Erich Von DanikenISBN 0425074811 (0-425-07481-1)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Chariots of the Gods'Book summary:Erich von Dä niken's "Chariots of the Gods" is a work of monumental importance--the first book to introduce the shocking theory that ancient Earth had been visited by aliens. This world-famous bestseller has withstood the test of time, inspiring countless books and films, including the author's own popular sequel, "The Eyes of the Sphinx." But here is where it all began--von Dä niken's startling theories of our earliest encounters with alien worlds, based upon his lifelong studies of ancient ruins, lost cities, potential spaceports, and a myriad of hard scientific facts that point to extraterrestrial intervention in human history. Most incredible of all, however, is von Dä niken's theory that we ourselves are the descendants of these galactic pioneers--and the archeological discoveries that prove it...
* An alien astronaut preserved in a pyramid
* Thousand-year-old spaceflight navigation charts
* Computer astronomy from Incan and Egyptian ruins
* A map of the land beneath the ice cap of Antarctica
* A giant spaceport discovered in the Andes
Includes remarkable photos that document mankind's first contact with aliens at the dawn of civilization. [via]More editions of Chariots of the Gods:
Chariots of the Gods: Unsolved Mysteries of the Pastby Erich Von DanikenISBN 0425166805 (0-425-16680-5)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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A Choice Of Catastrophesby Isaac AsimovISBN 0449900487 (0-449-90048-7)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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A Choice of Catastrophes: The Disasters Thata Threaten Our Worldby Isaac AsimovISBN 0449901580 (0-449-90158-0)
Softcover, Granite Impex Ltd
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The Cloudspotter's Guideby Gavin Pretor-pinneyISBN 0399532560 (0-399-53256-0)
Hardcover, Perigee
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Cosmic Dawn: The Origin of Matter and Lifeby Eric Chaisson, Lola Judith ChaissonISBN 0393305872 (0-393-30587-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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A Country Yearby Sue Hubbell, Liddy HubbellISBN 0395967015 (0-395-96701-5)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Country Year'Book summary:When her thirty-year marriage broke up, Sue Hubbell found herself alone and broke on a small Ozarks farm. Keeping bees, she found solace in the natural world. She began to write, challenging herself to tell the absolute truth about her life and the things that she cared about. The result is one of the best-loved books ever written about life on the land, about a woman finding her way in middle age.[via]More editions of A Country Year:
A Country Year : Living the Questionsby Sue HubbellISBN 039455146X (0-394-55146-X)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab-The Body Farm-Where The Dead Do Tell Talesby Bill Blass, William M. Bass, Jon JeffersonISBN 0425198324 (0-425-19832-4)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab-The Body Farm-Where The Dead Do Tell Tales'Book summary:Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases-and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact.[via]More editions of Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab-The Body Farm-Where The Dead Do Tell Tales:
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Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab/the Body Farm/Where the Dead Do Tell Talesby William M. Bass, Jon JeffersonISBN 0399151346 (0-399-15134-6)
Hardcover, Putnam Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab/the Body Farm/Where the Dead Do Tell Tales'Book summary:Nowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bill Bass's: On a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria, and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. At the "Body Farm," nature takes its course, with corpses buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, concealed beneath slabs of concrete, locked in trunks of cars. As stand-ins for murder victims, they serve the needs of science - and the cause of justice. For thirty years, Dr. Bass's research has revolutionized the field of forensic science, particularly by pinpointing "time since death" in murder cases. In this riveting book, he investigates real cases and leads readers on an unprecedented journey behind the locked gates of the Body Farm. A master scientist and an engaging storyteller, Bass shares his most intriguing work: his revisit of the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact; the mystery of a headless corpse whose identity astonished the police; the telltale bugs that finally sent a murderous grandfather to death row; and many more. [via]
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Deep Timeby David DarlingISBN 0440501954 (0-440-50195-4)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscienceby Martin GardnerISBN 0393322386 (0-393-32238-6)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himselfby Daniel BoorstinISBN 0394726251 (0-394-72625-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself'Book summary:Perhaps the greatest book by one of our greatest historians, The Discoverers is a volume of sweeping range and majestic interpretation. To call it a history of science is an understatement; this is the story of how humankind has come to know the world, however incompletely ("the eternal mystery of the world," Einstein once said, "is its comprehensibility"). Daniel J. Boorstin first describes the liberating concept of time--"the first grand discovery"--and continues through the age of exploration and the advent of the natural and social sciences. The approach is idiosyncratic, with Boorstin lingering over particular figures and accomplishments rather than rushing on to the next set of names and dates. It's also primarily Western, although Boorstin does ask (and answer) several interesting questions: Why didn't the Chinese "discover" Europe and America? Why didn't the Arabs circumnavigate the planet? His thesis about discovery ultimately turns on what he calls "illusions of knowledge." If we think we know something, then we face an obstacle to innovation. The great discoverers, Boorstin shows, dispel the illusions and reveal something new about the world.
Although The Discoverers easily stands on its own, it is technically the first entry in a trilogy that also includes The Creators and The Seekers. An outstanding book--one of the best works of history to be found anywhere. --John J. Miller [via]
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The Discoverersby Daniel Joseph BoorstinISBN 0394256336 (0-394-25633-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Discoverers Set: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himselfby Daniel J. Boorstin, Clare Boothe LuceISBN 0394402294 (0-394-40229-4)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Discoverers Set: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself'Book summary:Perhaps the greatest book by one of our greatest historians, The Discoverers is a volume of sweeping range and majestic interpretation. To call it a history of science is an understatement; this is the story of how humankind has come to know the world, however incompletely ("the eternal mystery of the world," Einstein once said, "is its comprehensibility"). Daniel J. Boorstin first describes the liberating concept of time--"the first grand discovery"--and continues through the age of exploration and the advent of the natural and social sciences. The approach is idiosyncratic, with Boorstin lingering over particular figures and accomplishments rather than rushing on to the next set of names and dates. It's also primarily Western, although Boorstin does ask (and answer) several interesting questions: Why didn't the Chinese "discover" Europe and America? Why didn't the Arabs circumnavigate the planet? His thesis about discovery ultimately turns on what he calls "illusions of knowledge." If we think we know something, then we face an obstacle to innovation. The great discoverers, Boorstin shows, dispel the illusions and reveal something new about the world.
Although The Discoverers easily stands on its own, it is technically the first entry in a trilogy that also includes The Creators and The Seekers. An outstanding book--one of the best works of history to be found anywhere. --John J. Miller [via]
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The Diversity of Lifeby Edward O. WilsonISBN 0393319407 (0-393-31940-7)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Diversity of Life: With a New Introduction'Book summary:Humans, the Harvard University entomologist Edward O. Wilson has observed, have an innate--or at least extremely ancient--connection to the natural world, and our continued divorce from it has led to the loss of not only "a vast intellectual legacy born of intimacy" with nature, but also our very sanity. In The Diversity of Life, Wilson takes a sweeping view of our planet's natural richness, remarking on what on the surface seems a paradox: "almost all the species that ever lived are extinct, and yet more are alive today than at any time in the past." (Wilson's elegant explanation is a scientific education in itself.) This great variety of species is, of course, threatened by habitat destruction, global climate change, and a host of other forces, and Wilson revisits his oft-stated call for the protection of wilderness and undeveloped land, noting that "wilderness has virtue unto itself and needs no extraneous justification." We should, he continues, regard every species, "every scrap of biodiversity," as precious and irreplaceable, without attempting to quantify that regard with utilitarian measures such as "bio-economics." In short, Wilson offers with this book a simple, workable environmental ethic that extends the work of Aldo Leopold and other conservationists. A remarkably productive and influential scientist, Wilson is also a fine writer, and his survey of biodiversity makes for welcome and instructive reading. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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- The Diversity of Life: ISBN 0393310477 (0-393-31047-7)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Diversity of Life: ISBN 0393964574 (0-393-96457-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Diversity of Life: ISBN 0393989801 (0-393-98980-1)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Diversity of Life: With a New Introduction: ISBN 0393319407 (0-393-31940-7)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- The Diversity of Life: ISBN 0393310477 (0-393-31047-7)
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Einstein's Dreamsby Alan LightmanISBN 0446670111 (0-446-67011-1)
Softcover, Grand Central Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Einstein's Dreams'Book summary:If you liked the eerie whimsy of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, Steven Millhauser's Little Kingdoms, or Jorge Luis Borges's Labyrinths, you will love Alan Lightman's ethereal yet down-to-earth book Einstein's Dreams. Lightman teaches physics and writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, helping bridge the light-year-size gap between science and the humanities, the enemy camps C.P. Snow famously called The Two Cultures.
Einstein's Dreams became a bestseller by delighting both scientists and humanists. It is technically a novel. Lightman uses simple, lyrical, and literal details to locate Einstein precisely in a place and time--Berne, Switzerland, spring 1905, when he was a patent clerk privately working on his bizarre, unheard-of theory of relativity. The town he perceives is vividly described, but the waking Einstein is a bit player in this drama.
The book takes flight when Einstein takes to his bed and we share his dreams, 30 little fables about places where time behaves quite differently. In one world, time is circular; in another a man is occasionally plucked from the present and deposited in the past: "He is agonized. For if he makes the slightest alteration in anything, he may destroy the future ... he is forced to witness events without being part of them ... an inert gas, a ghost ... an exile of time." The dreams in which time flows backward are far more sophisticated than the time-tripping scenes in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, though science-fiction fans may yearn for a sustained yarn, which Lightman declines to provide. His purpose is simply to study the different kinds of time in Einstein's mind, each with its own lucid consequences. In their tone and quiet logic, Lightman's fables come off like Bach variations played on an exquisite harpsichord. People live for one day or eternity, and they respond intelligibly to each unique set of circumstances. Raindrops hang in the air in a place of frozen time; in another place everyone knows one year in advance exactly when the world will end, and acts accordingly.
"Consider a world in which cause and effect are erratic," writes Lightman. "Scientists turn reckless and mutter like gamblers who cannot stop betting.... In this world, artists are joyous." In another dream, time slows with altitude, causing rich folks to build stilt homes on mountaintops, seeking eternal youth and scorning the swiftly aging poor folk below. Forgetting eventually how they got there and why they subsist on "all but the most gossamer food," the higher-ups at length "become thin like the air, bony, old before their time."
There is no plot in this small volume--it's more like a poetry collection than a novel. Like Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, it's a mind-stretching meditation by a scientist who's been to the far edge of physics and is back with wilder tales than Marco Polo's. And unlike many admirers of Hawking, readers of Einstein's Dreams have a high probability of actually finishing it. [via]
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The End of Natureby Bill McKibbenISBN 0394576012 (0-394-57601-2)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Everything And More: A Compact History Of Infinityby David Foster WallaceISBN 0393326292 (0-393-32629-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Everything And More: A Compact History Of Infinity'Book summary:Before discussing the merits of David Foster Wallace's Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, it is essential to define what the book is not. This volume in the "Great Discoveries" series is not a history of the personalities and social conditions that led to the "discovery" of infinity. Nor is it a narrative fixated on the cultish fear of--and obsession with--the infinite that has seemingly driven mathematicians insane over the centuries. Rather, Everything and More is a surprisingly rigorous march through the 2000 plus years of mathematical research that began with Aristotle; continued through Galileo, Isaac Newton, G.W. Leibniz, Karl Weierstrass, and J.W.R. Dedekind; and culminated in Georg Cantor and his Set Theory. The task Wallace (author of the bestseller Infinite Jest and other fiction) has set himself is enormously challenging: without radically compromising the complexity of the philosophy, metaphysics, or mathematics that underlies the evolving concept of infinity, present the material to a lay audience in a manner that is entertaining. To propel his narrative, Wallace even develops a style that mirrors the mathematical language he probes. One difficulty in his focus on concepts and not a strict human chronology, though, is that his structure is dependent on frequent digressions (especially early on). Patience is required. Wallace demands that his reader walk through the equations, study the graphs and charts, and relearn college-level concepts to follow along on the exploration. Indeed, after one wrenching dip into Zenos paradoxes, Wallace spouts at his imagined complaining audience: "Deal." But the book should be deemed a success. If one grants him the attention he requires, Wallace has made the trip richly rewarding. --Patrick OKelley [via]
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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Mealby Eric SchlosserISBN 0395977894 (0-395-97789-4)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal'Book summary:On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.
Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it? --Lesley Reed [via]
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Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and Lifeby Leonard MlodinowISBN 0446692514 (0-446-69251-4)
Softcover, Grand Central Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life'Book summary:Einstein's Dreams meets Tuesdays with Morrie in Leonard Mlodinow's touching memoir about the guidance granted him by his mentor, the brilliant physicist Richard Feynman. For some, it was that special connection with a grandparent or a football coach, a boss, or a cleric. For Leonard Mlodinow, as a young physicist struggling to find his place in the world, the relationship that would most profoundly influence his life was with his mentor, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. Drawing on transcripts from his many meetings with Feynman during their time together at Cal Tech, Mlodinow shares Feynman's provocative answers to such questions as "What is the nature of creativity?" and "How does a scientist think?" At once a moving portrait of a friendship and an affecting account of Feynman's final, creative years, FEYNMAN'S RAINBOW celebrates the inspiring legacy of one of the greatest thinkers of our time. [via]
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The Fourth Dimensionby Rudy V. B. RuckerISBN 0395344204 (0-395-34420-4)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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The Fourth Dimension: A Guided Tour of the Higher Universesby Rudolf V. B. Rucker, Martin Gardner, David PovilaitisISBN 0395393884 (0-395-39388-4)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Fourth Dimension: A Guided Tour of the Higher Universes'Book summary:A detailed description of what the fourth dimension would be like.[via]More editions of The Fourth Dimension: A Guided Tour of the Higher Universes:
Games People Play; The Psychology of Human Relationships.by Eric BerneISBN 0394170466 (0-394-17046-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Gecko's Foot: Bio-inspiration Engineering New Materials from Natureby Peter ForbesISBN 0393062236 (0-393-06223-6)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?by Dick Teresi, Leon LedermanISBN 0395558492 (0-395-55849-2)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Godel's Proofby Ernest Nagel, NewmanISBN 0415355281 (0-415-35528-1)
Softcover, Routledge
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Godel's Proof'Book summary:'Nagel and Newman accomplish the wondrous task of clarifying the argumentative outline of Kurt Godel's celebrated logic bomb.' The Guardian
In 1931 the mathematical logician Kurt Godel published a revolutionary paper that challenged certain basic assumptions underpinning mathematics and logic. A colleague of physicist Albert Einstein, his theorem proved that mathematics was partly based on propositions not provable within the mathematical system. The importance of Godel's Proof rests upon its radical implications and has echoed throughout many fields, from maths to science to philosophy, computer design, artificial intelligence, even religion and psychology. While others such as Douglas Hofstadter and Roger Penrose have published bestsellers based on Godels theorem, this is the first book to present a readable explanation to both scholars and non-specialists alike. A gripping combination of science and accessibility, Godels Proof by Nagel and Newman is for both mathematicians and the idly curious, offering those with a taste for logic and philosophy the chance to satisfy their intellectual curiosity.
Kurt Godel (1906 1978) Born in Brunn, he was a colleague of physicist Albert Einstein and professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.
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Good Benitoby Alan P. LightmanISBN 0446671606 (0-446-67160-6)
Softcover, Grand Central Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Good Benito'Book summary:Bennett "Benito" Lang is a lonely and confused young boy who finds solace in the ordered and rigorous laws of mathematics and physics. But as an adult, when he most needs the irrefutable order and precision of science itself, Benito will learn that, despite its expansive beauty and power, it is no match for the unfathomable desires and pains of the human heart. Lightman is the acclaimed author of Einstein's Dreams. [via]
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Heisenberg's War: The Secret History of the German Bombby Thomas PowersISBN 0394514114 (0-394-51411-4)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Heisenberg's War: The Secret History of the German Bomb'Book summary:A close-up look at Nazi attempts to build an atomic bomb describes the German bomb program, the Allied response to it, and the roles of some of the twentieth century's leading physicists--including Oppenheimer, Bohr, Weisskopf, and Heisenberg. 30,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. Tour. [via]
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Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toesby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 0393311031 (0-393-31103-1)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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How to Lie With Statisticsby Darrell HuffISBN 039309426X (0-393-09426-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How to Lie With Statistics'Book summary:"There is terror in numbers," writes Darrell Huff in How to Lie with Statistics. And nowhere does this terror translate to blind acceptance of authority more than in the slippery world of averages, correlations, graphs, and trends. Huff sought to break through "the daze that follows the collision of statistics with the human mind" with this slim volume, first published in 1954. The book remains relevant as a wake-up call for people unaccustomed to examining the endless flow of numbers pouring from Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and everywhere else someone has an axe to grind, a point to prove, or a product to sell. "The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify," warns Huff.
Although many of the examples used in the book are charmingly dated, the cautions are timeless. Statistics are rife with opportunities for misuse, from "gee-whiz graphs" that add nonexistent drama to trends, to "results" detached from their method and meaning, to statistics' ultimate bugaboo--faulty cause-and-effect reasoning. Huff's tone is tolerant and amused, but no-nonsense. Like a lecturing father, he expects you to learn something useful from the book, and start applying it every day. Never be a sucker again, he cries!
Even if you can't find a source of demonstrable bias, allow yourself some degree of skepticism about the results as long as there is a possibility of bias somewhere. There always is.
Read How to Lie with Statistics. Whether you encounter statistics at work, at school, or in advertising, you'll remember its simple lessons. Don't be terrorized by numbers, Huff implores. "The fact is that, despite its mathematical base, statistics is as much an art as it is a science." --Therese Littleton [via]
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In the Shadow of Manby Jane GoodallISBN 0395331455 (0-395-33145-5)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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In the Shadow of Manby Lawick-Goodall, Jane, Barones VanISBN 0395127262 (0-395-12726-2)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Incompleteness: The Proof And Paradox of Kurt Godelby Rebecca GoldsteinISBN 0393327604 (0-393-32760-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Incompleteness: The Proof And Paradox of Kurt Godel'Book summary:Kurt Gödel is often held up as an intellectual revolutionary whose incompleteness theorem helped tear down the notion that there was anything certain about the universe. Philosophy professor, novelist, and MacArthur Fellow Rebecca Goldstein reinterprets the evidence and restores to Gödel's famous idea the meaning he claimed he intended: that there is a mathematical truth--an objective certainty--underlying everything and existing independently of human thought. Gödel, Goldstein maintains, was an intellectual heir to Plato whose sense of alienation from the positivists and postmodernists of the 1940s was only ameliorated by his friendship with another intellectual giant, Albert Einstein. As Goldstein writes, "That his work, like Einstein's, has been interpreted as not only consistent with the revolt against objectivity but also as among its most compelling driving forces is ... more than a little ironic."
This and other paradoxes of Gödel's life are woven throughout Incompleteness, with biographical details taking something of a back seat to the philosophical and mathematical underpinnings of his theories. As an introduction to one of the three most profound scientific insights of the 20th century (the other two being Einstein's relativity and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle), Incompleteness is accessible, yet intellectually rigorous. Goldstein succeeds admirably in retiring inaccurate interpretations of Gödel's ideas. --Therese Littleton [via]
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The Living World of Audubonby Roland C. ClementISBN 0448118319 (0-448-11831-9)
Hardcover, Grosset & Dunlap
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Longing for the Harmoniesby Frank WilczekISBN 0393305961 (0-393-30596-1)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Lucy, the Beginnings of Humankindby Donald C. Johanson, Maitland Armstrong EdeyISBN 0446370363 (0-446-37036-3)
Softcover, Warner Books Inc
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The Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Medical Mystery Offers Revolutionay Insights into Emotionsby Richard E. CytowicISBN 0446670685 (0-446-67068-5)
Softcover, Grand Central Publishing
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Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Scienceby Robert KunzigISBN 0393320634 (0-393-32063-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science'Book summary:A vivid, up-to-date tour of the Earth's last frontier, a remote and mysterious realm that nonetheless lies close to the heart of even the most land-locked reader.
The sea covers seven-tenths of the Earth, but we have mapped only a small percentage of it. The sea contains millions of species of animals and plants, but we have identified only a few thousand of them. The sea controls our planet's climate, but we do not really understand how. The sea is still the frontier, and yet it seems so familiar that we sometimes forget how little we know about it. Just as we are poised on the verge of exploiting the sea on an unprecedented scalemining it, fertilizing it, fishing it outthis book reminds us of how much we have yet to learn. More than that, it chronicles the knowledge explosion that has transformed our view of the sea in just the past few decades, and made it a far more interesting and accessible place. From the Big Bang to that far-off future time, two billion years from now, when our planet will be a waterless rock; from the lush crowds of life at seafloor hot springs to the invisible, jewel-like plants that float at the sea surface; from the restless shifting of the tectonic plates to the majestic sweep of the ocean currents, Kunzig's clear and lyrical prose transports us to the ends of the Earth.
Originally published in hardcover as The Restless Sea. "Robert Kunzig is a creator of what oceanographer Harry Hess once referred to as 'geopoetry.' He covers vast tracts of time and space and makes his subjects electrifying."Richard Ellis, The Times [London] "The Restless Sea immediately surfaces at the top of the list of journalistic treatments of oceanography. . . .The book opened my eyes to numerous wonders."Richard Strickland, American Scientist "When you head for the coast this summer, leave that trashy beach novel at home. Instead, pack Robert Kunzig's book. Because just beyond your rental cottage lies the restless sea, where three-mile-tall mountain ranges criss-cross the ocean floor, and deep trenches harbor mysterious creatures. . . . The book is easy to read, and will bring you up to date on the startling discoveries oceanographers have made during the past few decades."Phillip Manning, The News and Observer [Raleigh, North Carolina] ] "Anyone who loves the sea should read this book."Sebastian Junger 8 pages of color, 20 black-and-white illustrations [via]More editions of Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science:
Mapping the Next Millennium: The Discovery of New Geographiesby Stephen S. HallISBN 0394576357 (0-394-57635-7)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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The Mathematical Experienceby Philip J. Davis, Reuben HershISBN 0395929687 (0-395-92968-7)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Mathematics for the Millionby Lancelot Thomas HogbenISBN 0393063615 (0-393-06361-5)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Mathematics for the Million/How to Master the Magic of Numbersby Lancelot HogbenISBN 039331071X (0-393-31071-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mathematics for the Million/How to Master the Magic of Numbers'Book summary:"It makes alive the contents of the elements of mathematics."Albert Einstein
Taking only the most elementary knowledge for granted, Lancelot Hogben leads readers of this famous book through the whole course from simple arithmetic to calculus. His illuminating explanation is addressed to the person who wants to understand the place of mathematics in modern civilization but who has been intimidated by its supposed difficulty. Mathematics is the language of size, shape, and ordera language Hogben shows one can both master and enjoy. [via]More editions of Mathematics for the Million/How to Master the Magic of Numbers:
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Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the Worldby Simon GarfieldISBN 0393323137 (0-393-32313-7)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World'Book summary:Mauve? Not the butchest of colours perhaps; you might be forgiven for wondering whether, if a Longitude-style book had to be written about hues, Red, Blue or Yellow might not be the place to start instead. But Garfield has chosen his colour well: mauve and its 19th-century inventor William Perkin constitute a fascinating story. This book convincingly argues that Perkin's invention of this chemical dye became a major turning point in the history of Western science and industry. Purple had always been a royal colour, in part because it was so difficult (and hence expensive) to achieve a good shade out of the animal, mineral or plant raw materials from which all dyes were derived; it took 17,000 dried and crushed cactus insects to make one ounce of cochineal. Perkin found a cheap way to produce a synthetic purple; he made a fortune and prompted a craze for the colour in the fashion industry of his day. But more than this, Garfield argues, he kick-started chemistry from being a gentleman-amateur pastime into becoming the major world industry it is today. Mauve (the Victorians pronounced it "morv", apparently) really did change the world. Just as Perkins's colour was something wholly new, Garfield's Mauve represents a new sort of book, a more varied synthesis than the run-of-the-mill animal, mineral or plant books. In part it is a biography, in part a social and cultural history, and partly it is a meditation on the roles chemistry (and colour) play in our world. It even manages to function as a primer in inorganic chemistry. Garfield achieves this last without being either baffling or condescending; he breaks us in gently to the subject of, for instance, benzene rings by relating Friedrich Kekule's 1858 dream, dozing in front of the fire, "gambolling atoms in snake-like motion, one of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail: his benzene structure consisted of six carbon atoms, each attached to a hydrogen atom C6H6". The model for this integration of chemistry into everyday life is taken from the period itself--at one point we're told that "William Perkins Jnr wrote again, enquiring about the atomic structures of various synthetic perfumes and wishing his father a happy birthday". Presumably in that order. Garfield's book draws you into this world of dyes and dyers; the reader emerges a little mauver than when they started. --Adam Roberts [via]
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Mendeleyev's Dream : The Quest for the Elementsby Paul StrathernISBN 0425184676 (0-425-18467-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mendeleyev's Dream : The Quest for the Elements'Book summary:On the night of February 17, 1869, the Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev went to bed frustrated by a puzzle he had been playing with for years: how the atomic weights of the chemical elements could be grouped in some meaningful way--and one that, with any luck, would open a window onto the hidden structure of nature. He dreamed, as he later recalled, of "a table where all the elements fell into place as required." His intuition that when the elements were listed in order of weight, their properties repeated in regular intervals, gave rise to the Periodic Table of the Elements--which, though much revised since, underlies modern chemistry.
Mendeleyev's discovery brackets Paul Strathern's learned and literate history of chemistry. He traces the origins of that science, as it is understood in the West, to the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, who backed up his surmises about the nature of things with evidence and used arguments "entirely within the realm of this world." From Thales's day, Strathern takes us into the studies of Arabic-speaking scientists such as Avicenna and Al-Razi, who preserved classical science and added to it their own insights; introduces us to the medieval alchemists who in turn preserved the work of Islamic scholars while questing to discover the inner secrets of matter (and perhaps make a little gold in the bargain); and leads us into the early modern world of such greats as Lavoisier, Van Helmont, and Cavendish, who added rigorous methodology and important discoveries to that quest.
Strathern relates false steps and true breakthroughs alike, and his narrative is a pleasure to read. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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The Naked Apeby Desmond MorrisISBN 0440362660 (0-440-36266-0)
Softcover, Dell Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Naked Ape'Book summary:"A startling view of man, stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard him as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes--is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex, child-rearing, exploratory habits, fighting, feeding, and much more to establish our surprising bonds to the animal kingdom and add substance to the discussion that has provoked controversy and debate the world over. Natural History Magazine praised The Naked Ape as "stimulating . . . thought-provoking . . . [Morris] has introduced some novel and challenging ideas and speculations." "He minces no words," said Harper's. "He lets off nothing in our basic relation to the animal kingdom to which we belong. . . He is always specific, startling, but logical." [via]
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A Natural History of the Sensesby Diane AckermanISBN 0394573358 (0-394-57335-8)
Hardcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Natural History of the Senses'Book summary:"One of the real tests of writers," notes Ackerman in this liveliest of nature books, "is how well they write about smells. If they can't describe the scent of sanctity in a church, can you trust them to describe the suburbs of the heart?" Ackerman passes the test, writing with ease and fluency about the five senses. Did you know that bat guano smells like stale Wheat Thins? That Bach's music can quell anger around the world? That the leaves that shimmer so beautifully in fall have "no adaptive purpose"? Ackerman does, and she guides us through questions of sensation with an eye for the amusingly arcane reference and just the right phrase. [via]
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Natural Obsessionsby Natalie AngierISBN 0446390607 (0-446-39060-7)
Softcover, Grand Central Pub
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Natural Obsessions: Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cellby Natalie Angier, Lewis ThomasISBN 0395924723 (0-395-92472-3)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin Company
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New Guide to the Planetsby Patrick MooreISBN 0393063194 (0-393-06319-4)
Hardcover, Norton
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No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynmanby Richard Feynman, Christopher SykesISBN 039331393X (0-393-31393-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman'Book summary:An intimate, moving, and funny account of the remarkable life and times of Richard Feynmanthe most extraordinary scientist of his age.
With a unique combination of dazzling intellect and touching simplicity, Feynman had a passion for physics that was merely the Nobel Prize-winning part of an immense love of life and everything it could offer. He was hugely irreverent and always completely honestwith himself, with his colleagues, and with nature.
No Ordinary Genius traces Feynman's remarkable adventures inside and outside science, in words and more than one-hundred photographs, many of them supplied by his family and close friends. The words are often his own and those of family, friends, and colleagues such as his sister, Joan Feynman; his children, Carl and Michelle; Freeman Dyson; Hans Bethe; Daniel Hillis; Marvin Minsky; and John Archibald Wheeler. The book gives vivid insight into the mind of a great creative scientist at work and at play, and it challenges the popular myth of the scientist as a cold reductionist dedicated to stripping romance and mystery from the natural world. Feynman's wonderfully infectious enthusiasm shines through in his photographs and in his tales.
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The Omega Pointby John GribbinISBN 043430591X (0-434-30591-X)
Hardcover, Trafalgar Square
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Pathways to the Godsby Erich Von DanikenISBN 0425056368 (0-425-05636-8)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstanceby Henry PetroskiISBN 0394574222 (0-394-57422-2)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance'Book summary:Like most other human artifacts, the common pencil, made and sold today by the millions, has a long and complex history. Henry Petroski, who combines a talent for fine writing with a deep knowledge of engineering and technological history, examines the story of the pencil, considering it not only as a thing in itself, but also as an exemplar of all things that are designed and manufactured.
Petroski ranges widely in time, discussing the writing technologies of antiquity. But his story really begins in the early modern period, when, in 1565, a Swiss naturalist first described the properties of the mineral that became known as graphite. Petroski traces the evolution of the pencil through the Industrial Revolution, when machine manufacture replaced earlier handwork. Along the way, he looks at some of pencil making's great innovators--including Henry David Thoreau, the famed writer, who worked in his father's pencil factory, inventing techniques for grinding graphite and experimenting with blends of lead, clay, and other ingredients to yield pencils of varying hardness and darkness. Petroski closes with a look at how pencils are made today--a still-imperfect technology that may yet evolve with new advances in materials and design. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern Americaby Daniel J. KevlesISBN 0394466314 (0-394-46631-4)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America'Book summary:This magnificent account of the coming of age of physics in America has been heralded as the best introduction to the history of science in the United States. Unsurpassed in its breadth and literary style, Kevles's account portrays the brilliant scientists who became a powerful force in bringing the world into a revolutionary new era.
The book ranges widely as it links these exciting developments to the social, cultural, and political changes that occurred from the post-Civil War years to the present. Throughout, Kevles keeps his eye on the central question of how an avowedly elitist enterprise grew and prospered in a democratic culture.
In this new edition, the author has brought the story up to date by providing an extensive, authoritative, and colorful account of the Superconducting Super Collider, from its origins in the international competition and intellectual needs of high-energy particle physics, through its establishment as a multibillion-dollar project, to its termination, in 1993, as a result of angry opposition within the American physics community and the Congress.
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Please Explainby Isaac AsimovISBN 0440968046 (0-440-96804-6)
Softcover, Bantam Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Please Explain'Book summary:Answers to questions in various scientific disciplines, e.g., "What are pulsars?", "Is the universe running down?", "What is the difference between a brain and a computer?", and "Why did the dinosaurs die off?". [via]
Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possibleby Arthur ClarkeISBN 0446321079 (0-446-32107-9)
Softcover, Grand Central Pub
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The Prophet and the Astronomer: A Scientific Journey to the End of Timeby Marcelo GleiserISBN 0393324311 (0-393-32431-1)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Realm of Numbersby Isaac AsimovISBN 0449243990 (0-449-24399-0)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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Report on Planet Three and Other Speculationsby Arthur C. ClarkeISBN 0425075923 (0-425-07592-3)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Ageby Duncan J. WattsISBN 0393325423 (0-393-32542-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age'Book summary:You may be only six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, but would he let you borrow his car? It depends on the structures within the network that links you. When the power goes out, when we find that a stranger knows someone we know, when dot-com stocks soar in price, networks are evident. In Six Degrees, sociologist Duncan Watts examines networks like these: what they are, how they're being studied, and what we can use them for. To illustrate the often complicated mathematics that describe such structures, Watts uses plenty of examples from life, without which this book would quickly move beyond a general science readership. Small chapters make each thought-provoking conclusion easy to swallow, though some are hard to digest. For instance, in a short bit on "coercive externalities," Watts sums up sociological research showing that:
"Conversations concerning politics displayed a consistent pattern .... On election day, the strongest predictor of electoral success was not which party an individual privately supported but which party he or she expected would win."
Six Degrees attempts to help readers understand the new and exciting field of networks and complexity. While considerably more demanding than a general book like The Tipping Point, it offers readers a snapshot of a riveting moment in science, when understanding things like disease epidemics and the stock market seems almost within our reach. --Therese Littleton [via]More editions of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age:
Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Timeby J. Richard GottISBN 0395955637 (0-395-95563-7)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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Timewarpsby John GribbinISBN 0440085098 (0-440-08509-8)
Hardcover, Delacorte Press/E. Friede
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Timewarps'Book summary:An exploration into the best scientific knowledge about the nature of time. [via]
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An Unkindness of Ravensby Ruth RendellISBN 0394546032 (0-394-54603-2)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'An Unkindness of Ravens'Book summary:Ravens are not particularly predatory birds, but neither are they soft and submissive. The collective noun for them is an "unkindness". The raven is also a symbol used by a feminist group, whose attitude to the opposite sex is anything but soft and submissive. [via]
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Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We Seeby Donald David HoffmanISBN 0393319679 (0-393-31967-9)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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What Einstein Didn't Know: Scientific Answers to Everday Questionsby Robert L. WolkeISBN 0440508568 (0-440-50856-8)
Softcover, Delacorte Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What Einstein Didn't Know: Scientific Answers to Everday Questions'Book summary:A "Washington Post" columnist offers a fun, fascinating guide to everyday science for those who never wore a slide rule or a pocket protector. [via]
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Wholeness and the Implicate Orderby David BohmISBN 0415289793 (0-415-28979-3)
Softcover, Routledge
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wholeness and the Implicate Order'Book summary:In his classic work, Wholeness and the Implicate Order, David Bohm develops a theory of quantum physics which treats the totality of existence, including matter and consciousness, as an unbroken whole.
David Bohm presents a rational and scientific theory which explains cosmology and the nature of reality; written clearly, and without the use of technical jargon, it is essential reading for those interested in physics, philosophy, psychology and the connection between consciousness and matter.
David Bohm was one of the foremost scientific thinkers and distinguished theoretical physicists of his generation. His best-known works include: Quantum Theory,Causality and Chance in Modern Physics and The Undivided Universe. [via]More editions of Wholeness and the Implicate Order:
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Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Failby Mario Salvadori, Matthys Levy, Kevin WoestISBN 039331152X (0-393-31152-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail'Book summary:The authors examine buildings of all kinds, from ancient domes like Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to the state-of-the-art Hartford Civic Arena. Their subjects range from the man-caused destruction of the Parthenon to the earthquake damage of 1989 in Armenia and San Francisco.
The stories that make up Why Buildings Fall Down are in the end very human ones, tales of the interaction of people and nature, of architects, engineers, builders, materials, and natural forces all coming together in sometimes dramatic (and always instructive) ways. B/W line drawings [via]More editions of Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail:
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Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison: And Other Urgent Inquiries into the Odd Nature of Natureby Hampton Sides, Jason SchneiderISBN 0393321509 (0-393-32150-9)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison: And Other Urgent Inquiries into the Odd Nature of Nature'Book summary:Join longtime Outside editor and contributor Hampton Sides as he rollicks through the fascinating, quirky questions readers ask about the world around them.
Do beavers ever get squashed by the trees they're gnawing down? Why are there so many worms writhing on the sidewalk after a storm? What good are goosebumps? Why do llamas spit? What is the oldest living creature on earth? Focusing on natural history and outdoor lore, this collection ranges from the gothic to the comic to the cosmic. It includes the sorts of questions that most of us stopped asking (at least out loud) when we were eight years old. "The Wild File" is what question-and-answer columns should be but seldom are: an often surprising, sometimes zany, always insightful and informative back-and-forth between a devoted readership and its publication. The result is an enchanting and enriching collection of answers that open windows to more questions.
60 black and white illustrations [via]More editions of Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison: And Other Urgent Inquiries into the Odd Nature of Nature:
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Woman: An Intimate Geographyby Natalie AngierISBN 0395691303 (0-395-69130-3)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Woman: An Intimate Geography'Book summary:Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, as far as the health care profession is concerned the standard operating design of the human body is male. So when a book comes along as beautifully written and endlessly informative as Natalie Angier's Woman: An Intimate Geography, it's a cause for major celebration. Written with whimsy and eloquence, her investigation into female physiology draws its inspiration not only from scientific and medical sources but also from mythology, history, art, and literature, layering biological factoids with her own personal encounters and arcane anecdotes from the history of science. Who knew, for example, that the clitoris--with 8,000 nerve fibers--packs double the pleasure of the penis; that the gene controlling cellular sensitivity to male androgens, ironically enough, resides on the X-chromosome; or that stress hormones like cortisol and corticosterone are the true precursors of friendship?
The mysteries of evolution are not a new subject for Angier, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biology writer for the New York Times whose previous books include The Beauty of the Beastly and Natural Obsessions. The strengths of Woman begin with Angier's witty and evocative prose style, but its real contribution is the way it expands the definition of female "geography" beyond womb, breasts, and estrogen, down as far as the bimolecular substructure of DNA and up as high as the transcendent infrastructure of the human brain. --Patrizia DiLucchio [via]
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