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books tagged “popular science”
books tagged “popular science”
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The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurtureby Matt RidleyISBN 006000679X (0-06-000679-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture'Book summary:In the follow-up to his bestseller, Genome, Matt Ridley takes on a centuries-old question: is it nature or nurture that makes us who we are? Ridley asserts that the question itself is a "false dichotomy." Using copious examples from human and animal behavior, he presents the notion that our environment affects the way our genes express themselves.
Ridley writes that the switches controlling our 30,000 or so genes not only form the structures of our brains but do so in such a way as to cue off the outside environment in a tidy feedback loop of body and behavior. In fact, it seems clear that we have genetic "thermostats" that are turned up and down by environmental factors. He challenges both scientific and folk concepts, from assumptions of what's malleable in a person to sociobiological theories based solely on the "selfish gene."
Ridley's proof is in the pudding for such touchy subjects as monogamy, aggression, and parenting, which we now understand have some genetic controls. Nevertheless, "the more we understand both our genes and our instincts, the less inevitable they seem." A consummate popularizer of science, Ridley once again provides a perfect mix of history, genetics, and sociology for readers hungry to understand the implications of the human genome sequence. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Speciesby Steve JonesISBN 1862300259 (1-86230-025-9)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Species'Book summary:Steve Jones describes Darwin's The Origin of Species as "the only bestseller to change man's conception of himself ... without doubt, the book of the millennium." That book's sensational central proposition, that speciation arose from descent with modification through the mechanism of natural selection, constituted a kind of Grand Unifying Theory of the biological sciences, allowing what had been until Darwin's time an essentially anecdotal practice to cohere into a modern discipline. In the century and a half since its publication, Darwin's big idea has been attacked many times, on many grounds, but has never convincingly been refuted. Yet, as Jones points out, hardly anybody reads The Origin of Species now for its science. It is celebrated as a landmark in the history of ideas, as a contribution to the philosophy of science and as a masterly work of high Victorian prose. The idea of evolution has pervaded almost every aspect of human thought. But it has almost been forgotten that it is primarily a work of science. Almost like a Whale is an attempt to redress the balance. Jones, himself a geneticist, assumes the mantle of Darwin and rewrites his masterpiece for the modern reader, borrowing the structure and thesis but writing with the benefit of 150 years' hindsight. Throughout the 20th century new sciences have emerged that have in all cases buttressed the central claims of evolution, chief among them embryology and Jones' own discipline of genetics. Almost Like a Whale draws widely on them for its arguments and many illuminating stories and case- studies.
It is a bold and ambitious project, carried off with considerable style and wit. Any suspicion of lightness is misplaced, though, as the seriousness and profundity of the underlying arguments are signalled early in the book: Jones destroys one of the main creationist objections to the theory of evolution--that no-one has ever seen it happen--with a devastating account of the well-documented 50-year evolution of the AIDS virus into its present varieties. The title is not a near-miss reference to Hamlet: it is Darwin himself, speculating on whether a bear seen swimming and catching food with its mouth as it swam, might represent the first, behavioural step on an evolutionary journey towards a new creature" almost like a whale." This is a powerfully entertaining book, engrossing in its science, erudite and cogent. --Robin Davidson [via]
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Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenniumby Carl SaganISBN 0345379187 (0-345-37918-7)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium'Book summary:* This is a used book in great condiditon! The jacket is missing but there are no other signs of wear. In this book, his last, Carl Sagan shows once again his extraordinary ability to interpret the mysteries of life and the majesty of the universe for the general reader. Brilliant, eloquent, and imbued with Sagan's uniquely childlike sense of awe, this entertaining collection of essays captures the authors spirit at its best.
In Billions and Billions Sagan applies what we know about science, mathematics, and space to everyday life, as well as to the exploration of many essential questions concerning the environment and our future. Ranging far and wide in subject matter, he takes his readers on a soaring journey, from the invention of chess to the possibility of life on Mars, from Monday Night Football to the relationship between the United States and Russia, from global warming to the abortion debate. And, on a more intimate note, we are given a rare glimpse of the author himself as he movingly describes his valiant fight for his life, his love of his family, and his personal beliefs about death and God.
Throughout these essays, Sagan provides clarity and understanding for an audience eager to make sense of the world around it as it prepares for the challenges of the coming millennium, and in the process he illuminates his strongly held belief that we have the ability to change the world and our lives for the better.
Sagan has said, We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers. With this book, as in his magnificent career, he makes this world significant indeed. [via]More editions of Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium:
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex Worldby Ian Stewart, Jack CohenISBN 0670849839 (0-670-84983-9)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex Worldby Jack Cohen, Ian StewartISBN 0140178740 (0-14-017874-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World'Book summary:Moving on from his books on chaos ("Does God Play Dice?") and symmetry ("Fearful Symmetry"), the author of this book deals with the wider field of complexity theory. The book tackles the question of how complexity arises in nature, of how life overcomes chaos and entropy to create developing order. Co-written with biologist Jack Cohen, the book will range across the central areas of modern science, from quantum mechanics and cosmology to evolution and intelligence, looking at the central questions of order, chaos, reductionism and complexity. [via]
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Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 0393311392 (0-393-31139-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History'Book summary:What story lies behind the bent tail of an ichthyosaur? How did hearing bones evolve? Is it possible that our five fingers and toes just happened to be and were not ordained? Here are Gould's thoughts on extinction and on the ecological crisis, as he proposes a Golden Rule of our Earth: we should treat all species as we would ourselves. Drawings. [via]
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El Origen De Las Especies/the Origin Of Speciesby Charles DarwinISBN 9871150121 (987-1150-12-1)
Softcover, Distal S R L
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Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Softwareby Steven JohnsonISBN 0684868768 (0-684-86876-8)
Softcover, Scribner
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software'Book summary:An individual ant, like an individual neuron, is just about as dumb as can be. Connect enough of them together properly, though, and you get spontaneous intelligence. Web pundit Steven Johnson explains what we know about this phenomenon with a rare lucidity in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Starting with the weird behavior of the semi-colonial organisms we call slime molds, Johnson details the development of increasingly complex and familiar behavior among simple components: cells, insects, and software developers all find their place in greater schemes.
Most game players, alas, live on something close to day-trader time, at least when they're in the middle of a game--thinking more about their next move than their next meal, and usually blissfully oblivious to the ten- or twenty-year trajectory of software development. No one wants to play with a toy that's going to be fun after a few decades of tinkering--the toys have to be engaging now, or kids will find other toys.
Johnson has a knack for explaining complicated and counterintuitive ideas cleverly without stealing the scene. Though we're far from fully understanding how complex behavior manifests from simple units and rules, our awareness that such emergence is possible is guiding research across disciplines. Readers unfamiliar with the sciences of complexity will find Emergence an excellent starting point, while those who were chaotic before it was cool will appreciate its updates and wider scope. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensionsby Edwin Abbott AbbottISBN 1406503436 (1-4065-0343-6)
Softcover, Dodo Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Flatland'Book summary:Flatland is one of the very few novels about math and philosophy that can appeal to almost any layperson. Published in 1880, this short fantasy takes us to a completely flat world of two physical dimensions where all the inhabitants are geometric shapes, and who think the planar world of length and width that they know is all there is. But one inhabitant discovers the existence of a third physical dimension, enabling him to finally grasp the concept of a fourth dimension. Watching our Flatland narrator, we begin to get an idea of the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and we start to learn how to think about the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England. [via]
More editions of Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions:
- Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1419120026 (1-4191-2002-6)
Softcover, Kessinger Pub Co - Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1851680861 (1-85168-086-1)
Softcover, Oneworld Publications - Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1570624380 (1-57062-438-0)
Softcover, Shambhala Publications, Incorporated - Flatland: ISBN 1406503436 (1-4065-0343-6)
Softcover, Dodo Pr
- Flatland: A Romance Of Many Dimensions: ISBN 1419120026 (1-4191-2002-6)
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Flatlandby A. SquareISBN 1883938775 (1-883938-77-5)
Softcover, Dry Bones Pr
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Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Marketsby Nassim TalebISBN 158799190X (1-58799-190-X)
Hardcover, Cengage Learning College
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets'Book summary:If the prescriptions for getting rich that are outlined in books such as The Millionaire Next Door and Rich Dad Poor Dad are successful enough to make the books bestsellers, then one must ask, Why aren't there more millionaires? In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. This eccentric and highly personal exploration of the nature of randomness meanders from the court of Croesus and trading rooms in New York and London to Russian roulette, Monte Carlo engines, and the philosophy of Karl Popper. Part of what makes this book so good is Taleb's ability to make seemingly arcane mathematical concepts (at least to this reviewer) entirely relevant in evaluating and understanding everything from the stock market to the success of those millionaires cited in the aforementioned bestsellers. Here's an articulate, wise, and humorous meditation on the nature of success and failure that anyone who wants a little more of the former would do well to consider. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards [via]
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Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Lifeby Nassim TalebISBN 1587990717 (1-58799-071-7)
Hardcover, Texere
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life'Book summary:If the prescriptions for getting rich that are outlined in books such as The Millionaire Next Door and Rich Dad Poor Dad are successful enough to make the books bestsellers, then one must ask, Why aren't there more millionaires? In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. This eccentric and highly personal exploration of the nature of randomness meanders from the court of Croesus and trading rooms in New York and London to Russian roulette, Monte Carlo engines, and the philosophy of Karl Popper. Part of what makes this book so good is Taleb's ability to make seemingly arcane mathematical concepts (at least to this reviewer) entirely relevant in evaluating and understanding everything from the stock market to the success of those millionaires cited in the aforementioned bestsellers. Here's an articulate, wise, and humorous meditation on the nature of success and failure that anyone who wants a little more of the former would do well to consider. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards [via]
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The God Delusionby Richard DawkinsISBN 0618680004 (0-618-68000-4)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The God Delusion'Book summary:A preeminent scientist -- and the world's most prominent atheist -- asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11.[via]
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.More editions of The God Delusion:
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I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 1400048044 (1-4000-4804-4)
Softcover, Three Rivers Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History'Book summary:Here is bestselling scientist Stephen Jay Goulds tenth and final collection based on his remarkable series for Natural History magazineexactly 300 consecutive essays, with never a month missed, published from 1974 to 2001. Both an intellectually thrilling journey into the nature of scientific discovery and the most personal book he has ever published, I Have Landed marks the end of a significant chapter in the career of one of the most acclaimed and widely read scientists of our time.
Gould writes about the themes that have defined his career, which his readers have come to expect and celebrate, casting new light upon them and conveying the ideas that science professionals exchange among themselves (minus the technical jargon). Here, of course, is Charles Darwin, from his centrality to any sound scientific education to little-known facts about his life. Gould touches on subjects as far-reaching and disparate as feathered dinosaurs, the scourge of syphilis and the frustration of the man who identified it, and Freuds evolutionary fantasy. He writes brilliantly of Nabokovs delicately crafted drawings of butterflies and the true meaning of biological diversity. And in the poignant title essay, he details his grandfathers journey from Hungary to America, where he arrived on September 11, 1901. It is from his grandfathers journal entry of that day, stating simply I have landed, that the books title was drawn. This landing occurred 100 years to the day before our greatest recent tragedy, also explored, but with optimism, in the concluding section of the book.
Presented in eight parts, I Have Landed begins with a remembrance of a moment of wonder from childhood. In Part II, Gould explains that humanistic disciplines are not antithetical to theoretical or applied sciences. Rather, they often share a commonality of method and motivation, with great potential to enhance the achievements of each other, an assertion perfectly supported by essays on such notables as Nabokov and Frederic Church.
Part III contains what no Gould collection would be complete without: his always compelling mini intellectual biographies, which render each subject and his work deserving of reevaluation and renewed significance. In this collection of figures compelling and strange, Gould exercises one of his greatest strengths, the ability to reveal a significant scientific concept through a finely crafted and sympathetic portrait of the person behind the science. Turning his pen to three key figuresSigmund Freud, Isabelle Duncan, and E. Ray Lankester, the latter an unlikely attendee of the funeral of Karl Marxhe highlights the effect of the Darwinian revolution and its resonance on their lives and work.
Part IV encourages the readerthrough what Gould calls intellectual paleontology to consider scientific theories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in a new light and to recognize the limitations our own place in history may impose on our understanding of those ideas. Part V explores the op-ed genre and includes two essays with differing linguistic formats, which address the continual tug-of-war between the study of evolution and creationism.
In subsequent essays, in true Gould fashion, we are treated to moments of good humor, especially when he leads us to topics that bring him obvious delight, such as Dorothy Sayers novels and his enduring love of baseball and all its dramas. There is an ardent admiration of the topsy-turvy world of Gilbert and Sullivan (wonderfully demonstrated in the jacket illustration), who are not above inclusion in all things evolutionary.
This is truly Goulds most personal work to date. How fitting that this final collection should be his most revealing and, in content, the one that reflects most clearly the complexity, breadth of knowledge, and optimism that characterize Gould himself. I Have Landed succeeds in reinforcing Goulds underlying and constant theme from the series commencement thirty years agothe study of our own scientific, intellectual, and emotional evolutionbringing reader and author alike to what can only be described as a brilliantly written and very natural conclusion.
From the Hardcover edition. [via]More editions of I Have Landed: The End of a Beginning in Natural History:
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The Illustrated Origin of Speciesby Richard E. Leakey, Charles Robert DarwinISBN 0571114776 (0-571-11477-6)
Hardcover, Faber and Faber
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Illustrated Origin of Species'Book summary:Tan hardback with gilt titles + wrapper Pub:-Book Club Associates-1979- presents 240 pages good clean tight copy. [via]
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The Illustrated Origin of Speciesby Charles Robert DarwinISBN 0809013975 (0-8090-1397-5)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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The Joy of Piby David BlatnerISBN 0802775624 (0-8027-7562-4)
Softcover, Walker & Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Joy of Pi'Book summary:No number has captured the attention and imagination of people throughout the ages as much as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Pior ? as it is symbolically knownis infinite and, in The Joy of pi, it proves to be infinitely intriguing. With incisive historical insight and a refreshing sense of humor, David Blatner explores the many facets of pi and humankind's fascination with itfrom the ancient Egyptians and Archimedes to Leonardo da Vinci and the modern-day Chudnovsky brothers, who have calculated pi to eight billion digits with a homemade supercomputer.[via]
The Joy of Pi is a book of many parts. Breezy narratives recount the history of pi and the quirky stories of those obsessed with it. Sidebars document fascinating pi trivia (including a segment from the 0. J. Simpson trial). Dozens of snippets and factoids reveal pi's remarkable impact over the centuries. Mnemonic devices teach how to memorize pi to many hundreds of digits (or more, if you're so inclined). Pi-inspired cartoons, poems, limericks, and jokes offer delightfully "square" pi humor. And, to satisfy even the most exacting of number jocks, the first one million digits of pi appear throughout the book.
A tribute to all things pi, The Joy of pi is sure to foster a newfound affection and respect for the big number with the funny little symbol. -
The Language of Genes: Solving the Mysteries of Our Genetic Past, Present and Futureby Steve JonesISBN 0385474288 (0-385-47428-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Language of Genes: Solving the Mysteries of Our Genetic Past, Present and Future'Book summary:Surveys the burgeoning study of genetics, from its origins to the current progress in identifying the causes of diseases, the ethical questions raised by bioengineering, and the effect of genes on human sexuality. Reprint. K. [via]
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Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Wormsby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 0609804758 (0-609-80475-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms'Book summary:One of this century's most thoughtful and prolific naturalists, Harvard professor Stephen Jay Gould looks at the human twists on science in his eighth series of essays taken from Natural History magazine. As only he can, Gould finds questions where others have never looked, and answers where others have been blinded--by their professional rivalries, by their unacknowledged privilege in society, by the dominant world-view at their particular juncture in history. "All great science," he says in the title essay, "indeed all fruitful thinking, must occur in a social and intellectual context--and contexts are just as likely to promote insight as to constrain thought." Gould's gift is being able to identify context, and see patterns in diverse fields or people or moments in history in a way that Darwin saw patterns in living species.
This book is less about clams, worms, and Leonardo than about some evolutionary dead ends in human intellectual history. It's not an easy read. Those who are already Gould fans will find more tantalizing tidbits--no, thick stew--from this fruitful author. Those first-timers drawn by an intriguing title will scratch, frown, fall asleep, swear, and generally want to give up. But don't! Gould is one of those authors that takes some getting used to. With a little patience, his extravagant prose will edify rather than trip you, and his digressions will delight rather than distract. --Lauran Cole Warner [via]
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Looking Glass Universe: The Emerging Science of Wholenessby John Briggs, F. David PeatISBN 0006369294 (0-00-636929-4)
Softcover, Fontana Paperbacks
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- Looking Glass Universe: The Emerging Science of Wholeness: ISBN 0346125944 (0-346-12594-4)
Softcover, Cornerstone Library - Looking Glass Universe: The Emerging Science of Wholeness: ISBN 0671632159 (0-671-63215-9)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster - Looking Glass Universe: The Emerging Science of Wholeness: ISBN 0006369294 (0-00-636929-4)
Softcover, Fontana Paperbacks
- Looking Glass Universe: The Emerging Science of Wholeness: ISBN 0346125944 (0-346-12594-4)
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The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate Reflections in Natural Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 0609807552 (0-609-80755-2)
Softcover, Three Rivers Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate Reflections in Natural History'Book summary:Celebrated paleontologist and science writer Stephen Jay Gould has honed and matured his voice over almost 30 years of writing for Natural History. His tenure at that magazine closes with the end of the century, so The Lying Stones of Marrakech is his next-to-last collection of essays from this era. As ever, his works are clever, thoughtful, and inspiring; however, the longtime reader will detect a deeper reflection and a longer view taken by Gould in latter days, perhaps inevitable outcomes of experience and growth. The title essay refers to false fossils carved by Moroccans intent on making a few bucks off of hapless tourists, discusses the case of Beringer's 18th-century fossil hoax, and ends with a plea for a stricter separation between commercial and scientific interests--showing the breadth and scope of his paleontological interests and thinking.
Of course, he also has much to say beyond the confines of his profession: Joe DiMaggio and Dolly the sheep each get respectful treatment from the Gould pen, and he discusses the competing Christian groups sharing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Though his attitudes may have mellowed over time--he's far from the crotchety oldster some feared he'd become--his passion for knowledge and scientific freedom is still radiant. Whether you're an old-school fan of Gould's writings or a newcomer to his delightfully brainy essays, you'll find The Lying Stones of Marrakech a joy to behold. --Rob Lightner [via]
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The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truthby Paul HoffmanISBN 0786884061 (0-7868-8406-1)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth'Book summary:Paul Erdös was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdös would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution.
Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdös's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdös never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdös: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdös was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life."
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdös over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdös is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth:
- The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth: ISBN 0786863625 (0-7868-6362-5)
Hardcover, Hyperion Books - The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth: ISBN 0786884061 (0-7868-8406-1)
Softcover, Hyperion Books
- The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth: ISBN 0786863625 (0-7868-6362-5)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hatby Oliver SacksISBN 1555042651 (1-55504-265-1)
Softcover, Chivers North Amer
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Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Humanby Matt RidleyISBN 0060006781 (0-06-000678-1)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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On the Origin of Speciesby Charles DarwinISBN 1404322868 (1-4043-2286-8)
Hardcover, Indypublish.Com
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species'Book summary:It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. But it's true: this is indeed one of the most important and influential books ever written, and it is one of the very few groundbreaking works of science that is truly readable.
To a certain extent it suffers from the Hamlet problem--it's full of clichés! Or what are now clichés, but which Darwin was the first to pen. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in here.
Darwin's friend and "bulldog" T.H. Huxley said upon reading the Origin, "How extremely stupid of me not to have thought of that." Alfred Russel Wallace had thought of the same theory of evolution Darwin did, but it was Darwin who gathered the mass of supporting evidence--on domestic animals and plants, on variability, on sexual selection, on dispersal--that swept most scientists before it. It's hardly necessary to mention that the book is still controversial: Darwin's remark in his conclusion that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history" is surely the pinnacle of British understatement. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
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On the Origin of Speciesby Joseph CarrollISBN 1551113376 (1-55111-337-6)
Softcover, Broadview Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species'Book summary:It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. But it's true: this is indeed one of the most important and influential books ever written, and it is one of the very few groundbreaking works of science that is truly readable.
To a certain extent it suffers from the Hamlet problem--it's full of clichés! Or what are now clichés, but which Darwin was the first to pen. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in here.
Darwin's friend and "bulldog" T.H. Huxley said upon reading the Origin, "How extremely stupid of me not to have thought of that." Alfred Russel Wallace had thought of the same theory of evolution Darwin did, but it was Darwin who gathered the mass of supporting evidence--on domestic animals and plants, on variability, on sexual selection, on dispersal--that swept most scientists before it. It's hardly necessary to mention that the book is still controversial: Darwin's remark in his conclusion that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history" is surely the pinnacle of British understatement. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
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On the Origin of Species a Facsimile of the Firstby C. DarwinISBN 0674637526 (0-674-63752-6)
Softcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species a Facsimile of the First'Book summary:It is now fully recognized that the publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species in 1859 brought about a revolution in mans attitude toward life and his own place in the universe. This work is rightly regarded as one of the most important books ever published, and a knowledge of it should be part of the intellectual equipment of every educated person. The book remains surprisingly modern in its assertions and is also remarkably accessible to the layman, much more so than recent treatises necessarily encumbered with technical language and professional jargon.
This first edition had a freshness and uncompromising directness that were considerably weakened in later editions, and yet nearly all available reprints of the work are based on the greatly modified sixth edition of 1872. In the only other modern reprinting of the first edition, the pagination was changed, so that it is impossible to give page references to significant passages in the original. Clearly this facsimile reprint of the momentous first edition fills a need for scholars and general readers alike.
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On the Origin of Species: Appendix Dawrin's Original Manuscript Pagesby Charles DarwinISBN 1592242855 (1-59224-285-5)
Softcover, Wildside Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species: Appendix Dawrin's Original Manuscript Pages'Book summary:A facsimile of the 1859 first edition of Charles Darwin's classic work, On the Origin of Species. [via]
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The Origin of Species: Library Editionby Charles Robert Darwin, George LevineISBN 1593080778 (1-59308-077-8)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species: Library Edition'Book summary:This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher. [via]
More editions of The Origin of Species: Library Edition:
- The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1594620989 (1-59462-098-9)
Softcover, Standard Pubns Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1853267805 (1-85326-780-5)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0140432051 (0-14-043205-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 019283438X (0-19-283438-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0393978672 (0-393-97867-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0451529065 (0-451-52906-5)
Softcover, New Amer Library Classics - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0553214632 (0-553-21463-2)
Softcover, Bantam Classic & Loveswept - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0812219546 (0-8122-1954-6)
Softcover, Univ of Pennsylvania Pr - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0874716632 (0-87471-663-2)
Softcover, J M Dent & Sons Ltd - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0879756756 (0-87975-675-6)
Softcover, Prometheus Books - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0517123207 (0-517-12320-7)
Hardcover, Random House Value Pub - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0679600701 (0-679-60070-1)
Hardcover, Random House Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0020921209 (0-02-092120-9)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0393092194 (0-393-09219-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0451627768 (0-451-62776-8)
Softcover, New Amer Library - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0521282764 (0-521-28276-4)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0679749551 (0-679-74955-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0785819118 (0-7858-1911-8)
Hardcover, Castle Books Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1593080778 (1-59308-077-8)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
- The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1594620989 (1-59462-098-9)
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The Origin of Species: Library Editionby Gillian Beer, Charles Robert DarwinISBN 0192817833 (0-19-281783-3)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species: Library Edition'Book summary:In The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply-held beliefs of the Western world. Arguing for a material, not divine, origin of species, he showed that new species are achieved by "natural selection." The Origin communicates the enthusiasm of original thinking in an open, descriptive style, and Darwin's emphasis on the value of diversity speaks more strongly now than ever. As well as a stimulating introduction and detailed notes, this edition offers a register of the many writers referred to by Darwin in the text. [via]
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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Lifeby Charles DarwinISBN 0375751467 (0-375-75146-7)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life'Book summary:Published amid a firestorm of controversy in 1859, this is a book that changed the world. Reasoned and well-documented in its arguments, it offers coherent views of natural selection, adaptation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, and other concepts that form the foundation of evolutionary theory.[via]More editions of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life:
- On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of FAvoured RAces in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0486450066 (0-486-45006-6)
Softcover, Dover Pubns - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0404084044 (0-404-08404-4)
Hardcover, Ams Pr Inc - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0517309777 (0-517-30977-7)
Hardcover - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0517309785 (0-517-30978-5)
Hardcover - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0375751467 (0-375-75146-7)
Softcover, Modern Library
- On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of FAvoured RAces in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0486450066 (0-486-45006-6)
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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggled for Lifeby Charles Robert DarwinISBN 014040001X (0-14-040001-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggled for Life'More editions of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggled for Life:
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The Physics of Star Trekby Lawrence M. KraussISBN 0060977108 (0-06-097710-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Physics of Star Trek'Book summary:What warps when you're traveling at warp speed?
What's the difference between a holodeck and a hologram?
What happens when you get beamed up?
What's the difference between a wormhole and a black hole?
What is antimatter, and why does the Enterprise need it?
Are time loops really possible, and can I kill my grandmother before I am born?
Discover the answers to these and many other fascinating questions from a renowned physicist and dedicated Trekker.
Featuring a section on the top ten physics bloopers and blunders in Star Trek as selected by Nobel-Prize winning physicists and other devout Trekkers!
"Today's science fiction is often tomorrow's science fact. The physics that underlines Star Trek is surely worth investigating. To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit."
--From the foreword by Stephen HawkingNATIONAL BESTSELLER!
This book was not prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any entity involved in creating or producing the Star Trek television series or films. [via]
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The Quark and the Jaguar : Adventures in the Simple and the Complexby Murray Gell-MannISBN 0716725819 (0-7167-2581-9)
Hardcover, Freeman & Company, W. H.
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Quark and the Jaguar : Adventures in the Simple and the Complex'Book summary:A Nobel Prize-winning physicist discusses the science of simplicity and complexity, describing the intricate interrelationships that exist in nature between the simple (a quark in an atom) and the complex (the jaguar prowling its jungle environment). 25,000 first printing. [via]
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The Quark and the Jaguar: The Quark and the Jaguarby Murray Gell-MannISBN 0805072535 (0-8050-7253-5)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Quark and the Jaguar: The Quark and the Jaguar'Book summary:From one of the architects of the new science of simplicity and complexity comes an explanation of the connections between nature at its most basic level and natural selection, archaeology, linguistics, child development, computers, and other complex adaptive systems. Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann offers a uniquely personal and unifying vision of the relationship between the fundamental laws of physics and the complexity and diversity of the natural world.[via]More editions of The Quark and the Jaguar: The Quark and the Jaguar:
Science of Discworldby Terry PratchettISBN 0091874777 (0-09-187477-7)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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The Seven Daughters of Eveby Bryan SykesISBN 1417625929 (1-4176-2592-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Seven Daughters of Eve'Book summary:The national bestseller that reveals how we are descended from seven prehistoric women.
One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helix, The Seven Daughters of Eve reveals the remarkable story behind a groundbreaking scientific discovery. After being summoned in 1997 to an archaeological site to examine the remains of a five-thousand-year-old man, Bryan Sykes ultimately was able to prove not only that the man was a European but also that he has living relatives in England today. In this lucid, absorbing account, Sykes reveals how the identification of a particular strand of DNA that passes unbroken through the maternal line allows scientists to trace our genetic makeup all the way back to prehistoric times, to seven primeval women, the Seven Daughters of Eve. illustrated and includes a map [via]More editions of The Seven Daughters of Eve:
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The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestryby Bryan SykesISBN 0393020185 (0-393-02018-5)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry'Book summary:The Seven Daughters of Eve is a thrilling work of science that reveals how biological research can enrich our tangled lives. It is a book that chronicles many of the most exciting developments in genetics over the past decade by a man who is not only a brilliant scientist but also a gifted and thoroughly engaging writer. It ultimately demonstrates how much more we still have to discover about the absorbing story of human evolution.
One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helixa work whose scientific and cultural reverberations will be discussed for years to come. In 1994 Professor Bryan Sykes, a leading world authority on DNA and human evolution, was called in to examine the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in northern Italy. News of both the Ice Man's discovery and his age, which was put at over five thousand years, fascinated scientists and newspapers throughout the world. But what made Sykes's story particularly revelatory was his successful identification of a genetic descendant of the Ice Man, a woman living in Great Britain today. How was Sykes able to locate a living relative of a man who died thousands of years ago? In The Seven Daughters of Eve, he gives us a firsthand account of his research into a remarkable gene, which passes undiluted from generation to generation through the maternal line. After plotting thousands of DNA sequences from all over the world, Sykes found that they clustered around a handful of distinct groups. Among Europeans and North American Caucasians, there are, in fact, only seven. This conclusion was staggering: almost everyone of native European descent, wherever they may live throughout the world, can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, the Seven Daughters of Eve. Naming them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine, Sykes has created portraits of their disparate worlds by mapping the migratory patterns followed by millions of their ancestors. In reading the stories of these seven women, we learn exactly how our origins can be traced, how and where our ancient genetic ancestors lived, and how we are each living proof of the almost indestructible strands of DNA, which have survived over so many thousands of years. Indeed, The Seven Daughters of Eve is filled with dramatic stories: from Sykes's identification, using DNA samples from two living relatives, of the remains of Tsar Nicholas and Tsaress Alexandra, to the Caribbean woman whose family had been sold into slavery centuries before and whose ancestry Sykes was able to trace back to the Eastern coast of central Africa. Ultimately, Sykes's investigation reveals that, as a race, what humans have in common is more deeply embedded than what separates us.
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Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousnessby Roger PenroseISBN 0195106466 (0-19-510646-6)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness'Book summary:A New York Times bestseller when it appeared in 1989, Roger Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind was universally hailed as a marvelous survey of modern physics as well as a brilliant reflection on the human mind, offering a new perspective on the scientific landscape and a visionary glimpse of the possible future of science. Now, in Shadows of the Mind, Penrose offers another exhilarating look at modern science as he mounts an even more powerful attack on artificial intelligence. But perhaps more important, in this volume he points the way to a new science, one that may eventually explain the physical basis of the human mind.
Penrose contends that some aspects of the human mind lie beyond computation. This is not a religious argument (that the mind is something other than physical) nor is it based on the brain's vast complexity (the weather is immensely complex, says Penrose, but it is still a computable thing, at least in theory). Instead, he provides powerful arguments to support his conclusion that there is something in the conscious activity of the brain that transcends computation--and will find no explanation in terms of present-day science. To illuminate what he believes this "something" might be, and to suggest where a new physics must proceed so that we may understand it, Penrose cuts a wide swathe through modern science, providing penetrating looks at everything from Turing machines (computers programmed from artificial intelligence) to the implications of Godel's theorem maintaining that conscious thinking must indeed involve ingredients that cannot adequately be stimulated by mere computation. Of particular interest is Penrose's extensive examination of quantum mechanics, which introduces some new ideas that differ markedly from those advanced in The Emperor's New Mind, especially concerning the mysterious interface where classical and quantum physics meet. But perhaps the most interesting wrinkle in Shadows of the Mind is Penrose's excursion into microbiology, where he examines cytoskeletons and microtubules, minute substructures lying deep within the brain's neurons. (He argues that microtubules--not neurons--may indeed be the basic units of the brain, which, if nothing else, would dramatically increase the brain's computational power.) Furthermore, he contends that in consciousness some kind of global quantum state must take place across large areas of the brain, and that it within microtubules that these collective quantum effects are most likely to reside.
For physics to accommodate something that is as foreign to our current physical picture as is the phenomenon of consciousness, we must expect a profound change--one that alters the very underpinnings of our philosophical viewpoint as to the nature of reality. Shadows of the Mind provides an illuminating look at where these profound changes may take place and what our future understanding of the world may be. [via]More editions of Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness:
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Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacherby Richard Phillips FeynmanISBN 0738206504 (0-7382-0650-4)
Hardcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher'More editions of Six Easy Pieces and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher:
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Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacherby Richard Feynman, Paul DaviesISBN 0465023924 (0-465-02392-4)
Softcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher'Book summary:Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher is a publishing first. This set couples a book containing the six easiest chapters from Richard Feynmans landmark work, Lectures on Physicsspecifically designed for the general, non-scientist readerwith the actual recordings of the late, great physicist delivering the lectures on which the chapters are based. Nobel Laureate Feynman gave these lectures just once, to a group of Caltech undergraduates in 1961 and 1962, and these newly released recordings allow you to experience one of the Twentieth Centurys greatest mindsas if you were right there in the classroom.[via]More editions of Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher:
- Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0738200220 (0-7382-0022-0)
Softcover, Perseus Audio - Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0201408252 (0-201-40825-2)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group - Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0201408961 (0-201-40896-1)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group - Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0201409550 (0-201-40955-0)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group - Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0201409569 (0-201-40956-9)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group - Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0465023924 (0-465-02392-4)
Softcover, Basic Books
- Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher: ISBN 0738200220 (0-7382-0022-0)
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The Theory of Relativity: & Other Essaysby EinsteinISBN 1567312470 (1-56731-247-0)
Hardcover, Fine Communications
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Theory of Relativity: & Other Essays'Book summary:E=mc2: It may be Einstein's most well-known contribution to modern science, but how many people understand the thought process or physics behind this famous equation? In this collection of his seven most important essays on physics, Einstein guides his reader step-by-step through the many layers of scientific theory that formed a starting point for his discoveries. By both supporting and refuting the theories and scientific efforts of his predecessors, Einstein reveals in a clear voice the origins and meaning of such significant topics as physics and reality, the fundamentals of theoretical physics, the common language of science, the laws of science and of ethics, and an elementary derivation of the equivalence of mass and energy. This remarkable collection allows the general reader to understand not only the significance of Einstein's masterpiece, but also the brilliant mind behind it. This authorized Philosophical Library ebook features a new introduction by Neil Berger and an illustrated biography of Albert Einstein, which includes rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "The 'principle of relativity' in its widest sense is contained in the statement: The totality of physical phenomena is of such a character that it gives no basis for the introduction of the concept of "absolute motion;" or shorter but less precise: There is no absolute motion." -Albert Einstein, "The Theory of Relativity" Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was born in Germany and became an American citizen in 1940. A world-famous theoretical physicist, he as awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics and is renowned for his Theory of Relativity. In addition to his scientific work, Einstein was an influential humanist who spoke widely about politics, ethics, and social causes. After leaving Europe, Einstein taught at Princeton University. His theories were instrumental in shaping the atomic age. [via]
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The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animalby Jared M. DiamondISBN 0060845503 (0-06-084550-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution And Future of the Human Animal'Book summary:Jared Diamond states the theme of his book up-front: "How the human species changed, within a short time, from just another species of big mammal to a world conqueror; and how we acquired the capacity to reverse all that progress overnight." The Third Chimpanzee is, in many ways, a prequel to Diamond's prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns examines "the fates of human societies," this work surveys the longer sweep of human evolution, from our origin as just another chimpanzee a few million years ago. Diamond writes:
It's obvious that humans are unlike all animals. It's also obvious that we're a species of big mammal down to the minutest details of our anatomy and our molecules. That contradiction is the most fascinating feature of the human species.
The chapters in The Third Chimpanzee on the oddities of human reproductive biology were later expanded in Why Is Sex Fun? Here, they're linked to Diamond's views of human psychology and history.
Diamond is officially a physiologist at UCLA medical school, but he's also one of the best birdwatchers in the world. The current scientific consensus that "primitive" humans created ecological catastrophes in the Pacific islands, Australia, and the New World owes a great deal to his fieldwork and insight. In Diamond's view, the current global ecological crisis isn't due to modern technology per se, but to basic weaknesses in human nature. But, he says, "I'm cautiously optimistic. If we will learn from our past that I have traced, our own future may yet prove brighter than that of the other two chimpanzees." --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal:
- The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal: ISBN 0060984031 (0-06-098403-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins - The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal: ISBN 0060183071 (0-06-018307-1)
Hardcover, Harpercollins - The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution And Future of the Human Animal: ISBN 0060845503 (0-06-084550-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins
- The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal: ISBN 0060984031 (0-06-098403-1)
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The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, And What Comes Nextby Lee SmolinISBN 0618551050 (0-618-55105-0)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, And What Comes Next'Book summary:In this groundbreaking book, the renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that physics the basis for all other sciences has lost its way. For more than two centuries, our understanding of the laws of nature expanded rapidly. But today, despite our best efforts, we know nothing more about these laws than we knew in the 1970s. Why is physics suddenly in trouble? And what can we do about it?[via]
One of the major problems, according to Smolin, is string theory: an ambitious attempt to formulate a theory of everything that explains all the particles and forces of nature and how the universe came to be. With its exotic new particles and parallel universes, string theory has captured the publics imagination and seduced many physicists.
But as Smolin reveals, theres a deep flaw in the theory: no part of it has been tested, and no one knows how to test it. In fact, the theory appears to come in an infinite number of versions, meaning that no experiment will ever be able to prove it false. As a scientific theory, it fails. And because it has soaked up the lions share of funding, attracted some of the best minds, and effectively penalized young physicists for pursuing other avenues, it is dragging the rest of physics down with it.
With clarity, passion, and authority, Smolin charts the rise and fall of string theory and takes a fascinating look at what will replace it. A group of young theorists has begun to develop exciting ideas that, unlike string theory, are testable. Smolin not only tells us who and what to watch for in the coming years, he offers novel solutions for seeking out and nurturing the best new talentgiving us a chance, at long last, of finding the next Einstein.More editions of The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, And What Comes Next:
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What the World Needs Nowby Steven JohnsonISBN 1580083099 (1-58008-309-9)
Softcover, Ten Speed Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What the World Needs Now'Book summary:Ever wanted a chair that converts into a rowing machine? Sunglasses that serve as a wallet? A car with a sundeck so you can work on your tan on those long road trips? Well, inventor and illustrator Steven Johnson has designed these marvels and many, many more, spurred on by a truly insatiable imagination. His wacky, wonderful concepts could very well change the world-that is, if someone was ever bold enough to build them. From clothing to dining technology, home furnishings to appliances, and gardening gadgets to survival gear, WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW is a sourcebook of revolutionary designs that prove how far our techno-culture has yet to go. Ä¢ Includes a three-step plan for inventing useful and useless things. [via]
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Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 039330700X (0-393-30700-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History'Book summary:The Burgess Shale of British Columbia "is the most precious and important of all fossil localities," writes Stephen Jay Gould. These 600-million-year-old rocks preserve the soft parts of a collection of animals unlike any other. Just how unlike is the subject of Gould's book.
Gould describes how the Burgess Shale fauna was discovered, reassembled, and analyzed in detail so clear that the reader actually gets some feeling for what paleobiologists do, in the field and in the lab. The many line drawings are unusually beautiful, and now can be compared to a wonderful collection of photographs in Fossils of the Burgess Shale by Derek Briggs, one of Gould's students.
Burgess Shale animals have been called a "paleontological Rorschach test," and not every geologist by any means agrees with Gould's thesis that they represent a "road not taken" in the history of life. Simon Conway Morris, one of the subjects of Wonderful Life, has expressed his disagreement in Crucible of Creation. Wonderful Life was published in 1989, and there has been an explosion of scientific interest in the pre-Cambrian and Cambrian periods, with radical new ideas fighting for dominance. But even though many scientists disagree with Gould about the radical oddity of the Burgess Shale animals, his argument that the history of life is profoundly contingent--as in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, from which this book takes its title--has become more accepted, in theories such as Ward and Brownlee's Rare Earth hypothesis. And Gould's loving, detailed exposition of the labor it took to understand the Burgess Shale remains one of the best explanations of scientific work around. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History:
- Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 0735100314 (0-7351-0031-4)
Hardcover, Replica Books - Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 0393027058 (0-393-02705-8)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 039330700X (0-393-30700-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 0735100314 (0-7351-0031-4)
The Works of Charles Darwin: The Origin of Speciesby Charles Darwin, Paul H. Barrett, R.B. Freeman, Pete GautreyISBN 0814718051 (0-8147-1805-1)
Hardcover, New York Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Works of Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species'More editions of The Works of Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species:
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El Cometa/the Cometby Carl Sagan, Ann DruyanISBN 8432043680 (84-320-4368-0)
Softcover, Planeta Pub Corp
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Despertares/ Awakeby O. SacksISBN 8433962191 (84-339-6219-1)
Softcover, Ld Books Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Despertares/ Awake'Book summary:Este libro relata la extraordinaria historia de un grupo de veinte pacientes ingresados en el hospital Monte carmelo de Nuevas York, supervivientes de la gran epidemia de encefalitis letargica que alcanzo dimensiones planetarias en los anos veinte del siglo pasado, y del asombroso y subito despertar que experimentaron, cuarenta anos despues, gracias al Dr. Oliver Sacks, que les administro L-Dopa, un medicamento de reciente aparicion por aquel momento. Las anecdotas que cuenta de esa serie d epacientes, cada uno de ellos con una notable personalidad, son siempre conmovedoras y dan testimonio del valor con el que se enfrentaron a la enfermedad y a veces tienen connotaciones tragicas. [via]
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El Origen De Las Especies/the Origin Of Speciesby Charles DarwinISBN 1583487778 (1-58348-777-8)
Softcover, Iuniverse Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'El Origen De Las Especies/the Origin Of Species'Book summary:Las teorías y pruebas que Darwin expuso en 'El origen de las especies' son definitivas en la comprensión de la naturaleza y en el sustento de los estudios biológicos. Desde su publicación, los conceptos de evolución, adaptación y selección natural se han incorporado a todos los estudios científicos. La resonancia de la obra de Darwin ha impregnado todos los campos del saber, incluidos los de filosofía y religión. [via]
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