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books tagged “science”
books tagged “science”
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The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorusby John EmsleyISBN 047144149X (0-471-44149-X)
Softcover, Chemical Heritage Foundation
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus'Book summary:The incredible "glowing" history of the "Devil's element "phosphorus
Discovered by alchemists, prescribed by apothecaries, exploited by ninth-century industrialists, and abused by twentieth-century combatants, the chemical element phosphorus has fascinated us for more than three centuries. It may even be the cause of will-o'-the wisps and spontaneous human combustion! Now John Emsley has written an enthralling account of this eerily luminescent element. Shining with wonderful nuggets-from murders-by-phosphorus to a match factory strike; from the firebombing of Hamburg to the deadly compounds derived from phosphorus today-The 13th Element weaves together a rich tableau of brilliant and oddball characters, social upheavals, and bizarre events. [via]More editions of The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus:
Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledgeby Paul K. FeyerabendISBN 039100381X (0-391-00381-X)
Hardcover, Humanities Press
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Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technologyby Isaac AsimovISBN 0385177712 (0-385-17771-2)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Othersby Martin ReesISBN 0201151421 (0-201-15142-1)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others'Book summary:"Although we cannot observe them (and they may be forever inaccessible), other universes are a natural expectation from current cosmology. Moreover, many features of our universe that otherwise seem baffling fall into place once we recognize this." Sir Martin Rees, the British Astronomer Royal, gives a vivid, occasionally acid tour of current astrophysics and cosmology, with insights into scientific politics, such as the enormous increase in the cost of the space telescope because of its association with the Space Shuttle. He also offers keen observations on personalities such as Subrahmayan Chandrasekhar and Isaac Newton, Yakov Zeldovich and Albert Einstein. Joseph Silk calls Before the Beginning "an unusual blend of wit, asperity and cosmology ... a combination of clarity and conciseness." [via]
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The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450by David C. LindbergISBN 0226482316 (0-226-48231-6)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450'Book summary:This landmark book represents the first attempt in two decades to survey the science of the ancient world, the first attempt in four decades to write a comprehensive history of medieval science, and the first attempt ever to present a full, unified account of both ancient and medieval science in a single volume. In The Beginnings of Western Science , David C. Lindberg provides a rich chronicle of the development of scientific ideas, practices, and institutions from the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers to the late-medieval scholastics. Lindberg surveys all the most important themes in the history of ancient and medieval science, including developments in cosmology, astronomy, mechanics, optics, alchemy, natural history, and medicine. He synthesizes a wealth of information in superbly organized, clearly written chapters designed to serve students, scholars, and nonspecialists alike. In addition, Lindberg offers an illuminating account of the transmission of Greek science to medieval Islam and subsequently to medieval Europe. And throughout the book he pays close attention to the cultural and institutional contexts within which scientific knowledge was created and disseminated and to the ways in which the content and practice of science were influenced by interaction with philosophy and religion. Carefully selected maps, drawings, and photographs complement the text. Lindberg's story rests on a large body of important scholarship produced by historians of science, philosophy, and religion over the past few decades. However, Lindberg does not hesitate to offer new interpretations and to hazard fresh judgments aimed at resolving long-standing historical disputes. Addressed to the general educated reader as well as to students, his book will also appeal to any scholar whose interests touch on the history of the scientific enterprise. [via]
More editions of The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450:
- The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450: ISBN 0226482308 (0-226-48230-8)
Hardcover, Univ of Chicago Pr - The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450: ISBN 0226482316 (0-226-48231-6)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
- The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C. to A.D. 1450: ISBN 0226482308 (0-226-48230-8)
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Belief in God in an Age of Scienceby J. C. PolkinghorneISBN 0300099495 (0-300-09949-5)
Softcover, Yale Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Belief in God in an Age of Science'Book summary:Belief in God in an Age of Science, by the renowned theoretical physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne (a fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge), collects a series of lectures exploring the compatibility of science and theology. Polkinghorne's most interesting argument is that the two disciplines, which he calls "intellectual cousins," exhibit "a common concern with the attainment of understanding through the search for motivated belief." He describes this common concern by comparing the scientific investigation into the nature of light that led to the quantum theory with the theological investigation of the nature of Christ's being that led to the Chalcedonian Creed. Polkinghorne's prose is lucid throughout, and his broadminded rigor persuades readers that "if reality is generously and adequately construed, then knowledge will be seen to be one; if rationality is generously and adequately construed, then science and theology will be seen as partners in a common quest for understanding." --Michael Joseph Gross [via]
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The Cambridge Quintet: A Work of Scientific Speculationby John L. CastiISBN 0201328283 (0-201-32828-3)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
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A Child Is Bornby Lennart Nilsson, Lars HambergerISBN 0385337558 (0-385-33755-8)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Child Is Born'Book summary:The fourth edition of this beloved classic--completely revised and updated.
When it was first published nearly forty years ago, Lennart Nilsson's A Child is Born broke astonishing new ground, offering an unprecedented glimpse of life inside the womb. Now this completely new fourth edition of the international classic brings revolutionary photographic technology and artistry to a landmark work. Packed with breathtaking, never-before-seen photographs and entirely new text, this awesome journey from fertilization to birth is a timeless masterpiece--completely revised for a new generation. [via]More editions of A Child Is Born:
- A Child Is Born: ISBN 038533754X (0-385-33754-X)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - A Child Is Born: ISBN 0440506913 (0-440-50691-3)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - A Child Is Born: ISBN 0440512158 (0-440-51215-8)
Softcover, Dell Publishing - A Child Is Born: ISBN 0385281366 (0-385-28136-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - A Child Is Born: ISBN 0385302371 (0-385-30237-1)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - A Child Is Born: New Photographs of Life before Birth and Up-To-Date Advice for Expectant Parents: ISBN 044001266X (0-440-01266-X)
Hardcover, Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence - A Child Is Born: ISBN 0385337558 (0-385-33755-8)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- A Child Is Born: ISBN 038533754X (0-385-33754-X)
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The Control of Natureby John McPheeISBN 0374522596 (0-374-52259-6)
Softcover, Noonday Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Control of Nature'Book summary:Master how-it-works writer John McPhee has instructed his readers in the arcana of how oranges are commercially graded, how mountains form, how canoes are built and oceans crossed. In The Control of Nature he turns his attention once more to geology and the human struggle against nature. In one sketch, he explores the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' unrealized plan to divert the flow of the Mississippi River into a tributary, the Atchafalaya, for flood control; in another, he looks at the ingenious ways in which an Icelandic engineer saved a southern harbor on that island from being destroyed by a lava flow; in a third, he examines a complex scheme to protect Los Angeles from boulders ejected from mountains by compression and tectonic movement. As always, McPhee combines a deep knowledge of his subject with a narrative approach that is wholly accessible; you may not have thought you were interested in earthquakes and flood control, but he gently leads you to take a passionate concern in such matters. [via]
Curious Minds: How A Child Becomes A Scientistby John BrockmanISBN 0375422919 (0-375-42291-9)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandariesby Neil De Grasse TysonISBN 0393062244 (0-393-06224-4)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Downby Robert B. LaughlinISBN 0465038298 (0-465-03829-8)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down'Book summary:Not since Richard Feynman has a Nobel Prize-winning physicist written with as much panache as Robert Laughlin does in this revelatory and essential book. Laughlin proposes nothing less than a new way of understanding fundamental laws of science. In this age of superstring theories and Big-Bang cosmology, we're used to thinking of the unknown as being impossibly distant from our everyday lives. The edges of science, we're told, lie in the first nanofraction of a second of the Universe's existence, or else in realms so small that they can't be glimpsed even by the most sophisticated experimental techniques. But we haven't reached the end of science, Laughlin argues-only the end of reductionist thinking. If we consider the world of emergent properties instead, suddenly the deepest mysteries are as close as the nearest ice cube or grain of salt. And he goes farther: the most fundamental laws of physics-such as Newton's laws of motion and quantum mechanics -are in fact emergent. They are properties of large assemblages of matter, and when their exactness is examined too closely, it vanishes into nothing.A Different Universe takes us into a universe where the vacuum of space has to be considered a kind of solid matter, where sound has quantized particles just like those of light, where there are many phases of matter, not just three, and where metal resembles a liquid while superfluid helium is more like a solid. It is a universe teeming with natural phenomena still to be discovered. This is a truly mind-altering book that shows readers a surprising, exquisitely beautiful and mysterious new world.[via]More editions of A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down:
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Dinosaurby David Norman, Angela Miller, Colin Keates, Dorling Kindersley Publishing StaffISBN 0394822536 (0-394-82253-6)
Hardcover, Random House Children's Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dinosaur'Book summary:Full-color photos. "From cover to cover, this openly invites the reader to discover the delights of dinosaurs. The visual appeal is impressive. The text is informative. Fossilization, skeleton reconstruction, and a superb time scale round out a stunning and compelling book. Complete, authoritative, exact, and imaginative, it is sure to survive when other dinosaur books become extinct."--(starred) Science Books & Films. [via]
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Earth in Upheavalby Immanuel VelikovskyISBN 0385041136 (0-385-04113-6)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Earth in Upheaval'Book summary:In this epochal book, Immanuel Velikovsky, one of the great scientists of modern times, puts the complete histories of our Earth and of humanity on a new basis. He presents the results of his 10-year-long interdisciplinary research in an easily understandable, even entertaining manner. Inspite - or even because - of the disgraceful hostility, provoked by his theories, this book keeps being of ardent topicality, which in the light of recent scientific research is even growing. Earth in Upheaval - a very exactly investigated and easily understandable book - contains material that completely revolutionizes our view of the history of the earth. For all those who have ever wondered about the evolution of the earth, the formation of mountains and oceans, the origin of coal or fossils, the question of the ice ages and the history of animal and plant species, Earth in Upheaval is a MUST-READ! [via]
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The End of Natureby Bill McKibbenISBN 0385416040 (0-385-41604-0)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The End of Nature'Book summary:Reissued on the tenth anniversary of its publication, this classic work on our environmental crisis features a new introduction by the author, reviewing both the progress and ground lost in the fight to save the earth.
This impassioned plea for radical and life-renewing change is today still considered a groundbreaking work in environmental studies. McKibben's argument that the survival of the globe is dependent on a fundamental, philosophical shift in the way we relate to nature is more relevant than ever. McKibben writes of our earth's environmental cataclysm, addressing such core issues as the greenhouse effect, acid rain, and the depletion of the ozone layer. His new introduction addresses some of the latest environmental issues that have risen during the 1990s. The book also includes an invaluable new appendix of facts and figures that surveys the progress of the environmental movement.
More than simply a handbook for survival or a doomsday catalog of scientific prediction, this classic, soulful lament on Nature is required reading for nature enthusiasts, activists, and concerned citizens alike. [via] -
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animalsby Charles Darwin, Philip Prodger, Paul EkmanISBN 0195158067 (0-19-515806-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr on Demand
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals'Book summary:"Even cows, when they frisk about from pleasure, throw up their tails in a ridiculous fashion." So writes Charles Darwin in his magnum opus on how humans and animals display such emotions as fear, anger, disdain, and pleasure; it is work that has in most respects been sustained by later scientific research. First published in 1872, Darwin's greatest work was never issued in quite the shape its author intended: bits and pieces were left out of subsequent printings, most of them released after Darwin's death, and later editors made additions to suit the intellectual fashion of their times. This definitive edition, heavily annotated, brings us the book that Darwin would have wanted, and it is essential to any naturalist's library. [via]
More editions of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals:
- The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: ISBN 0226136566 (0-226-13656-6)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr - The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: ISBN 0404084109 (0-404-08410-9)
Hardcover, Ams Pr Inc - The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: ISBN 0195158067 (0-19-515806-7)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr on Demand
- The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: ISBN 0226136566 (0-226-13656-6)
Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough To Live Foreverby Ray Kurzweil, Terry GrossmanISBN 0452286670 (0-452-28667-0)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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Far As Human Eye Could Seeby Isaac AsimovISBN 0385235143 (0-385-23514-3)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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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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Fossilsby Herbert S. Zim, Paul R. Shaffer, Frank Harold Trevor Rhodes, Raymond PerlmanISBN 0307244113 (0-307-24411-3)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fossils'Book summary:Golden has one of the most authoritative and largest selections of nature guide available. Perfect for nature lovers of all ages, this guide to fossils is a convenient size for outdoor use on field projects, hiking, and vacations. Full-color illustrations, non-technical language, and up-to-date range maps complete this comprehensive pocket reference. [via]
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Full Moonby Andrew Chaikin, Michael LightISBN 0375406344 (0-375-40634-4)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Full Moon'Book summary:In Full Moon, one of the best science photography books ever published, Michael Light presents a voyage in images to the Moon and back. Light took NASA's master negatives of photos taken by Apollo astronauts and scanned them electronically. The resulting pictures are so vivid they seem more clear than real life. Light orders the photos sequentially, selecting the most arresting images from each mission, to create a truly cinematic experience. In the first section, depicting blastoff, you can almost feel the violent shaking of the rocket as it strains to escape Earth's gravity. Then you see the quiet stillness of weightlessness, the astronauts' view down at a perfectly silent Earth, boundless oceans contrasting with bright white clouds. A spacewalk adds vertigo--the astronaut looks fragile and very alone as he floats outside his capsule far above his home planet. Then comes the waiting, as the long voyage toward the Moon continues.
As you watch the cratered surface get closer and closer, you have no sense of scale until you see the miniscule silver and gold lander dropping gently to land on the Moon. Leaving the cluttered interior of the capsule in bulky, awkward suits, the astronauts bring delicate tracings of color--gold on the lander; red, white, and blue on the spacesuits' flag patches--to this black-and-white world. Five huge gatefolds in this section give you indescribable views of the intricately scarred surface of the Moon.
You return to space for the reuniting of the lander and capsule, and a repetition of the tedious journey back home. Finally, you watch a chaotic splashdown in the riot of colors that is Earth.
A nice section in the back of the book explains each photo with a detailed caption, and an essay by author Andrew Chaikin (A Man on the Moon) adds more written context to this stunning visual experience. The book is printed on very high-quality paper, with matte black frames for the photos and a gorgeous, wordless cover. Every space fan should have a copy. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Full Moonby Michael LightISBN 0375414940 (0-375-41494-0)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Full Moon'Book summary:The most thrilling of all journeys--the missions of the Apollo astronauts to the surface of the Moon and back--yielded 32,000 extraordinarily beautiful photographs, the record of a unique human achievement. Until recently, only a handful of these photographs had been released for publication; but now, for the first time, NASA has allowed a selection of the master negatives and transparencies to be scanned electronically, rendering the sharpest images of space that we have ever seen. Michael Light has woven 129 of these stunningly clear images into a single composite voyage, a narrative of breathtaking immediacy and authenticity that begins with the launch and is followed by a walk in space, an orbit of the Moon, a lunar landing and exploration, and a return to Earth with an orbit and splashdown.
Graced by five 45-inch-wide gatefolds that display the lunar landscape, from above the surface and at eye level, in unprecedented detail and clarity, Full Moon conveys on each page the excitement, disorientation, and awe that the astronauts themselves felt as they were shot into space and then as they explored an alien landscape and looked back at their home planet from hundreds of thousands of miles away.
Published on the thirtieth anniversary of Apollo 11--the first landing on the Moon--this remarkable and mesmerizing volume is, like the voyages it commemorates and re-creates, an experience both intimate and monumental. [via]More editions of Full Moon:
Geologyby Frank Harold Trevor Rhodes, Raymond PerlmanISBN 0307243494 (0-307-24349-4)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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The Hidden Connections: A Science of Sustainable Livingby Fritjof CapraISBN 0385494726 (0-385-49472-6)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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The Hidden Connections : Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainabilityby Fritjof CapraISBN 0385494718 (0-385-49471-8)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hidden Connections : Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainability'Book summary:The author of the bestselling The Tao of Physics and The Web of Life explores the profound social implications of emerging scientific principles and provides an innovative framework for using them to understand and solve some of the most important issues of our time.
For most of history, scientific investigation was based on linear thinking. But the 1980's brought a revolutionary change. With the advent of improved computer power, scientists could apply complexity theory--nonlinear thinking--to scientific processes far more easily than ever before. Physicist Fritjof Capra was at the forefront of the revolution, and in The Web of Life he extended its scope by showing the impact of complexity theory on living organisms. In The Hidden Connections he breaks through another frontier, this time applying the principles of complexity theory to an analysis of the broad sphere of all human interactions.
Capra posits that in order to sustain life in the future, the principles underlying our social institutions must be consistent with the organization that nature has evolved to sustain the "web of life." In a lucid and convincing argument, Capra explains how the theoretical ideas of science can be applied to the practical concerns of our time. Covering every aspect of human nature and society, he discusses such vital matters as the management of human organizations, the challenges and dangers of economic globalization, and the nature and the problems of biotechnology. He concludes with an authoritative, often provocative plan for designing ecologically sustainable communities and technologies as alternatives to the current economic globalization.
A brilliant, incisive examination of the relationship between science and our social systems, The Hidden Connections will spark enormous debate in the scientific community and inspire us to think about the future of humanity in a new way. [via]More editions of The Hidden Connections : Integrating the Biological, Cognitive, and Social Dimensions of Life into a Science of Sustainability:
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High Frontierby Gerard O'NeillISBN 0385182325 (0-385-18232-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'High Frontier'Book summary:Rocket man, I think it's going to be a long, long time. When Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill published the first edition of High Frontier back in the mid-70s (just four years after "Rocket Man," to be exact), he just assumed that some of us would be living in orbit by now. Or as the Space Studies Institute's George Friedman puts it in a new essay for this third edition of O'Neill's pioneering work, the L5 society's slogan "L5 in '95!" certainly wasn't referring to 2095.
In High Frontier, O'Neill had mapped out a straightforward, manifestly doable path to putting humans into space permanently and sustainably, using 1970s material and current-day Zubrin-style know-how. But O'Neill died in 1992 seeing humanity no closer to fulfilling his bold vision. Freeman Dyson points out in a new introduction to this edition that in many ways we've actually backslided, that the International Space Station (and the current role of NASA) is "not a step forward on the road to the High Frontier. It's a big step backward, a setback that will take decades to overcome."
But O'Neill's idea of pursuing an inexhaustible energy supply (solar power in space) and endless room to expand remains tantalisingly attractive. The science has only gotten easier, and the moral imperative has only become more pronounced, with the planet's resources ever-steadily squeezed and the recent knowledge that a mass-extinction event on Earth is nearly inevitable. (O'Neill calls the High Frontier the only chance to make human life--perhaps all life in the universe--"unkillable.") The High Frontier is as exciting a read as it ever was, and six new chapters provide context for the advances made in the 25 years since O'Neill's original manifesto. But perhaps the best addition to this printing is the chance to see and hear the soft-spoken physicist himself, in more than an hour of MPEG video included on the CD-ROM. --Paul Hughes [via]
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How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzleby William PoundstoneISBN 0316919160 (0-316-91916-0)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle'Book summary:Microsoft's interview process is a notoriously grueling sequence of brain-busting questions that separate the most creative thinkers from the merely brilliant. So effective is their technique that other leading corporations--from the high-tech industry to consulting and financial services--are modeling their own hiring practices on Bill Gates' unique approach. HOW WOULD YOU MOVE MOUNT FUJI? reveals for the first time more than 35 of Microsoft's puzzles and riddles. [via]
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How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle--How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkersby William PoundstoneISBN 0316778494 (0-316-77849-4)
Softcover, Little Brown & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'How Would You Move Mount Fuji?: Microsoft's Cult of the Puzzle--How the World's Smartest Companies Select the Most Creative Thinkers'Book summary:For years, Microsoft and other high-tech companies have been posing riddles and logic puzzles like these in their notoriously grueling job interviews. Now "puzzle interviews" have become a hot new trend in hiring. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, employers are using tough and tricky questions to gauge job candidates' intelligence, imagination, and problem-solving ability -- qualities needed to survive in today's hypercompetitive global marketplace. For the first time, William Poundstone reveals the toughest questions used at Microsoft and other Fortune 500 companies -- and supplies the answers. He traces the rise and controversial fall of employer-mandated IQ tests, the peculiar obsessions of Bill Gates (who plays jigsaw puzzles as a competitive sport), the sadistic mind games of Wall Street (which reportedly led one job seeker to smash a forty-third-story window), and the bizarre excesses of today's hiring managers (who may start off your interview with a box of Legos or a game of virtual Russian roulette). How Would You Move Mount Fuji? is an indispensable book for anyone in business. Managers seeking the most talented employees will learn to incorporate puzzle interviews in their search for the top candidates. Job seekers will discover how to tackle even the most brain-busting questions, and gain the advantage that could win the job of a lifetime. And anyone who has ever dreamed of going up against the best minds in business may discover that these puzzles are simply a lot of fun. Why are beer cans tapered on the end, anyway? [via]
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Human Use of Human Beingsby Norbert WienerISBN 0306803208 (0-306-80320-8)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society'Book summary:Only a few books stand as landmarks in social and scientific upheaval. Norbert Wiener's classic is one in that small company. Founder of the science of cyberneticsthe study of the relationship between computers and the human nervous systemWiener was widely misunderstood as one who advocated the automation of human life. As this book reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting. He hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery in order to achieve more creative pursuits. At the same time he realized the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His book examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as he anticipates the enormous impactin effect, a third industrial revolutionthat the computer has had on our lives.[via] -
In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mindby Eric R. KandelISBN 0393329372 (0-393-32937-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind'Book summary:A stunning book. Oliver Sacks
Charting the intellectual history of the emerging biology of mind, Eric R. Kandel illuminates how behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and molecular biology have converged into a powerful new science of mind. This science now provides nuanced insights into normal mental functioning and disease, and simultaneously opens pathways to more effective healing.
Driven by vibrant curiosity, Kandels personal quest to understand memory is threaded throughout this absorbing history. Beginning with his childhood in Nazi-occupied Vienna, In Search of Memory chronicles Kandels outstanding career from his initial fascination with history and psychoanalysis to his groundbreaking work on the biological process of memory, which earned him the Nobel Prize.
A deft mixture of memoir and history, modern biology and behavior, In Search of Memory traces how a brilliant scientists intellectual journey intersected with one of the great scientific endeavors of the twentieth century: the search for the biological basis of memory. [via]More editions of In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind:
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Isaac's Stormby Erik Larson, Isaac Monroe ClineISBN 0375708278 (0-375-70827-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Isaac's Storm'Book summary:On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city, while the wind destroyed thousands of buildings. By the time the water and winds subsided, entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10,000 were dead--making this the worst natural disaster in America's history.
In Isaac's Storm, Erik Larson blends science and history to tell the story of Galveston, its people, and the hurricane that devastated them. Drawing on hundreds of personal reminiscences of the storm, Larson follows individuals through the fateful day and the storm's aftermath. There's Louisa Rollfing, who begged her husband, August, not to go into town the morning of the storm; the Ursuline Sisters at St. Mary's orphanage who tied their charges to lengths of clothesline to keep them together; Judson Palmer, who huddled in his bathroom with his family and neighbors, hoping to ride out the storm. At the center of it all is Isaac Cline, employee of the nascent Weather Bureau, and his younger brother--and rival weatherman--Joseph. Larson does an excellent job of piecing together Isaac's life and reveals that Isaac was not the quick-thinking hero he claimed to be after the storm ended. The storm itself, however, is the book's true protagonist--and Larson describes its nuances in horrific detail.
At times the prose is a bit too purple, but Larson is engaging and keeps the book's tempo rising in pace with the wind and waves. Overall, Isaac's Storm recaptures at a time when, standing in the first year of the century, Americans felt like they ruled the world--and that even the weather was no real threat to their supremacy. Nature proved them wrong. --Sunny Delaney [via]
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The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Natureby Geoffrey MillerISBN 038549517X (0-385-49517-X)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature'Book summary:Evolutionary psychology has been called the "new black" of science fashion, though at its most controversial, it more resembles the emperor's new clothes. Geoffrey Miller is one of the Young Turks trying to give the phenomenon a better spin. In The Mating Mind, he takes Darwin's "other" evolutionary theory--of sexual rather than natural selection--and uses it to build a theory about how the human mind has developed the sophistication of a peacock's tail to encourage sexual choice and the refining of art, morality, music, and literature.
Where many evolutionary psychologists see the mind as a Swiss army knife, and cognitive science sees it as a computer, Miller compares it to an entertainment system, evolved to stimulate other brains. Taking up the baton from studies such as Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, it's a dizzyingly ambitious project, which would be impossibly vague without the ingenuity and irreverence that Miller brings to bear on it. Steeped in popular culture, the book mixes theories of runaway selection, fitness indicators, and sensory bias with explanations of why men tip more than women and how female choice shaped (quite literally) the penis. It also extols the sagacity of Mary Poppins. Indeed, Miller allows ideas to cascade at such a torrent that the steam given off can run the risk of being mistaken for hot air).
That large personalities can be as sexually enticing as oversize breasts or biceps may indeed prove comforting, but denuding sexual chemistry can be a curiously unsexy business, akin to analyzing humor. As a courting display of Miller's intellectual plumage, though, The Mating Mind is formidable, its agent-provocateur chest swelled with ideas and articulate conjecture. While occasionally his magpie instinct may loot fool's gold, overall it provides an accessible and attractive insight into modern Darwinism and the survival of the sexiest. --David Vincent, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Scienceby E. A. BurttISBN 039101742X (0-391-01742-X)
Softcover, Brill Academic Pub
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Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnologyby Edward Regis, Mark ChimskyISBN 0316738522 (0-316-73852-2)
Softcover, Little Brown & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnology'Book summary:K. Eric Drexler envisions a world in which poverty and hunger no longer exist, because food can be made out of thin air, and we never grow old, because cells can be regenerated as swiftly as they "age." Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, is what he's betting will make it happen. Ed Regis tells the story of Drexler's forays into this new science, showing the scientist's attempts to convince his colleagues that he hasn't descended into pulp fiction. He also fills in a lot of the historical and technical background, from the 19th-century arguments over whether atoms exist to modern experiments that have isolated and manipulated single atoms. Regis's prose is clear and straightforward, but not without a sly sense of humor. Apart from Drexler's own Engines of Creation, this is the book on nanotechnology to read. [via]
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Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnology Remaking the World-Molecule by Moleculeby Edward RegisISBN 0316738581 (0-316-73858-1)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Co
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Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Mothby Judith HooperISBN 0393325253 (0-393-32525-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth'Book summary:Mutant moths and feuding scientiststhe real story behind the most famous experiment in twentieth-century evolutionary biology. H. B. D. Kettlewell was a British doctor who caught butterflies and moths as an all-consuming hobby. He went into the English woods with a missionto catch "evolution in action" among the now-famous peppered moths. His work became "Darwin's missing evidence," a fixture in biology textbooks for half a century. Only recently has new research brought a different story to light. Compellingly told, Of Moths and Men reveals Kettlewell as a deluded scientist who distorted facts and suppressed evidence he didn't like. Tyrannized by his mentor, the powerful E. B. Fordan imperious misogynist and eccentric Oxford don who was a Darwinian zealot determined to crush all enemies in his pathKettlewell ended his life a suicide. A story of hubris and heartbreak, Of Moths and Men reveals as much about the internecine battles of science as it does about the mysteries of evolution. 16 pages of b/w photographs. [via]
More editions of Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth:
- Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth: ISBN 0393051218 (0-393-05121-8)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth: ISBN 0393325253 (0-393-32525-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth: ISBN 0393051218 (0-393-05121-8)
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Once upon a Numberby John Allen PaulosISBN 0465051596 (0-465-05159-6)
Softcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Once upon a Number'Book summary:Mathematician John Allen Paulos bravely bridges the scientific and literary cultures with this amusing, enlightening look at numbers and stories. If you think those two things go together like a "horse and a paperclip," as Allen wryly observes, you only have to look at phenomena like the Bible codes, the stock market's ups and downs, and the Clinton sex scandal to begin to understand the hidden bonds between them. Put simply, mathematics can describe everything that happens, and everything that happens contextualizes mathematics. In demonstrating this, Paulos continues the noble numeracy crusade he began with A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper and Innumeracy. Perhaps the most compelling thought experiments in the book are those of the statistics of stereotyping and race relations. Paulos shows, mathematically, that minority status makes achieving equality extraordinarily difficult.
If you want to keep hold of your comfortable worldview, don't read Once Upon a Number. But you'll be missing out on an unforgettable reminder of what chance, coincidence, and odds really mean, along with several valuable life lessons that may help you understand lost socks, racism, and mistaken identity. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Once upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Storiesby John Allen PaulosISBN 0465051588 (0-465-05158-8)
Hardcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Once upon a Number: The Hidden Mathematical Logic of Stories'Book summary:Mathematician John Allen Paulos bravely bridges the scientific and literary cultures with this amusing, enlightening look at numbers and stories. If you think those two things go together like a "horse and a paperclip," as Allen wryly observes, you only have to look at phenomena like the Bible codes, the stock market's ups and downs, and the Clinton sex scandal to begin to understand the hidden bonds between them. Put simply, mathematics can describe everything that happens, and everything that happens contextualizes mathematics. In demonstrating this, Paulos continues the noble numeracy crusade he began with A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper and Innumeracy. Perhaps the most compelling thought experiments in the book are those of the statistics of stereotyping and race relations. Paulos shows, mathematically, that minority status makes achieving equality extraordinarily difficult.
If you want to keep hold of your comfortable worldview, don't read Once Upon a Number. But you'll be missing out on an unforgettable reminder of what chance, coincidence, and odds really mean, along with several valuable life lessons that may help you understand lost socks, racism, and mistaken identity. --Therese Littleton [via]
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Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciencesby Michel FoucaultISBN 0415267374 (0-415-26737-4)
Softcover, Brunner-Routledge
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences'Book summary:No description available [via]
More editions of Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences:
- Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences: ISBN 039443952X (0-394-43952-X)
Hardcover, Pantheon Books - Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences: ISBN 0394719352 (0-394-71935-2)
Hardcover, Vintage Books - Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences: ISBN 0422718904 (0-422-71890-4)
Hardcover, Tavistock Publications - Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences: ISBN 0415267374 (0-415-26737-4)
Softcover, Brunner-Routledge
- Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences: ISBN 039443952X (0-394-43952-X)
Paradigms Regained: A Further Exploration of the Mysteries of Modern Scienceby John L. CastiISBN 0380731711 (0-380-73171-1)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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The Promise of Spaceby Arthur C. ClarkeISBN 0425075656 (0-425-07565-6)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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Radical Evolution : The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies - and What It Means to Be Humanby Joel GarreauISBN 0385509650 (0-385-50965-0)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Radical Evolution : The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies - and What It Means to Be Human'Book summary:In Radical Evolution, bestselling author Joel Garreau, a reporter and editor for the Washington Post, shows us that we are at an inflection point in history. As you read this, we are engineering the next stage of human evolution. Through advances in genetic, robotic, information and nanotechnologies, we are altering our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities, our progenyand perhaps our very souls.
Taking us behind the scenes with today's foremost researchers and pioneers, Garreau reveals that the super powers of our comic-book heroes already exist, or are in development in hospitals, labs, and research facilities around the country -- from the revved up reflexes and speed of Spider-Man and Superman, to the enhanced mental acuity and memory capabilities of an advanced species.
Over the next fifteen years, Garreau makes clear, these enhancements will become part of our everyday lives. Where will they lead us? To heavenwhere technologys promise to make us smarter, vanquish illness and extend our lives is the answer to our prayers? Or will they lead us, as some argue, to hell where unrestrained technology brings about the ultimate destruction of our entire species? With the help and insights of the gifted thinkers and scientists who are making what has previously been thought of as science fiction a reality, Garreau explores how these developments, in our lifetime, will affect everything from the way we date to the way we work, from how we think and act to how we fall in love. It is a book about what our world is becoming today, not fifty years out. As Garreau cautions, it is only by anticipating the future that we can hope to shape it. [via]More editions of Radical Evolution : The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies - and What It Means to Be Human:
Religion and Scienceby Bertrand RussellISBN 0195115511 (0-19-511551-1)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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The Riddle of the Dinosaurby John Noble WilfordISBN 039474392X (0-394-74392-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Riddle of the Dinosaur'Book summary:The Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter of The New York Times presents here a "lively introduction to many of the fascinating characters who have pursued and studied dinosaur bones, and a survey of two centuries of scientific thought on evolution" (The New York Times). Black-and-white halftones. [via]
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Science, Numbers and I.by Isaac AsimovISBN 0441754570 (0-441-75457-0)
Softcover, Berkley Pub Group
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The Sciences of the Artificialby Herbert A. SimonISBN 0262691914 (0-262-69191-4)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Sciences of the Artificial'Book summary:Continuing his exploration of the organization of complexity and the science of design, this new edition of Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence adds a chapter that sorts out the current themes and tools -- chaos, adaptive systems, genetic algorithms -- for analyzing complexity and complex systems.There are updates throughout the book as well. These take into account important advances in cognitive psychology and the science of design while confirming and extending the book's basic thesis: that a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action. The chapter "Economic Reality" has also been revised to reflect a change in emphasis in Simon's thinking about the respective roles of organizations and markets in economic systems.
[via]More editions of The Sciences of the Artificial:
- The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262193744 (0-262-19374-4)
Hardcover, Mit Pr - The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 026269073X (0-262-69073-X)
Softcover, Mit Pr - The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262191938 (0-262-19193-8)
Hardcover, MIT Press - The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262691914 (0-262-69191-4)
Softcover, Mit Pr
- The Sciences of the Artificial: ISBN 0262193744 (0-262-19374-4)
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Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deafby Oliver W. SacksISBN 0375704078 (0-375-70407-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf'Book summary:Written by the author of "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat", this book begins with the history of deaf people in the 18th century, the often outrageous ways in which they have been treated in the past, and their continuing struggle for acceptance in a hearing world. And it examines the visual language of the deaf - Sign - which has only in the past decade been recognized fully as a language linguistically complete, rich, and as expressive as any spoken language. Oliver Sacks has also written "Migraine", "Awakenings" and "A Leg to Stand on". [via]
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The Shocking History of Phosphorus: A Biography of the Devil's Elementby John EmsleyISBN 0333766385 (0-333-76638-5)
Hardcover, Macmillan
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A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to a Quantum Computerby George JohnsonISBN 0375726187 (0-375-72618-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to a Quantum Computer'Book summary:The first book to prepare us for the next bigperhaps the biggestbreakthrough in the short history of the cyberworld: the development of the quantum computer.
The newest Pentium chip driving personal computers packs 40 million electronic switches onto a piece of silicon the size of a thumbnail. It is dramatically smaller and more powerful than anything that has come before it. If this incredible shrinking act continues, the logical culmination is a computer in which each switch is composed of a single atom. And at that point the miraculousthe actualization of quantum mechanicsbecomes real. If atoms can be harnessed, society will be transformed: problems that could take forever to be solved on the supercomputers available today would be dispatched with ease. Quantum computing promises nothing less astonishing than a shortcut through time.
In this book, the award-winning New York Times science writer George Johnson first takes us back to the original idea of a computeralmost simple enough to be made of Tinkertoysand then leads us through increasing levels of complexity to the soul of this remarkable new machine. He shows us how, in laboratories around the world, the revolution has already begun.
Writing with a brilliant clarity, Johnson makes sophisticated material on (and even beyond) the frontiers of science both graspable and utterly fascinating, affording us a front-row seat at one of the most galvanizing scientific dramas of the new century. [via]More editions of A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to a Quantum Computer:
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Structures: Or, Why Things Don't Fall Downby J. E. GordonISBN 0306812835 (0-306-81283-5)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Structures: Or Why Things Dont Fall Down'Book summary:For anyone who has ever wondered why suspension bridges dont collapse under eight lanes of traffic, how dams hold backor give way underthousands of gallons of water, or what principles guide the design of a skyscraper, a nightgown, or a kangaroo, this book will ease your anxiety and answer your questions. Structures: Or Why Things Dont Fall Down is an informal explanation of the basic forces that hold together the ordinary and essential things of this worldfrom buildings and bodies to flying aircraft and eggshells. In a style that combines wit, a masterful command of his subject, and an encyclopedic range of reference, J. E. Gordon strips engineering of its technical mathematics and communicates the theory behind the structures of a wide variety of materials.Chapters on How to Design a Worm and The Advantage of Being a Beam offer humorous insights into human and natural creation. For architects and engineers there are cogent explanations of the concepts of stress, shear, torsion, fracture, and compression, and chapters on safety design and the relationship of efficiency to aesthetics. If you are building a house, a sailboat, or a catapult, here is a handy tool for understanding the mechanics of joinery, floors, ceilings, hulls, mastsor flying buttresses. Without jargon or over-simplification, Structures surveys the nature of materials and gives sophisticated answers to the most naive questions, opening up the marvels of technology to anyone interested in the foundations of our everyday lives.[via]More editions of Structures: Or, Why Things Don't Fall Down:
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Sun Shines Brightby Isaac AsimovISBN 0385171455 (0-385-17145-5)
Hardcover, Random House Value Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sun Shines Bright'Book summary:Classic Collectible Title [via]
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The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brainby Terrence W. DeaconISBN 0393317544 (0-393-31754-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain'Book summary:Terrence Deacon's The Symbolic Species begins with a question posed by a 7-year-old child: Why can't animals talk? Or, as Deacon puts it, if animals have simpler brains, why can't they develop a simpler form of language to go with them? Thus begins the basic line of inquiry for this breathtakingly ambitious work, which attempts to describe the origins of human language and consciousness.
What separates humans from animals, Deacon writes, is our capacity for symbolic representation. Animals can easily learn to link a sound with an object or an effect with a cause. But symbolic thinking assumes the ability to associate things that might only rarely have a physical correlation; think of the word "unicorn," for instance, or the idea of the future. Language is only the outward expression of this symbolic ability, which lays the foundation for everything from human laughter to our compulsive search for meaning.
The final section of The Symbolic Species posits that human brains and human language have coevolved over millions of years, leading Deacon to the remarkable conclusion that many modern human traits were actually caused by ideas. Deacon's background in biological anthropology and neuroscience makes him a reliable companion through this complicated multidisciplinary turf. Rigorously researched and argued in dense but lively prose, The Symbolic Species is that rare animal, a book of serious science that's accessible to layman and scientist alike. [via]
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Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationby Robert T. PennockISBN 0262661659 (0-262-66165-9)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creation'Book summary:The face of creationism has been through some major plastic surgery in the past decade or so. The leading proponents of "intelligent design theory" have left the ranting flat-earth types behind and found respected positions in the academic world from which to launch attacks on mainstream science. Philosopher of science Robert T. Pennock has explored all sides of the ongoing debate, which remains (despite the protestations of many creationists) more about biblical inerrancy than scientific evidence. His book Tower of Babel examines the new directions antievolutionists have taken lately, but goes beyond a mere recounting of recent history by proposing a new avenue of counterattack: linguistics.
The parallels are striking once we look closely: Genesis proclaims that God created all human languages at one stroke, while modern scientific thought proposes linguistic evolution similar in form to genetics. Best of all for scientists, though, linguistic change is much more rapid than biological change, and we have actually observed what might be called "speciation events" to have occurred historically in languages. While not meant to supplant traditional arguments against creationism, Pennock's ideas certainly supplement them and will be useful to educators and researchers alike. His sense of urgency is compelling; he sees the future of scientific education and freedom at stake and argues strongly for a separation between private beliefs and public knowledge. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computerby David Bellos, Georges Ifrah, E. F. Harding, Ian Monk, Sophie WoodISBN 0471375683 (0-471-37568-3)
Hardcover, John Wiley & Sons Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'Book summary:The title doesn't lie. Mathematician Georges Ifrah's masterpiece, The Universal History of Numbers, is a wonderfully comprehensive overview of numbers and counting spanning all the inhabited continents as far back in time as records will allow us to look. Beyond the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians, and Indians, Ifrah takes us farther south into Africa to examine an early decimal counting system and into ancient Mexico to reconstruct what we can of the Mayan calendar and numerical system. The 27 chapters are chiefly organized by culture, though there are some cross-cultural overviews of topics like letters and numbers.
The author's aim was grand: "to provide in simple and accessible terms the full and complete answer to all and any questions ... about the history of numbers and counting, from prehistory to the age of computers." This led him to wander the world for 10 years, studying and learning; this scholastic pilgrim has returned with amazing stories to tell. Toward the end of the book, Ifrah makes the book truly universal by refuting alien-intervention theories of cultural origins--surely our benefactors would have given us an efficient decimal counting system, zero and all, before helping us build pyramids and such. Such charming ideas, combined with such rigorously researched facts, make The Universal History of Numbers a uniquely important and fascinating volume. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computerby Georges IfrahISBN 0471393401 (0-471-39340-1)
Softcover, John Wiley & Sons Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'Book summary:For those of you who have read Georges Ifrah's first book, The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer, this is the third of a two-volume set! Just to clarify this, the first volume is being split into two and, together with this new third volume, republished as a trilogy. For those of you who have not read the first book, volume III begins with what could have been a very useful "Chronological Summary" and a "Recapitulation" of the ideas expressed in the first book. Unfortunately, without a preface or introduction, the unwary reader is immediately confronted with a very condensed version of the first book. Indeed, Ifrah's detailed study of number systems, when reduced to a series of illustrated plates, gives the impression that the history of numbers is little more than a history of typography. Yet another "Chronological Summary" from Calculation to Calculus follows, thereby reinforcing the feeling that the book is a collection of notes waiting to be crafted into a strong narrative. The translator, the unsung hero in many publications, has done sterling work in adding copious notes and helpful cross-references. The initial feeling remains, however, that this is a collection of jewels without a crown.
Having said that, the scope of the book is enormous, tracing the history of calculators and computers, from mechanical to electronic devices through both analogue and digital incarnations. There are some familiar faces, such as Pascal, Babbage, von Neumann and Turing, as well as many others who have so far escaped the spotlight. As a reference work it has a good index and an extensive bibliography. The author acknowledges regret at the lack of illustrations but gives references to such sources. In the search for universality and completeness it has, however, forsaken a strong guiding theme. The most engaging sections are where the mathematics, history and technology come together, bound by personal ambitions, whether intellectual or financial. In such sections Ifrah pauses from being a cataloguer to indulge in some story telling. It is here that the nuts and bolts of technology come to life. For teachers, students and researchers, this will prove to be a very useful starting point into a fascinating area of human innovation. But one would venture that this is a work destined for the library shelves rather than the bedside table. --Richard Mankiewicz [via]
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University Physicsby Hugh D. Young, Francis Weston SearsISBN 0201529815 (0-201-52981-5)
Hardcover, Addison-Wesley
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› Find signed collectible books: 'University Physics'Book summary:* A. Lewis Ford, Texas A&M * This manual includes worked-out solutions for about one-third of the problems. Volume 1 covers Chapters 1-17. Volume 2 covers Chapters 22-46. Answers to all odd-numbered problems are listed at the end of the book. [via]
More editions of University Physics:
- University Physics: ISBN 0201571579 (0-201-57157-9)
Hardcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201196530 (0-201-19653-0)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201603292 (0-201-60329-2)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201656639 (0-201-65663-9)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201874466 (0-201-87446-6)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201196514 (0-201-19651-4)
Hardcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201571552 (0-201-57155-2)
Hardcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201571560 (0-201-57156-0)
Hardcover, Addison-Wesley - University Physics: ISBN 0201529815 (0-201-52981-5)
Hardcover, Addison-Wesley
- University Physics: ISBN 0201571579 (0-201-57157-9)
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Volcanoby Patricia LauberISBN 0395732573 (0-395-73257-3)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin School
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The Woods Hole Cantata: Essays on Science and Societyby Gerald WeissmanISBN 0395421136 (0-395-42113-6)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Woods Hole Cantata: Essays on Science and Society'Book summary:The Woods Hole Cantata essays articulate a scientist's remarkable attempt to transcend the fragmentation of a society of specialists. Dr. Weissmann explores the social, cultural, and esthetic ramifications of contemporary biomedical research, placing the sophisticated insights of the highly specialized laboratory into a broader context of intellectual history. The essays draw on his wealth of experience--as teacher and clinician at Bellevue Hospital, marine biologist at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and investigator of the inflammatory response--and cover topics ranging from funding of AIDS research to copper cures for arthritis, from William Osler's Aequanimitas to medical journalism in Berlin. Throughout, Dr. Weissmann demonstrates how the scientist's faculties of logical thought and close observation can enrich his perception of society and be brought to bear on a wide range of social and humanistic issues. [via]
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