Science and Nature Ebook Best Sellers

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Seven Brief Lessons on Physics - Carlo Rovelli Cover Art

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli

The New York Times bestseller from the author of The Order of Time and Reality Is Not What It Seems , Helgoland , and Anaximander “One of the year’s most entrancing books about science.” —The Wall Street Journal “Clear, elegant...a whirlwind tour of some of the biggest ideas in physics.” — The New York Times Book Review   This playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics briskly explains Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, gravity, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, and the role humans play in this weird and wonderful world. Carlo Rovelli, a renowned theoretical physicist, is a delightfully poetic and philosophical scientific guide. He takes us to the frontiers of our knowledge: to the most minute reaches of the fabric of space, back to the origins of the cosmos, and into the workings of our minds. The book celebrates the joy of discovery.  “Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world,” Rovelli writes. “And it’s breathtaking.”

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A Brief History of the Female Body - Dr. Deena Emera Cover Art

A Brief History of the Female Body

A Brief History of the Female Body An Evolutionary Look at How and Why the Female Form Came to Be by Dr. Deena Emera

From breasts and orgasms to periods, pregnancies, and menopause— A Brief History of the Female Body is a fascinating science book explaining the mysteries of the female body through an evolutionary lens. Let’s face it: The female body is an enigma. For teenagers first experiencing their periods, the monthly arrival of mood swings and cramps can be agonizing and inconvenient. With pregnancy—perhaps the most miraculous of bodily events—comes countless potential complications, including high blood pressure, diabetes, premature birth, and postpartum depression. And menopause is equally mystifying. Why do females lose their fertility over time and experience the notorious side effects—like hot flashes, weight gain, and hair loss—while males maintain their fertility forever? Evolutionary geneticist and educator Dr. Deena Emera has spent much of her career studying the evolution of female reproduction. A Brief History of the Female Body draws on her vast expertise as a biologist, her experience as a mother of four children, and her love of teaching to look far into our evolutionary past, illuminating how and, more importantly, why the female form has transformed over millions of years and its effects on women's health.

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Einstein's Shadow - Seth Fletcher Cover Art

Einstein's Shadow

Einstein's Shadow
The Inside Story of Astronomers' Decades-Long Quest to Take the First Picture of a Black Hole
by Seth Fletcher

Einstein’s Shadow follows a team of elite scientists on their historic mission to take the first picture of a black hole, putting Einstein’s theory of relativity to its ultimate test and helping to answer our deepest questions about space, time, the origins of the universe, and the nature of reality Photographing a black hole sounds impossible, a contradiction in terms. But Shep Doeleman and a global coalition of scientists are on the cusp of doing just that.  With exclusive access to the team, journalist Seth Fletcher spent five years following Shep and an extraordinary cast of characters as they assembled the Event Horizon Telescope, a worldwide network of radio telescopes created to study black holes. He witnessed the team’s struggles, setbacks, and breakthroughs, and, along the way, Fletcher explored the latest thinking on the most profound questions about black holes: Do they represent a limit to our ability to understand reality? Or will they reveal the clues that lead to the long-sought theory of everything? Fletcher transforms astrophysics into something exciting, accessible, and immediate, taking us on an incredible adventure to better understand the complexity of our galaxy, the boundaries of human perception and knowledge, and how the messy endeavor of science really works. Weaving a compelling narrative account of human ingenuity with excursions into cutting-edge science, Einstein’s Shadow is a tale of great minds on a mission to change the way we understand our universe—and our place in it.

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Chesapeake Requiem - Earl Swift Cover Art

Chesapeake Requiem

Chesapeake Requiem A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island by Earl Swift

THE NEW YORK TIMES   BESTSELLER  A brilliant, soulful, and timely portrait of a two-hundred-year-old crabbing community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay as it faces extinction. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post, NPR, Outside, Smithsonian, Bloomberg,   Science Friday,   Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Review of Books,  and Kirkus   "BEAUTIFUL, HAUNTING AND TRUE." — Hampton Sides •  “GORGEOUS. A TRULY REMARKABLE BOOK.” — Beth Macy • "GRIPPING. FANTASTIC." —  Outside • "CAPTIVATING." — Washington Post • "POWERFUL." — Bill McKibben • "VIVID. HARROWING AND MOVING." —  Science  • "A MASTERFUL NARRATIVE." — Christian Science Monitor •   "THE BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR."  —   Stephen L. Carter/ Bloomberg Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. They are separated from their countrymen by the nation’s largest estuary, and a twelve-mile boat trip across often tempestuous water—the same water that for generations has made Tangier’s fleet of small fishing boats a chief source for the rightly prized Chesapeake Bay blue crab, and has lent the island its claim to fame as the softshell crab capital of the world. Yet for all of its long history, and despite its tenacity, Tangier is disappearing. The very water that has long sustained it is erasing the island day by day, wave by wave. It has lost two-thirds of its land since 1850, and still its shoreline retreats by fifteen feet a year—meaning this storied place will likely succumb first among U.S. towns to the effects of climate change. Experts reckon that, barring heroic intervention by the federal government, islanders could be forced to abandon their home within twenty-five years. Meanwhile, the graves of their forebears are being sprung open by encroaching tides, and the conservative and deeply religious Tangiermen ponder the end times.    Chesapeake Requiem is an intimate look at the island’s past, present and tenuous future, by an acclaimed journalist who spent much of the past two years living among Tangier’s people, crabbing and oystering with its watermen, and observing its long traditions and odd ways. What emerges is the poignant tale of a world that has, quite nearly, gone by—and a leading-edge report on the coming fate of countless coastal communities.

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The Backyard Bird Chronicles - Amy Tan Cover Art

The Backyard Bird Chronicles

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

A gorgeous, witty account of birding, nature, and the beauty around us that hides in plain sight, written and illustrated by the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club • With a foreword by David Allen Sibley “Unexpected and spectacular” —Ann Patchett, best-selling author of These Precious Days "The drawings and essays in this book do a lot more than just describe the birds. They carry a sense of discovery through observation and drawing, suggest the layers of patterns in the natural world, and emphasize a deep personal connection between the watcher and the watched. The birds that inhabit Amy Tan’s backyard seem a lot like the characters in her novels.” —David Allen Sibley, from the foreword Tracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world. In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.

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Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari Cover Art

Sapiens

Sapiens
A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari

New York Times Bestseller A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become? Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.

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The Genius Life - Max Lugavere Cover Art

The Genius Life

The Genius Life Heal Your Mind, Strengthen Your Body, and Become Extraordinary by Max Lugavere

The author of the New York Times bestselling Genius Foods offers a lifestyle program for resetting your brain and body to their “factory settings”—to help fight fatigue, anxiety, and depression and to optimize cognitive health for a longer and healthier life. The human body was honed under conditions that no longer exist. The modern world has changed dramatically since our days as hunter gatherers, and it has caused widespread anxiety, stress, and disease, leaving our brains in despair. But science proves that the body and brain can be healed with the intervention of lifestyle protocols that help us to regain our cognitive birthright. In The Genius Life, Lugavere expands the Genius Foods plan, which focused on nutrition and how it affects brain health, and expands it to encompass a full lifestyle protocol. We know now that the health of our brains—including our cognitive function and emotional wellness—depend on the health of our gut, endocrine, cardiac and nervous systems as there is a constant feedback loop between all systems. Drawing on globe-spanning research into circadian biology, psychology, dementia prevention, cognitive optimization, and exercise physiology, The Genius Life shows how to integrate healthy choices in all aspects of our daily routines: eating, exercising, sleeping, detoxing, and more to create a healthy foundation for optimal cognitive health and performance. Among Max’s groundbreaking findings, you will discover: ·         A trick that gives you the equivalent of a “marathon” workout, in 10 minutes ·         How to get the benefits of an extra 1-2 servings of veggies daily without eating them ·         The hidden chemicals in your home that could be making you fat and sick ·         How to boost melatonin levels by up to 58% for deeper sleep without supplements The book features an achievable prescriptive 21-day plan for Genius Living that includes daily workouts, meal plans, and meal prep tips, and accompanied with helpful suggestions for healthy swaps and snacks

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Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer Cover Art

Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass , Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

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Of Time and Turtles - Sy Montgomery Cover Art

Of Time and Turtles

Of Time and Turtles Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * AMAZON EDITOR’S PICK and BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * INDIE BESTSELLER * A SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE'S BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE WASHINGTON POST'S BEST NONFICTION OF THE YEAR PICK * A NEW SCIENTIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR *THE PERFECT GIFT FOR NATURE LOVERS * INCLUDES GORGEOUS ARTWORK * "Montgomery's heart-tugging conversations with teammates and her commitment to helping an octogenarian named Fire Chief reveal turtles to be perfect conduits for meditations on aging, disability and chosen family.” —Scientific American National Book Award finalist for The Soul of an Octopus and New York Times bestseller Sy Montgomery turns her journalistic curiosity to the wonder and wisdom of our long-lived cohabitants—turtles—and through their stories of hope and rescue, reveals to us astonishing new perspectives on time and healing. For fans of The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year and An Immense World. When acclaimed naturalist Sy Montgomery and wildlife artist Matt Patterson arrive at Turtle Rescue League, they are greeted by hundreds of turtles recovering from injury and illness. Endangered by cars and highways, pollution and poachers, these turtles—with wounds so severe that even veterinarians would have dismissed them as fatal—are given a second chance at life. The League’s founders, Natasha and Alexxia, live by one motto: Never give up on a turtle. But why turtles? What is it about them that inspires such devotion? Ancient and unhurried, long-lived and majestic, their lineage stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs. Some live to two hundred years, or longer. Others spend months buried under cold winter water. Montgomery turns to these little understood yet endlessly surprising creatures to probe the eternal question: How can we make peace with our time? In pursuit of the answer, Sy and Matt immerse themselves in the delicate work of protecting turtle nests, incubating eggs, rescuing sea turtles, and releasing hatchlings to their homes in the wild. We follow the snapping turtle Fire Chief on his astonishing journey as he battles against injuries incurred by a truck. Hopeful and optimistic, Of Time and Turtles is an antidote to the instability of our frenzied world. Elegantly blending science, memoir, and philosophy, and drawing on cultures from across the globe, this compassionate portrait of injured turtles and their determined rescuers invites us all to slow down and slip into turtle time. Perfect gift for nature lovers.Includes a signature of photos plus stunning, photo-realistic full color paintings and black-and-white chapter opener art by wildlife artist Matt Patterson.Read more books by Sy Montgomery such as How to Be a Good Creature and The Soul of an Octopus.Don't miss The Book of Turtles for children.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot Cover Art

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot

#1  NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”— Entertainment Weekly NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” ( LITHUB ), AND “BEST” ( THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER ) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF  ESSENCE ’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE  CHICAGO TRIBUNE  HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  The New York Times Book Review  •  Entertainment Weekly  •  O: The Oprah Magazine  • NPR •  Financial Times  •  New York  •  Independent  (U.K.) •  Times  (U.K.) •  Publishers Weekly  •  Library Journal  •  Kirkus Reviews  •  Booklist  •  Globe and Mail Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.  Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.  Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance?  Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down,  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.

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The Ride of Her Life - Elizabeth Letts Cover Art

The Ride of Her Life

The Ride of Her Life The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The triumphant true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion “The gift Elizabeth Letts has is that she makes you feel you are the one taking this trip. This is a book we can enjoy always but especially need now.”—Elizabeth Berg, author of The Story of Arthur Truluv In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness. Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offers—a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripled, when television’s influence was expanding fast, when homeowners began locking their doors, Annie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.

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The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World - Oliver Milman Cover Art

The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World

The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World by Oliver Milman

A devastating examination of how collapsing insect populations worldwide threaten everything from wild birds to the food on our plate. From ants scurrying under leaf litter to bees able to fly higher than Mount Kilimanjaro, insects are everywhere. Three out of every four of our planet’s known animal species are insects. In The Insect Crisis, acclaimed journalist Oliver Milman dives into the torrent of recent evidence that suggests this kaleidoscopic group of creatures is suffering the greatest existential crisis in its remarkable 400-million-year history. What is causing the collapse of the insect world?  Why does this alarming decline pose such a threat to us? And what can be done to stem the loss of the miniature empires that hold aloft life as we know it? With urgency and great clarity, Milman explores this hidden emergency, arguing that its consequences could even rival climate change. He joins the scientists tracking the decline of insect populations across the globe, including the soaring mountains of Mexico that host an epic, yet dwindling, migration of monarch butterflies; the verdant countryside of England that has been emptied of insect life; the gargantuan fields of U.S. agriculture that have proved a killing ground for bees; and an offbeat experiment in Denmark that shows there aren’t that many bugs splattering into your car windshield these days. These losses not only further tear at the tapestry of life on our degraded planet; they imperil everything we hold dear, from the food on our supermarket shelves to the medicines in our cabinets to the riot of nature that thrills and enlivens us. Even insects we may dread, including the hated cockroach, or the stinging wasp, play crucial ecological roles, and their decline would profoundly shape our own story. By connecting butterfly and bee, moth and beetle from across the globe, the full scope of loss renders a portrait of a crisis that threatens to upend the workings of our collective history. Part warning, part celebration of the incredible variety of insects, The Insect Crisis is a wake-up call for us all.

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Breath - James Nestor Cover Art

Breath

Breath The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020 Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR   “A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

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A Brief History of Intelligence - Max Bennett Cover Art

A Brief History of Intelligence

A Brief History of Intelligence Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max Bennett

“I found this book amazing. I read it through quickly because it was so interesting, then turned around and read much of it again.”—Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and bestselling author of Thinking Fast & Slow “I've been recommending A Brief History of Intelligence to everyone I know. A truly novel, beautifully crafted thesis on what intelligence is and how it has developed since the dawn of life itself."—Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit Equal parts Sapiens, Behave, and Superintelligence, but wholly original in scope, A Brief History of Intelligence offers a paradigm shift for how we understand neuroscience and AI. Artificial intelligence entrepreneur Max Bennett chronicles the five “breakthroughs” in the evolution of human intelligence and reveals what brains of the past can tell us about the AI of tomorrow.  In the last decade, capabilities of artificial intelligence that had long been the realm of science fiction have, for the first time, become our reality. AI is now able to produce original art, identify tumors in pictures, and even steer our cars. And yet, large gaps remain in what modern AI systems can achieve—indeed, human brains still easily perform intellectual feats that we can’t replicate in AI systems. How is it possible that AI can beat a grandmaster at chess but can’t effectively load a dishwasher? As AI entrepreneur Max Bennett compellingly argues, finding the answer requires diving into the billion-year history of how the human brain evolved; a history filled with countless half-starts, calamities, and clever innovations. Not only do our brains have a story to tell—the future of AI may depend on it. Now, in A Brief History of Intelligence, Bennett bridges the gap between neuroscience and AI to tell the brain’s evolutionary story, revealing how understanding that story can help shape the next generation of AI breakthroughs. Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughs” that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Each breakthrough brings new insight into the biggest mysteries of human intelligence. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Endorsed and lauded by many of the top neuroscientists in the field today, Bennett’s work synthesizes the most relevant scientific knowledge and cutting-edge research into an easy-to-understand and riveting evolutionary story. With sweeping scope and stunning insights, A Brief History of Intelligence proves that understanding the arc of our brain’s history can unlock the tools for successfully navigating our technological future. 

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The Hidden Life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben & Tim Flannery Cover Art

The Hidden Life of Trees

The Hidden Life of Trees What They Feel, How They Communicate —Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben & Tim Flannery

In The Hidden Life of Trees , Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group. Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.

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Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker Cover Art

Why We Sleep

Why We Sleep Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker

“ Why We Sleep is an important and fascinating book…Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.” —Bill Gates A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” ( Financial Times ) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber. With two appearances on CBS This Morning and Fresh Air 's most popular interview of 2017, Matthew Walker has made abundantly clear that sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when it is absent. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remains more elusive. Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. In this “compelling and utterly convincing” ( The Sunday Times ) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book. Written with the precision of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Sherwin Nuland, it is “recommended for night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense” ( The New York Times Book Review ).

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Behave - Robert M. Sapolsky Cover Art

Behave

Behave The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky

Why do we do the things we do? Over a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its genetic inheritance. And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. What goes on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happens? Then he pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell triggers the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones act hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli which trigger the nervous system? By now, he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened. Sapolsky keeps going--next to what features of the environment affected that person's brain, and then back to the childhood of the individual, and then to their genetic makeup. Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than that one individual. How culture has shaped that individual's group, what ecological factors helped shape that culture, and on and on, back to evolutionary factors thousands and even millions of years old. The result is one of the most dazzling tours de horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do...for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.

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The Biggest Ideas in the Universe - Sean Carroll Cover Art

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe Space, Time, and Motion by Sean Carroll

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Most appealing... technical accuracy and lightness of tone ... Impeccable. ” —Wall Street Journal “ A porthole into another world. ” —Scientific American “ Brings science dissemination to a new level. ” —Science The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality.   Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables.    No one else could so smoothly guide readers toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.

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The 5th Miracle - Paul Davies Cover Art

The 5th Miracle

The 5th Miracle The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life by Paul Davies

“Davies makes a persuasive case that advances in biology and astronomy are turning the origin of life from a mystery into a solvable problem.” — The New York Times Book Review Are we alone in the universe? In his latest far-reaching book,  The Fifth Miracle , internationally acclaimed physicist and writer Paul Davies confronts one of science’s great outstanding mysteries—the origin of life. Three and a half billion years ago, Mars resembled Earth. It was warm and wet and could have supported primitive organisms. If life once existed on Mars, might it have originated there and traveled to Earth inside meteorites blasted into space by cosmic impacts? Davies builds on the latest scientific discoveries and theories to address the larger question: What, exactly, is life? Is it the inevitable by-product of physical laws, as many scientists maintain, or an almost miraculous accident? Are we alone in the universe, or will life emerge on all Earth-like planets? And if there is life elsewhere in the universe, is it preordained to evolve toward greater complexity and intelligence? On the answers to these deep questions hinges the ultimate purpose of mankind—who we are and what our place might be in the unfolding drama of the cosmos. “Davies makes accessible a subject growing increasingly arcane.” — San Francisco Chronicle Book Review “Paul Davies has been writing excellent books about science for so long that it is hard to believe that he is still getting better. But on this evidence, he is . . . Delightful.” —John Gribbin, author of In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat

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INCONVENIENT FACTS - Gregory Wrightstone Cover Art

INCONVENIENT FACTS

INCONVENIENT FACTS The science that Al Gore doesn't want you to know by Gregory Wrightstone

Well researched, clearly written, beautifully presented and, above all, fact-packed books such as  Inconvenient Facts  are absolutely essential to the very survival of democracy, to the restoration of true science, and to the ultimate triumph of objective truth. Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley You have been inundated with reports from media, governments, think tanks and “experts” saying that our climate is changing for the worse and it is our fault. Increases in droughts, heat waves, tornadoes and poison ivy—to name a few—are all blamed on our “sins of emissions” from burning fossil fuels and increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  Yet, you don’t quite buy into this human-caused climate apocalypse. You aren’t sure about the details because you don’t have all the facts and likely aren’t a scientist.  Inconvenient Facts  was specifically created for you. Writing in plain English and providing easily understood  charts and figures, Gregory Wrightstone presents the science to assess the basis of the threatened Thermageddon.  The book’s 60 “inconvenient facts” come from government sources, peer-reviewed literature or scholarly works, set forth in a way that is lucid and entertaining. The information likely will challenge your current understanding of many apocalyptic predictions about our ever dynamic climate. You will learn that the planet is improving, not  in spite  of increasing CO2 and rising temperature, but  because  of it. The very framework of the climate-catastrophe argu-ment will be confronted with scientific fact. Arm yourself with the truth. 

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The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson Cover Art

The Feather Thief

The Feather Thief Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

As heard on NPR's This American Life “Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction,  The Feather Thief  contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” — Christian Science Monitor A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of  The Stranger in the Woods ,  The Lost City of Z , and  The Orchid Thief . On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

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Cosmos - Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Cover Art

Cosmos

Cosmos by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan

RETURNING TO TELEVISION AS AN ALL-NEW MINISERIES ON FOX   Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space.  Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science.   Praise for Cosmos   “Magnificent . . . With a lyrical literary style, and a range that touches almost all aspects of human knowledge, Cosmos often seems too good to be true.” — The Plain Dealer   “Sagan is an astronomer with one eye on the stars, another on history, and a third—his mind’s—on the human condition.” — Newsday   “Brilliant in its scope and provocative in its suggestions . . . shimmers with a sense of wonder.” — The Miami Herald   “Sagan dazzles the mind with the miracle of our survival, framed by the stately galaxies of space.” — Cosmopolitan   “Enticing . . . iridescent . . . imaginatively illustrated.” — The New York Times Book Review NOTE: This edition does not include images.

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The Order of Time - Carlo Rovelli Cover Art

The Order of Time

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

One of TIME’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade "Meet the new Stephen Hawking . . . The Order of Time is a dazzling book." -- The Sunday Times From the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics , Reality Is Not What It Seems , Helgoland , and Anaximander comes a concise, elegant exploration of time. Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike. For most readers this is unfamiliar terrain. We all experience time, but the more scientists learn about it, the more mysterious it remains. We think of it as uniform and universal, moving steadily from past to future, measured by clocks. Rovelli tears down these assumptions one by one, revealing a strange universe where at the most fundamental level time disappears. He explains how the theory of quantum gravity attempts to understand and give meaning to the resulting extreme landscape of this timeless world. Weaving together ideas from philosophy, science and literature, he suggests that our perception of the flow of time depends on our perspective, better understood starting from the structure of our brain and emotions than from the physical universe. Already a bestseller in Italy, and written with the poetic vitality that made Seven Brief Lessons on Physics so appealing, The Order of Time offers a profoundly intelligent, culturally rich, novel appreciation of the mysteries of time.

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The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds - Michael Lewis Cover Art

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis

“Brilliant. . . . Lewis has given us a spectacular account of two great men who faced up to uncertainty and the limits of human reason.” —William Easterly, Wall Street Journal Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, Kahneman and Tversky’s extraordinary friendship incited a revolution in Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis’s own work possible. In The Undoing Project, Lewis shows how their Nobel Prize–winning theory of the mind altered our perception of reality.

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Your Brain on Art - Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross Cover Art

Your Brain on Art

Your Brain on Art How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts—and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities. “This book blew my mind!”—Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Finalist for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award and the Porchlight Business Book Award Many of us think of the arts as entertainment—a luxury of some kind. In Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives. We’re on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. They expand our understanding of how playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers, engaging all of our senses and strengthening memory. Doctors have even been prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns. Your Brain on Art is a portal into this new understanding about how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities, and mend an aching planet. Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, Your Brain On Art is an authoritative guide to neuroaesthetics. The book weaves a tapestry of breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers, and compelling stories from people who are using the arts to enhance their lives.

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How to Speak Science - Bruce Benamran Cover Art

How to Speak Science

How to Speak Science Gravity, Relativity, and Other Ideas That Were Crazy Until Proven Brilliant by Bruce Benamran

A math-free introduction to the greatest scientific ideas of the last 2,000 years: “This is the book for the wannabe science nerd.” — The Toronto Star As smartphones, supercomputers, supercolliders, and AI propel us into an ever more unfamiliar future,  How to Speak Science  takes us on a rollicking historical tour of the greatest discoveries and ideas that make today’s cutting–edge technologies possible. Wanting everyone to be able to “speak” science, YouTube science guru Bruce Benamran explains, accessibly and wittily, the fundamental ideas of the physical world: matter, life, the solar system, light, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, and much more. Along the way, Benamran guides us through the wildest hypotheses and most ingenious ideas of Galileo, Newton, Curie, Einstein, and science’s other great minds, reminding us that while they weren’t always exactly right, they were  always  curious.  How to Speak Science  acquaints us not only with what scientists know, but how they think—so that each of us can reason like a physicist and appreciate the world in all its beautiful chaos. “The perfect example of a geeky text that is neither condescending nor highfalutin. It has sufficient genuine scientific content to keep the techies interested, while being fast-paced enough (and at times genuinely funny) to keep the neophyte on board.” — E&T Magazine

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Why We Remember - Charan Ranganath Cover Art

Why We Remember

Why We Remember Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • Memory is far more than a record of the past. In this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, one of the world’s top memory researchers reveals the powerful role memory plays in nearly every aspect of our lives, from recalling faces and names, to learning, decision-making, trauma and healing. " Why We Remember offers a radically new and engaging explanation of how and why we remember." —Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep "Prominent neuroscientist and Guggenheim Fellow Charan Ranganath guides us through the science of our memories with incredible insight and clear science. He combines fascinating tales of the peculiarities of memory with practical, actionable steps. Not only will every reader remember better afterward, they’ll also never forget this life-changing book.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of Maladies and Gene A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember , pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future. Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What’s more, when we work with the brain’s ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness. Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath’s life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating read that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives. When we understand its power-- and its quirks--we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can make freer choices and plan a happier future.

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Determined - Robert M. Sapolsky Cover Art

Determined

Determined A Science of Life without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky

The instant New York Times bestseller “Excellent…Outstanding for its breadth of research, the liveliness of the writing, and the depth of humanity it conveys.” – Wall Street Journal One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave , plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences Robert Sapolsky’s Behave , his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Now, in Determined , Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self telling our biology what to do. Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about how consciousness works—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky tackles all the major arguments for free will and takes them out, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos and complexity science and quantum physics, as well as touching ground on some of the wilder shores of philosophy. He shows us that the history of medicine is in no small part the history of learning that fewer and fewer things are somebody’s “fault”; for example, for centuries we thought seizures were a sign of demonic possession. Yet, as he acknowledges, it’s very hard, and at times impossible, to uncouple from our zeal to judge others and to judge ourselves. Sapolsky applies the new understanding of life beyond free will to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. By the end, Sapolsky argues that while living our daily lives recognizing that we have no free will is going to be monumentally difficult, doing so is not going to result in anarchy, pointlessness, and existential malaise. Instead, it will make for a much more humane world.

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The Chemistry Book - DK Cover Art

The Chemistry Book

The Chemistry Book Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK

Learn about elements, molecules and compounds in The Chemistry Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Chemistry in this overview guide to the subject, great for beginners looking to learn and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Chemistry Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Chemistry, with: - More than 95 of the most important discoveries and theories in the history of chemistry - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Chemistry Book is the perfect introduction to the science, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you'll discover more than 95 of the most important theories and discoveries in the history of chemistry and the great minds behind them. If you've ever wondered about the key ideas that underpin the core science of chemistry and the pioneers who uncovered them, this is the perfect book for you. Your Chemistry Questions, Simply Explained What is the universe made of? How is matter created? What are the chemical bonds that make life possible? If you thought it was difficult to learn the many laws and concepts of this science, The Chemistry Book presents key information in a clear layout. Learn about the birth of atomic theory, the discovery of polyethylene and the development of new vaccine technologies to combat COVID-19, with fantastic mind maps and step-by-step summaries. And dive into the work of the scientists who have shaped the subject, like John Dalton, Marie Curie, Dmitri Mendeleev, Kathleen Lonsdale, and Stephanie Kwolek. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Chemistry Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand.

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Alien Earths - Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger Cover Art

Alien Earths

Alien Earths The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos by Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger

"Lisa's breezy narrative style invites you to experience with her the challenges and joys of being a scientist on the frontier of discovery." —Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History "Horizon-expanding... [Kaltenegger] has something of Sagan’s knack for eliciting wonder." — The Times Riveting and timely, a look at the research that is transforming our understanding of the cosmos in the quest to discover whether we are alone. For thousands of years, humans have wondered whether we're alone in the cosmos. Now, for the first time, we have the technology to investigate. But once you look for life elsewhere, you realize it is not so simple. How do you find it over cosmic distances? What actually is life? As founding director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute, astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger has built a team of tenacious scientists from many disciplines to create a specialized toolkit to find life on faraway worlds. In Alien Earths , she demonstrates how we can use our homeworld as a Rosetta Stone, creatively analyzing Earth's history and its astonishing biosphere to inform this search. With infectious enthusiasm, she takes us on an eye-opening journey to the most unusual exoplanets that have shaken our worldview - planets covered in oceans of lava, lonely wanderers lost in space, and others with more than one sun in their sky! And the best contenders for Alien Earths . We also see the imagined worlds of science fiction and how close they come to reality. With the James Webb Space Telescope and Dr. Kaltenegger’s pioneering work, she shows that we live in an incredible new epoch of exploration. As our witty and knowledgeable tour guide, Dr. Kaltenegger shows how we discover not merely new continents, like the explorers of old, but whole new worlds circling other stars and how we could spot life there. Worlds from where aliens may even be gazing back at us. What if we're not alone?

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The Black Hole War - Leonard Susskind Cover Art

The Black Hole War

The Black Hole War My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind

What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed it did, and in doing so put at risk everything we know about physics and the fundamental laws of the universe. Most scientists didn't recognize the import of Hawking's claims, but Leonard Susskind and Gerard t'Hooft realized the threat, and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. The Black Hole War is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's revolutionary theories of black holes with their own sense of reality -- effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong, paying up, and Susskind and t'Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space. A brilliant book about modern physics, quantum mechanics, the fate of stars and the deep mysteries of black holes, Leonard Susskind's account of the Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating reading.

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The Heartbeat of Trees - Peter Wohlleben & Jane Billinghurst Cover Art

The Heartbeat of Trees

The Heartbeat of Trees Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature by Peter Wohlleben & Jane Billinghurst

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, THE HIDDEN LIFE OF TREES A powerful return to the forest, where trees have heartbeats and roots are like brains that extend underground. Where the color green calms us, and the forest sharpens our senses. In The Heartbeat of Trees, renowned forester Peter Wohlleben draws on new scientific discoveries to show how humans are deeply connected to the natural world.In an era of cell phone addiction, climate change, and urban life, many of us fear we’ve lost our connection to nature—but Peter Wohlleben is convinced that age-old ties linking humans to the forest remain alive and intact. Drawing on science and cutting-edge research, The Heartbeat of Trees reveals the profound interactions humans can have with nature, exploring: the language of the forestthe consciousness of plantsand the eroding boundary between flora and fauna.  A perfect book to take with you into the woods, The Heartbeat of Trees shares how to see, feel, smell, hear, and even taste the forest. Peter Wohlleben, renowned for his ability to write about trees in an engaging and moving way, reveals a wondrous cosmos where humans are a part of nature, and where conservation and environmental activism is not just about saving trees—it’s about saving ourselves, too. Praise for The Heartbeat of Trees “As human beings, we’re desperate to feel that we’re not alone in the universe. And yet we are surrounded by an ongoing conversation that we can sense if, as Peter Wohlleben so movingly prescribes, we listen to the heartbeat of all life.” —Richard Louv, author of Our Wild Calling and Last Child in the Woods “Astonishment after astonishment—that is the great gift of The Heartbeat of Trees. It is both a celebration of the wonders of trees, and a howl of outrage at how recklessly we profane them.” —Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Earth’s Wild Music “As Peter Wohlleben reminds us in The Heartbeat of Trees, trees are the vocabulary of nature as forests are the brainbank of a living planet. This was the codex of the ancient world, and it must be the fine focus of our future.” —Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of To Speak for the Trees and The Global Forest “Peter Wohlleben knows the battle that lies before us: forging a closer relationship with nature before we destroy it. In The Heartbeat of Trees he takes us deep into the global forest to show us how.”—Jim Robbins, author of The Man Who Planted Trees

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The Underworld - Susan Casey Cover Art

The Underworld

The Underworld Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From bestselling author Susan Casey, an awe-inspiring portrait of the mysterious world beneath the waves, and the men and women who seek to uncover its secrets “An irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure writing, and vivid, visceral prose." — Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of The Soul of an Octopus For all of human history, the deep ocean has been a source of wonder and terror, an unknown realm that evoked a singular, compelling question: What’s down there ? Unable to answer this for centuries, people believed the deep was a sinister realm of fiendish creatures and deadly peril. But now, cutting-edge technologies allow scientists and explorers to dive miles beneath the surface, and we are beginning to understand this strange and exotic underworld:  A place of soaring mountains, smoldering volcanoes, and valleys 7,000 feet deeper than Everest is high, where tectonic plates collide and separate, and extraordinary life forms operate under different rules. Far from a dark void, the deep is a vibrant realm that’s home to pink gelatinous predators and shimmering creatures a hundred feet long and ancient animals with glass skeletons and sharks that live for half a millennium—among countless other marvels. Susan Casey is our premiere chronicler of the aquatic world. For The Underworld she traversed the globe, joining scientists and explorers on dives to the deepest places on the planet, interviewing the marine geologists, marine biologists, and oceanographers who are searching for knowledge in this vast unseen realm. She takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of deep-sea exploration, from the myths and legends of the ancient world to storied shipwrecks we can now reach on the bottom, to the first intrepid bathysphere pilots, to the scientists who are just beginning to understand the mind-blowing complexity and ecological importance of the quadrillions of creatures who live in realms long thought to be devoid of life. Throughout this journey, she learned how vital the deep is to the future of the planet, and how urgent it is that we understand it in a time of increasing threats from climate change, industrial fishing, pollution, and the mining companies that are also exploring its depths. The Underworld is Susan Casey’s most beautiful and thrilling book yet, a gorgeous evocation of the natural world and a powerful call to arms.

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The Weather Machine - Andrew Blum Cover Art

The Weather Machine

The Weather Machine A Journey Inside the Forecast by Andrew Blum

From the acclaimed author of  Tubes , a lively and surprising tour of the infrastructure behind the weather forecast, the people who built it, and what it reveals about our climate and our planet The weather is the foundation of our daily lives. It’s a staple of small talk, the app on our smartphones, and often the first thing we check each morning. Yet behind these quotidian interactions is one of the most expansive machines human beings have ever constructed—a triumph of science, technology and global cooperation. But what  is  this ‘weather machine’ and who created it?  In  The Weather Machine , Andrew Blum takes readers on a fascinating journey through an everyday miracle. In a quest to understand how the forecast works, he visits old weather stations and watches new satellites blast off. He follows the dogged efforts of scientists to create a supercomputer model of the atmosphere and traces the surprising history of the algorithms that power their work. He discovers that we have quietly entered a golden age of meteorology—our tools allow us to predict weather more accurately than ever, and yet we haven’t learned to trust them, nor can we guarantee the fragile international alliances that allow our modern weather machine to exist. Written with the sharp wit and infectious curiosity Andrew Blum is known for,  The Weather Machine  pulls back the curtain on a universal part of our everyday lives, illuminating our relationships with technology, the planet, and the global community. 

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Numbers Don't Lie - Vaclav Smil Cover Art

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World by Vaclav Smil

"Vaclav Smil is my favorite author… Numbers Don't Lie takes everything that makes his writing great and boils it down into an easy-to-read format. I unabashedly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning."--Bill Gates, GatesNotes From the author of How the World Really Works , an essential guide to understanding how numbers reveal the true state of our world--exploring a wide range of topics including energy, the environment, technology, transportation, and food production. Vaclav Smil's mission is to make facts matter. An environmental scientist, policy analyst, and a hugely prolific author, he is Bill Gates' go-to guy for making sense of our world. In Numbers Don't Lie , Smil answers questions such as: What's worse for the environment--your car or your phone? How much do the world's cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy? From data about our societies and populations, through measures of the fuels and foods that energize them, to the impact of transportation and inventions of our modern world--and how all of this affects the planet itself--in Numbers Don't Lie , Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge conventional thinking. Packed with fascinating information and memorable examples, Numbers Don't Lie reveals how the US is leading a rising worldwide trend in chicken consumption, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren't as great as we think (yet). Urgent and essential, with a mix of science, history, and wit--all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics-- Numbers Don't Lie inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true.

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The Water Will Come - Jeff Goodell Cover Art

The Water Will Come

The Water Will Come Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by Jeff Goodell

What if Atlantis wasn't a myth, but an early precursor to a new age of great flooding? Across the globe, scientists and civilians alike are noticing rapidly rising sea levels, and higher and higher tides pushing more water directly into the places we live, from our most vibrant, historic cities to our last remaining traditional coastal villages. With each crack in the great ice sheets of the Arctic and Antarctica, and each tick upwards of Earth's thermometer, we are moving closer to the brink of broad disaster. By century's end, hundreds of millions of people will be retreating from the world's shores as our coasts become inundated and our landscapes transformed. From island nations to the world's major cities, coastal regions will disappear. Engineering projects to hold back the water are bold and may buy some time. Yet despite international efforts and tireless research, there is no permanent solution-no barriers to erect or walls to build-that will protect us in the end from the drowning of the world as we know it. The Water Will Come is the definitive account of the coming water, why and how this will happen, and what it will all mean. As he travels across twelve countries and reports from the front lines, acclaimed journalist Jeff Goodell employs fact, science, and first-person, on-the-ground journalism to show vivid scenes from what already is becoming a water world. "An immersive, mildly gonzo and depressingly well-timed book about the drenching effects of global warming, and a powerful reminder that we can bury our heads in the sand about climate change for only so long before the sand itself disappears." (Jennifer Senior, New York Times )

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Origin - Jennifer Raff Cover Art

Origin

Origin A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff

AN INSTANT  NEW YORK TIMES  BESTSELLER! From celebrated anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story—and fascinating mystery—of how humans migrated to the Americas. ORIGIN is the story of who the first peoples in the Americas were, how and why they made the crossing, how they dispersed south, and how they lived based on a new and powerful kind of evidence: their complete genomes. ORIGIN provides an overview of these new histories throughout North and South America, and a glimpse into how the tools of genetics reveal details about human history and evolution. 20,000 years ago, people crossed a great land bridge from Siberia into Western Alaska and then dispersed southward into what is now called the Americas. Until we venture out to other worlds, this remains the last time our species has populated an entirely new place, and this event has been a subject of deep fascination and controversy. No written records—and scant archaeological evidence—exist to tell us what happened or how it took place. Many different models have been proposed to explain how the Americas were peopled and what happened in the thousands of years that followed.  A study of both past and present, ORIGIN explores how genetics is currently being used to construct narratives that profoundly impact Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It serves as a primer for anyone interested in how genetics has become entangled with identity in the way that society addresses the question "Who is indigenous?"

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Quantum Physics - Carl Weston Cover Art

Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics by Carl Weston

When we hear the term quantum physics, the first thought that comes to our mind is Einstein and his theory of relativity. Of course, it goes without saying that there is much more to quantum physics than that. Physics is an excellent medium of explaining a million different things starting from heating a cup of coffee to gravitational pull. There is no real limit in the discipline of physics. It involves matters that are as huge as the galaxy to things as small as neutrons. This book deals with the smallest side of it, which is the branch of quantum physics.  Throughout the course of this book, you will get a much better understanding of quantum physics starting from the basic concepts to some in-depth information. You will also see a lot of math and calculus in the book since quantum physics uses many concepts from those subjects. Don't dread reading through even though it might sound dreary and difficult. I don't intend to scare you with big equations and calculations, as this book will not make you a physicist. The sole aim of this book is to simplify quantum physics for the common man, who has no idea what it entails and how it affects our everyday life. I have put the text together in a way that should make the subject matter much simpler to understand and maybe interesting to someone who normally hates science. I assure you that by the end you will have learnt more than you normally do by just staring blankly ahead in a classroom. And if you are a curious student, you will definitely know more about quantum physics than before.  In this book you will learn: What Quantum Physics is Theories of Matter  Wave-Particle Duality The Einstein-Podolsky paradox Applications of Quantum Physics And much much more!

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Introduction to Electricity, OHMS Law, Electrical Circuits, Resistors, Transistor Configurations, Voltage Regulators and Dividers - U.S. Department of Defense & Jeffrey Frank Jones Cover Art

Introduction to Electricity, OHMS Law, Electrical Circuits, Resistors, Transistor Configurations, Voltage Regulators and Dividers

Introduction to Electricity, OHMS Law, Electrical Circuits, Resistors, Transistor Configurations, Voltage Regulators and Dividers In Text, Illustrations and Video by U.S. Department of Defense & Jeffrey Frank Jones

CONTENT by CHAPTER: INTRODUCTION - Electrical Terminology 1. Electrical Safety, 12 slides 2. Introduction To Electricity, 28 slides 3. Numerical Notations, 39 slides 4. OHMS Law Class, 24 slides 5.  Electrical Circuits, 25 slides 6.  Introduction To Computers, 68 slides 7.  Transistor Configurations Part I, 37 slides 8. Transistor Configurations Part II, 35 slides 9. Transistor Configurations Part III, 14 slides 10. Field Effect Transistors, 22 slides 11. Voltage Dividers, 20 slides 12. Voltage Regulators, 28 slides 13.  Test Equipment Operation, 37 slides 14. Resistor Color Code, 25 slides 15. Parallel Resonant Circuits, 24 slides 16. Parallel Circuits Troubleshooting, 20 slides 17. Digital Multimeter Care And Use, 20 slides 18. VIDEO: Electricity For Beginners (Public Domain; 1950s; color) 19. VIDEO: Principles Of Electricity (1945; Public Domain; color)

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Beautiful Butterflies (In Your Garden) - John M. Arcuri Cover Art

Beautiful Butterflies (In Your Garden)

Beautiful Butterflies (In Your Garden) All You Need to Know How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden by John M. Arcuri

There are many, many people who love to watch butterflies as they flit through the air slowly and gracefully. If you never have, you certainly should! Butterflies provide beauty in an often ugly world. They give us insight into the world of nature and how wonderful and complex it is. But the butterfly is much more than that. Humans need butterflies. Often unnoticed, they play an important role in maintaining the balance of nature and health of the living world. Butterflies pollinate wild plants and our crops, ensuring the production of seeds and fruits required for the continued survival of plants and animals, including humans. Enjoy your ebook "Beautiful Butterflies (In your Garden)!"

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Hemp - B. B. Robinson Cover Art

Hemp

Hemp by B. B. Robinson

HEMP is a fiber used in making twines and light cordage. It is also used as an extender for imported cordage fibers, particularly abaca, sisal, and henequen, when supplies of these are not adequate to meet domestic demands. The size of the hemp industry, therefore, is greatly influenced by the availability of imported cordage fibers. Hemp is not a hard crop to grow. It should be planted on the most productive land on the farm—land that would make 50 to 70 bushels of corn per acre. The crop is planted with a grain drill and harvested with special machinery rented from hemp mills. It is allowed to lie on the ground until the outer part of the stalks has rotted, freeing the fibers. This process is called dew retting.

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Works of Francis Galton - Francis Galton Cover Art

Works of Francis Galton

Works of Francis Galton by Francis Galton

4 works of Francis Galton English Victorian polymath: anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician, and statistician (1822-1911) This ebook presents a collection of 4 works of Francis Galton. A dynamic table of contents allows you to jump directly to the work selected. Table of Contents: Finger Prints Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development Noteworthy Families (Modern Science) The Art of Travel - Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries

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Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman Cover Art

Amusing Ourselves to Death

Amusing Ourselves to Death Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman

Television has conditioned us to tolerate visually entertaining material measured out in spoonfuls of time, to the detriment of rational public discourse and reasoned public affairs. In this eloquent, persuasive book, Neil Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions as to how to withstand the media onslaught. Before we hand over politics, education, religion, and journalism to the show business demands of the television age, we must recognize the ways in which the media shape our lives and the ways we can, in turn, shape them to serve out highest goals.

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This Is Dinosaur - Wallace Stegner Cover Art

This Is Dinosaur

This Is Dinosaur Echo Park Country and Its Magic Rivers by Wallace Stegner

This Is Dinosaur was first published in 1955, in the midst of a bitter controversy over the proposed construction of dams at Echo Park. The outcome of the controversy--a congressional vote to prohibit the dams--"set in brass the principle that any part of the national park system should be immune from any sort of intrusion and damage," wrote Wallace Stegner in the 1985 edition of the book. Reprinted with new color photographs, This Is Dinosaur still stands as a classic introduction to the historic, scenic, archeological, and biological resources of the Monument by an impressive array of writers. Contains the following essays: • "The Marks of Human Passage" by Wallace Stegner • "Geological Exhibit" by Eliot Backwelder • "The Natural World of Dinosaur" by Olaus Murie and Joseph W. Penfold • "The Ancients of the Canyons" by Robert Lister • "Fast Water" by Otis "Dock" Marston • "A Short Look at Eden" by David Bradley • "The National Park Idea" by Alfred A. Knopf

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Planta sapiens - Paco Calvo & Natalie Lawrence Cover Art

Planta sapiens

Planta sapiens Descubre la inteligencia secreta de las plantas by Paco Calvo & Natalie Lawrence

Nunca volverás a mirar la naturaleza de la misma forma. El reino vegetal sigue siendo un misterio, a pesar de que vivimos rodeados de plantas. Durante siglos, hemos estudiado su influencia en nuestro entorno y, sin embargo, seguimos condenándolas a un papel secundario, a ser un mero elemento decorativo en nuestras frenéticas vidas. Aunque las plantas no tengan cerebro ni se muevan como nosotros, la ciencia de vanguardia está revelando descubrimientos sorprendentes sobre ellas: pueden aprender, recordar, comunicarse, reconocer a sus iguales, evaluar riesgos y tomar decisiones, y tienen algo que bien podríamos definir como personalidad . Planta sapiens ofrece una perspectiva creativa y audaz sobre la biología vegetal y la ciencia cognitiva. Partiendo de experimentos realizados con las tecnologías más avanzadas,  este ensayo apasionante  nos invita a pensar el mundo natural de una manera radicalmente distinta. Catedrático de Filosofía de la Ciencia, director del Laboratorio de Inteligencia Mínima (MINT Lab) de la Universidad de Murcia y experto internacional en su campo, Paco Calvo narra con rigor científico y pasión contagiosa decenas de anécdotas sorprendentes convirtiendo un estudio pionero en «un libro alucinante» ( The Guardian ).

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Linear Algebra - Hugo J. Woerdeman Cover Art

Linear Algebra

Linear Algebra What you Need to Know by Hugo J. Woerdeman

There is good reason to be excited about Linear Algebra. With the world becoming increasingly digital, Linear Algebra is gaining more and more importance. When we send texts, share video, do internet searches, there are Linear Algebra algorithms in the background that make it work. This concise introduction to Linear Algebra is authored by a leading researcher presents a book that covers all the requisite material for a first course on the topic in a more practical way. The book focuses on the development of the mathematical theory and presents many applications to assist instructors and students to master the material and apply it to their areas of interest, whether it be to further their studies in mathematics, science, engineering, statistics, economics, or other disciplines. Linear Algebra has very appealing features: •It is a solid axiomatic based mathematical theory that is accessible to a large variety of students. •It has a multitude of applications from many different fields, ranging from traditional science and engineering applications to more ‘daily life’ applications. •It easily allows for numerical experimentation through the use of a variety of readily available software (both commercial and open source). Several suggestions of different software are made. While MATLAB is certainly still a favorite choice, open-source programs such as Sage (especially among algebraists) and the Python libraries are increasingly popular. This text guides the student to try out different programs by providing specific commands.

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Parking Lot Birding - Jennifer L. Bristol Cover Art

Parking Lot Birding

Parking Lot Birding A Fun Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas by Jennifer L. Bristol

Texas boasts greater bird diversity than almost any state, with more than six hundred species living in or passing through during spring and fall migrations. Jennifer L. Bristol’s Parking Lot Birding speaks to people who would love to observe a wide variety of birds in easy access locations that don’t require arduous hikes or a degree in ornithology. As she explains, “I have personally trudged down hundreds of miles of trails in Texas, loaded down with gear, searching for birds, only to return to the parking lot to find what I was looking for.” Drawing on her experience as a former park ranger and lifelong nature enthusiast, Bristol explores ninety birding locations that are open to the public and accessible regardless of ability or mobility. Divided by geography, with each of the nine sections centered on a large urban area or defined ecoregion, Parking Lot Birding: A Fun Guide to Discovering Birds in Texas will take readers to birds in locales from the busy heart of Dallas to the remote Muleshoe Wildlife Refuge in the plains north of Lubbock. Each birding stop includes the name and address of a specific birding location, number of species that have been recorded, and types of birding amenities offered. Locational accounts end with a “Feather Fact” that provides interesting and relevant details about selected birds in a particular region. You never know what you might see when on the beaten path, especially in a state as big and ecologically diverse as Texas. So grab your binoculars and let’s go birding!

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Silent Spring - Rachel Carson Cover Art

Silent Spring

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. It is without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.

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Not the End of the World - Hannah Ritchie Cover Art

Not the End of the World

Not the End of the World How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet by Hannah Ritchie

This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them. It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children. But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that: Carbon emissions per capita are actually down Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago? Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.       These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.  

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Animal Madness - Laurel Braitman Cover Art

Animal Madness

Animal Madness How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves by Laurel Braitman

**“Science Friday” Summer Reading Pick** ** Discover magazine Top 5 Summer Reads** ** People magazine Best Summer Reads** “A lovely, big-hearted book…brimming with compassion and the tales of the many, many humans who devote their days to making animals well” ( The New York Times ). Have you ever wondered if your dog might be a bit depressed? How about heartbroken or homesick? Animal Madness takes these questions seriously, exploring the topic of mental health and recovery in the animal kingdom and turning up lessons that Publishers Weekly calls “Illuminating…Braitman’s delightful balance of humor and poignancy brings each case of life….[ Animal Madness ’s] continuous dose of hope should prove medicinal for humans and animals alike.” Susan Orlean calls Animal Madness “a marvelous, smart, eloquent book—as much about human emotion as it is about animals and their inner lives.” It is “a gem…that can teach us much about the wildness of our own minds” ( Psychology Today ).

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