Humorous and witty story-telling about absurd aspects of scientific discovery and invention. Kruszelnicki has a flair for the absurd and talent as a media performer. The book draws extensively on his Triple J radio appearances. Referenced and illustrated.

17 essays selected from the magazine "Fantasy and science fiction."

Published by Avon Books, 1983, this First Paperback Edition has 253 pages. Isaac Asimov was considered to be one of the big three authors who brought science fiction into the American households.

Hilary Putnam has been convinced for some time that the present situation in philosophy calls for revitalization and renewal; in this latest book he shows us what shape he would like that renewal to take. Words and Life offers a sweeping account of the sources of several of the central problems of philosophy, past and present, and of why some of those problems are not going to go away As the first four part tides in the volume-"The Return of Aristotle," "The Legacy of Logical Positivism," "The Inheritance of Pragmatism," and "Essays after Wittgenstein"-suggest, many of the essays are concerned with tracing the recent, and the not so recent, history of these problems. The goal is to bring out what is coercive and arbitrary about some of our present ways of posing the problems and what is of continuing interest in certain past approaches to them. Various supposedly timeless philosophical problems appear, on closer inspection, to change with altered historical circumstances, while there turns out to be much of permanent value in Aristotle's, Peirce's, Dewey's, and Reichenbach's work on some of the problems that continue to exercise us. A unifying theme of the volume as a whole is that reductionism, scientism, and old-style disenchanted naturalism tend to be obstacles to philosophical progress. The titles of the final three parts of the volume-Truth and Reference," "Mind and Language," and "The Diversity of the Sciences-indicate that the sweep of the problems considered here comprehends all the fundamental areas of contemporary analytic philosophy Rich in detail, the book is also grand in scope, allowing us to trace the ongoing intellectual evolution of one of the most significant philosophers of the century.

Intended for a first year graduate course in quantum mechanics, this collection of topics can also be considered as a set of self-contained ``monographs for pedestrians'' on the Mouml;ssbauer effect, many-body quantum mechanics, kaon physics, scattering theory, Feynman diagrams, symmetries and relativistic quantum mechanics. An unusual feature of the book is the introduction of many interesting physical problems and mathematical techniques at a much earlier level than in conventional texts. This approach enables the student to see the physical implications and useful applications of quantum theory before he has mastered the formalism in detail. It provides him with new mathematical tools at an earlier stage for use in subsequent problems. It also presents the active research physicist with a ``pedestrian'' treatment of many topics without the necessity of learning the formalism.

Hilary Putnam's unceasing self-criticism has led to the frequent changes of mind he is famous for, but his thinking is also marked by considerable continuity. A simultaneous interest in science and ethics - unusual in the current climate of contention - has long characterized his thought. In "Philosophy in an Age of Science", Putnam collects his papers for publication - his first volume in almost two decades. Mario De Caro and David Macarthur's introduction identifies central themes to help the reader negotiate between Putnam past and Putnam present: his critique of logical positivism; his enduring aspiration to be realist about rational normativity; his anti-essentialism about a range of central philosophical notions; his reconciliation of the scientific worldview and the humanistic tradition; and his movement from reductive scientific naturalism to liberal naturalism. Putnam returns here to some of his first enthusiasms in philosophy, such as logic, mathematics, and quantum mechanics. The reader is given a glimpse, too, of ideas currently in development on the subject of perception. Putnam's work, contributing to a broad range of philosophical inquiry, has been said to represent a "history of recent philosophy in outline."

Scientific Computing and Differential Equations: An Introduction to Numerical Methods, is an excellent complement to Introduction to Numerical Methods by Ortega and Poole. The book emphasizes the importance of solving differential equations on a computer, which comprises a large part of what has come to be called scientific computing. It reviews modern scientific computing, outlines its applications, and places the subject in a larger context. This book is appropriate for upper undergraduate courses in mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science; it is also well-suited to serve as a textbook for numerical differential equations courses at the graduate level. * An introductory chapter gives an overview of scientific computing, indicating its important role in solving differential equations, and placing the subject in the larger environment * Contains an introduction to numerical methods for both ordinary and partial differential equations * Concentrates on ordinary differential equations, especially boundary-value problems * Contains most of the main topics for a first course in numerical methods, and can serve as a text for this course * Uses material for junior/senior level undergraduate courses in math and computer science plus material for numerical differential equations courses for engineering/science students at the graduate level

Armchair Fiction presents extra-large editions of classic science fiction double novels with original illustrations. The first novel, "Secret of Marracott Deep" is a tale of an undersea race rising from the depths to menace mankind. What was the secret of beautiful woman on the beach who found herself constantly threatened by monsters from below? Look out for giant lobsters! The second novel, "Pawn of the Black Fleet" is a tale of pending invasion. A massive alien fleet hovered in the skies above America. For days the grim, threatening spaceships of the invading armada were seen simultaneously over every major city, washing the earth below with a stinking miasma of evil dread. Then suddenly, the pattern stopped and the world waited silently and fearfully for the next move. Both novels are terrific thrillers penned by two well-known '60s sci-fi specialists, Henry Slesar and Mark Clifton

The latest volume in the acclaimed Heiresses of Russ series features stories that are anything but invisible: the women in these tales are not hiding and are not easily overlooked but rather are choosing the harder path, the more dangerous route, whether that leads to love or loss or adventure. Included in these pages are stories that have won a World Fantasy Award, a Tiptree Award, and a British Fantasy Award...but every one of these stories chosen by guest editor A.M. Dellamonica (herself an award-winning writer of queer speculative fiction) is emblematic of the new vitality to be found in lesbian-themed tales of wonder, the eerie, and the miraculous.

Collects more than thirty previously published essays on a diverse range of topics, including food habits, art, politics, history, and travel.

In this re-examination of the political thought of Hannah Arendt, Seyla Benhabib decentres the standard and widespread reading of Arendt's work, in which Arendt's The Human Condition dominates, and discovers Arendt's political philosophy in the light of newly gained insights into the historical and cultural context of Arendt's complete work. This eloquently written book includes discussions of Arendt's neglected early text on Rahel Varnhagen, her confrontation with German Existenz philosophy and Zionist politics, Arendt's theory of totalitarianism, and the paradoxes of the rights of man. Hannah Arendt's political thought anticipates some of the major preoccupations of today's identity politics, from gender to nationalism and ethnicit

Duncan Chalk is a monstrous media mogul with a vast appetite for other people's pain. He feeds off it, and carefully nurtures it in order to feed it to the public. It is inevitable that Chalk should home in on Minner Burris, a space traveller whose body was taken apart by alien surgeons and then put back together again - differently. Burris' pain is constant. And so is that of Lona Kelvin, used by scientists to supply eggs for 100 children and then ruthlessly discarded. Only an emotional vampire like Chalk can see the huge audience eager to watch a relationship develop between these two damaged people. And only Chalk can make it happen. First published in 1967

Peter S. Beagle is the author of the beloved fantasy classic The Last Unicorn. Now, with Janet Berliner, he has gathered fantastic tales of unicorns combined with the theme of immortality by of the finest writers in the genre, including Karen Joy Fowler, Charles de Lint, Ellen Kushner, Tad Williams, Robert Sheckley, Dave Wolverton, and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. New in this edition is Julie's Unicorn, a story written especially for the anthology Beagle himself. Each tale celebrates the myth and mystery of one of fantasy's most enduring, and bestselling, subjects: unicorns!

Genis-Vell, son of the original Kree Captain Marvel, is back - and so is legendary scribe Peter David, ready to take the character to all-new heights of heroism! Rick Jones, one-time sidekick to both Captain America and the Hulk, has a long history with Genisand now they're about to come crashing back into each other! Can Rick save his old pal - and himself - before they both fade out of existence? Who is searching for Genis, and what does Death have to do with it? And how is Rick's ex-wife, Marlo Chandler, the key to this mysterious malady? Join our dysfunctional duo as they grapple with these questions - with a little help from Genis's sister, Phyla-Vell! Prepare to relive an exciting, hilarious and fan-favorite pairing in the year's most anticipated reunion! It's enough to make you exclaim: "O-wha-tagoo-siam!"

An enemy so intractable that it cannot be reasoned with. The entire race thinks with one mind and strives toward one purpose: to add our biological distinctiveness to their own and wipe out individuality, to make every living thing Borg. In over two centuries, the Federation has never encountered a greater threat. Twice Starfleet assembled and threw countless starships to stand against them. The Borg were stopped, the price paid in blood. Humanity breathed a sigh of relief, assuming it was safe. And with the destruction of the transwarp conduits, the Federation believed that the killing blow had finally been struck against the Borg. Driven to the point of extinction, the Borg continue to fight for their very existence, for their culture. They will not be denied. They must not be stopped. The old rules and assumptions regarding how the Collective should act have been dismissed. Now the Borg kill first, assimilate later. When the Enterprise manages to thwart them once again, the Borg turn inward. The dark places that even the drones never realized existed are turned outward against the enemy they have never been able to defeat. What is revealed is the thing that no one believed the Borg could do.

A newly revised and expanded edition of Dr. Lewis Yablonsky's classic study of violent urban gangs. Drawing on "live research" gathered while he was director of community crime-prevention program Yablonsky traces the "natural history" of two infamous New York City gangs. In their own words gang members tell why they murdered a fifteen-year-old polio victim and describe patterns of gang organization, leadership, alliances, warfare, and violence. Yablonsky also discusses programs for dealing with such groups and offers a new plan for gang control. In his introduction to his new edition, Dr. Yablonsky outlines significant parallels between the activities of teen-age gangs and the rebellious behavior of many of today's young people. There is also a new and vital chapter in the "patters of violence" that plague contemporary society. "... a model of powerful and incisive writing in the field of sociology.... An important and immensely useful work." - Los Angeles Times

The second volume of Jane Yolen's fantasy anthology series contains original stories and poetry by Ursual K. Le Guin, Barbara Hambly, Carol Janes Bangs, Marvin Bell, Patricia McKillip, Delia Sherman, Susan Solomont, Richard Kearns, Diane Duane, and Barbara Can Noord, and 26 others. A diverse collection of the best in original short fantasy.

A collection of jump-rope and other play rhymes from seventeen countries, including Brazil, India, Israel, Greece, Armenia, and the United States, in both English and the original language.