"Every baseball fan knows that Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols are among the best to ever play the game. But how do their high-priced contracts impact their teams' abilities to compete for a World Series title? Which managers and executives are best at getting the most out of their roster, year-in and year-out? And how does sabremetrics play into all of this? In this book, veteran ESPN columnist Jayson Stark explores these questions and many more. Supplemented with insightful commentary from countless baseball insiders, it gives baseball fans a rare, fascinating glimpse into the why behind the game's winners and losers"--

Embark on an intellectual adventure with Puzzles and Paradoxes, a captivating book that presents 33 thought-provoking questions spanning history, the physical world, biology, philosophy, specific events, and miscellaneous topics, enticing readers to unravel mysteries and seek profound understanding. From the fall of Rome to the Golden Age of Greece, from the enigmas of the mind-body problem to the origins of life on Earth, from free will to the problem of evil, and from the invention of spectacles to the Monty Hall Problem and the Voynich Manuscript, this compelling collection explores diverse realms of knowledge, offering possible answers that inspire contemplation and ignite the joy of intellectual discovery.

There is one country in the Americas that the Bush Administration regards as a significant threat to U.S. interests, and it is not Cuba. Oil-rich Venezuela's democratically-elected government has survived repeated, U.S.-supported attempts to undermine its power, including a short lived military coup. Its leader, President Hugo Chávez, is neither communist nor capitalist, and instead claims to be creating an alternative 21st Century socialism that courts international capital. What is the real story behind this leader of Latin America's lurch to the left? Is it a new petro-populism in the tradition of Peron and Fujimori, or is it truly a progressive, home-grown democratic revolution that will address the massive economic and social inequalities plaguing the region for more than three centuries? The curiosity of a North American living in Venezuela and the expertise of two Venezuelans—one an adviser in the Presidential Palace, and the other a journalist with a weekly column in one of Venezuela's leading newspapers—bring insiders' answers to outsiders' questions, such as: Is Chávez a dictator? What was the role of the Bush Administration in the 2002 military coup? What is Chávez's political platform? Does Chávez work with terrorist governments to undermine U.S. interests?

The Great White Way and has paved the way for some of the most legendary performers in history. But Broadway is more than a street, it's a community. In this Q Guide, a true Broadway expert takes theatre fans on the ultimate insider's tour. With its queer perspective, The Q Guides become the instant arbiters of taste and trends for the hip and hot, gay and straight.

Timely and provocative essays on bioethical questions brought to the forefront by the bioterrorist threat. The war on terrorism and the threat of chemical and biological weapons have brought a new urgency to already complex moral and bioethical questions. In the Wake of Terror presents thought-provoking essays on many of the troubling issues facing American society, written by experts from the fields of medicine, health care policy, law, political science, history, philosophy, and theology. One of the first potential casualties of catastrophic circumstances is civil liberties. In the past, medical experiments conducted for national security purposes have violated ethical standards, and this book questions whether current policy provides sufficient safeguards against further abuses. It also focuses on public health issues, offering contrasting views on the extent to which civil authorities should be allowed to restrict freedom of movement in the name of national security and debating whether aggressive public health interventions improve public confidence and cooperation or detract from them. A major area of concern is preparedness for future terrorist attacks. Chapters are devoted to ethical issues involved in the development, distribution, and rationing of vaccines and antidotes; resource allocation and medical triage; the moral duties of emergency health workers and other first responders; and the obligations of private entities such as managed care organizations and pharmaceutical companies. Contributors also address the implications of terrorism for our health insurance system and the role of genetic advances in bioterrorism. Underlying all of these issues, the authors argue, is the need to maintain a spirit of social solidarity, which can in turn only be achieved if preparations are publicly acknowledged and generally regarded as both prudent and fair.

Explores the variety of ways different cultures have marked the movement of the stars and seasonal changes with celebrations throughout history

In this collection of essays and articles best selling author Mark Girouard writes of places he has visited in town and country. Mixing erudition with anecdote, he offers fascinating insights into both buildings and their inhabitants. He tells how he first became interested in architecture, describes the country houses which he visited as a boy, provides an authoritative interpretation of the origins of English rococo art, analyzes the formation of an English seaside resort, recreates the Georgian architecture and polite society of Jane Austen's world, and traces changing attitudes toward the landscape in architecture from eighteenth-century Britain to twentieth-century America. Old Slaughter's Coffee-House in the mid-eighteenth century; Holdenby, an Elizabethan great house built by a royal favourite who was called by one of his contemporaries "a mere vegetable of the court that sprung up at night and sank again at noon"; Belvedere, the eighteenth-century Irish country house that was witness to a tragic story of adultery and revenge: these are just a few of the buildings described by Girouard in these delightful essays on architecture and society in bygone eras in England and Ireland. Written with his customary wit and elegance, this collection of Girouard's finest essays illuminates not only architecture and social history but also the man who has explored both with such elan.

“I have read all of Daniel Aaron’s books, and admired them, but in The Americanist I believe he has composed an intellectual and social memoir for which he will be remembered. His self-portrait is marked by personal tact and admirable restraint: he is and is not its subject. The Americanist is a vision of otherness: literary and academic friends and acquaintances, here and abroad. Eloquently phrased and free of nostalgia, it catches a lost world that yet engendered much of our own.” —Harold Bloom “ The Americanist is the absorbing intellectual autobiography of Daniel Aaron, who is the leading proponent and practitioner of American Studies. Written with grace and wit, it skillfully blends Daniel Aaron’s personal story with the history of the field he has done so much to create. This is a first-rate book by a first-rate scholar.” —David Herbert Donald, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University The Americanist is author and critic Daniel Aaron’s anthem to nearly a century of public and private life in America and abroad. Aaron, who is widely regarded as one of the founders of American Studies, graduated from the University of Michigan, received his Ph.D. from Harvard, and taught for over three decades each at Smith College and Harvard. Aaron writes with unsentimental nostalgia about his childhood in Los Angeles and Chicago and his later academic career, which took him around the globe, often in the role of America’s accidental yet impartial critic. When Walt Whitman, whom Aaron frequently cites as a touchstone, wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes,” he could have been describing Daniel Aaron—the consummate erudite and Renaissance individual whose allegiance to the truth always outweighs mere partisan loyalty. Not only should Aaron’s book stand as a resplendent and summative work from one of the finest thinkers of the last hundred years, it also succeeds on its own as a first-rate piece of literature, on a par with the writings of any of its subjects. The Americanist is a veritable Who’s Who of twentieth-century writers Aaron interviewed, interacted with, or otherwise encountered throughout his life: Ralph Ellison, Robert Frost, Lillian Hellman, Richard Hofstadter, Alfred Kazin, Sinclair Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge, John Crowe Ransom, Upton Sinclair, Edmund Wilson, Leonard Woolf, and W. B. Yeats, to name only a few. Aaron’s frank and personal observations of these literary lights make for lively reading. As well, scattered throughout The Americanist are illuminating portraits of American presidents living and passed—miniature masterworks of astute political observation that offer dazzlingly fresh approaches to well-trod subjects.

This interpretation of the way female sexuality was viewed by the nineteenth-century European medical profession characterizes an attitude based on massive ignorance and prejudice

FRAGILE EARTH v1.2 CONTAINS 12 NEW SETS OF BEFORE-AND-AFTER IMAGES, including flooding on the Arabian Peninsular, a dust storm at Sydney Harbour, the expansion of Tehran’s city limits, and ice melting on Hudson Bay. Fragile Earth is a stunning photography app giving a birdseye view of climate change, urbanization and nature’s raw power. It shows what happens to our planet when rivers flood or dry up, mountains erupt, glaciers melt and cities sprawl outward. STUNNING PHOTOGRAPHY APPSee years pass under your fingertips by swiping across before-and-after images. Explore how Dubai has grown from a small city to a thriving metropolis over the last 10 years, or how the notorious Warming Island got its name since 1985.The top photography app contains some of the world’s best environmental images, giving you detailed ecological snapshots from around the globe. Beautiful, shocking and thought-provoking, Fragile Earth provides thought provoking portraits of our world – its beauty, vastness and vulnerability. SEE THE WORLD CHANGE IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES The images can viewed by country/region, category and date. Each can also be shared via facebook, twitter or email. NEW to Fragile Earth v1.2:Flooding, Arabian Peninsula, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab EmiratesCollapsing sea stack, The Twelve Apostles, Victoria, AustraliaDust storm, Sydney Harbour Bridge, New South Wales, AustraliaCity expansion, Tehran, IranRhone Glacier retreat, SwitzerlandWildfire Smog, St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow, RussiaShrinking lake, Lake Urmia, IranShrinking sea and salt projects, The Dead SeaSea Ice in Bristol Bay, Alaska, United States of AmericaTohoku Tsunami one year on, Ishinomaki, JapanMelting ice, Hudson Bay, CanadaLandscape change, Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras and Nicaragua Developed by Aimer Media, the team behind The Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms and The Worlds Heritage apps.

As if history and nature had not provided wonders enough, through the ages humans themselves have contrived more marvels to deceive one another. Sometimes they have concocted evidence when none was available to prove pet theories; sometimes their intention has been to impress or defraud; sometimes they have acted merely for sport. ø Robert Silverberg tells the stories of a baker's dozen of these scientific hoaxers in a lively, good-humored book that ranges through time and across continents. Here are perpetual-motion machines and space rockets, men on the moon and serpents in the sea. The rogues? gallery is a varied one: Dr. Mesmer, who cast his hypnotic spell on eighteenth-century Paris; Charles Dawson, whose Piltdown Man challenged evolution; Dr. Cook, with his tale of ?discovering? the North Pole; and many others. ø These are fascinating stories and more than just entertainment. The author explains the scientific background against which the hoaxes appeared and the detective work that led to their exposure. The schemers teach us to be alert, to challenge the evidence, and to appreciate the healthy skepticism that characterizes the scientific method.

The 142nd edition of the world's most famous sports book emerges in sprightly mood, and, with full reports of England's eventful tour of South Africa, it is more up-to-date than any previous Wisden . Wisden 2005 explains how the mighty confusion of Indian TV bankrolls the game. One great Australian, Richie Benaud, pays homage to another, Keith Miller. And there is a full history of chucking controversies, reports on South Africans' lingering love affair with Hansie Cronje and, from Sri Lanka, how cricket rose to the challenge of the terrible tsunami. And there are full reports of an amazing cricketing year: the world records for Brian Lara, Murali and Shane Warne, and coverage of every match of England's astonishing winning sequence that took them from Jamaica to Johannesburg - and a dozen Test victories - in just ten months. Elsewhere Wisden brings news of the ground where it hasn't rained in 15 years, the brothel that caters solely for professional cricketers and how an electric buggy, a TV camera and 15 hot air balloons stopped play. And there's an interview with cricket's most famous Slovak goalkeeper. All this - and much more - makes Wisden Cricketers' Almanack the essential companion for every follower of cricket.

In Destination Past you will embark on a remarkable voyage in time as John Lukacs shares forty years of travels, ranging from his adoptive city of Philadelphia to his native Hungary to darkest Transylvania. With an unerring eye for detail and a keen ability to recreate the mood of a moment or the essence of an era, Lukacs blends travel and history in a sequence of unforgettable essays that will charm and enlighten. History comes alive out of the rubble in East Germany as an evening at the Dresden Opera revives the beauty of an earlier time. Steeped in boyhood memories and infused with the sights and scents of the annual Fete du Porc, "A Winter Feast in Hungary" evokes a powerful sense of tradition and family from an irrecoverable era. Historical figures provide the occasion for several essays. Lukacs's evocative description of Churchill's funeral defines the passing of an era. The commemoration of Franz Jagerstatter - the solitary opponent to National Socialism in the village of St. Radegund - is a perfect counterpoint to Hitler's one-hundredth birthday, an event that passes nearly unobserved in his nearby native city just forty miles away. You will share Lukacs's delight at the inspirations furnished by Cook's Continental Timetable, and you will be entranced by a touching view of Poland under Solidarity. Collected from such publications as the New Yorker, the New Republic, National Review, and the New York Times Magazine, these artful essays meld history and place in remarkable ways. "I am seventy now", writes Lukacs in his preface, "but I hope that God may still allow me a little more traveling, and perhaps even a brush with history, now and then". Readers of Destination Past are sureto hope for just the same thing.

In 1953, reflecting on early ventures in quantum theory, J. Robert Oppenheimer spoke of terror and exaltation, of history happening in a realm so remote from common experience that it was "unlikely to be known to any poet or historian." Yet now, anyone can Google "quantum theory" and find more than 34 million entries--from poets and historians, certainly, as well as film critics and Buddhist monks. How--and how pervasively--quantum mechanics has entered the general culture is the subject of this book, an engaging, eclectic, and thought-provoking look at the curious, boundlessly fertile intersection of scientific thought and everyday life. Including recollections of encounters with the theory and the people responsible for it, Jeremy Bernstein's account ranges from the cross-pollination of quantum mechanics with Marxist ideology and Christian and Buddhist mysticism to its influence on theater, film, and fiction. Along the way, Bernstein focuses on those--such as Niels Bohr, the Dalai Lama, W. H. Auden, and Tom Stoppard--who have made quantum physics; who have argued over it, pondered it, or taken literary inspiration from it, and who have misunderstood, misconstrued, or misapplied it. One person in particular supplies a narrative thread: John Bell, a notable yet underappreciated physicist who did groundbreaking research in quantum physics. In Bell's story, Bernstein provides a uniquely readable account of what physicists call the "measurement problem." Quantum Leaps is a lively, erudite book on a subject that Bernstein has lived with for most of its history. His experience and deep understanding are apparent on every page.

"What events, issues, and personalities have shaped modern Canada? Which days stand out in the timeline of our country? Revisiting ten notable days from recent history, Aaron W. Hughes invites readers to think about the tensions, achievements, and people that make Canada distinctive. These indelible dates interweave to offer an account of the political, social, cultural, and demographic forces that have shaped the modern nation. Diverse episodes include the enactment of the War Measures Act, hockey's Summit Series, the patriation of the Constitution, the Multiculturalism Act, the École Polytechnique Massacre, victories for gay rights, Quebec's second referendum on secession, The Tragically Hip's farewell concert, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and ongoing Black equality struggles. Each day represents a window on contemporary Canada, jumpstarting reflection and conversation about who we are as a nation and how we got here. Ten Days That Shaped Modern Canada is the perfect guide for all those curious about the forces that shape our country and about how we understand our place in the world."--

"RED SEA-RED SQUARE-RED THREAD is a work of passages taken, written, painted, and sung. It offers a genealogy of liberty through a micrology of wit. It follows a very long history of a very short anecdote. Commissioned to depict the biblical passage through the Red Sea, a painter covered over a surface with red paint, explaining thereafter that the Israelites had already crossed over and that the Egyptians were drowned. Clearly, not all you see is all you get. Who was the painter and who the first teller of the tale? Designed as a philosophical detective story, the book follows the extraordinarily many thinkers and artists who have used the Red Sea anecdote to make so much more than a merely anecdotal point. Leading the large cast are the philosophers, Arthur Danto and Søren Kierkegaard, the poet and playwright, Henri Murger, the opera composer, Giacomo Puccini, and the painter and print-maker, William Hogarth. Strange companions perhaps, until their use of the anecdote is shown as working its extraordinary passage through so many cosmopolitan cities of art and capital. What about the anecdote brings Danto's philosophy of art into conversation with Kierkegaard's stages on life's way, with Murger and Puccini's la vie de bohème, and with Hogarth's modern moral pictures? The book explores narratives of emancipation in philosophy, theology, politics, and the arts. What has the passage of the Israelites to do with the Egyptians who, by many gypsy names, came to be branded as bohemians when arriving in France from the German lands of Bohemia? What have Moses and monotheism to do with the history of monism and the monochrome? And what sort of thread connects a sea to a square when each is so purposefully named red?"--

This book by noted author Mark Kurlansky draws on philosophy, religion, literature, politics to ask what may well be the 20 most-important questions in human history.