The most adventourous, polymathic - and readable - scientific populariser of the age offers in Janus a summing up of a quarter of a century's study and speculations on the life sciences and their philosophic implications. Koestler has an interesting theme to propose. It is this; the human brain has developed a terrible biological flaw, such that it is working now against the survival of the race. Something has "snapped" inside the brain. It is no longer necessarily a function which will lead us to a better world, but something demonic, possessed, perhaps even evil. The anguished humanity of Koestler's concepts and the lucid energy of his style comman respect. Here is one of the major political "experiencers" an dmost widely informed spirits of the age turning to the crux of human survival on a ravaged planet. The title of the book tells not only of a central allegory of division in the human species. It stands for the rare tension on Koestler's discourses: between desolation and zest, between darkness and noon.

Spaceflight historian Amy Shira Teitel tells the riveting story of the female pilots who each dreamed of being the first American woman in space. When the space age dawned in the late 1950s, Jackie Cochran held more propeller and jet flying records than any pilot of the twentieth century-man or woman. She had led the Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots during the Second World War, was the first woman to break the sound barrier, ran her own luxury cosmetics company, and counted multiple presidents among her personal friends. She was more qualified than any woman in the world to make the leap from atmosphere to orbit. Yet it was Jerrie Cobb, twenty-five years Jackie's junior and a record-holding pilot in her own right, who finagled her way into taking the same medical tests as the Mercury astronauts. The prospect of flying in space quickly became her obsession. While the American and international media spun the shocking story of a "woman astronaut" program, Jackie and Jerrie struggled to gain control of the narrative, each hoping to turn the rumored program into their own ideal reality-an issue that ultimately went all the way to Congress. This dual biography of audacious trailblazers Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb presents these fascinating and fearless women in all their glory and grit, using their stories as guides through the shifting social, political, and technical landscape of the time.

Science.

Robert Silverberg needs little introduction to anyone at all familiar with the history of the science fiction field. Fan. Author. Editor. Creative force. He has been an integral part of the field for longer than most of his readers have been alive. Earlier this year, he kindly agreed to put together a MEGAPACK(R) of his short stories, so here, then, is a selection of early works by one of the all-time greats. Included are: ALAREE BIRDS OF A FEATHER BLAZE OF GLORY DELIVERY GUARANTEED THE DESSICATOR THE HAPPY UNFORTUNATE THE HUNTED HEROES THE IRON STAR THE ISOLATIONISTS THE LONELY ONE THE MAN WHO CAME BACK NEUTRAL PLANET OZYMANDIAS THE PAIN PEDDLERS THE PLEASURE OF THEIR COMPANY POINT OF FOCUS POSTMARK GANYMEDE PRIME COMMANDMENT THE SONGS OF SUMMER SPACEROGUE THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN THE WOMAN YOU WANTED VALLEY BEYOND TIME WE KNOW WHO WE ARE

In Let There Be Light, Howard Smith, a research astrophysicist and traditionally observant Jew, explores how modern scientific understandings of the cosmos complement Judaism's ancient mystical theology, the Kabbalah. He argues that science and religion are not only compatible, but that a healthy, productive dialogue between the two sheds light on ethics, free will, and the nature of life, while at the same time rejecting fundamentalist misinterpretation and the pseudoscience of creationism. Written for a general audience, yet supported by the most current and accurate scientific research, the book discusses topics such as modern quantum mechanics and mystical notions of awareness; how Kabbalah's ten sefirot mirror the developing phases of an inflationary universe; and the surprising parallels that exist between the Big Bang theory and Kabbalah's origin theory. Smith delves into complex ideas without resorting to jargon or mathematical equations, creating an intelligent, authoritative work accessible to all readers.

This volume incorporates Darko Suvin's thinking on utopian horizons in fiction and on eutopian and dystopian readings of historical reality since the 1970s. While the focus is on the United States and the United Kingdom, the essays also draw on French, German and Russian sources. The book is composed of eighteen chapters, including four sets of poems. The chapters include heretic reflections on utopian fiction, science fiction and utopian studies, explorations of dystopias, and epistemological examinations of political standpoint. Throughout, plebeian history is the stance from which all the author's value judgements are made. The essays and poems engage with the empirical world and identify areas of hope. In a dark dystopian time, they reaffirm eutopia, the radically better place to be striven for in every here and now.

Today's physics textbooks have become encyclopedic, offering students dry discussions, rote formulas, and exercises with little relation to the real world. Physics: The First Science takes a different approach by offering uniquely accessible, student-friendly explanations, historical and philosophical perspectives and mathematics in easy-to-comprehend dialogue. It emphasizes the unity of physics and its place as the basis for all science. Examples and worked solutions are scattered throughout the narrative to help increase understanding. Students are tested and challenged at the end of each chapter with questions ranging from a guided-review designed to mirror the examples, to problems, reasoning skill building exercises that encourage students to analyze unfamiliar situations, and interactive simulations developed at the University of Colorado. With their experience instructing both students and teachers of physics for decades, Peter Lindenfeld and Suzanne White Brahmia have developed an algebra-based physics book with features to help readers see the physics in their lives. Students will welcome the engaging style, condensed format, and economical price.

In this hard-hitting and timely book, Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich challenge those who downplay the reality and importance of global environmental problems with appealing but misleading rhetoric. Such efforts to undermine and misinterpret environmental data, labeled the "brownlash" by the Ehrlichs, prolong an already difficult search for solutions and are deeply disturbing to environmental scientists. In Betrayal of Science and Reason, the Ehrlichs contrast anti-environmental rhetoric with the consensus view of the scientific community, tackling head-on such issues as population growth, desertification, food production, global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, and biodiversity loss. They also offer a unique glimpse into how science works, and they discuss how scientists can speak out on matters of societal urgency yet retain the support of the scientific community. This book provides an eye-opening look at current environmental problems and the fundamental importance of the scientific process in solving them. It presents unique insight into the sources and implications of anti-environmental rhetoric, and it provides readers with a valuable means of understanding and refuting the feel-good fables that constitute the brownlash.

The Year's Best Science Fiction No 5

Uses modern statistical methods to explain the mechanisms by which the planets might well have a significant influence on life on earth, proposing a new branch of science, cosmobiology

Oxford University Press paperback. Includes bibliographical references and index. pt. 1: Technology as social production. The wedding of science to the useful arts--1: The rise of science-based industry. The wedding of science to the useful arts--2: The development of technical education. The wedding of science to the useful arts--3: The emergence of the professional engineer. Preservation through change: Corporate engineers and social reform -- pt. 2: Corporate reform as conscious social production. Laying the foundation: Scientific and industrial standardization. The corporation as inventor: Patent-law reform and patent monoply. Science for industry: The organization of industrial and university research. Technology as people: The industrial process of higher education --1. Technology as people: The industrial process of higher education--2. A technology of social production: Modern management and the expansion of engineering. * dss 20081210.

Discusses chemical discoveries, processes, and personalities in a humanistic manner.

Paperback. Red ink markings throughout. Wrappers are edge worn, rubbed and scuffed. Slight chip to bottom edge of spine. 367 pages.