7908 results for "Science"

The Fractal Geometry of Nature

Benoit Mandelbrot
The Essential Guide that Introduced Fractals to the World Explore the wondrously complex repeating shapes of the natural world in The Fractal Geometry of Nature. Written in a style that is accessible to a wide audience, computer scientist, professor, mathematician, economist, and visionary Benoit B Mandelbrot's fascinating work has inspired popular interest in the geometry inherent in the natural world. Unlike the squares, circles, spheres, and cones of fundamental geometry, nature has rough edges and no straight lines or perfect curves. Mandelbrot observed that, even with this roughness, there still exists a kind of symmetry, which he dedicated his work to document and study. This became the basis for his development of a new kind of geometry; indeed, he coined the term "fractal." Mandelbrot spent 35 years with IBM, which allowed him access to the level of computing power that would enable him to manipulate computer-generated images and develop his theory of a geometry found throughout our natural environment. He was among the first to use computer graphics to illustrate and test these kinds of concepts, demonstrating that natural phenomena which appear to be rough or chaotic actually have a certain degree of order and predictability. This definitive overview builds on Mandelbrot's 1977 work, Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension (also published by Echo Point Books), revealing an in depth look at this still-emerging field. Richly illustrated and presented in an engaging manner which embraces geometric and visual dimensions interspersed with aspects of theory, this book will inspire curiosity and wonder in artists, mathematicians and naturalists alike. This book is also available from Echo Point Books in hardcover (ISBN 1648370403). Be sure to check out Benoit Mandelbrot's other definitive work, also availabe from Echo Point books: Fractals: Form, Chance and Dimension (use the web address https: //www.amazon.com/dp/1635619025/).
Echo Point Books & Media, LLC. 2021-07-16 500 pages

Computability, Complexity, and Languages, Second Edition: Fundamentals of Theoretical Computer Science

Davis, Martin,Sigal, Ron,Weyuker, Elaine J.
This introductory text covers the key areas of computer science, including recursive function theory, formal languages, and automata. It assumes a minimal background in formal mathematics. The book is divided into five parts: Computability, Grammars and Automata, Logic, Complexity, and Unsolvability. * Computability theory is introduced in a manner that makes maximum use of previous programming experience, including a "universal" program that takes up less than a page. * The number of exercises included has more than tripled. * Automata theory, computational logic, and complexity theory are presented in a flexible manner, and can be covered in a variety of different arrangements.
Morgan Kaufmann 1994 609 pages

Unsavory truth: how food companies skew the science of what we eat

Nestle, Marion
"Is chocolate heart-healthy? Does yogurt prevent type 2 diabetes? Do pomegranates help cheat death? News accounts bombard us with such amazing claims, report them as science, and influence what we eat. Yet, as Marion Nestle explains, these studies are more about marketing than science; they are often paid for by companies that sell those foods. Whether it's a Coca-Cola-backed study hailing light exercise as a calorie neutralizer, or blueberry-sponsored investigators proclaiming that this fruit prevents erectile dysfunction, every corner of the food industry knows how to turn conflicted research into big profit. As Nestle argues, it's time to put public health first. Written with unmatched rigor and insight, Unsavory Truth reveals how the food industry manipulates nutrition science--and suggests what we can do about it"--
Basic Books 2018-10-30 310 pages

Tomorrow's Children - 18 Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction

Isaac Asimov
Eighteen stories edited by the master of science-fiction, Isaac "No Life of Their Own" by Clifford D. Simak"The Accountant" by Robert Sheckley"Novice" by James M. Schmitz"Child of Void" by Margaret St. Claire"When the Bough Breaks" by Lewis Padgett"A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber"Junior Achievement" by William Lee"Cabin Boy" by Damon Knight"The Little Terror" by Will F. Jenkins"Gilead" by Zenna Henderson"The Menace From Earth" by Robert Heinlein"The Wayward Cravat" by Gertrude Friedberg"The Father-Thing" by Philip K. Dick"Star Bright" by Mark Clifton"All in a Summer Day" by Ray Bradbury"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby"The Place of the Gods" by Stephen Vincent Benet"The Ugly Little Boy" by Isaac Asimov
Compton Russell 1976-01-01

Mercies in disguise: a story of hope, a family's genetic destiny, and the science that rescued them

Kolata, Gina Bari
"...a moving, suspenseful page-turner that's likely to become a classic of medical storytelling." — The Washington Post New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata follows a family through genetic illness and one courageous daughter who decides her fate shall no longer be decided by a genetic flaw. The phone rings. The doctor from California is on the line. “Are you ready Amanda?” The two people Amanda Baxley loves the most had begged her not to be tested—at least, not now. But she had to find out. If your family carried a mutated gene that foretold a brutal illness and you were offered the chance to find out if you’d inherited it, would you do it? Would you walk toward the problem, bravely accepting whatever answer came your way? Or would you avoid the potential bad news as long as possible? In Mercies in Disguise , acclaimed New York Times science reporter and bestselling author Gina Kolata tells the story of the Baxleys, an almost archetypal family in a small town in South Carolina. A proud and determined clan, many of them doctors, they are struck one by one with an inscrutable illness. They finally discover the cause of the disease after a remarkable sequence of events that many saw as providential. Meanwhile, science, progressing for a half a century along a parallel track, had handed the Baxleys a resolution—not a cure, but a blood test that would reveal who had the gene for the disease and who did not. And science would offer another dilemma—fertility specialists had created a way to spare the children through an expensive process. A work of narrative nonfiction, Mercies in Disguise is the story of a family that took matters into its own hands when the medical world abandoned them. It’s a story of a family that had to deal with unspeakable tragedy and yet did not allow it to tear them apart. And it is the story of a young woman—Amanda Baxley—who faced the future head on, determined to find a way to disrupt her family’s destiny.
St Martin's Griffin 2018-04-03 262 pages

The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society

Wiener, Norbert
"In 1950, mathematician-philosopher Norbert Wiener ended this classic book on the place of machines in society with a warning: "We shall never receive the right answers to our questions unless we ask the right questions.... The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door." Wiener, the founder of the science of cybernetics--the study of the relationship between computers and the human nervous system--was widely mislabeled as an advocate for the automation of human life. As The Human Use for Human Beings reveals, his vision was much more complex and interesting, and is more relevant in today's world of AI than anyone could have anticipated. In his new introduction, Brian Christian aptly calls Wiener the "progenitor of contemporary AI-safety discourse." Wiener hoped that machines would release people from relentless and repetitive drudgery to achieve more creative pursuits, yet he anticipated the danger of dehumanizing and displacement. His pioneering views on the human-machine relationship as a "communicative process" are only more crucial now, as we carry in our pockets AI devices that we can literally speak to. His prescient warnings illuminate our contemporary relationships with language, art, and even social media. The Human Use of Human Beings examines the implications of cybernetics for education, law, language, science, technology, as Wiener anticipates the enormous impact--in effect, a third industrial revolution--that the computer has had on our lives."-- Provided by publisher
Mariner Classics 2025-08-12 240 pages

Redistribution or recognition? a philosophical exchange

Fraser, Nancy
Product Description In this stimulating debate Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth set out to advance the discussion in political philosophy about the idea of recognition, especially as it relates to that of redistribution. Some theorists, such as Axel Honneth, have reframed the original socialist ideal of redistribution in terms of the figure of a struggle for recognition that has inspired important currents of the feminist and gay and lesbian movements, as well as conflicts over multiculturalism. Others, like Nancy Fraser, ask whether the current theoretical and practical emphasis on cultural recognition is displacing, rather than complicating and enriching, our understanding of the centrality of redistribution to social justice. This line of inquiry raises a series of philosophical, social and political problems that lie at the heart of the two authors' projects and that their contributions seek to address. About the Author Nancy Fraser is Professor of Political Science at the New School University in New York. Her previous books include Unruly Practices, Justice Interruptus and, with Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell and Seyla Benhabib, Feminist Contentions. Axel Honneth is Professor of Philosophy at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-University in Frankfurt. He is the author of, amongst other books, The Critique of Power and The Struggle for Recognition.
Verso 2001 224 pages

Our mathematical universe: my quest for the ultimate nature of reality

Tegmark, Max
"Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present, and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and ground-breaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories (his website gives a flavor of how they might boggle the mind), but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last--here is a book for the full science-reading spectrum"--
Alfred A. Knopf 2014 421 pages

If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge

Aronson, Marc
What are the secrets of the ancient stone circle? Were the carefully placed stones a burial site, an ancient calendar, a place of Druid worship...or even a site of sacrifice? World-renowned archaeologist Mike Parker-Pearson has spent the last seven years on a quest to answer these and many other questions. In If Stones Could Speak, award-winning author Marc Aronson joins the research crew and records their efforts to crack Stonehenge's secrets. National Geographic helped sponsor the Riverside archeological team's mission, and now young readers can journey behind the scenes to experience this groundbreaking story first-hand, through the eyes of the experts. Mike and his team have revolutionized our understanding of Stonehenge by exploring the surrounding landscape for clues about the stones -- an idea first suggested by a visitor from Madagascar. The results have been breathtaking: The team recently unearthed the largest Neolithic village ever found in England. Marc Aronson had total access to the site, the team, and their work over two seasons of digging and brings the inspirational story of the discoveries taking place at this World Historical Site to young readers. The informative and drama-driven text includes tales of dead bodies, cremations, feasting, and ancient rituals, as well as insights into the science of uncovering the ancien t past. The expert text, stunning photography, and explanatory maps and illustrations will all help young readers see this ancient monument in totally new ways, and inspire future generations of archaeological explorers.
National Geographic Kids 2010-03-09 64 pages

Blade runner 2019. 1-3

Johnson, Mike (Comic book author),Green, Michael (Screenwriter)
Return to the world of Blade Runner with this, the officially sanctioned box-set of the comic book series based on the cult 1982 science fiction movie Blade Runner , directed by Ridley Scott. Including art cards featuring the cover art from the individual books. LAPD's best Blade Runner and detective, Aahna 'Ash' Ashina, has been assigned to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Isobel and Cleo Selwyn, the wife and daughter of business tycoon, Alexander Selwyn, a close personal friend of Eldon Tyrell. Ash's search will take her on a journey from the crime-ridden underbelly of Los Angeles to the promised land of the Off-World Colonies and back home again as she uncovers a terrible secret and a desperate conspiracy that forces her to confront her own hatred for Replicants - the synthetic humans that she hunts with such vengeance. Collects Blade Runner 2019: Los Angeles / Off-World / Home Again, Home Again .
Titan Comics 2021-09 336 pages

The Plainswalker (The Plainswalker Series)

Rothman, M.A.
"The Plainswalker: A Mind-Bending Journey Beyond Imagination" Prepare for an electrifying adventure penned by a USA Today bestselling author, hailed by none other than James M. Ward, author of "Deities and Demigods," as one of his top five fantasy novels. Meet Peabo Smith, a former Special Forces soldier who embarks on a journey that defies the boundaries of science and reality. Volunteering for a daring experiment that rivals the audacity of the moon landing, Peabo believes it's a chance to get back into the action. But as the clandestine government operation known as STAG, the Special Technologies Analysis Group, unfolds its enigmatic mission fifty feet beneath Marine Base Quantico, Peabo realizes that the experiment holds secrets beyond his wildest imagination. "The Plainswalker" is a tale of a soldier thrust into a science experiment that challenges the very fabric of existence. When the unexpected occurs, Peabo's life takes a turn he never saw coming. Join him on a mind-bending journey where the boundaries of reality blur, and the line between science and fantasy vanishes. Will Peabo emerge unscathed from this extraordinary odyssey, or will it change him forever? Buckle up for a thrill ride beyond the cosmos and into the unknown.
Independently published 2021-03-28 378 pages

Curious Minds How a Child Becomes a Scientist

John Brockman
What makes a child decide to become a scientist? •For Robert Sapolsky–Stanford professor of biology–it was an argument with a rabbi over a passage in the Bible. •Physicist Lee Smolin traces his inspiration to a volume of Einstein’s work, picked up as a diversion from heartbreak. •Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist and the author of Flow , found his calling through Descartes. Murray Gell-Mann, Nicholas Humphrey, Freeman Dyson . . . 27 scientists in all write about what it was that sent them on the path to their life's work. Illuminating memoir meets superb science writing in stories that invite us to consider what it is–and what it isn’t–that sets the scientific mind apart.
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 2005-09-13 256 pages

Songs of the dying Earth

George R. R. Martin,Gardner Dozois,Gardner R. Dozois
Return to the unique and evocative world of The Dying Earth in this tribute anthology featuring the most distinguished fantasists of our day. A dim place, ancient beyond knowledge. The sun is feeble and red. A million cities have fallen to dust. Here live a few thousand souls, dying, as the Earth dies beneath them. Just a few short decades remain to the long history of our world. At the last, science and magic are one, and there is evil on Earth, distilled by time ... Earth is dying. Half a century ago, Jack Vance created the world of the Dying Earth, and fantasy has never been the same. Now, for the first time, Jack has agreed to open this intriguing and darkly beautiful world to other fantasists, to play in as their very own. The list of twenty-two contributors eager to honour Jack Vance by writing for this anthology includes Neil Gaiman, Tad Williams, Elizabeth Hand, Tanith Lee, Dan Simmons, Robert Silverberg, and George R.R. Martin himself.
HarperVoyager 2009 660 pages

Human Torch: the golden age

Burgos, Carl
Marvel proudly presents TIMELY'S GREATEST, a series of once-in-a-lifetime Omnibi presenting the greatest stories from the era when Marvel was known as Timely Comics. Marvel's first super hero, the burning-hot hit known as the Human Torch, seared his way into readers' minds in 1939, setting the path for all Marvel icons to come. Carl Burgos' fiery hero wasn't a typical do-gooder; he was a creation of cutting-edge science in a world that was terrifi ed by his burning visage. In this first-time-ever collection of every Human Torch tale from the character's debut through Carl Burgos' April 1942 induction into the war eff ort, you'll experience the birth of Marvel Comics. Also featuring Burgos' rare post-war and 1950s Torch stories and covers. COLLECTING: MARVEL COMICS 1; MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 2-34, 83; HUMAN TORCH 2-7, 28; ALL-WINNERS COMICS 1-4; DARING MYSTERY COMICS 7; CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS 76; YOUNG MEN 24-28
Marvel Worldwide, Inc 2019-12-10 1032 pages

The House of Government: a saga of the Russian Revolution

Slezkine, Yuri
"On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction. The House of Government is unlike any other book about the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experiment. Written in the tradition of Tolstoy's War and Peace, Grossman's Life and Fate, and Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, Yuri Slezkine's gripping narrative tells the true story of the residents of an enormous Moscow apartment building where top Communist officials and their families lived before they were destroyed in Stalin's purges. A vivid account of the personal and public lives of Bolshevik true believers, the book begins with their conversion to Communism and ends with their children's loss of faith and the fall of the Soviet Union. Completed in 1931, the House of Government, later known as the House on the Embankment, was located across the Moscow River from the Kremlin. The largest residential building in Europe, it combined 550 furnished apartments with public spaces that included everything from a movie theater and a library to a tennis court and a shooting range. Slezkine tells the chilling story of how the building's residents lived in their apartments and ruled the Soviet state until some eight hundred of them were evicted from the House and led, one by one, to prison or their deaths. Drawing on letters, diaries, and interviews, and featuring hundreds of rare photographs, The House of Government weaves together biography, literary criticism, architectural history, and fascinating new theories of revolutions, millennial prophecies, and reigns of terror. The result is an unforgettable human saga of a building that, like the Soviet Union itself, became a haunted house, forever disturbed by the ghosts of the disappeared."--Publisher description
Princeton University Press 2017 1104 pages

The spirit of green: the economics of collisions and contagions in a crowded world

Nordhaus, William D.
"From a Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in environmental economics, an innovative account of how and why "green thinking" could cure many of the world's most serious problems-from global warming to pandemics Solving the world's biggest problems-from climate catastrophe and pandemics to wildfires and corporate malfeasance-requires, more than anything else, coming up with new ways to manage the powerful interactions that surround us. For carbon emissions and other environmental damage, this means ensuring that those responsible pay their full costs rather than continuing to pass them along to others, including future generations. In The Spirit of Green, Nobel Prize-winning economist William Nordhaus describes a new way of green thinking that would help us overcome our biggest challenges without sacrificing economic prosperity, in large part by accounting for the spillover costs of economic collisions. In a discussion that ranges from the history of the environmental movement to the Green New Deal, Nordhaus explains how the spirit of green thinking provides a compelling and hopeful new perspective on modern life. At the heart of green thinking is a recognition that the globalized world is shaped not by isolated individuals but rather by innumerable interactions inside and outside the economy. He shows how rethinking economic efficiency, sustainability, politics, profits, taxes, individual ethics, corporate social responsibility, finance, and more would improve the effectiveness and equity of our society. And he offers specific solutions-on how to price carbon, how to pursue low-carbon technologies, how to design an efficient tax system, and how to foster international cooperation through climate clubs. The result is a groundbreaking new vision of how we can have our environment and our economy too"--
Princeton University Press 2021-05-18 355 pages

Alger Hiss and the battle for history

Jacoby, Susan
Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars havelabored to uncover the facts behind Chambers s shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948 that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage. In this highly original work, Susan Jacoby turns her attention to the Hiss case, including his trial and imprisonment for perjury, as a mirror of shifting American political views and passions. Unfettered by political ax-grinding, the author examines conflicting responses, from scholars and the media on both the left and the right, and the ways in which they have changed from 1948 to our present post Cold War era. With a brisk, engaging style, Jacoby positions the case in the politics of the post World War II eraand then explores the ways in which generations of liberals and conservatives have put Chambers and Hiss to their own ideological uses. An iconic event of the McCarthy era, the case of Alger Hiss fascinates political intellectuals not only because of its historical significance but because of its timeless relevance to equally fierce debates today about the difficult balance between national security and respect for civil liberties."
Yale University Press 2009 256 pages