This 25th anniversary edition of Steven Levy's classic book traces the exploits of the computer revolution's original hackers -- those brilliant and eccentric nerds from the late 1950s through the early '80s who took risks, bent the rules, and pushed the world in a radical new direction. With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, Hackers is a fascinating story that begins in early computer research labs and leads to the first home computers. Levy profiles the imaginative brainiacs who found clever and unorthodox solutions to computer engineering problems. They had a shared sense of values, known as "the hacker ethic," that still thrives today. Hackers captures a seminal period in recent history when underground activities blazed a trail for today's digital world, from MIT students finagling access to clunky computer-card machines to the DIY culture that spawned the Altair and the Apple II.

Cancer research has reached a major turning point. The quality and quantity of information gathered about this disease in the past twenty years has revolutionized our understanding of its origins and behavior. No one is better qualified to comment on these dramatic leaps forward than molecular biologist Robert A. Weinberg, director of one of the leading cancer research centers in the world. In One Renegade Cell , Weinberg presents an accessible and state-of-the-art account of how the disease begins and how, one day, it will be cured.Weinberg tells how the roots of cancer were uncovered in 1909 and when the first cancer-causing virus was discovered. He then moves forward to the discovery of the role of chemical carcinogens and radiation in triggering cancer, and relates the remarkable story of the discoveries of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, the master controllers of normal and malignant cell proliferation.This book, which presumes little prior knowledge of biology, describes the revolution in biomedical research that has finally uncovered the forces driving malignant growth. Drawing on insights that simply were not available until recently, the discoveries presented in One Renegade Cell have already begun to profoundly alter the way that we diagnose and treat human cancers.

Carl Djerassi, world famous for the first synthesis of the active progestational ingredient of the Pill, speaks out on a wide variety of topics in this captivating book. Djerassi's personal growth from laboratory scientist to spokesman on scientific issues as well as the myriad ways that developments in the laboratory can affect people all over the world are presented in this engaging collection of essays. Djerassi's starting point is the Pill; he describes the history of its development and its future in view of the public's unattainable desire for a risk-free Pill, special testing requirements, and the unfavorable climate for contraception research. From contraceptives, Djerassi broadens his scope to include the entire area of birth control and gives his opinions on factors influencing abortion, the relationship of abortion to the availability of contraceptives, the problem of teenage pregnancy in the United States, the need for chemical abortion inducers, and the possibilities for a male contraceptive agent. He also delves into the reasons why Orwellian approaches to birth control, such as adding contraceptives to the water supply, will not work. From this point, Djerassi branches out even further to discuss the danger of extrapolating animal toxicity studies to humans. He examines the multifaceted role of the pharmaceutical industry in bringing a new drug to market and focuses on the deleterious effects of over-regulation, inappropriate testing requirements, and litigation. He proposes changes that the FDA should make in approval procedures and stresses the need for an appeal procedure. He emphasizes the necessity of doing collaborative research with Third World countries and thedesirability of establishing centers for basic research. But Djerassi's interests are still wider. He informs us on topics as varied as insect control, pesticide development, why there are not more women in academia, and how improved mentoring could be a remedy for preventing ethical misconduct among scientists. He describes his use of fiction to explain the culture of scientists by way of a literary medium that he calls "science-in-fiction". Finally, he discusses the pleasures of collecting art, his collection of the works of Paul Klee, and his sponsorship of artists through the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. In this intriguing book, this very learned and cultured man shows us the breadth of his interests and knowledge. Anyone who is interested in the very important issues of our time will profit from and enjoy this book.

This book deals with the integration of thousands of survivors of the Holocaust into Israeli society in the early years of the new State's existence. Among the issues discussed are: the ways in which the survivors were recruited into the defence forces and the role they played in the War of Independence, the settlement of the immigrants in towns and villages abandoned by Arabs during the war and the immigrant youth.

NASA's history is a familiar story, peaking with Neil Armstrong's small step on the Moon in 1969. But America's space agency--and in particular its Apollo lunar-landing program--wasn't created in a vacuum. It was assembled from pre-existing parts, drawing together some of the best minds the non-Soviet world had to offer. In 1930s Germany, rockets were the focus both of scientists hoping to explore space and of the Wehrmacht. These two strands came together in Wernher von Braun, an engineer who designed the rockets that became the devastating V-2. As the war came to its conclusion, von Braun orchestrated a daring escape from the ruins of Nazi Germany to America, where he began developing missiles for the US Army. Ten years later his Redstone rocket was the only one capable of launching a satellite into orbit. Just what that satellite would be was under the remit of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which pioneered a round-bottomed capsule that could also keep men safe returning from space. Meanwhile, US Air Force pilots were riding to the fringes of space in balloons to see how humans handled radiation at high altitude, while test pilots like Neil Armstrong flew cutting-edge, rocket-powered aircraft in the thin upper atmosphere. Amy Shira Teitel tells the story of America's nascent space program, its scientific advances, its personalities and the rivalries it caused between the various arms of the United States military, right up to the launch of Sputnik in 1957, when getting a man into space became a national imperative leading to the creation of NASA.--Adapted from book jacket

"In December 1991, a two-volume edition of Dead Sea Scroll photographs was issued by the Biblical Archaeology Society, an American group headed by Hershel Shanks. It included an essay written by Dr. Elisha Qimron, an Israeli scholar noted for his work in the language of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Publication of this reconstruction and transcription resulted in a lawsuit in Israel and the United States between Qimron and Shanks. Piracy in Qumran analyzes this legal controversy, which rocked the scholarly world of Biblical and archaeological studies at the time, and which still resonates today"--

This is the first book to explore the effect of genetic research on the Lemba Judaising community of Southern Africa and the phenomenon of Israelite identity. The science of genetics as relayed by the media is perceived by laymen as being irreproachably objective 'hard science': its disinterested 'scientific' findings appear immensely impressive and may therefore act as a powerful catalyst for change. In this case, an oral tradition cherished by many of the Lemba that they are of Jewish origin appears to be supported by recent DNA testing, which has deeply affected the narrative and religious identity of the group and the way the tribe is perceived in the Western world. International in appeal, this topical text brings together cutting-edge research on the social, cultural and ethical implications of genetics and the study of Judaising movements across the world. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of Jewish history, genetic anthropology, race and ethnicity studies, and religious and cultural studies.