BookOdyssey

\'A stimulating and affable overview of how major feats of engineering can help the world beat the climate crisis.\' NEW STATESMAN\'A highly engaging personal account of changes in our complex energy system to enable a low carbon world.\' MIKE BERNERS-LEE\'This hugely readable energy odyssey is now part of my climate change crib sheet.\' HELEN ARNEY----------Readers are loving Power Up:\'A timely and crucial read in today\'s environmentally conscious context.\' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\'For anyone curious about energy\'s role in our world and our future.\' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\'An excellent educational tool.\' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\'A deep dive into this complex world.\' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\'There is something in here for everyone.\' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\'Manages to make complicated ideas very simple.\' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐----------A behind-the-scenes tour of the energy system and an essential tool in understanding the challenges of climate change.We rarely think about the energy systems that prop up our existence. With hot water, lighting and digital entertainment all available at the flick of a switch, it\'s easy to underestimate the vast global network that makes these things possible.In Power Up engineer Yasmin Ali takes us on a journey across the globe to reveal the bigger picture, from solar farms shimmering in the desert to power stations hidden deep in the mountains. We learn where we get energy from, how it is moved and used around the world - and why we need to understand the whole system if we want to transition towards a clean, green future. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0625, Διαστάσεις: 16.2x16.2cm

Best-selling author Theodore Gray is back with all-new, spectacular experiments that demonstrate basic principles of chemistry and physics in thrilling, and memorable ways. For nearly a decade, Theodore Gray has been demonstrating basic principles of chemistry and physics through exciting, sometimes daredevil experiments that he executes, photographs, and writes about for his monthly Popular Science column \'Gray Matter.\'Theo Gray\'s Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home, But Probably Shouldn\'t, published by Black Dog in 2009, collected Gray\'s Popular Science columns, along with hundreds of photographs, many of which were not published with the original columns.Now comes the second volume of mad-scientist experiments, which includes more dramatic, enlightening, and sometimes daring demonstrations in which Gray dips his hand into molten lead to demonstrate the Leidenfrost effect; crushes a tomato between two small magnets to demonstrate the power of neodymium-iron-boron magnets; and creates trinkets out of solid mercury to demonstrate how the state of matter depends very much on the temperature at which it exists.Other experiments include:A foil boat floating on an invisible sea!DIY X-ray photos!A bacon lance that cuts steel!Charging a smart phone with apples and pennies!And dozens more! Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0501, Διαστάσεις: 23.4x23.4cm

*Out now: a definitive guide to thinking clearly in a world full of overwhelming information*__________In our deluge of information, it\'s getting harder and harder to distinguish the revelatory from the contradictory. How do we make health decisions in the face of conflicting medical advice? How can we navigate the next uncomfortable discussion with family members, who follow completely different experts on climate?In Third Millennium Thinking, a physicist, a psychologist, and a philosopher introduce readers to the tools and frameworks that scientists use to keep from fooling themselves, to understand the world, and to make decisions. We can all borrow from these trust-building techniques that scientists have tested and developed for more than two millennia to tackle problems both big and small.Readers will learn:- How to gain a solid understanding of the facts that shape our modern world- How to navigate through a multitude of possibilities and make informed choices- How to collaborate effectively in tackling the challenges we encounter today- And much moreThrough engaging thought exercises, clear language free from technical jargon, and compelling illustrations drawn from history, everyday life, and insider stories of scientists, Third Millennium Thinking presents a fresh approach for readers to untangle the confusing and make sense of it all.__________\'A model of clear thinking, and a terrific discussion of how to use logic and evidence to solve the hardest problems. This might just be the cure for what ails us.\' Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University, and author of Decisions About Decisions Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0827, Διαστάσεις: 16x16cm

We\'ve seen the power of the internet to connect people around the world in ways never before known. This remarkable book argues that the billions of messages and pieces of information flying back and forth are linking the minds of humanity together into a single, global brain: a brain with astonishing potential for the Earth.Peter Russell, an acclaimed author and speaker, weaves together modern technology and ancient mysticism to present a startling vision of the world to come, where humanity is a fully conscious superorganism in an awakening universe. The human potential movement, he shows, is growing fast and influencing business, politics and medicine.This new edition is fully updated for the challenges we face in the twenty-first century. Σελίδες: 262, Διαστάσεις: 15.6x15.6cm

Although little known today, Raymond Ruyer was a post-World War II French philosopher whose works and ideas were significant influences on major thinkers, including Deleuze, Guattari, and Simondon. With the publication of this translation of Neofinalism, considered by many to be Ruyer\'s magnum opus, English-language readers can see at last how this seminal mind allied philosophy with science.Unfazed by the idea of philosophy ending where science began, Ruyer elaborated a singular, nearly unclassifiable metaphysics and reactivated philosophy\'s capacity to reflect on its canonical questions: What exists? How are we to account for life? What is the status of subjectivity? And how is freedom possible? HaNeofinalism offers a systematic and lucidly argued treatise that deploys the innovative concepts of self-survey, form, and absolute surface to shape a theory of the virtual and the transspatial. It also makes a compelling plea for a renewed appreciation of the creative activity that organizes spatiotemporal structures and makes possible the emergence of real beings in a dynamic universe. Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

Offering a deeper understanding of today\'s internet media and the management theory behind itPlatforms are everywhere. From social media to chat, streaming, credit cards, and even bookstores, it seems like almost everything can be described as a platform. In The Platform Economy, Marc Steinberg argues that the \"platformization\" of capitalism has transformed everything, and it is imperative that we have a historically precise, robust understanding of this widespread concept. Taking Japan as the key site for global platformization, Steinberg delves into that nation\'s unique technological and managerial trajectory, in the process systematically examining every facet of the elusive word platform. Among the untold stories revealed here is that of the 1999 iPhone precursor, the i-mode: the world\'s first widespread mobile internet platform, which became a blueprint for Apple and Google\'s later dominance of the mobile market. Steinberg also charts the rise of social gaming giants GREE and Mobage, chat tools KakaoTalk, WeChat, and LINE, and video streaming site Niconico Video, as well as the development of platform theory in Japan, as part of a wider transformation of managerial theory to account for platforms as mediators of cultural life. Analyzing platforms\' immense impact on contemporary media such as video streaming, music, and gaming, The Platform Economy fills in neglected parts of the platform story. In narrating the rise and fall of Japanese platforms, and the enduring legacy of Japanese platform theory, this book sheds light on contemporary tech titans like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Netflix, and their platform-mediated transformation of contemporary life-it is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand what capitalism is today and where it is headed. Σελίδες: 304, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

\"You are about to enter a new genre, that of scientific fables, by which I don\'t mean science fiction, or false stories about science, but, on the contrary, true ways of understanding how difficult it is to figure out what animals are up to.\" -Bruno Latour, form the ForewordIs it all right to urinate in front of animals? What does it mean when a monkey throws its feces at you? Do apes really know how to ape? Do animals form same-sex relations? Are they the new celebrities of the twenty-first century? This book poses twenty-six such questions that stretch our preconceived ideas about what animals do, what they think about, and what they want.In a delightful abecedarium of twenty-six chapters, Vinciane Despret argues that behaviors we identify as separating humans from animals do not actually properly belong to humans. She does so by exploring incredible and often funny adventures about animals and their involvements with researchers, farmers, zookeepers, handlers, and other human beings. Do animals have a sense of humor? In reading these stories it is evident that they do seem to take perverse pleasure in creating scenarios that unsettle even the greatest of experts, who in turn devise newer and riskier hypotheses that invariably lead them to conclude that animals are not nearly as dumb as previously thought.These deftly translated accounts oblige us, along the way, to engage in both ethology and philosophy. Combining serious scholarship with humor that will resonate with anyone, this book-with a foreword by noted French philosopher, anthropologist, and sociologist of science Bruno Latour-is a must not only for specialists but also for general readers, including dog owners, who will never look at their canine companions the same way again. Σελίδες: 288, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

A pioneering call for a new understanding of scale across the humanities How is it possible that you are-simultaneously-cells, atoms, a body, quarks, a component in an ecological network, a moment in the thermodynamic dispersal of the sun, and an element in the gravitational whirl of galaxies? In this way, we routinely transform reality into things already outside of direct human experience, things we hardly comprehend even as we speak of DNA, climate effects, toxic molecules, and viruses. How do we find ourselves with these disorienting layers of scale? Enter Scale Theory, which provides a foundational theory of scale that explains how scale works, the parameters of scalar thinking, and how scale refigures reality-that teaches us how to think in terms of scale, no matter where our interests may lie. Joshua DiCaglio takes us on a fascinating journey through six thought experiments that provide clarifying yet provocative definitions for scale and new ways of thinking about classic concepts ranging from unity to identity. Because our worldviews and philosophies are largely built on nonscalar experience, he then takes us slowly through the ways scale challenges and reconfigures objects, subjects, and relations. Scale Theory is, in a sense, nondisciplinary-weaving together a dizzying array of sciences (from nanoscience to ecology) with discussions from the humanities (from philosophy to rhetoric). In the process, a curious pattern emerges: attempts to face the significance of scale inevitably enter terrain closer to mysticism than science. Rather than dismiss this connection, DiCaglio examines the reasons for it, redefining mysticism in terms of scale and integrating contemplative philosophies into the discussion. The result is a powerful account of the implications and challenges of scale, attuned to the way scale transforms both reality and ourselves. Σελίδες: 352, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

The Story of Science guides us to the original texts that have changed the way we think about our world, our cosmos and ourselves. Whether referenced individually or read together as the narrative of Western scientific development, the book’s twenty-eight succinct chapters lead readers from the first science texts by Hippocrates, Plato and Aristotle through twentieth-century classics in biology, physics and cosmology, including works by Einstein, Schrödinger and Dawkins. Each chapter recommends one or more classic books and provides an entertaining account of the discovery, a vivid sketch of the scientist-writer and a clear explanation of any technical issues. The Story of Science reveals science to be a human pursuit—an essential, often deeply personal, sometimes flawed, frequently brilliant way of understanding the world. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0615, Διαστάσεις: 16.3x16.3cm

The first book-length, in-depth ethnography of U.S. human spaceflight What if outer space is not outside the human environment but, rather, defines it? This is the unusual starting point of Valerie Olson\'s Into the Extreme, revealing how outer space contributes to making what counts as the scope and scale of today\'s natural and social environments. With unprecedented access to spaceflight worksites ranging from astronaut training programs to life science labs and architecture studios, Olson examines how U.S. experts work within the solar system as the container of life and as a vast site for new forms of technical and political environmental control. Olson\'s book shifts our attention from space\'s political geography to its political ecology, showing how scientists, physicians, and engineers across North America collaborate to build the conceptual and nuts-and-bolts systems that connect Earth to a specifically ecosystemic cosmos. This cosmos is being redefined as a competitive space for potential economic resources, social relations, and political strategies. Showing how contemporary U.S. environmental power is bound up with the production of national technical and scientific access to outer space, Into the Extreme brings important new insights to our understanding of modern environmental history and politics. At a time when the boundaries of global ecologies and economies extend far below and above Earth\'s surface, Olson\'s new analytic frameworks help us understand how varieties of outlying spaces are known, made, and organized as kinds of environments-whether terrestrial or beyond. Σελίδες: 280, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

To care can feel good, or it can feel bad. It can do good, it can oppress. But what is care? A moral obligation? A burden? A joy? Is it only human? In Matters of Care, Maria Puig de la Bellacasa presents a powerful challenge to conventional notions of care, exploring its significance as an ethical and political obligation for thinking in the more than human worlds of technoscience and naturecultures. Matters of Care contests the view that care is something only humans do, and argues for extending to non-humans the consideration of agencies and communities that make the living web of care by considering how care circulates in the natural world. The first of the book\'s two parts, \"Knowledge Politics,\" defines the motivations for expanding the ethico-political meanings of care, focusing on discussions in science and technology that engage with sociotechnical assemblages and objects as lively, politically charged \"things.\" The second part, \"Speculative Ethics in Antiecological Times,\" considers everyday ecologies of sustaining and perpetuating life for their potential to transform our entrenched relations to natural worlds as \"resources.\" From the ethics and politics of care to experiential research on care to feminist science and technology studies, Matters of Care is a singular contribution to an emerging interdisciplinary debate that expands agency beyond the human to ask how our understandings of care must shift if we broaden the world. Σελίδες: 280, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

Who is a Native American? And who gets to decide? From genealogists searching online for their ancestors to fortune hunters hoping for a slice of casino profits from wealthy tribes, the answers to these seemingly straightforward questions have profound ramifications. The rise of DNA testing has further complicated the issues and raised the stakes.In Native American DNA, Kim TallBear shows how DNA testing is a powerful-and problematic-scientific process that is useful in determining close biological relatives. But tribal membership is a legal category that has developed in dependence on certain social understandings and historical contexts, a set of concepts that entangles genetic information in a web of family relations, reservation histories, tribal rules, and government regulations. At a larger level, TallBear asserts, the \"markers\" that are identified and applied to specific groups such as Native American tribes bear the imprints of the cultural, racial, ethnic, national, and even tribal misinterpretations of the humans who study them. TallBear notes that ideas about racial science, which informed white definitions of tribes in the nineteenth century, are unfortunately being revived in twenty-first-century laboratories. Because today\'s science seems so compelling, increasing numbers of Native Americans have begun to believe their own metaphors: \"in our blood\" is giving way to \"in our DNA.\" This rhetorical drift, she argues, has significant consequences, and ultimately she shows how Native American claims to land, resources, and sovereignty that have taken generations to ratify may be seriously-and permanently-undermined. Σελίδες: 256, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

An ethnographic exploration of technoscientific immortality Immortality has long been considered the domain of religion. But immortality projects have gained increasing legitimacy and power in the world of science and technology. With recent rapid advances in biology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, secular immortalists hope for and work toward a future without death.On Not Dying is an anthropological, historical, and philosophical exploration of immortality as a secular and scientific category. Based on an ethnography of immortalist communities-those who believe humans can extend their personal existence indefinitely through technological means-and an examination of other institutions involved at the end of life, Abou Farman argues that secular immortalism is an important site to explore the tensions inherent in secularism: how to accept death but extend life; knowing the future is open but your future is finite; that life has meaning but the universe is meaningless. As secularism denies a soul, an afterlife, and a cosmic purpose, conflicts arise around the relationship of mind and body, individual finitude and the infinity of time and the cosmos, and the purpose of life. Immortalism today, Farman argues, is shaped by these historical and culturally situated tensions. Immortalist projects go beyond extending life, confronting dualism and cosmic alienation by imagining (and producing) informatic selves separate from the biological body but connected to a cosmic unfolding.On Not Dying interrogates the social implications of technoscientific immortalism and raises important political questions. Whose life will be extended? Will these technologies be available to all, or will they reproduce racial and geopolitical hierarchies? As human life on earth is threatened in the Anthropocene, why should life be extended, and what will that prolonged existence look like? Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

Bill Gates is one of the most transformative figures of our age. In Source Code he takes us back to his beginnings.He describes with candour his childhood in Seattle, the centrality of family – his close relationship with his card-playing grandmother and his demanding but caring parents – his struggles to fit in, his rebelliousness, his first deep friendships and the impact of losing his closest friend.We see Gates’s extraordinary mind developing, the restless teenager who discovered a love of coding and computing at the dawn of a new era and felt that ‘by applying my brain, I could solve even the world’s most complex mysteries’. We see the earliest signs of his phenomenal business acumen, which led him to drop out of Harvard at the age of 20 to devote all his energies to Microsoft, the company he started with his childhood friend Paul Allen. He writes about his first involvement with three Steves – Jobs, Wozniak and Ballmer – who would play a crucial role in so much that followed.The book ends in the late 1970s when Microsoft, still with only a dozen employees, signed its first deal with Apple. The deals would go on and Microsoft would grow unimaginably. Yet Gates never forgot his mother’s reminder that he was merely a steward of any wealth that he gained. This warm and inspiring book, Bill Gates’ origin story, allows readers to understand his energy and ambition – and to see how he sets himself in the world. Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 16.2x16.2cm

From astronomy to psychology, this beautifully illustrated chronology presents the most important and groundbreaking milestones in science.    Award-winning author Cliff Pickover (The Math Book, The Physics Book, and The Medical Book) gathers into one fully illustrated volume the most important thinkers and ideas in the history of science. This unique omnibus edition includes 250 thoughtfully selected entries from many of the science-based books in the Sterling Milestones series, including math, physics, medicine, biology, chemistry, engineering, psychology, and space. With a new introduction by Pickover explaining how this impressive collection was curated,The Science Book showcases humanity’s greatest achievements and provides readers with a sense of wonder at the diversity of scientific discovery. Σελίδες: 528, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1106, Διαστάσεις: 18.6x18.6cm

\'[An] insightful analysis of 19th-century futurism ... Morus\'s account is as much a cautionary tale as a flag-waving celebration.\' - DUNCAN BELL, NEW STATESMAN\'[How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon] rattles thrillingly through such developments as the Transatlantic telegraph cable, the steam locomotive and electric power and recalls the excitable predictions of the fiction of the time.\' KATY GUEST, THE GUARDIAN\'Excellent ... A terrific insight into why the Victorian era was a golden age of engineering.\' - NICK SMITH, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINEBy the end of the Victorian era, the world had changed irrevocably. The speed of the technological development brought about between 1800 and 1900 was completely unprecedented in human history. And as the Victorians looked to the skies and beyond as the next frontier to be explored and conquered, they were inventing, shaping and moulding the very idea of the future. To get us to this future, the Victorians created a new way of ordering and transforming nature, built on grand designs and the mass-mobilisation of the resources of Empire - and they revolutionised science in the process. In this rich and absorbing book, distinguished historian of science Iwan Rhys Morus tells the story of how this future was made. From Charles Babbage\'s dream of mechanising mathematics to Isambard Kingdom Brunel\'s tunnel beneath the Thames, from George Cayley\'s fantasies of powered flight to Nikola Tesla\'s visions of an electrical world, this is a story of towering personalities, clashing ambitions, furious rivalries and conflicting cultures - a vibrant tapestry of remarkable lives that transformed the world and ultimately took us to the Moon. Σελίδες: 352, Διαστάσεις: 16.2x16.2cm

Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 16.8x16.8cm

Now in its fifth edition, Diffusion of Innovations is a classic work on the spread of new ideas. In this renowned book, Everett M. Rogers, professor and chair of the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of New Mexico, explains how new ideas spread via communication channels over time. Such innovations are initially perceived as uncertain and even risky. To overcome this uncertainty, most people seek out others like themselves who have already adopted the new idea. Thus the diffusion process consists of a few individuals who first adopt an innovation, then spread the word among their circle of acquaintances—a process which typically takes months or years. But there are exceptions: use of the Internet in the 1990\'s, for example, may have spread more rapidly than any other innovation in the history of humankind. Furthermore, the Internet is changing the very nature of diffusion by decreasing the importance of physical distance between people. The fifth edition addresses the spread of the Internet, and how it has transformed the way human beings communicate and adopt new ideas. Σελίδες: 576, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1117, Διαστάσεις: 15.6x15.6cm

Bestselling author Theodore Gray has spent more than a decade dreaming up, executing, photographing, and writing about extreme scientific experiments, which he then published between 2009 and 2014 in his monthly Popular Science column \"Gray Matter.\" Previously published in book form by Black Dog in two separate volumes (Mad Science and Mad Science 2), these experiments, plus 5 more all-new ones, will now be combined in one complete book.Packaged in a smaller, chunkier format Completely Mad Science is 432 pages of dazzling chemical demonstrations, illustrated in spectacular full-color photographs. Some of the completely mad experiments in the book include: Casting a model fish out of mercury (demonstrating how this element behaves very differently depending upon temperature); the famous Flaming Bacon Lance that can cut through steel (demonstrating the amount of energy contained in fatty foods like bacon); creating nylon thread out of pure liquid by combining molecules of hexamethylenediamine and sebacoyl chloride; making homemade ice cream using a fire extinguisher and a pillow case; powering your iPhone using 150 pennies and an apple, and many, many more. It\'s the ultimate collection for Gray\'s millions of fans. Σελίδες: 408, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0913, Διαστάσεις: 18.8x18.8cm

An in-depth and unified exploration of genius in the arts and sciences through the life and works of five seminal intellectual and cultural figures: Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Ludwig von Beethoven, and Albert Einstein.Who among us hasn\'t read Hamlet, listened to the Fifth Symphony, gazed at the Mona Lisa, or marveled at the three laws of physics and the Theory of Relativity and been struck with the same simple question: how on Earth did they do it? Where did these masters draw inspiration to produce some of the most stunning achievements in human history? Were their brains wired differently than ours? Did they have special traits or unique experiences that set them on the path to greatness? Genius is a broad and elusive concept, one that is divisive and hard to define—and gravely misunderstood. There are “ordinary” geniuses who achieve remarkable feats of brilliance, as well as “magicians” (a term James Gleick invoked to describe Richard Feynman) who make an outsize impact on their given field. But highest among them are transformative geniuses, those rare individuals who redefine their fields or open up new universes of thought altogether. These are the masters whose genius Bulent Atalay decodes in his engrossing, enlightening, and revelatory book. No, Atalay doesn’t have a road map for how we might become the next Einstein or Leonardo, but his revolutionary study of genius gives us a stunning new lens through which to view humanity’s most prolific thinkers and creators and perhaps pick up some inspiration along the way. At first, it seems that transformative geniuses don’t follow any sort of topography. Their prodigious output looks effortless, they leap from summit to summit, and they probably couldn’t explain exactly how they went about solving their problems. They might not even recognize themselves in the ways we talk about them today. Atalay argues that these heroes fit more of a mold than we might think. As evidence, he rigorously dissects the lives, traits, habits, and thought patterns of five exemplars—Leonardo, Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven, and Einstein— to map the path of the transformative genius. How did Beethoven, who could not perform basic multiplication, innately encode the Fibonacci Sequence in his symphonies? Is it possible that we understate Shakespeare’s poetic influence? How did Leonardo become equally prolific in both the arts and the sciences? How did Newton formulate the universal laws of physics, the basis of so many other sciences? And what prompted TIME Magazine to declare Einstein, a man whose very name is synonymous with genius, the “Individual of the 20th Century”? With great clarity and attention to detail, Atalay expertly traces how these five exemplars ascended to immortality and what their lives and legacies reveal about how transformative geniuses are made Σελίδες: 496, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0104, Διαστάσεις: 15.2x15.2cm

\'Gribbin has inspired generations with his popular science writing\' Jim Al-KhaliliA scintillating collection of short essays that really does cover \'life, the Universe, and everything\'.From the mysteries of the subatomic world to the curious property of water that makes our planet inhabitable, master of popular science John Gribbin delves into the astonishing facts that underlie our existence.Some aspects of the quantum world really do seem impossible to \'common sense\', but have been proved correct by experiments. Other features of the Universe appear obvious, such as the fact that atoms are mostly empty space. But this familiarity hides the truly amazing truths underpinning these observations. And some things merely seem improbable but are also hiding a Deep Truth, such as the fact that the Moon and Sun look the same size as viewed from Earth.This book will change forever the way you view the world.This volume brings together three of John Gribbin\'s successful science books: Six Impossible Things (which was Shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Books Prize in 2019), Seven Pillars of Science and Eight Improbable Possibilities. Σελίδες: 400, Διαστάσεις: 16.2x16.2cm

The modern world is passing through a time of critical change on many levels: cultural, political, ecological and spiritual. We are witnessing the decline and dissolution of the old order, the tumult and uncertainty of a new birth. Against this background, there is an urgent need for a coherent framework of meaning to lead us beyond the growing fragmentation of culture, belief and personal identity.Keiron Le Grice argues that the developing insights of a new cosmology could provide this framework, helping us to discover an underlying order shaping our life experiences. In a compelling synthesis of the ideas of seminal thinkers from depth psychology and the new paradigm sciences, Le Grice positions the new discipline of archetypal astrology at the centre of an emerging world view that reunifies psyche and cosmos, spirituality and science, mythology and metaphysics, and enables us to see mythic gods, heroes and themes in a fresh light. He draws especially on the work of C. G. Jung, Joseph Campbell, Richard Tarnas, Fritjof Capra, David Bohm and Brian Swimme.Heralding a \'rediscovery of the gods\' and the passage into a new spiritual era, The Archetypal Cosmos presents a new understanding of the role of myth and archetypal principles in our lives, one that could give a cosmic perspective and deeper meaning to our personal experiences. Σελίδες: 328, Διαστάσεις: 15.6x15.6cm

\'The best book ever written\' Nicholas Lezard, GuardianRobert Burton\'s labyrinthine, beguiling, playful masterpiece is his attempt to \'anatomize and cut up\' every aspect of the condition of melancholy, from which he had suffered throughout his life. Ranging over beauty, digestion, the planets, alcohol, goblins, kissing, poetry and the restorative power of books, among many other things, The Anatomy of Melancholy has fascinated figures from Samuel Johnson to Jorge Luis Borges since the seventeenth century, and remains an incomparable examination of the human condition in all its flawed, endless variety.Edited with an introduction by Angus Gowland Σελίδες: 1376, Διαστάσεις: 15.6x15.6cm

Million-copy bestselling author of The Elements, Molecules, and Reactions Theodore Gray applies his trademark mix of engaging stories, real-time experiments, and stunning photography to the inner workings of machines, big and small, revealing the extraordinary science, beauty, and rich history of everyday things. Theodore Gray has become a household name among fans, both young and old, of popular science and mechanics. He\'s an incorrigible tinkerer with a constant curiosity for how things work. Gray\'s readers love how he always brings the perfect combination of know-how, humour and daring-do to every project or demonstration, be it scientific or mechanical.In How Things Work he explores the mechanical underpinnings of dozens of types of machines and mechanisms, from the cotton gin to the wristwatch to an industrial loom. Filled with stunning original photographs in Gray\'s inimitable style, How Things Work is a must-have exploration of stuff - large and small - for any builder, maker or lover of mechanical things. Σελίδες: 256, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1231, Διαστάσεις: 26x26cm

Has society ceded its self-governance to technogovernance?The Prison House of the Circuit presents a history of digital media using circuits and circuitry to understand how power operates in the contemporary era. Through the conceptual vocabulary of the circuit, it offers a provocative model for thinking about governance and media.The authors, writing as a collective, provide a model for collective research and a genealogical framework that interrogates the rise of digital society through the lens of Foucault\'s ideas of governance, circulation, and power. The book includes five in-depth case studies investigating the transition from analog media to electronic and digital forms: military telegraphy and human-machine incorporation, the establishment of national electronic biopolitical governance in World War I, media as the means of extending spatial and temporal policing, automobility as the mechanism uniting mobility and media, and visual augmentation from Middle Ages spectacles to digital heads-up displays. The Prison House of the Circuit ultimately demonstrates how contemporary media came to create frictionless circulation to maximize control, efficacy, and state power. Σελίδες: 328, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

An approachable introduction to the philosophical study of ethical dilemmas in technology In the Technology Age, innovations in medical, communications, and weapons technologies have given rise to many new ethical questions: Are technologies always value-neutral tools? Are human values and human prejudices sometimes embedded in technologies? Should we merge with the technologies we use? Is it ethical to use autonomous weapons systems in warfare? What should a self-driving car do if it detects an unavoidable crash? Can robots have morally relevant properties? This is Technology Ethics: An Introduction provides an accessible overview of the sub-field of philosophy that focuses on the ethical implications of new technologies. Requiring no previous background in the subject, this reader-friendly volume explores ethical questions concerning artificial intelligence, robots, self-driving cars, brain implants, social media and communication technologies, and more. Throughout the book, clear and engaging chapters describe and discuss key discussions, issues, and themes while inviting readers to develop their own perspectives on a wide range of moral and ethical questions. Discusses how various technologies influence and shape individuals and society both positively and negativelyIllustrates how emerging technologies affect traditional ideas about ethics and human self-understandingAddresses the ethical complications of creating technologies that may lead to morally problematic consequencesConsiders if the benefits of new technologies outweigh potential drawbacks, such as how people interact online through social mediaExplores how established moral and ethical theories relate to new questions concerning advanced technologies Part of the popular This is Philosophy series published by Wiley-Blackwell, This is Technology Ethics: An Introduction is a must-read for undergraduate students taking a Technology Ethics course, researchers in the field, engineers, technology professionals, and general readers looking to learn more about the topic. Σελίδες: 288, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1216, Διαστάσεις: 15x15cm

A captivating historical survey of the key debates, questions, and controversies at the intersection of science and religion Throughout history, scientific discovery has clashed with religious dogma, creating conflict, controversy, and sometimes violent dispute. In this enlightening and accessible volume, distinguished historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Edward Larson and Michael Ruse, philosopher of science and Gifford Lecturer, offer their distinctive viewpoints on the sometimes contentious relationship between science and religion. The authors explore how scientists, philosophers, and theologians through time and today approach vitally important topics, including cosmology, geology, evolution, genetics, neurobiology, gender, and the environment. Broaching their subjects from both historical and philosophical perspectives, Larson and Ruse avoid rancor and polemic as they address many of the core issues currently under debate by the adherents of science and the advocates of faith, shedding light on the richly diverse field of ideas at the crossroads where science meets spiritual belief. Σελίδες: 312, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1003, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

In this beautiful and thorough investigation, The Secret Language of Color celebrates and illuminates the countless ways in which color colors our world.Why is the sky blue, the grass green, a rose red? Most of us have no idea how to answer these questions, nor are we aware that color pervades nearly all aspects of life, from the subatomic realm and the natural world to human culture and psychology.Organized into chapters that begin with a fascinating explanation of the physics and chemistry of color, The Secret Language of Color travels from outer space to Earth, from plants to animals to humans. In these chapters we learn about how and why we see color, the nature of rainbows, animals with color vision far superior and far inferior to our own, how our language influences the colors we see, and much more. Between these chapters, authors Joann Eckstut and Ariele Eckstut turn their attention to the individual hues of the visible spectrum?red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet?presenting each in fascinating, in-depth detail.Including hundreds of stunning photographs and dozens of informative, often entertaining graphics, every page is a breathtaking demonstration of color and its role in the world around us. Whether? you see red, are a shrinking violet, or talk a blue streak, this is the perfect book for anyone interested in the history, science, culture, and beatuty of color in the natural and man-made world. Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1001, Διαστάσεις: 26.4x26.4cm

The attack on the Capitol building following the 2020 election was an extraordinarily large and brazen crime. Conspiracies were formed on social media in full public view, the law-breakers paraded on national television with undisguised faces, and with outgoing President Donald Trump openly cheering them on. The basic concept of law enforcement--investigators find criminals and serve justice--quickly breaks down in the face of such an event. The system has been strained by the sheer volume of criminals and the widespread perception that what they did wasn\'t wrong. A mass of online tipsters--\"sedition hunters\"--have mobilized, simultaneously providing the FBI with valuable intelligence and creating an ethical dilemma. Who gets to serve justice? How can law enforcement still function as a pillar of civil society? As the foundations of our government are questioned, the FBI and Department of Justice are the first responders to a crisis of democracy and law that threatens to spread, and fast.In this work of extraordinary reportage, Ryan Reilly gets to know would-be revolutionaries, obsessive online sleuths, and FBI agents, and shines a light on a justice system that\'s straining to maintain order in our polarized country. From the moment the police barriers were breached on January 6th, 2021, Americans knew something had profoundly changed. Sedition Hunters is the fascinating, high-stakes story of what happens next. Σελίδες: 480, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0430, Διαστάσεις: 16.2x16.2cm

With more than 1 million copies sold worldwide, The Elements is the most entertaining, comprehensive, and visually arresting book on all 118 elements in the periodic table.Includes a poster of Theodore Gray\'s iconic photographic periodic table of the elements!Based on seven years of research and photography by Theodore Gray and Nick Mann, The Elements presents the most complete and visually arresting representation available to the naked eye of every atom in the universe. Organized sequentially by atomic number, every element is represented by a big beautiful photograph that most closely represents it in its purest form. Several additional photographs show each element in slightly altered forms or as used in various practical ways. Also included are fascinating stories of the elements, as well as data on the properties of each, including atomic number, atomic symbol, atomic weight, density, atomic radius, as well as scales for electron filling order, state of matter, and an atomic emission spectrum.This of solid science and stunning artistic photographs is the perfect gift book for every sentient creature in the universe. Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1120, Διαστάσεις: 26.1x26.1cm

Countering recent hype around technology, a leading expert argues that the endurance of dictatorship in China owes less to facial recognition AI and GPS tracking than to the human resources of the Leninist surveillance state.For decades China watchers argued that economic liberalization and increasing prosperity would bring democracy to the world’s most populous country. Instead, the Communist Party’s grip on power has only strengthened. Why? The answer, Minxin Pei argues, lies in the effectiveness of the Chinese surveillance state. And the source of that effectiveness is not just advanced technology like facial recognition AI and mobile phone tracking. These are important, but what matters more is China’s vast, labor-intensive infrastructure of domestic spying.Central government data on Chinese surveillance is confidential, so Pei turned to local reports, police gazettes, leaked documents, and interviews with exiled dissidents to provide a detailed look at the evolution, organization, and tactics of the surveillance state. Following the 1989 Tiananmen uprising, the Chinese Communist Party invested immense resources in a coercive apparatus operated by a relatively small number of secret police officers capable of mobilizing millions of citizen informants to spy on those suspected of disloyalty. The CCP’s Leninist bureaucratic structure—whereby officials and party activists penetrate every sector of society and the economy, from universities and village committees to delivery companies, telecommunication firms, and Tibetan monasteries—ensures that Beijing’s eyes and ears are truly everywhere.While today’s system is far more robust than that of years past, it is modeled after mass surveillance implemented under Mao Zedong and Chinese emperors centuries ago. Rigorously empirical and rich in historical insight, The Sentinel State is a singular contribution to our knowledge about coercion in the Chinese state and, more generally, the survival strategies of authoritarian regimes. Σελίδες: 336, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0527, Διαστάσεις: 14x14cm

Σελίδες: 144, Διαστάσεις: 24x24cm

\'A generous book written by a figure who has made a significant impact on philosophy ... Anyone interested in philosophy should read it\' Nigel Warburton, Times Literary Supplement\'One of today\'s most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers\' Nature\'Who would have guessed that a philosopher\'s life could be so full of adventures?\'Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering consciousness. I\'ve Been Thinking traces the development of Dennett\'s own intellect and instructs us how we too can become good thinkers.Dennett\'s restless curiosity leads him from his childhood in Beirut to Harvard, and from Parisian jazz clubs to \'tillosophy\' on his tractor in Maine. Along the way, he encounters and debates with a host of legendary thinkers, and reveals the breakthroughs and misjudgments that shaped his paradigm-shifting philosophies. Thinking, Dennett argues, is hard, and risky. In fact, all good philosophical thinking is inevitably accompanied by bafflement, frustration and self-doubt. It is only in getting it wrong that we, very occasionally, find a way to get it right.This memoir by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will speak to anyone who seeks a life of the mind with adventure and creativity. Σελίδες: 464, Διαστάσεις: 16.2x16.2cm

Flight is the story of humankind\'s most ambitious undertaking. From thousand-year-old flying machines and the trailblazing \'birdmen\' who risked their lives to test them, to the Wright brothers\' legendary first flight and the iconic spacecraft of the modern era, Flight weaves together the extraordinary history of aviation with an in-depth look at the mechanics of how planes work. Sumptuously illustrated and written by a former RAF technician, this is the definitive guide to how we conquered the skies. Σελίδες: 256, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0919, Διαστάσεις: 19.2x19.2cm

How should we live? According to philosopher and biologist Massimo Pigliucci, the greatest guidance to this essential question lies in combining the wisdom of 24 centuries of philosophy with the latest research from 21st century science. In Answers for Aristotle , Pigliucci argues that the combination of science and philosophy first pioneered by Aristotle offers us the best possible tool for understanding the world and ourselves. As Aristotle knew, each mode of thought has the power to clarify the other: science provides facts, and philosophy helps us reflect on the values with which to assess them. But over the centuries, the two have become uncoupled, leaving us with questions,about morality, love, friendship, justice, and politics,that neither field could fully answer on its own. Pigliucci argues that only by rejoining each other can modern science and philosophy reach their full potential, while we harness them to help us reach ours. Pigliucci discusses such essential issues as how to tell right from wrong, the nature of love and friendship, and whether we can really ever know ourselves,all in service of helping us find our path to the best possible life. Combining the two most powerful intellectual traditions in history, Answers for Aristotle is a remarkable guide to discovering what really matters and why. Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1002, Διαστάσεις: 14.4x14.4cm

\'A careful and thoughtful provocation\' (Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury) Ambitiously placed at the intersection of scientific insights and spiritual wisdom, Human Flourishing prompts us to reflect on what constitutes a good life and the choices that can help achieve it. For thousands of years, humans have asked \'Why we are here?\' and \'What makes for a good life?\' At different times, different answers have held sway. Nowadays, there are more answers proposed than ever. Much of humanity still finds the ultimate answers to such questions in religion. But in countries across the globe, secular views are widely held. In any event, whether religious or secular, individuals, communities and governments still have to make decisions about what people get from life. This book therefore examines what is meant by human flourishing and see what it has to offer for those seeking after truth, meaning and purpose. This is a book written for anyone who wants a future for themselves, their children, and their fellow humans - a future that enables flourishing, pays due consideration to issues of truth and helps us find meaning and purpose in our lives. At a time when most of us are bombarded with messages about what we should or should not do to live healthily, attain a work-life balance and find meaning, a careful consideration of the contributions of both scientific insight and spiritual wisdom provides a new angle. This is therefore a book that not only helps readers clarify their views and see things afresh but also help them improve their own well-being in an age of AI and other new technologies. Σελίδες: 368, Διαστάσεις: 14.9x14.9cm