History of science Books

Book SynopsisThis book offers an innovative examination of the interactions of science and technology, art, and literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Scholars in the history of art, literature, architecture, computer science, and media studies focus on five historical themes in the transition from energy to information: thermodynamics, electromagnetism, inscription, information theory, and virtuality. Different disciplines are grouped around specific moments in the history of science and technology in order to sample the modes of representation invented or adapted by each field in response to newly developed scientific concepts and models. By placing literary fictions and the plastic arts in relation to the transition from the era of energy to the information age, this collection of essays discovers unexpected resonances among concepts and materials not previously brought into juxtaposition. In particular, it demonstrates the crucial centrality of the theme of energy in moTrade Review"The essays in this remarkable collection are productively disruptive of disciplinary and historical boundaries, richly detailed, and elegantly argued. Written by some of the leading figures in the history of art, literary studies, and science studies (as well as a handful of emerging stars), these essays are virtuoso performances that will capture a wide audience in a number of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields."—David Horn, Ohio State University"Beyond the intrinsic merit of the essays in From Energy to Information, the collection also demonstrates the payoff of such work for our understanding of major issues in modernism and postmodernism."—Modernism/ModernityTable of ContentsILLUSTRATIONS CONTRIBUTORS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Introduction BRUCE CLARKE AND LINDA DALRYMPLE HENDERSON From Thermodynamics to Virtuality BRUCE CLARKE Part One. The Cultures of Thermodynamics Introduction 1. Time Discovered and Time Gendered in Victorian Science and Culture M. NORTON WISE 2. Dark Star Crashes: Classical Thermodynamics and the Allegory of Cosmic Catastrophe BRUCE CLARKE 3. Energetic Abstraction: Ostwald, Bogdanov, and Russian Post-Revolutionary Art CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS Part Two. Ether and Electromagnetism: Capturing the Invisible Introduction 4. Lines of Force, Swirls of Ether BRUCE J. HUNT 5. The Real and the Ethereal: Modernist Energies in Eliot and Pound IAN F. A. BELL 6. Vibratory Modernism: Boccioni, Kupka, and the Ether of Space LINDA DALRYMPLE HENDERSON Part Three. Traces and Inscriptions: Diagramming Forces Introduction 7. Representation on the Line: Graphic Recording Instruments and Scientific Modernism ROBERT M. BRAIN 8. Concerning the Line: Music, Noise, and Phonography DOUGLAS KAHN 9. Bodies in Force Fields: Design Between the Wars CHRISTOPH ASENDORF Part Four. Representing Information Introduction 10. On the Imagination's Horizon Line: Uchronic Histories, Protocybernetic Contact, and Charles Babbage's Calculating Engines DAVID TOMAS 11. Escape and Constraint: Three Fictions Dream of Moving from Energy to Information N. KATHERINE HAYLES Part Five. Voxels and Sensels: Bodies in Virtual Space Introduction 13. Authorship and Surgery: The Shifting Ontology of the Virtual Surgeon TIMOTHY LENOIR AND SHA XIN WEI 14. Eversion: Brushing against Avatars, Aliens, and Angels MARCOS NOVAK Part Six. Representation from Pre- to Post-Modernity Introduction 5. Puppet and Test Pattern: Mechanicity and Materiality in Modern Pictorial Representation RICHARD SHIFF 16. Dinosaurs and Modernity W. J. T. MITCHELL NOTES INDEX

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[T]here is much solid information to be gleaned from careful reading."--Publishers Weekly "A stellar read"--Nature "In this grand chronicle of the science behind the origins of our 4.6-billion-year-old Solar System, John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton peruse everything from the giant collision thought to have formed our Moon to the nature of meteorites."--Rosalind Metcalfe, Nature "[This book] provides a truly comprehensive overview of our solar system's origins and is written in plain, jargon-free language."--Marcus Chown, New Scientist "Incredibly thorough and detailed, yet very accessible to non-scientists too... A compelling overview of the evolution of the Solar System."--Katia Moskvitch, BBC Sky at Night "This is not your average tour of our solar system. Using clear, relatively jargon-free language, Chambers and Mitton provide a comprehensive examination of our current understanding of its formation, which should readily appeal to the general reader who enjoys scientific detail without getting into equations."--Library Journal "Chambers and Mitton stay focused on the science in From Dust to Life: unlike other books that create narratives around the scientists, they discuss the science and the history of its development, rather than the individuals who made it possible. That's a worthwhile trade: while there have been, and are today, interesting people studying the formation of the solar system, the science is even more fascinating as we find out just how complex the process is to turn a cloud of gas and dust into a star and planets."--Jeff Foust, Space Review "Read From Dust to Life to gain a fascinating perspective on the current state of the science behind solar system formation."--David Dickinson, Astro Guys blog "This wild ride across the cosmos and through time covers a lot of territory but isn't merely a laundry list of observations. Instead, readers will find one lucid explanation piggybacked onto another... The authors ... make celestial mechanics comprehensible even to readers with more curiosity than scientific background... Best of all, the authors help readers glimpse the why of it all."--Science News "This book ... is accessible to a scientifically literate general reader... The author team is eminently qualified ... one is a well-known planetary scientist and the other an experienced science writer. The result of their efforts is a highly readable book."--Star Formation Newsletter "Chambers and Mitton present a well-researched, detailed, big-picture overview of the solar system that shows how all of people's observations of its contents contribute to a coherent model for its origin. The authors place the modern theory and latest observations in historical context by beginning each chapter with an overview of the development of these scientific ideas from their beginning."--Choice "This book is up-to date, thorough, and authoritative. It revels in the latest discussions and controversies... It is a joy to read and is accessible to any student with a scientific background... Read this book. Join the cosmogonists and help change the cosmogony/cosmology ratio."--David W. Hughes, Observatory "From Dust to Lifefurnishes a comprehensive overview of current models for the formation of the solar system."--Cait MacPhee, Times Higher EducationTable of ContentsList of Illustrations xi Preface xv 1 Cosmic Archaeology 1 A fascination with the past 1 A solar system to explain 3 Real worlds 9 Winding back the clock 12 Putting the pieces together 16 2 Discovering the Solar System 19 Measuring the solar system 19 From wandering gods to geometrical constructions 22 The Sun takes center stage 25 Laws and order 27 Gravity rules 29 The missing planet 31 Asteroids enter the scene 34 Rocks in space 36 Uranus behaving badly 37 Completing the inventory 40 3 An Evolving Solar System 43 A changing world 43 A nebulous idea begins to take shape 44 The nebular hypothesis in trouble 48 A chance encounter? 50 Nebular theory resurrected 54 4 The Question of Timing 56 Reading the cosmic clock 57 Early estimates: ingenious-but wrong 57 Geology versus physics 58 Radioactivity changes everything 61 Hubble and the age of the universe 63 How radioactive timers work 64 Meteorites hold the key 68 Dating the Sun 71 The age of the universe revisited 73 5 Meteorites 75 A dramatic entrance 75 Where do meteorites come from? 76 Irons and stones 80 Identifying the parents 83 Lunar and Martian meteorites 86 A rare and precious resource 87 What meteorites can tell us 88 6 Cosmic Chemistry 92 Element 43: first a puzzle then a clue 92 An abundance of elements 94 The first elements 96 Cooking in the stellar furnace 98 Building heavier elements 104 Supernovae 105 7 A Star Is Born 108 A child of the Milky Way 108 Where stars are born 110 First steps to a solar system 113 The solar system's birth environment 119 Essential ingredients 121 8 Nursery for Planets 123 An excess of infrared 123 Two kinds of disks 125 Inside the solar nebula 129 Getting the dust to stick 131 The influence of gas 134 How to build planetesimals 135 The demise of the disk 137 9 Worlds of Rock and Metal 140 Sisters but not twins 140 The era of planetesimals 141 Planetary embryos take over 144 The final four 147 Earth 148 Mercury 153 Venus 158 Mars 161 10 the Making of the Moon 168 The Moon today 169 What the Moon is made of 170 The Moon's orbit 172 The fission theory 174 The capture hypothesis 175 The coaccretion hypothesis 176 The giant impact hypothesis 177 Encounter with Theia 179 Earth, Moon, and tidal forces 181 Late heavy bombardment 183 11 Earth, Cradle of Life 186 The Hadean era 186 The tree of life 191 The building blocks of life 193 The rise of oxygen 196 A favorable climate 199 Snowball Earth 202 Future habitability 204 12 Worlds of Gas and Ice 205 Giants of the solar system 205 Building giants by core accretion 211 The disk instability model 214 Spin and tilt 215 Masters of many moons 217 Formation of regular satellites 219 The origin of irregular satellites 220 Rings 221 13 What Happened to the Asteroid Belt? 225 The asteroid belt today 225 Ground down by collisions? 226 Emptied by gravity? 229 Asteroid families 231 The missing mantle problem 233 Asteroids revealed as worlds 236 14 The Outermost Solar System 242 Where do comets come from? 242 Centaurs 246 Looking beyond Neptune 247 The Kuiper belt 248 Sedna 251 The nature of trans-Neptunian objects 252 Where have all the Plutos gone? 256 The Nice model 259 15 Epilogue: Paradigms, Problems, and Predictions 263 The paradigm: solar system evolution in a nutshell 264 Unsolved puzzles 267 Searching the solar system for answers 268 Other planetary systems 271 Future evolution of the solar system 273 Afterword to the 2017 edition 277 Glossary 291 Sources and Further Reading 305 Index 307

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Book SynopsisWhy did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie''s reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history?The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it''s also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery and alchemy, from the Trade ReviewKean has Bill Bryson's comic touch... a lively history of the elements and the characters behind their discovery * New Scientist *A wealth of fascinating stories with a dazzling cast of heroes and villains. Written with gusto and backed by a mind-boggling amount of research, this is a real page turner -- Robert Matthews * Daily Telegraph *One of the most readable and entertaining books about science yet published ... [Kean] is master of enlightening metaphors * Daily Express *The periodic table meets the best-seller list with Sam Kean's Disappearing Spoon, an engaging tour of the elements... with the éclat of raw sodium dropped in a beaker of water * The New York Times *the anecdotal flourishes of Oliver Sacks and the populist accessibility of Malcolm Gladwell * Entertainment Weekly *

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of the acclaimed Chaos and Genius comes a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the big ideas of the modern era: Information, communication, and information theory.   Acclaimed science writer James Gleick presents an eye-opening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human consciousness. A fascinating intellectual journey through the history of communication and information, from the language of Africa’s talking drums to the invention of written alphabets; from the electronic transmission of code to the origins of information theory, into the new information age and the current deluge of news, tweets, images, and blogs. Along the way, Gleick profiles key innovators, including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Samuel Morse, and Claude Shannon, and reveals how our understanding of information is transforming not only how we look at the world, but how we live.A

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Book SynopsisStigler shows how statistics arose from the interplay of mathematical concepts and the needs of several applied sciences. His emphasis is upon how methods of probability theory were developed for measuring uncertainty, for reducing uncertainty, and as a conceptual framework for quantitative studies in the social sciences.Trade ReviewOne is tempted to say that the history of statistics in the nineteenth century will be associated with the name Stigler. -- Morris Kline * New York Times Book Review *An exceptionally searching, almost loving, study of the relevant inspirations and aberrations of its principal characters James Bernoulli, de Moivre, Bayes, Laplace, Gauss, Quetelet, Lexis, Galton, Edgeworth, and Pearson, not neglecting a grand supporting cast… The definitive record of an intellectual Golden Age, an overoptimistic climb to a height not to be maintained. -- M. Stone * Science *In this tour de force of careful scholarship, Stephen Stigler has laid bare the people, ideas, and events underlying the development of statistics… He has written an important and wonderful book… Sometimes Stigler’s prose is so evocative it is almost poetic. -- Howard Wainer * Contemporary Psychology *The book is a pleasure to read: the prose sparkles; the protagonists are vividly drawn; the illustrations are handsome and illuminating; the insights plentiful and sharp. This will remain the definitive work on the early development of mathematical statistics for some time to come. -- Lorraine J. Daston * Journal of Modern History *Stigler’s book exhibits a rare combination of mastery of technical materials, sensitivity to conceptual milieu, and near exhaustive familiarity with primary sources. An exemplary study. -- Lorraine DastonTable of ContentsIntroduction PART 1: The Development of Mathematical Statistics in Astronomy and Geodesy before 1827 1. Least Squares and the Combination of Observations Legendre in 1805 Cotes's Rule Tobias Mayer and the Libration of the Moon Saturn, Jupiter, and Enter Laplace's Rescue of the Solar System Roger Boscovich and the Figure of the Earth Laplace and the Method of Situation Legendre and the Invention of Least Squares 2. Probabilists and the Measurement of Uncertainty Jacob Bernoulli De Moivre and the Expanded Binomial Bernoulli's Failure De Moivre's Approximation De Moivre's Deficiency Simpson and Bayes Simpson's Crucial Step toward Error A Bayesian Critique 3. Inverse Probability Laplace and Inverse Probability The Choice of Means The Deduction of a Curve of Errors in 1772-1774

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Book SynopsisPlacing twenty first-century climate change in deep context, A Brief History of Earth is an indispensable look at where we’ve been and where we’re going.Features original illustrations depicting Earth history and nearly 50 figures (maps, tables, photographs, graphs).Trade Review“A fantastic distillation of Earth's history, from one of the world’s leading geologists: Andrew H. Knoll has written an engrossing, witty, and eminently readable romp through our home planet’s 4.5 billion years, from trilobites and dinosaurs to human origins and our rapidly changing modern times.” — Steve Brusatte, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs "Having spent decades at the forefront of discovery and research, Andrew H. Knoll has been one of our planet's leading scientists. In A Brief History of Earth, Knoll treats us to a 4.6-billion-year detective story revealing the origins and inner workings of our home in the solar system. In these pages you'll discover something profound: how our past, present, and future are grounded in Planet Earth." — Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish and Some Assembly Required "Covers the arc of our planet’s history from its earliest formation to the present day in a succinct and deftly-written way." — Forbes “Charts the planet’s history in accessible style, from its beginning as ‘a small planet accreted out of rocky debris circling a modest young star’ through the development of minerals, geographical formations, atmosphere, and life forms large and small.” — Associated Press "Skillfully condenses the history of the Earth. ... An expert primer on the history of everything." — Kirkus Reviews "A sublime chronicle of our planet’s formation and beginnings, the perhaps unlikely yet awe-inspiring interactions that created life, diverse and abundant, and mass extinctions and recoveries. Knoll skillfully presents the extreme conditions, violence, and delicate fragility that mark the cycles and evolution of our home." — Booklist (starred review) "The type of book that is sorely needed at this moment in history. ... Knoll assembles facts from a wide variety of fields to tell our planet’s story in a clear and accessible narrative." — Scientific Inquirer “An eloquent call to action.” — CNN.com "In spite of its sweeping scale, the Harvard geologist and natural history professor’s primer not only makes the titular four billion years understandable – his accessible expertise makes it interesting." — Globe and Mail (Toronto)

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Book SynopsisThe result is a single volume that offers a comprehensive understanding of North Atlantic right whales, the role they played in the many cultures that hunted them, and our modern attempts to help them recover.Trade ReviewAlthough the text is written for a technical audience, the lucid and fluid narrative is combined with sufficient engaging descriptions to make this work accessible to all audiences. Statistics about whale populations and whaling are present, but unlike many books on whaling that overwhelm readers with extensive tables, quantitative information is placed judiciously in the narrative to illustrate specific points. The figures are well-rendered and useful. Recommended.—ChoiceThe back cover states that the work is a masterpiece and I have to agree. Whatever you want to know about Atlantic whaling, its history and the eventual conservation of whales, this is the text to read.—The BiologistThis book’s highly detailed historical record without a doubt required an enormous effort to research, assemble, and present for a popular audience... Laist’s treatment of the right whale encompasses its entire history, from years of exploitation, to the first conservation concerns, to current threat-mitigation actions.—Irina S. Trukhanova, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Polar Science Center, Seattle, WA, Conservation BiologyTable of ContentsChapter Title Preface I A Right Whale Named Nantucket II What's In A Name? III Foraging with a Smile IV. Evolution V. The Origin of Whaling VI Medieval Whaling in Northern Europe VII Ghost Whalers VIII Basque Whaling in Terranova IX The Dawn of International Whaling X A Fitful Start for Colonial Whalers XI Long Island Whaling XII Cape Cod Whaling XIII Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Cape May XIV Whaling in North Carolina and the Southeastern United State XV Estimating Pre-Exploitation Population Size XVI A Second Chance XVII A Dedicated Recovery Program XVIII Nobody Wants to Hit a Whale XIX. Slow Speed Ahead XX Entanglement XXI Oh What A Tangled Web XXII Ten Thousand Right WhalesAcknowledgementsReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A historical and scientific detective story of first rank. . . . [Mayor's] results are as striking as they are entertaining."---Mott T. Greene, Science"Mayor tells a fascinating story of ancient encounters with fossils, setting modern palaeontology beside ancient art and literature."---Helen King, Times Literary Supplement"Refreshing. . . . Mayor presents her case with an engaging zeal, describing her sleuthing efforts at length. . . . By the end of the book, you will find yourself filled with enthusiasm for following Mayor's lead in breaking down interdisciplinary boundaries and thus enriching your understanding of the human experience."---Kate A. Robson Brown, Natural History"Merging the fields of paleontology, archaeology and classical literature, Mayor's research has uncovered striking correlations between modern fossil finds and many of the myths and folklore that sprang up in early Western civilization."---Bryn Nelson, Newsday"[Mayor] has done an admirable job in tracking down so many obscure references and easily persuades us that these early writers indeed recorded a palaeontological bonanza centuries before the first dinosaur remains were recognised by modern science."---Richard Fortey, London Review of Books"Adrienne Mayor has . . . done some digging deep into the past and found literary and artistic clues—and not a few huge fossils—that seem to explain the inspiration for many of the giants, monsters, and other strange creatures in the mythology of antiquity."---John Noble Wilford, New York Times"Mayor's chronicles do more that entertain; as she contends, they also show that people of Greek and Roman times had a broad understanding of fossils as organic remains of extinct organisms. . . . The First Fossil Hunters brings together mythology, art, geology, and paleontology in a convincing manner."---Tim Tokaryk, American Scientist"Blending the thrill of scientific discovery with the fascination of ancient folklore and legends, Mayor gives us a comprehensive overview of the ancient literature dealing with these findings. . . . In many ways, this book resembles a detective story. When the author gets on the track of something interesting, she follows it wherever it leads. . . . The First Fossil Hunters will be a revelation to anyone interested in ancient history. For me, it is one of the best books of recent years."---Walter L. Friedrich, Times Higher Education Supplement"A pleasure to read. . . . The insight into human behavior is enough to attract anthropologists and laypeople to read this fascinating account of paleontology in ancient times."---Deborah Ruscillo, American Journal of Archaeology"Mayor's thought-provoking book will mark a watershed in the approach to griffins and giants. . . . For both its innovative method and its results, this well-balanced and vividly written book belongs on the bookshelf of every historian of natural sciences."---Liliane Bodson, Isis"Clear, readable, and convincing. . . . A surprising account of material overlooked or misunderstood by both historians of science and interpreters of Greek myth." * Kirkus Reviews *"After reading Mayor's The First Fossil Hunters one thing is certain. You'll never look at classical mythology—or at the history of paleontology—the same way again."---Steve Voynick, Rock and Gem"Mayor takes palaeontologists and historians of palaeontology to task. At best there has been accidental ignorance and at worst wilful avoidance and misrepresentation of how much the Greeks and Romans knew about fossils. . . . Mayor proceeds to make her case with detailed 'chapter and verse' from the ancients. It is indeed impressive and generally very convincing."---Douglas Palmer, Geological Magazine"An interesting overview of a historical topic which has been little studied."---Richard Samuels, Magonia Review of Books ​​​​​​​

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Book SynopsisIn Code Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan reconstructs how Progressive Era technocracy as well as crises of industrial democracy and colonialism shaped early accounts of cybernetics and digital media by theorists including Norbert Wiener, Warren Weaver, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roman Jakobson, Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes, and Luce Irigaray. His analysis casts light on how media-practical research forged common epistemic cause in programs that stretched from 1930s interwar computing at MIT and eugenics to the proliferation of seminars and laboratories in 1960s Paris. This mobilization ushered forth new fields of study such as structural anthropology, family therapy, and literary semiology while forming enduring intellectual affinities between the humanities and informatics. With Code, Geoghegan offers a new history of French theory and the digital humanities as transcontinental and political endeavors linking interwar colonial ethnography in Trade Review“Straying away from the familiar itineraries of intellectual history, Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan invites us to take a path less trodden: a detour that allows the reader to revisit famous milestones in the development of cybernetics and digital media, and to connect them to scholarly debates stemming from fields of study as distant as structural anthropology, family therapy, and literary semiology." * The Duke Reader *“Bernard Geoghegan’s Code presents a strong history of how the humanities of the 20th century worked in close connection with communication and information sciences … a rich and insightful analysis.” -- Jussi Parikka * Leonardo Reviews *"Anyone interested in the political and ethical dimensions of cybernetics and contemporary social networking will be fascinated by Geoghegan's rich historical and interpretive account of these important and timely subjects. Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. Students in two-year technical programs." -- J. W. Dauben * Choice *"Geoghegan’s rich and surprising account of the common inheritance shared by information theory and French Theory in the era of liberal technocracy, industrial capitalism, and colonial crisis will change how we think about the nature, risks, and possibilities of data analytics, critical theory, and the digital humanities now and for years to come." -- Carolyn Pedwell * Theory, Culture & Society *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Codification 1 1. Foundations for Informatics: Technocracy, Philanthropy, and Communications Sciences 21 2. Pattern Recognition: Data Capture in Colonies, Clinics, and Suburbs 53 3. Poeticizing Cybernetics: An Informatic Infrastructure for Structural Linguistics 85 4. Theory for Administrators: The Ambivalent Technocracy of Claude Lévi-Strauss 107 5. Learning to Code: Cybernetics and French Theory 133 Conclusion. Coding Today: Toward an Analysis of Cultural Analytics 169 Notes 181 Bibliography 221 Index 245

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Book SynopsisJohn William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh (18421919), was an English physicist best known as the co-discoverer of the element argon. These highly influential volumes, first published between 1877 and 1878, contain Rayleigh's classic account of acoustics, which provided the foundations of modern acoustic theory.Table of ContentsPreface; 1. Sound due to vibrations; 2. Composition of harmonic motions of like period; 3. Systems with one degree of freedom; 4. Generalized co-ordinates; 5. Cases in which the three functions, T, F, V are simultaneously reducible to sums of squares; 6. Law of extension of a string; 7. Classification of the vibrations of bars; 8. Potential energy of bending; 9. Tension of a membrane; 10. Vibrations of plates.

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Book SynopsisGalileo (1564-1642) is one of the most important and controversial figures in the history of science. Tackling Galileo as astronomer, engineer and author, the author places him at the centre of Renaissance culture. He traces Galileo through his early rebellious years onwards.Trade Review"In a quiverful of publications, David Wootton has made it his mission to help us view the Renaissance thought-world in new ways, and this elegant biography does not disappoint. The Galileo he portrays is no saint, either Catholic or secular, but is the more fascinating for revealing the great scientist's selfishness, anxiety and political ineptitude, together with all the intellectual blind alleys taken in struggles towards his eventual goal. Wootton vividly contrasts the religious and political claustrophobia of seventeenth-century Italy with the abstract beauty of the mathematics and geometry which so delighted his subject. This is an absorbing study worthy of the life-story it tells.”—Diarmaid MacCulloch -- Diarmaid MacCulloch"Wootton’s Galileo is many things: private unbeliever, reluctant empiricist and impetuous thinker. This brilliant book traces Galileo’s difficult negotiations of academic jealousies, court politics and ecclesiastical scrutiny, allows us to imagine the excitement and danger of looking through a telescope in Venice, and gives fresh insights into the mind and the man as father and son. A remarkable achievement."—Justin Champion -- Justin Champion"Wootton's biography has much to recommend it. It is engagingly written and offers fresh insights into Galileo's intellectual development."—James Hannam, Standpoint Magazine * Standpoint Magazine *"Wootton. . . argues persuasively in this well researched, intellectual biography that Galileo was a Copernican long before his discovery of the moons of Jupiter proved that not all heavenly bodies revolved around the Earth."—Manjit Kumar, Sunday Telegraph * Telegraph *"Urgent. . . will garner. . . immediate interest and controversy."—Literary Review * Literary Review *"Wittily challenging... Wootton boldly presents his book as an intellectual biography which cannot be isolated from contemporary attitudes to tradition and innovation, and which cannot focus on Galileo's ideas without considering his personality and personal relations."—Claudio Vita-Finzi, Times Literary Supplement -- Claudio Vita-Finzi * Times Literary Supplement *"Wootton [is] a deeply erudite historian by trade and a passionate revisionist by temperament...Read Wooton to meet a Galileo who was always estranged froom vital aspects of his social and cultural world--and used that estrangement, as great intellectuals do, to fuel his intellectual progress."—Anthony Grafton, Bookforum -- Anthony Grafton * Bookforum *"Fascinating reading. . . . With this highly adventurous portrayal of Galileo's inner world, Wootton assures himself a high rank among the most radical recent Galileo interpreters. . . . Undoubtedly Wootton makes an important contribution to Galileo scholarship."—John F. Haught, America -- John F. Haught * America *"A deeply erudite historian by trade and a passionate revisionist by temperament. . . . Read Wootton to meet a Galileo who was always estranged from vital aspects of his social and cultural world-and used that estrangement, as a great intellectuals do, to fuel his intellectual progress."—Anthony Grafton, Bookforum -- Anthony Grafton * Bookforum *"I heartily recommend [this book]…. Wootton aims at an intellectual biography and the results are often magnificent, especially when it comes to explaining the science."—Jonathon Wright, Catholic Herald -- Jonathon Wright * Catholic Herald *"...vivid and compelling… [An] engaging subtle and arresting story."—Eileen Reeves, Times Higher Education -- Eileen Reeves * Times Higher Education *"Engaging and accessible."—James Wilsdon, Financial Times -- James Wilsdon * Financial Times *"Wootton writes a fascinating book…. As a whole, the book is absolutely first rate, and well worth reading and re-reading."—Revd Jeremy Craddock, Church Times -- Revd Jeremy Craddock * Church Times *“Wootton has written a thoughtful biography full of Renaissance detail in which he shows Galileo as a towering figure of genius, a man whose science was conditioned by his character, and who character enabled him to formulate a unique view of the Universe and man’s place in it…..This must be the definitive Galileo biography for the general reader.”—Barry Kent, The Observatory Magazine Vol.131 -- Barry Kent * The Observatory Magazine Vol.131 *“This book is not just a superb biography of Galileo but a good introduction to the centuries-old debate over religious and scientific views of truth.”—Contemporary Review * Contemporary Review *“Wootton’s insights are unnervingly convincing…”—Nick Wilding, London Review of Books -- Nick Wilding * London Review of Books *"[This book] demonstrates an awesome command of the vast Galileo literature. . . . Wootton excels in boldly speculating about Galileo's motives and the overall trajectory of his life. . . . [An] engaging account."—Owen Gingerich, The New York Times Book Review -- Owen Gingerich * The New York Times Book Review *"Wootton has written a lively book that is interesting to read, and one can concentrate on the fascinating details from the extensive research."—Noel M. Swerdlow, American Scientist -- Noel M. Swerdlow * American Scientist *"[This book] demonstrates an awesome command of the vast Galileo literature. . . . Wootton excels in boldly speculating about Galileo's motives and the overall trajectory of his life. . . . [An] engaging account."—Owen Gingerich, The New York Times Book Review -- John Derbyshire * The New Criterion *"[This book] demonstrates awesome command of the vast Galileo literature. . . . Wootton excels in speculating about Galileo's motives and in the overall trajectory of his life. . . . [An] engaging account."—The New York Times Book Review * The New York Times Book Review *" . . . a thought-provoking picture of him [Galileo]. . . . To read this account of how his ideas clashed witht he accepted ones is to appreciate that he is one of the world's great secular heroes."—Rob Hardy, The Commercial Dispatch -- Rob Hardy * The Commercial Dispatch *Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 in the Astronautics and Astronomy category -- Choice Outstanding Academic Title * Choice *“Wootton’s writing achieves its goals well and a thorough examination and understanding of the large number of Galileo’s papers that have survived has allowed the author to deliver an absorbing account. . .Containing exhaustive notes and an excellent bibliography, Watcher of the Skies is a highly readable account of the life and career of the controversial, impulsive, often rebellious and ever-ambitious astronomer, author and scientist.”—Brian Jones, BBC Sky at Night Magazine -- Brian Jones * BBC Sky at Night Magazine *

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Book SynopsisFor many centuries, Aristotle''s Physics was the essential starting point for anyone who wished to study the natural sciencesThis book begins with an analysis of change, which introduces us to Aristotle''s central concepts of matter and form, before moving on to an account of explanation in the sciences and a defence of teleological explanation. Aristotle then turns to detailed, important, and often ingenious discussions of notions such as infinity, place, void, time, and conintuity. He ends with an argument designed to show that the changes we experience in the world demand as their cause a single unchanging cause of all change, namely God.This is the first complete translation of Physics into English since 1930. It presents Aristotle''s thought accurately, while at the same time simplifying and expanding the often crabbed and elliptical style of the original, so that it is very much easier to read. A lucid introduction and extensive notes explain the general structure of each sectionTrade Reviewthe editions deserve great credit for the enthusiasm of their approach ... The introductions by eminent scholars put the thoughts of the author and the history of the time into clear perspective. Oxford should be given credit for making the classics accessible for all rather than just crib notes for students. * Jonathan Copeland, Lincolnshire Echo *

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Book SynopsisMichael Faraday is one of the best known scientific figures of all time. Known as the discoverer of electro-magnetic induction, the principle behind the electric generator and transformer, he has frequently been portrayed as the ''father'' of electrical engineering from whence much of his popular fame derives. This Very Short Introduction dispels the myth that Faraday was an experimental genius working alone in his basement laboratory, making fundamental discoveries that were later applied by others. Instead, it portrays Faraday as a grand theorist of the physical world profoundly influencing later physicists such as Thomson (Kelvin), Maxwell, and Einstein. Frank A.J.L. James explores Faraday''s life from his origins in eighteenth-century Westmorland and Yorkshire, his religious and scientific background, to the growth of his fame in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As well as introducing his scientific research, he also puts Faraday in the various institutional contexts in whicTable of Contents1. Beginnings ; 2. A career in science ; 3. Science and practice ; 4. Electricity ; 5. Magnetism, matter, and space ; 6. Faraday as a celebrity ; 7. Faraday in the 20th Century ; References ; Further Reading

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Book SynopsisCognitive science joins with Asian contemplative traditions and philosophy to bring revolutionary meaning to the human experience.Trade ReviewIn a game-changing book that is both an intellectual tour de force and the courageous statement of a life's ideal, Thompson brilliantly demonstrates how Indian philosophical thought can join forces with the neurosciences to create a new science of the conscious mind. A must-read for anyone who believes that the future of philosophy is crosscultural. -- Jonardon Ganeri, University of Sussex and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Evan Thompson, a philosopher with a deep knowledge of Indo-Tibetan contemplative traditions and modern neuroscience, has written a brilliant and comprehensive book on the nature of awareness and the self. Waking, Dreaming, Being is a dazzling synthesis. Thompson takes on some of the most fundamental questions about the nature of mind and addresses them with remarkable creativity and clarity. This volume is a must read for any serious student of the mind and consciousness. -- Richard J. Davidson, New York Times-bestselling coauthor of The Emotional Life of Your Brain Drawing on multiple sources of knowledge, all tested by first-person experience and critical analysis, Thompson presents an illuminating neurophenomenological account of what it's like to be a conscious human being. -- Stephen LaBerge, author of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming Waking, Dreaming, Being powerfully demonstrates how bringing cognitive science, philosophy, and Buddhism into a critical engagement can open innovative ways of exploring the 'hard problem' of consciousness. The blending of philosophical rigor and scientific knowledge with meditative insights, with the author's own remarkable life as the larger background, makes the book a real joy to read. This book will be an invaluable help to anyone who is interested in knowing how the fundamental questions of self, consciousness, and human existence can be explored in a way that combines the best of both East and West. -- Thupten Jinpa, author of Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy With extensive training in Buddhism, brain science, and phenomenology, Evan Thompson is uniquely positioned to reveal how different perspectives on the mind can be mutually illuminating. He begins with the Buddhist insight that there are many forms of consciousness--far more than traditionally recognized in the West--and he shows that these can be associated with deferent brain processes. The result is a richly original and integrated account of human mental life. Whether you are a curious newcomer or a seasoned expert, you have much to learn from this stunning synthesis of ancient wisdom and cutting-edge science. -- Jesse Prinz, author of The Conscious Brain and Beyond Human Nature [an] excellent book. New York Times Book Review Extraordinary and exciting claims... beautiful ideas. Cosmos and Culture Contemplative and groundbreaking, Waking, Dreaming, Being is a welcome addition to college library philosophy shelves. Midwest Book Review Waking, Dreaming, Being is an exceptional and intriguing contribution to the exploration of consciousness as a multidimensional self and makes a convincing argument for the usefulness of philosophical, experiential, and scientific approaches to understanding consciousness. -- Marissa Krimsky Buddhadharma A rich, thought-provoking and poetic tour of a wide variety of phenomena of consciousness... Constructivist Foundations A magnificent tome. Big Think This is a ground-breaking exploration of conciousness and the self as they occur across the states of waking, falling asleep, dreaming, lucid dreaming, deep dreamless sleep, out-of-body experiences and dying. Evan Thompson's rich, beautifully written book interweaves lucid prose with relevant personal anecdotes, bringing the latest neuroscience together with ancient contemplative wisdom to offer valuable insightr into the nature of conciousness and the self. -- Miri Albahari Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews This remarkable book addresses deep philosophical questions from a unique perspective. Choice Waking Dreaming Being will soon be considered a landmark and a tipping point in consciousness investigations.Journal of Mind and Behavior Journal of Mind and Behavior A lucid and comprehensive account of the self as a subject of experience and agent of action. -- George T. Hole Philosophical Practice A fine book by an extraordinary author. Journal of Consciousness StudiesTable of ContentsForeword by Stephen Batchelor Prologue: The Dalai Lama's Conjecture Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Seeing: What Is Consciousness? 2. Waking: How Do We Perceive? 3. Being: What Is Pure Awareness? 4. Dreaming: Who Am I? 5. Witnessing: Is This a Dream? 6. Imagining: Are We Real? 7. Floating: Where Am I? 8. Sleeping: Are We Conscious in Deep Sleep? 9. Dying: What Happens When We Die? 10. Knowing: Is the Self an Illusion? Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTwo hundred million years ago the earth consisted of a single vast continent, Pangea, surrounded by a great planetary sea. Continental drift tore apart Pangaea, and for millennia the hemispheres were separate, evolving almost entirely different suites of plants and animals. Columbus's arrival in the Americas brought together these long-separate worlds. Many historians believe that this collision of ecosystems and cultures - the Columbian Exchange - was the most consequential event in human history since the Neolithic Revolution. And it was the most consequential event in biological history since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Beginning with the world of microbes and moving up the species ladder to mankind, Mann rivetingly describes the profound effect this exchanging of species had on the culture of both continents.

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Book SynopsisThe age of the baroque - a time of great strides in science and mathematics - also saw the construction of some of the world's most magnificent buildings. Hersey explores the interrelations of the two developments and how they cross-fertilised.Trade Review"In Architecture and Geometry in the Age of the Baroque, George L. Hersey examines the era's scientific, musical and architectural lore of number, shape and proportion.... A beguiling book." - Kerry Downes, Times Literary Supplement "Learned and lucidly written.... Hersey demonstrates how, through geometry, architecture translated abstract ideas into visual, haptic forms. In chapters on music, optics, the cube, symmetry, circles and ovals, spirals and epicycles, Hersey explicitly shows the cross-fertilisation of science and art that scholars have hitherto assumed but never demonstrated." - Art Newspaper

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Book SynopsisFocusing on the period from 1970s onwards, this is a study of the relationship between politics, economics, science, and cultural values in the United States. It demonstrates that the history of biotechnology cannot be understood without taking into account the simultaneous rise of neo-liberalism as a political force and an economic policy.Trade Review"Melinda Cooper's forceful Life as Surplus is a political economy of the exploitation of life in the biotech era that exposes the modes of re/production attuned to late twentieth-century neoliberal capitalism..Cooper's brilliant and inventive mapping of prevailing contemporary biopolitical imaginaries is precious." * Biosocieties *"A fascinating study of speculative impulses that serve as the foundation of increasingly commercialized life sciences." * Book News *"Life as Surplus is interesting, and examines some of the fundamentals of science practice. . .Well written, a nd well documented. Useful for professionals and for academic coursework on science and society. Recommended." * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Life Beyond the Limits: Inventing the Bioeconomy 2. On Pharmaceutical Empire: AIDS, Security, and Exorcism 3. Preempting Emergence: The Biological Turn in the War on Terror Intermezzo 4. Contortions: Tissue Engineering and the Topological Body 5. Labors of Regeneration: Stem Cells and the Embryoid Bodies of Capital 6. The Unborn Born Again: Neo-Imperialism, the Evangelical Right, and the Culture of Life Epilogue Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAccessible treatment offers highly detailed accounts concerning development of ideas and theories about the nature of electricity and space (aether), focusing on period from Descartes to Lorentz, Einstein, and Minkowski.

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Book SynopsisA gently guided, profusely illustrated Grand Tour of the world of mathematics.

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Book SynopsisAmong the many constants that appear in mathematics, ?, e, and i are the most familiar. Following closely behind is ?,, or gamma, a constant that arises in many mathematical areas yet maintains a profound sense of mystery. In a tantalizing blend of history and mathematics, Julian Havil takes the reader on a journey through logarithms and the harmonTrade Review"[A] wonderful book... Havil's emphasis on historical context and his conversational style make this a pleasure to read... Gamma is a gold mine of irresistible mathematical nuggets. Anyone with a serious interest in maths will find it richly rewarding."--Ben Longstaff, New Scientist "This book is a joy from start to finish."--Gerry Leversha, Mathematical Gazette "Wonderful... Havil's emphasis on historical context and his conversational style make this a pleasure to read...Gammais a gold mine of irresistible mathematical nuggets. Anyone with a serious interest in math will find it richly rewarding."--New Scientist"A joy from start to finish."--Mathematical Gazette"[Gamma] is not a book about mathematics, but a book of mathematics... [It] is something like a picaresque novel; the hero, Euler's constantg, serves as the unifying motif through a wide range of mathematical adventures."--Notices of the American Mathematical Society "[Gamma] is enjoyable for many reasons. Here are just two. First, the explanations are not only complete, but they have the right amount of generality... Second, the pleasure Havil has in contemplating this material is infectious."--MAA Online "It is only fitting that someone should write a book about gamma, or Euler's constant. Havil takes on this task and does an excellent job."--Choice "Mathematics is presented throughout as something connected to reality... Many readers will find in [Gamma] exactly what they have been missing."--Mohammad Akbar, Plus Magazine, Millennium Mathematics Project, University of Cambridge "This book is written in an informal, engaging, and often amusing style. The author takes pains to make the mathematics clear. He writes about the mathematical geniuses of the past with reverence and awe. It is especially nice that the mathematical topics are discussed within a historical context."--Ward R. Stewart, Mathematics TeacherTable of ContentsForeword xv Acknowledgements xvii Introduction xix Chapter One The Logarithmic Cradle 1 1.1 A Mathematical Nightmare- and an Awakening 1 1.2 The Baron's Wonderful Canon 4 1.3 A Touch of Kepler 11 1.4 A Touch of Euler 13 1.5 Napier's Other Ideas 16 Chapter Two The Harmonic Series 21 2.1 The Principle 21 2.2 Generating Function for Hn 21 2.3 Three Surprising Results 22 Chapter Three Sub-Harmonic Series 27 3.1 A Gentle Start 27 3.2 Harmonic Series of Primes 28 3.3 The Kempner Series 31 3.4 Madelung's Constants 33 Chapter Four Zeta Functions 37 4.1 Where n Is a Positive Integer 37 4.2 Where x Is a Real Number 42 4.3 Two Results to End With 44 Chapter Five Gamma's Birthplace 47 5.1 Advent 47 5.2 Birth 49 Chapter Six The Gamma Function 53 6.1 Exotic Definitions 53 6.2 Yet Reasonable Definitions 56 6.3 Gamma Meets Gamma 57 6.4 Complement and Beauty 58 Chapter Seven Euler's Wonderful Identity 61 7.1 The All-Important Formula 61 7.2 And a Hint of Its Usefulness 62 Chapter Eight A Promise Fulfilled 65 Chapter Nine What Is Gamma Exactly? 69 9.1 Gamma Exists 69 9.2 Gamma Is What Number? 73 9.3 A Surprisingly Good Improvement 75 9.4 The Germ of a Great Idea 78 Chapter Ten Gamma as a Decimal 81 10.1 Bernoulli Numbers 81 10.2 Euler -Maclaurin Summation 85 10.3 Two Examples 86 10.4 The Implications for Gamma 88 Chapter Eleven Gamma as a Fraction 91 11.1 A Mystery 91 11.2 A Challenge 91 11.3 An Answer 93 11.4 Three Results 95 11.5 Irrationals 95 11.6 Pell's Equation Solved 97 11.7 Filling the Gaps 98 11.8 The Harmonic Alternative 98 Chapter Twelve Where Is Gamma? 101 12.1 The Alternating Harmonic Series Revisited 101 12.2 In Analysis 105 12.3 In Number Theory 112 12.4 In Conjecture 116 12.5 In Generalization 116 Chapter Thirteen It's a Harmonic World 119 13.1 Ways of Means 119 13.2 Geometric Harmony 121 13.3 Musical Harmony 123 13.4 Setting Records 125 13.5 Testing to Destruction 126 13.6 Crossing the Desert 127 13.7 Shuffiing Cards 127 13.8 Quicksort 128 13.9 Collecting a Complete Set 130 13.10 A Putnam Prize Question 131 13.11 Maximum Possible Overhang 132 13.12 Worm on a Band 133 13.13 Optimal Choice 134 Chapter Fourteen It's a Logarithmic World 139 14.1 A Measure of Uncertainty 139 14.2 Benford's Law 145 14.3 Continued-Fraction Behaviour 155 Chapter Fifteen Problems with Primes 163 15.1 Some Hard Questions about Primes 163 15.2 A Modest Start 164 15.3 A Sort of Answer 167 15.4 Picture the Problem 169 15.5 The Sieve of Eratosthenes 171 15.6 Heuristics 172 15.7 A Letter 174 15.8 The Harmonic Approximation 179 15.9 Different-and Yet the Same 180 15.10 There are Really Two Questions, Not Three 182 15.11 Enter Chebychev with Some Good Ideas 183 15.12 Enter Riemann, Followed by Proof(s)186 Chapter Sixteen The Riemann Initiative 189 16.1 Counting Primes the Riemann Way 189 16.2 A New Mathematical Tool 191 16.3 Analytic Continuation 191 16.4 Riemann's Extension of the Zeta Function 193 16.5 Zeta's Functional Equation 193 16.6 The Zeros of Zeta 193 16.7 The Evaluation of (x) and p(x)196 16.8 Misleading Evidence 197 16.9 The Von Mangoldt Explicit Formula-and How It Is Used to Prove the Prime Number Theorem 200 16.10 The Riemann Hypothesis 202 16.11 Why Is the Riemann Hypothesis Important? 204 16.12 Real Alternatives 206 16.13 A Back Route to Immortality-Partly Closed 207 16.14 Incentives, Old and New 210 16.15 Progress 213 Appendix A The Greek Alphabet 217 Appendix B Big Oh Notation 219 Appendix C Taylor Expansions 221 C.1 Degree 1 221 C.2 Degree 2 221 C.3 Examples 223 C.4 Convergence 223 Appendix D Complex Function Theory 225 D.1 Complex Differentiation 225 D.2 Weierstrass Function 230 D.3 Complex Logarithms 231 D.4 Complex Integration 232 D.5 A Useful Inequality 235 D.6 The Indefinite Integral 235 D.7 The Seminal Result 237 D.8 An Astonishing Consequence 238 D.9 Taylor Expansions-and an Important Consequence 239 D.10 Laurent Expansions-and Another Important Consequence 242 D.11 The Calculus of Residues 245 D.12 Analytic Continuation 247 Appendix E Application to the Zeta Function 249 E.1 Zeta Analytically Continued 249 E.2 Zeta's Functional Relationship 253 References 255 Name Index 259 Subject Index 263

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Book SynopsisWhen Nicolaus Copernicus claimed that the Earth was not stationary at the centre of the universe but circled the Sun, he brought about a total revolution in the sciences and consternation in the Church.Copernicus' theory demanded a new physics to explain motion and force, a new theory of space, and a completely new conception of the nature of our universe. He also showed for the first time that a common-sense view of things isn't necessarily correct, and that mathematics can and does reveal the true nature of the material world. As John Henry reveals, from his idea of a swiftly moving Earth Copernicus sowed the seed from which science has grown to be a dominant aspect of modern culture, fundamental in shaping our understanding of the workings of the cosmos.Trade Review'Contains a wealth of detail . an ideal introduction to Copernicus' * Morning Star *

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Book SynopsisEvery rock is a tangible trace of the earth’s past. This book tells the fascinating stories behind the discoveries that shook the foundations of geology. In twenty-five chapters—each about a particular rock, outcrop, or geologic phenomenon—Donald R. Prothero recounts the scientific detective work that shaped our understanding of geology.Trade ReviewA natural follow-up to the author’s The Story of Life in 25 Fossils . . . [A] useful introduction to geology. * Kirkus Reviews *In 25 short and enjoyable chapters, [Prothero] explores issues that have been at the center of geology since long before geology was a science... Prothero provides thought-provoking historical context for each subject and presents information about the individuals responsible for advancing geological knowledge—including James Hutton, Charles Lyell, and Alfred Wegener—while explaining the underlying science in an accessible manner. * Publishers Weekly *Geologist Donald Prothero has crafted a rock-solid premise for this delightful book. -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *I learned something and gained a deeper appreciation for the history of Earth science from reading The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks. I recommend it to anyone interested in tales of scientific discovery and natural marvels. * Physics Today *Skillfully presents a vast array of facts that should appeal to readers newly acquainted with Earth science who are interested in learning a bit more. * Choice *The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks provides twenty-five well-lit doorways into the sometimes dark and imposing edifice of the geologic past. Colorful characters welcome the reader in, revealing the very human nature of scientific inquiry and our long and complicated relationship with rocks. -- Marcia Bjornerud, author of Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of EarthTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments 1. Volcanic Tuff: Vulcan’s Wrath: The Eruption of Vesuvius2. Native Copper: The Iceman and the Island of Copper3. Cassiterite: The “Isles of Tin” and the Bronze Age4. Angular Unconformity: “No Vestige of a Beginning”: The Immensity of Geologic Time5. Igneous Dikes: The “Earth’s Great Heat Engine”: The Origin of Magmas6. Coal: The Rock That Burns Fires the Industrial Revolution7. Jurassic World: The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Rocks of Britain8. Radioactive Uranium: Clocks in Rocks: Arthur Holmes and the Age of the Earth9. Chondritic Meteorites: Messengers From Space: The Origin of the Solar System10. Iron-Nickel Meteorites: The Cores of Other Planets 11. Moon Rocks: Green Cheese or Anorthosite: The Origin of the Moon12. Zircons: Early Oceans and Life? Evidence in a Grain of Sand13. Stromatolites: Microbial Condos: Cyanobacteria and the Oldest Life14. Banded Iron Formation: Mountains of Iron: The Earth’s Early Atmosphere15. Turbidites: Archean Sediments and Submarine Landslides16. Diamictites: Tropical Glaciers and the Snowball Earth17. Exotic Terranes: Paradox in Rocks: Wandering Fossils and Traveling Landmasses18. Jigsaw-Puzzle Bedrock: Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift19. Chalk: The Cretaceous Seaway and Greenhouse Planet20. The Iridium Layer: The Death of the Dinosaurs21. Lodestones: How Paleomagic Launched Plate Tectonics22. Blueschists: The Puzzle of Subduction Zones23. Transform Faults: Earthquake! The San Andreas Fault24. Messinian Evaporites: The Mediterranean Was a Desert25. Glacial Erraticts: A Poet, a Professor, a Politician, a Janitor, and the Discovery of the Ice AgesIndex

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Book SynopsisJames Clerk Maxwell published the Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in 1873. At his death, six years later, his theory of the electromagnetic field was neither well understood nor widely accepted. By the mid-1890s, however, it was regarded as one...Trade ReviewGeorge Francis Fitzgerald's indirect influence was immense, and his reputation grows with every retelling of his period by the historians of science, especially in... The Maxwellians, by Bruce Hunt.... He was the acknowledged leader of an international team—what we would today call an invisible college—calling themselves the Maxwellians—the subject of Hunt's splendid book. -- D. Weaire, Trinity College, Dublin * Europhysics News *The entire story is fascinating and often surprising. It deserves a wide audience. This will be facilitated by the fact that the book is in English, not in mathematics; a few equations appear, but most are in plain prose. * American Scientist *The Maxwellians is a remarkable achievement.... Hunt combines the highest level of professional historical scholarship with a narrative that is lively and compelling throughout. * Nature *This excellent book is the story of three men whose lives were shaped and whose friendship was made through the study of one book, James Clerk Maxwell's Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Behind this story is another of how the premature death of one man, Maxwell, caused an intellectual dislocation in science propagating over many years. * Science *Told with historical sensitivity and analytical skill, Hunt's story demolishes many of the long-accepted myths about the history of electromagnetism after Maxwell.... Hunt provides a readable account, written in terms accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of physics. * Times Higher Education Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThis challenge to the prevailing wisdom behind drug regulation and addiction therapy provides a historical corrective to our perception of LSD's medical efficacy.Trade ReviewDigs deeply into an area of drug history that has for the most part been ignored. Literary Review of Canada 2009 The story is very well written and researched... The book is a good read and has the bonus of imparting historical understanding of psychiatry during its most exciting and innovative era. British Journal of Psychiatry 2009 A smoothly written account. -- Edward Shorter American Historical Review 2009 Psychedelic Psychiatry is a highly nuanced work of scholarship that sheds new light on LSD research in Saskatchewan. -- Kam Teo Saskatchewan History 2009 As Dyck shows well, LSD gives historians a lot to think about. -- John C. Burnham Isis 2009 Crisply written, well-researched and cogently argued. -- Alex Mold Social History of Medicine 2009 Psychedelic Psychiatry represents the first archive-based, sober history of LSD's early years as a promising pharmaceutical and its subsequent decline. -- Nicolas Rasmussen Journal of American History 2009 Psychedelic Psychiatry is intensely interesting; an important and influential period of transition in psychiatry that has direct and important implications for current psychiatry... I highly recommend it to others. -- Mathew Martin-Iverson Health and History 2009Table of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Psychedelic Pioneers2. Simulating Psychoses3. Highs and Lows4. Keeping Tabs on Science and Spirituality5. Acid Panic6. "The Perfect Contraband"ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisWhat would life be like without cars, television, the Internet and computers, or the omnipresent smartphone? Setting aside the question of whether things would be better or worse, what we do know for sure is that today there are some inventions that we just can't do without. And yet some of them are very recent, in their infancy we might say, while others are a little over a century old, which in any case is but a blip if compared to the history of humanity. They all have changed the existence of a considerable number of people, their advent has been such a breakthrough that it has always marked a "before" and "after". The result of the brilliant intuition of exceptional men and women, of the perseverance and tenacity of great entrepreneurs or ingenious ideas of common people, these inventions have influenced and changed medicine, society, economics, culture, and history itself. This book full of curiosities and explanations will guide readers to the discovery of the most important inventions that have influenced the contemporary world, from the end of the 19th century to our own time, revealing the secrets and events that led to their creation and introducing the exceptional figures who conceived them.

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Book SynopsisIn recent years, a catastrophic global bleaching event devastated many of the world's precious coral reefs. Working on the front lines of ruin, today's coral scientists are struggling to save these important coral reef ecosystems from the imminent threats of rapidly warming, acidifying, and polluted oceans.Coral Whispererscaptures a critical moment in the history of coral reef science. Gleaning insights from over one hundred interviews with leading scientists and conservation managers, Irus Braverman documents a community caught in an existential crisis and alternating between despair and hope. In this important new book, corals emerge not only as signs and measures of environmental catastrophe, but also as catalysts for action. Trade Review"Coral Whisperers is exceptional in its scientific detail but also in relating the personal stories of the scientists, or “whisperers,” who follow the lives of corals and invest their own lives in striving to preserve them. Just as important, the book is a stern warning that the earth’s oceans are in grave danger." * Foreword Reviews *"Analyzing the dual narrative of hope and despair that defines many environmental concerns and discussing the challenges of the various approaches to protecting coral reefs worldwide, Braverman, an experienced diver and an expert on land-use law, brings thoughtfulness and urgency to this well-organized work." * Library Journal *""[Reading Braverman's book] we benefit immensely by hearing the voices of coral reef whisperers as they speak openly of their uncertainties, fears and hopes. Whatever their differences, as Irus Braverman attests, all these scientists share a deep and infectious love of corals. The author deserves to be congratulated for her learning, lucidity, passion and candour. I emerged from this book feeling a new, if measured, charge of hope for the future survival of coral reefs in some form." * Times Literary Supplement *“...a volume that is readable both to the non-scientist and to professional biologists interested in the question of the future of coral reefs and corals.” * Bulletin of the Pacific Circle *"Braverman uses the quotes from her witnesses well and the reader gains an often inspiring insight into the thought processes of scientists who are deeply concerned about one of the key ecosystems on the planet." * The Biologist *“Braverman’s highly readable, deeply informative and insightful account also serves as a trope for how science adapts to a situation in which reflection must quickly give way to dynamic, focused and effective action.” * New Scientist *"Through an impressive number of in-depth interviews with experts, Braverman is able to track important changes in coral science over the past decades, especially after massive bleaching events that served as catalysts for the implementation of numerous research and monitoring activities over the globe. . . . Coral Whisperers is an important read, a brave and extraordinary exploration of underwater life to understand the Anthropocene." * Environmental History *"...Braverman tackles a large-scale problem: global climate change and its impacts on coral reefs––including ocean warming and coral bleaching. Her work is not only about understanding what is happening to corals, but it is also about the effects of these environmental changes on coral scientists themselves. . . . The book contains a lot of information about coral ecology and biology as well as conservation policy and law. In doing so, it also offers a practical introduction to these topics, making it an excellent book for a course in environmental studies as well as appealing to those in STS." * Science, Technology, & Human Values *"An instructive window into how others perceive the coral reef science community, and has value to both students and established researchers." * Quarterly Review of Biology *"Written in an accessible style that will appeal to both the avid scholar of science and technology and the merely coral curious, Braverman’s book is a great achievement of science studies, evocative of work by Paul Rabinow, Stefan Helmreich, Donna Haraway, and Anna Tsing. The book clearly sets up the problem of coral decline and recovery as an emblematic issue for the Anthropocene, guiding readers through what Braverman sees as the key points in the coral crisis: scientific oscillations between hope and despair, the unprecedented and increasing extent of coral decline, the growing phenomenon of coral restoration, the inadequacies of law and policy concerning corals, and the cutting edge of assisted evolution and coral bioscience." * American Ethnologist *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Coral Whisperers Corals in the Anthropocene—An Interview with Peter Sale 1. Coral Scientists between Hope and Despair Prophet of Doom—An Interview with Ove Hoegh-Guldberg 2. “And Then We Wept”: Coral Death on Record The Pristine Is Gone—An Interview with Jeremy Jackson 3. Fragments of Hope: Nursing Corals Back to Life Building Bridges and Trees—An Interview with Ken Nedimyer 4. Coral Law under Threat The Cinderella of Corals—An Interview with J Murray Roberts 5. The Coral Holobiont: Hope and the Genomic Turn A Super Coral Scientist—An Interview with Ruth Gates Conclusion: Coral Scientists on the Brink Notes List of Interviews Index

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Book SynopsisHow the picturing of insects inspired new ideas about art, science, nature, and commerce Table of ContentsContentsIntroduction: Specimen LogicI. Insects as Objects and Insects as Subjects: Establishing Conventions for Illustrating Insects1. Joris Hoefnagel’s Imaginary Insects: Inventing an Artistic Identity2. Cutting and Pasting Nature into Print: Ulisse Aldrovandi’s and Thomas Moffet’s Images of Insects 3. Suitable for Framing: Insects in Early Still Life PaintingsII. New Worlds and New Selves4. Between Observation and Image: Representations of Insects in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia5. Stitches, Specimens, and Pictures: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Processing of the Natural WorldConclusion: Discipline and SpecimenizeAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisArranged in chronological order from the early Greek mathematicians, Euclid and Archimedes through to present-day Nobel Prize winners, 100 Science Discoveries That Changed the World charts the great breakthroughs in scientific understanding. Each entry describes the story of the research, the significance of the science and its impact on the scientific world. There is also a resume of each scientist’s career along with their other achievements, sometimes – in the case of Isaac Newton – in a completely unrelated field (laws of motion and the component parts of light). The book covers all branches of science: geometry, number theory, cosmology, the laws of motion, particle physics, electricity, magnetism, the laws of gasses, optical theory, cell biology, conservation of energy, natural selection, radiation, quantum theory, special relativity, superconductivity, thermodynamics, genomes, plate tectonics, and the uncertainty principal. Scientists include: Albert Einstein, Alessandro Volta, Alexander Fleming, Amedeo Avogrado, Andre Geim, Antoine Lavoisier, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Archimedes, Benoit Mandelbrot, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Charles Darwin, Christian Doppler, Copernicus, Crick and Watson, Dmitri Mendeleev, Edwin Hubble, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Rutherford, Erwin Schrodinger, Euclid, Fermat, Frederick Sanger, Galileo Galilei, Georg Ohm, Georges Lemaitre, Heike Kamerlingh, Isaac Newton, Jacques Charles, James Clerk Maxwell, James Prescott Joule, Jean Buridan, Johanes Kepler, John Ambrose Fleming, John Dalton, John O’Keefe, Joseph Black, Josiah Gibbs, Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Martinus Beijerinck, Michael Faraday, Murray Gell-Mann & George Zweig, Neils Bohr, Nicholas Steno, Peter Higgs, Pierre Curie, Ptolemy, Robert Boyle, Robert Brown, Robert Hooke, Roger Bacon, Rudolf Clausius, Seleucus, Shen Kuo, Stanley Miller, Tyco Brahe, Werner Heisenberg, William Gilbert, William Harvey, William Herschel, William Rontgen, Wolfgang Pauli.Trade ReviewPraise for Colin Salter’s 100 Posters that Changed the World: 'Showcase[s] an extensive collection of the images and slogans that have shaped society as we know it.’ – Country Life 'This journey through images that can inspire, shock or just leave the viewer laughing is never less than fascinating… A beautifully produced volume that will find a very broad readership.' – All About History 'This engaging book is a vivid tapestry of poster styles with diverse commercial, cultural and political applications supplemented by informative single-page essays that stimulate curiosity page after page.’ – Morning Star

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Book SynopsisTraces the story of how ancient cultures envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices and human enhancements, sharing insights into how the mythologies of the past related to and shaped ancient machine innovations.Trade Review"One of BookAuthority’s Three Best New Robotics Audiobooks To Read in 2019""Absorbing. . . . [Mayor is] an accessible and engaging writer."---Peter Thonemann, Wall Street Journal"In her new book, Gods and Robots, Adrienne Mayor draws comparisons between mythical androids and ancient robots and the AI of today. . . . Through detailed storytelling and careful analysis of popular myths, Mayor urges readers to consider lessons learned from these stories as we set about creating a new world with AI. . . . Wonderful storytelling, thorough research, and impressive expertise."---Sarah Olson, Science"A fascinating unpacking of ancient myths that feature robots and other lifelike beings, some of which bear an eerie resemblance to modern technology. . . . In her insightful analyses of these tales, Mayor is approachable and engaging, and she infuses many familiar stories with new energy in the context of technology. She adroitly explores the ethical aspects of artificial life, addressing big questions about sentience and agency through the lens of ancient ideas. She also makes a convincing argument that these imagined machines anticipated advances that are considered cutting-edge today. Ultimately, she leaves readers in awe of these thinkers who dreamed of ‘androids’ long before it was conceivable to build them. A collection of wondrous tales that present ancient myths as the proto-science fiction stories they are." * Kirkus *"The Greeks thought of everything, including sci-fi tropes such as androids and artificial intelligence, according to this lively study of mythology and technology. . . . Mayor’s exploration of the endless inventiveness of the Greek imagination makes for an engrossing read." * Publishers Weekly *"It is a place where megalomaniac leaders with an insatiable appetite for knowledge develop artificial intelligence and robots that pose grave dangers to humanity. Silicon Valley? No, Greek mythology."---Mark Bridge, The Times"Dr. Mayor urges top tech bosses to closely analyse the stories of the Greeks as we close in on a future dominated by automated technologies."---Harry Pettit, Daily Mail"This is an excellent source book for confronting political and technological hubris then and now, the earliest arguable traces of modern fears."---Peter Stothard, The Spectator"The Greeks [Mayor argues] envisioned . . . advanced technological artifacts driven by internal machinery [and] establishes the engineered nature of androids like Talos and Pandora. [Her] close analysis finds echoes of real historical techniques [and] nicely refutes those critics who might claim that artificial life achieved through engineering was an idea beyond the conceptual horizon of the ancients."---William A. Wilson, Weekly Standard"[An] astonishing chronicle."---Barbara Kiser, Nature"Adrienne Mayor entertainingly re-examines the various versions of these myths that survive in written and visual form and speculates about their origins." * The Economist *"In Gods and Robots, Adrienne Mayor describes how, more than 2,500 years before the modern computer, people told tales of autonomous machines that could labor, entertain, kill and seduce. . . . 'The age-old stories,' she writes, 'raise questions of free will, slavery, the origins of evil, man’s limits, and what it means to be human.'"---Matthew Hutson, Washington Post"In a breezy and thought-provoking account, Mayor describes how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian and Chinese myths expressed hopes and fears about human-made life long before conversational robots and computer chess champions flexed their algorithms."---Bruce Bower, Science News"[A] brilliant book." * Enlightened Economist *"In her remarkable book Gods and Robots: Machines, Myths, and Ancient Dreams of Technology, Stanford Professor Adrienne Mayor gives a literate and creative history of the notion of delegating power and giving orders to man-made entities."---Michael Munger, American Institute of Economic Research"Beautifully written."---Candida Moss, Daily Beast"[A] masterful retelling of ancient tales."---Clara Bosak-Schroeder, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"There is much to intrigue the general reader, with enough to challenge the more academic reader."---Cath Milnes, Classics for All Reviews"Mayor’s account works so well . . . because she assembles . . . fragments of images to generate a rich visual tapestry . . . The greatest strength of Gods and Robots is that it gives us a framework and a set of familiar stories with which we can negotiate our own times."---Michael John Goodman, British Society for Literature and Science"Gods and Robots turned out to be a fascinating book on an unusual subject." * The Inquisitive Biologist *"Adrienne Mayor writes jargon-free prose laced with wit."---Barry Baldwin, Fortean Times"The questions [Mayor] raises are significant and timely."---Ivana Petrovic, Greece and Rome"This is a wonderful ‘eureka’ book for anyone in search of the deep origin story of robotics and AI . . . and a possible epiphany for Marvel fans and science-fiction and fantasy readers looking for more back story on their favorite superheroes."---Emily E. Auger, Mythlore Journal"Gods and Robots is an excellent discussion of ancient ideas of technology and the potential such technology had to transform the ancient world and to inform the contemporary one. . . .[this book provides] a key introduction to the field of classical reception."---Alan Chadwick, Journal of Classics Teaching"Gods and Robots is an absorbing study of ancient mythological and historical automata that explores their origins and significance in the ancient and modern worlds. It will intrigue anyone interested in mythology, ancient and modern robotics, and the genesis of artificial intelligence."---Georgina J. Henderson, Technology and Culture

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Book Synopsis''A majestic story'' David Bodanis, Financial Times From the international bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible and Physics of the FutureThis is the story of a quest: to find a Theory of Everything. Einstein dedicated his life to seeking this elusive Holy Grail, a single, revolutionary ''god equation'' which would tie all the forces in the universe together, yet never found it. Some of the greatest minds in physics took up the search, from Stephen Hawking to Brian Greene. None have yet succeeded. In The God Equation, renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku takes the reader on a mind-bending ride through the twists and turns of this epic journey: a mystery that has fascinated him for most of his life. He guides us through the key debates in modern physics, from Newton''s law of gravity via relativity and quantum mechanics to the latest developments in string theory. It is a tale of dazzling breakthroughs and crushing dead ends, illuminated by Kaku''s clarity, storytelling flair and infectious enthusiasm. The object of the quest is now within sight: we are closer than ever to achieving the most ambitious undertaking in the history of science. If successful, the Theory of Everything could simultaneously unlock the deepest mysteries of space and time, and fulfil that most ancient and basic of human desires - to understand the meaning of our lives.Trade ReviewKaku elucidates esoteric mathematics with graspable, real-life illustrations, and explains how breakthroughs in theoretical physics have had a tangible impact on human experience ... The result is both mind-bending and surprisingly readable. -- Pippa Bailey * New Statesman *[Kaku] attempts to bring the dizzying concepts of multidimensional realms within reach of the general reader ... It's a majestic story, and Kaku tells it well. -- David Bodanis * Financial Times *A clear and accessible examination of the quest to combine Einstein's general relativity with quantum theory to create an all-encompassing "theory of everything" about the nature of the universe. -- Andrew Anthony * The Observer *

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Book SynopsisModern political culture features a deep-seated faith in the power of numbers. But quantitative evidence has not always been revered, as William Deringer shows. After the 1688 Revolution, as Britons learned to fight by the numbers, their enthusiasm for figures arose not from efforts to find objective truths but from the turmoil of politics itself.Trade Review[Statistics] are center stage again now for reasons of both political conflict and epistemological uncertainty. Once again, some politicians wield numbers without any great concern about their accuracy or meaningfulness; the victory in debate is all that matters. Once again, given the profound changes in the structure of the economy, we can’t be sure what categories and methods will give us the understanding we would like. This is a terrific book for reflecting on contested and uncertain statistical terrain. -- Diane Coyle * Enlightened Economist *[Deringer] focuses on the early 18th century, with its increasingly vitriolic debates over government expenditure, taxation, and debt as well as the trade balance… Deringer tells these vivid stories with a richness of research that brings to life not only the events surrounding them but also the many famous characters involved. We can learn from the 18th century debate, he says, by promoting new and diverse computational approaches to stimulate public debate and offset what he fears is growing anti-quantitative sentiment. -- Robert Heath * Finance & Development *A thoroughly impressive work…[Deringer] recontextualizes the skepticism about numbers and suspicion of ‘experts’ in our time as something that has existed from the beginning rather than a recent disillusionment… A book this insightful about the past and with such a trenchant analysis of the present is a rare pleasure indeed. -- Chris Dudley * Journal of British Studies *Tells the coming-of-age story of (early) modern public fascination with numbers…A great book that should be on the shelves of everyone who takes history of economic thought seriously. -- Gábor Bíró * History of European Ideas *Highly original in its research, highly intelligent in its analysis, and highly sophisticated in its argumentation, there is much to impress in this book. Calculated Values resonates with our own financial obsessions. -- Theodore Porter, University of California, Los AngelesEngaging, learned, and beautifully written, Calculated Values is a major scholarly work. Deringer builds on his own experiences as a financial calculator to imbue material that otherwise might be a tad dry with a sense of wonder and adventure, not to mention an adroit sentiment of happy-go-lucky deceitfulness. It is a must-read for a wide variety of scholars and interested general readers—truly impressive and timely in the extreme. -- Sophus A. Reinert, Harvard Business SchoolDeringer’s inspired and insightful book shows how mathematics and accounting mixed with politics to create modern finance. The story is so important, and yet, until now, has not been told. There is no way to understand the birth of economics without reading it. -- Jacob Soll, University of Southern CaliforniaShows how numerical calculation has both worked and failed in political life and what we can learn from it to help us use numbers more effectively in the future…A tour de force of intellectual and social history to explain how numerical thinking became the way to understand the world. Original in its approach and sophisticated in its argument. -- Lee Trepanier * VoegelinView *

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Book SynopsisGiordano Bruno's The Ash Wednesday Supper presents a revolutionary cosmology founded on the new Copernican astronomy that Bruno extends to infinite dimensions, filling it with an endless number of planetary systems.Trade Review"The volume’s most important contributions to Bruno studies are the extended "Notes" that offer background, interpretation, and explanation of Bruno’s provocative debate." -- Paul Richard Blum, Loyola University Maryland * Isis, vol 110, 1 *Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. A Note on the Text 3. Complete Italian Text: newly edited according to the so-called vulgate version 4. Translation of the Dedication (+ notes) 5. Translation of Dialogue 1 (+ notes) 6. Translation of Dialogue 2 (+ notes) 7. Translation of Dialogue 3 (+ notes) 8. Translation of Dialogue 4 (+ notes) 9. Translation of Dialogue 5 (+ notes) 10. Appendix: Alternative Italian text of folio D 11. Appendix: Alternative English translation of folio D 12. Bibliography of Cited Works

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Book SynopsisMotion is always relative to some thing. Is this thing a concrete body like the earth, is it an abstract space, or is it an imagined frame? Do the laws of physics depend on the choice of reference? It there a choice for which the laws are simplest? Is this choice unique? Is there a physical cause for the choice made? These questions traverse the history of modern physics from Galileo to Einstein. The answers involved Galilean relativity, Newton''s absolute space, the purely relational concepts of Descartes, Leibniz, and Mach, and many forgotten uses of relativity principles in mechanics, optics, and electrodynamics - until the relativity theories of Poincaré, Einstein, Minkowksi, and Laue radically redefined space and time to satisfy universal kinds of relativity. Accordingly, this book retraces the emergence of relativity principles in early modern mechanics, documents their constructive use in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mechanics, optics, and electrodynamics, and gives a wellTrade ReviewThis book is not only an accurate history of the physical relativity principles of motion during the last three hundred years, it is also an important book about the cognitive relativity of scientists' understanding of issues that once were challenging but which present day physicists consider commonsense. * Jan Faye, Metascience *Students and professionals will benefit from access to this unique work by an accomplished researcher. * A Spero, CHOICE *As an exercise in long-term history, it demonstrates the connectivity of issues and approaches across several centuries, despite enormous changes in context and culture. As an account of the genesis of relativity theories, it brings unprecedented clarity and fullness by broadening the spectrum of resources on which the principal actors drew. * zb Math Open *This book is not only an accurate history of the physical relativity principles of motion during the last three hundred years, it is also an important book about the cognitive relativity of scientists' understanding of issues that once were challenging but which present-day physicists consider commonsense. * Jan Faye, University of Copenhagen, Metascience *Truly excellent and fills an important gap in the research landscape on relativity. * Juergen Renn, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin *Well thought out and could become the definitive work that connects the developments pertinent to relativity from the 17th century to the present. * John D. Norton, University of Pittsburgh *This first rate work pulls together many historical scientific strands, and is certain to initiate a lively discussion. * Diana Kormos-Buchwald, Caltech *Table of Contents1: Rethinking motion in the seventeenth century 2: Deriving Newton's second law from relativity principles 3: The space-time-inertia tangle 4: The optics of moving bodies 5: The electrodynamics of moving bodies 6: Poincaré's relativity theory 7: The relativity theory of Einstein, Minkowski, and Laue 8: From Riemann to Ricci 9: Mostly Einstein: To general relativity 10: Mesh and measure in early general relativity 11: Epilogue

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Book Synopsis'Enchanting to the point of escapism.' – Simon Ings, Spectator'Hugh Aldersey-Williams rescues his subject from Newton's shadow, where he was been unjustly confined for over three hundred years.' – Literary ReviewFilled with incident, discovery, and revelation, Dutch Light is a vivid account of Christiaan Huygens’s remarkable life and career, but it is also nothing less than the story of the birth of modern science as we know it. Europe’s greatest scientist during the latter half of the seventeenth century, Christiaan Huygens was a true polymath. A towering figure in the fields of astronomy, optics, mechanics, and mathematics, many of his innovations in methodology, optics and timekeeping remain in use to this day. Among his many achievements, he developed the theory of light travelling as a wave, invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock, and discovered the rings of Saturn – via a telescope that he had also invented.A man of fashion and culture, Christiaan came from a family of multi-talented individuals whose circle included not only leading figures of Dutch society, but also artists and philosophers such as Rembrandt, Locke and Descartes. The Huygens family and their contemporaries would become key actors in the Dutch Golden Age, a time of unprecedented intellectual expansion within the Netherlands. Set against a backdrop of worldwide religious and political turmoil, this febrile period was defined by danger, luxury and leisure, but also curiosity, purpose, and tremendous possibility.Following in Huygens’s footsteps as he navigates this era while shuttling opportunistically between countries and scientific disciplines, Hugh Aldersey-Williams builds a compelling case to reclaim Huygens from the margins of history and acknowledge him as one of our most important and influential scientific figures.Trade ReviewThis book, soaked like the Dutch Republic itself 'in ink and paint', is enchanting to the point of escapism . . . One of the best things about this absorbing book (and how many 500-page biographies feel too short when you finish them?) is the interest it shows in everyone else. -- Simon Ings * Spectator *Here’s early modern Europe by way of one of its most energetic minds. * Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year *Hugh Aldersey-Williams rescues his subject from Newton's shadow, where he was been unjustly confined for other three hundred years . . . a fresh and absorbing vision of 17th-century experimentation that sheds welcome light on wider European culture. * Literary Review *A clever and comprehensive portrait of a unique mind prospering on the border between Renaissance humanism and Enlightenment empiricism. -- Chris Allnutt * Financial Times *Hugh Aldersey-Williams reclaims the 17th-century polymath Christiaan Huygens from relative obscurity in an excellent biography that is also a story about the birth of modern science. Among other things, Huygens invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock and discovered the rings of Saturn through a telescope he had invented. -- Ruth Scurr * Spectator 'Books of the year' *Fascinating . . . an impressive piece of scholarship. I learned a lot -- John Gribbin, author of Six Impossible Things and In Search of Schrödinger's CatAt last – a scintillating biography of Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch mathematician, astronomer and inventor whose splendour has been unjustly eclipsed by the aura of Isaac Newton. After scouring archives, art galleries and museums in both the Netherlands and the UK, Hugh Aldersley-Williams has evocatively illuminated this brilliant polymath who laid the foundations of modern European science. -- Dr Patricia Fara, Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In Conchophilia seven scholars dissect why Renaissance-era collectors braved maritime hazards to beachcomb. Finding the pearliest treasures at shorelines called for avoiding crocodiles, spiny urchins and ‘burning sea slime’. . . . Painters depicted shells, with names as wonderful as ‘precious wentletrap’ and ‘speckled episcopal miter,’ arrayed on banquet tables or in the hands of exulting deities. Metalsmiths set nautiluses on gold pedestals sculpted with mermaid and sea foam motifs. Collectors had favorite shells cemented onto grotto walls, sometimes in the bristly shapes of pine cones and artichokes."---Eve M. Kahn, New York Times"This richly illustrated collection of essays conceptualises the shell and how it was used in material and visual culture, philosophy, and aesthetics as a ‘vessel’ to comprehend early modern society, primarily in a Dutch and German context. . . . [A] well-produced and beautiful book, even its softly glowing endpapers reminiscent of polished shells and nacre. Of interest to art historians, historians of science, and historians of visual and material culture, the essays are also clearly written and approachable, offering many pearls of wisdom. I highly recommend it."---Anna Marie Roos, Early Modern Low Countries"The exquisitely illustrated, thought-provoking book examines the complicated provenances, varied uses, and key role of shells in shaping this period’s visual and aesthetic culture."---Lauren Moya Ford, Hyperallergic"[Conchophilia does] an excellent job in surveying both art history and the history of science to discuss the uses of shells in art. . . . The lavish illustrations alone are worth the price of purchase. . . . Truly a feast for the eyes."---Alan R. Kabat, American Conchologist"Conchophilia is well-designed and beautifully illustrated, a book that deploys wonderful narratives about the love of shells in early modern Europe. . . . A captivating combination of the material and the social, of shells and people."---Marlise Rijks, Early Science and Medicine"A very handsome book replete with full-color photographs, Conchophilia is a joy to read, as appealing and stimulating as the curiosities it considers."---James Clifton, Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews"All the studies in this beautiful book command respect: they are distinctly original and relevant and unfold with keen intelligence. With a novel, methodical approach, and by means of very subtle and magnificently illustrated analyses, they illuminate European collections of the first modern era."---Myriam Marrache-Gouraud, Renaissance and Reformation"A thought-provoking and beautifully produced book. . . . [A]s all authors convincingly show in their chapters, a case can be made for the particular poignant love of shells from the early sixteenth century onward. Both as literal and metaphorical vessels, it is argued, shells prompted reflection, contemplation, and discussion, as material manifestations of exoticness, (natural and divine) craftmanship, and aesthetics."---Marika Keblusek, Renaissance Quarterly"A fascinating book."---Christopher Stocks, Country Life

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Book SynopsisSteve Parker is a writer and editor of more than 300 information books specializing in science, particularly biology and medicine, and allied life sciences. He has authored titles for a range of ages and publishers, including the award-winning Kill or Cure: An Illustrated History of Medicine for DK.

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Book SynopsisPlacing twenty first-century climate change in deep context, A Brief History of Earth is an indispensable look at where we’ve been and where we’re going.Features original illustrations depicting Earth history and nearly 50 figures (maps, tables, photographs, graphs).Trade Review“A fantastic distillation of Earth's history, from one of the world’s leading geologists: Andrew H. Knoll has written an engrossing, witty, and eminently readable romp through our home planet’s 4.5 billion years, from trilobites and dinosaurs to human origins and our rapidly changing modern times.” — Steve Brusatte, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs "Having spent decades at the forefront of discovery and research, Andrew H. Knoll has been one of our planet's leading scientists. In A Brief History of Earth, Knoll treats us to a 4.6-billion-year detective story revealing the origins and inner workings of our home in the solar system. In these pages you'll discover something profound: how our past, present, and future are grounded in Planet Earth." — Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish and Some Assembly Required "Covers the arc of our planet’s history from its earliest formation to the present day in a succinct and deftly-written way." — Forbes “Charts the planet’s history in accessible style, from its beginning as ‘a small planet accreted out of rocky debris circling a modest young star’ through the development of minerals, geographical formations, atmosphere, and life forms large and small.” — Associated Press "Skillfully condenses the history of the Earth. ... An expert primer on the history of everything." — Kirkus Reviews "A sublime chronicle of our planet’s formation and beginnings, the perhaps unlikely yet awe-inspiring interactions that created life, diverse and abundant, and mass extinctions and recoveries. Knoll skillfully presents the extreme conditions, violence, and delicate fragility that mark the cycles and evolution of our home." — Booklist (starred review) "The type of book that is sorely needed at this moment in history. ... Knoll assembles facts from a wide variety of fields to tell our planet’s story in a clear and accessible narrative." — Scientific Inquirer “An eloquent call to action.” — CNN.com "In spite of its sweeping scale, the Harvard geologist and natural history professor’s primer not only makes the titular four billion years understandable – his accessible expertise makes it interesting." — Globe and Mail (Toronto)

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