History of science Books

Book SynopsisHuman genomes are 99.9 percent identical--with one prominent exception. Instead of a matching pair of X chromosomes, men carry a single X, coupled with a tiny chromosome called the Y. Tracking the emergence of a new and distinctive way of thinking about sex represented by the unalterable, simple, and visually compelling binary of the X and Y chromosomes, Sex Itself examines the interaction between cultural gender norms and genetic theories of sex from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, postgenomic age. Using methods from history, philosophy, and gender studies of science, Sarah S. Richardson uncovers how gender has helped to shape the research practices, questions asked, theories and models, and descriptive language used in sex chromosome research. From the earliest theories of chromosomal sex determination, to the mid-century hypothesis of the aggressive XYY supermale, to the debate about Y chromosome degeneration, to the recent claim that male and female genomes aTrade ReviewAn understanding of the biology of sex and its relation to the complexities of human gender adequate to the postgenomic era is an urgently needed but dauntingly difficult task. It requires tracing the history from which scientific ideas of sex and gender have developed, and the echoes of which shape our contemporary concepts; a grasp of the decisive feminist critique of the science of sex and gender over the last half century, but one that goes beyond the disclosure of bias to survey comprehensively the influence of ideas about gender on science; and a proper understanding of the revolutionary developments in genomic science that have occurred in the last twenty years. This book provides all of these things with skill, sensitivity, and elegance. It will provide a definitive starting point for future discussions of this vital set of issues. --John Dupre, author of Processes of Life"

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Book SynopsisWhat, if anything, does biological evolution tell us about the nature of religion, ethical values, or even the meaning and purpose of life? The Moral Meaning of Nature sheds new light on these enduring questions by examining the significance of an earlierand unjustly neglecteddiscussion of Darwin in late nineteenth-century Germany. We start with Friedrich Nietzsche, whose writings staged one of the first confrontations with the Christian tradition using the resources of Darwinian thought. The lebensphilosophie, or life-philosophy, that arose from his engagement with evolutionary ideas drew responses from other influential thinkers, includingFranz Overbeck, Georg Simmel, and Heinrich Rickert. These critics all offered cogent challenges to Nietzsche's appropriation of the newly transforming biological sciences, his negotiation between science and religion, and his interpretation of the implications of Darwinian thought. They also each proposed alternative ways of making sense of Niet

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Book SynopsisSelf-styled adventurer, literary wit, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. This work offers a portrait of this man, revealing how his private life and public works made him a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe.Trade Review"Terrall's work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane eighteenth-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language." - Virginia P. Dawson, American Historical Review "As a guide to the public world of post-Newtonian European science, this well-written, scholarly work has much to offer." - Jeremy Black, Times Higher Education Supplement"

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Based solely on its originality, wealth of detail, and subject matter, Crossing the Boundaries of Life deserves to be on the must-read list of every historian of the twentieth-century life sciences.” * Journal of the History of Biology *"Based on personal contact and archival research, including an epilogue addressing contending epistemic debates (cellular context vs. molecular processes), this book provides an excellent account of how paradigm shifts actually occur in science. The text is readable for a general audience and provides a host of primary resources. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice *“Those who are willing to be guided through the rough and tumble of a long experimental research trajectory and its details will be richly rewarded in the end. To the reviewer's knowledge, this book is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of what it means to do cell biology at the molecular level, and to trace historically how it came to be done.” -- Hans-Jörg Rheinberger * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (translated from German) *"This complexity of the cell, and equally—if not more so—the complexity of the history of the scientific study of the cell, is something that struck me most forcibly as I wended my way through the pages of Karl Matlin’s Crossing the Boundaries of Life. . . . there is a rich vein of information as well as ideas for entire historical projects to be mined in this book." * Metascience *"Matlin charts new terrain in the history of the life sciences. His book is original, relevant, and provides a wealth of new stories and conceptual problems for the history and philosophy of cell and molecular biology. This exciting piece of scholarship covers a crucial episode of these sciences which merits scholarly attention. Matlin moves the field a step forward." -- Mathias Grote, author of Membranes to Molecular MachinesTable of ContentsPreface Prologue. A Very Small Difference . . . Part I. The Cytologist’s Dilemma 1. The Living Substance 2. The Membrane Boundary 3. Breakthroughs Part II. From Cells to Molecules 4. The Endoplasmic Reticulum 5. The Signal Hypothesis 6. The Strange Case of the Signal Recognition Particle 7. Enemies, Real and Imagined 8. The Light at the End of the Tunnel Part III. Form Redux 9. Topogenesis and Spatial Information 10. In Vitro Veritas? 11. Form, Context, and the Epistemic Strategy of Cell Biology Epilogue. 1975 and All That A Note on Sources References

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A masterpiece of historical analysis. . . . Skillfully written and a pleasure to read." * Nature * "A work of coherence, accessibility, and rhetorical power not generally found in [these] volumes. . . . Kaiser has woven together a unique, compelling, and kaleidoscopic portrait of the quantum revolution and its implications. He doesn't hide from the messiness of science but embraces the challenge of understanding its underlying human and social conditions." -- Jose G. Perillan * Physics Today * "Quantum Legacies does not disappoint. . . . It is a breath of fresh air to see physics writing like this: lucid and friendly, sober and thoughtful, and willing to trust the reader's engagement and intelligence rather than demanding the former and underestimating the latter. . . . Superb popular science. . . . It is hard for me to imagine any physicist who wouldn't enjoy the fine cloth from which it is cut, nor the pleasing effect it makes." -- Philip Ball * Physics World * "Engrossing. . . . Leave[s] us with a richer picture of physics as a lived activity." * Los Angeles Review of Books * "Most history books written for the wider public favor a narrower understanding of science. David Kaiser's work is a welcomed exception. . . . [He] gives a witty and insightful overview of the development of modern physics. . . . An engrossing read that will give specialists and nonspecialists alike a deeper understanding of how phenom ena as diverse as geopolitics and eastern mysticism have shaped physics in the past century." * Science * "An ambitious collection of essays that merges [Kaiser's] two scholarly identities. . . . A wide-ranging anthology." -- Melinda Baldwin * Physics Today * "From Einstein to Heisenberg, Schroedinger to Hawking, Kaiser humanises the people and by extension their ideas, all the while making connections between the inner world of the academic quantum theory community and the outer world of global events. This sociopolitical standpoint is a key factor in making the technical science relevant to the non-expert reader. . . . In this collection of highly entertaining essays, he finds the perfect line between scientific scholarship and telling a good story." * Engineering & Technology * "All together it paints a very compelling picture of how strategic decisions at the public policy level shaped the way physicists have gone about studying the universe. . . . It's a good story well told." * Forbes * "Captivating. . . . You can really get the sense of the quantum mechanical impact on various and disparate fields ranging from cosmology to the early foundations of quantum mechanics, the history of quantum mechanics, all the way up through popular culture, weaving its way through how physics pedagogy and even scientific STEM pedagogy is taught to this very day. . . . It's exhaustively researched and referenced. . . . I want people to buy every single copy." -- Brian Keating * Into the Impossible * "The book paints intimate portraits of some incredible luminaries . . . . Kaiser is an incredible ambassador for physics and its history." -- Matthew Jordan * New Books in Science, Technology, and Society * "Fantastically readable. Anybody interested in either science or history on a professional or a popular level should read it. It's a fantastic introduction to the way you can think about science in all sorts of different interdisciplinary, humanistic ways. It's really a huge amount of fun." -- Matthew Stanley * What the If? * "It's [Kaiser's] careful analysis of physics's sociological aspects that makes Quantum Legacies a delightful read. . . . This is the kind of material that you won't find in other books on the history and philosophy of physics." -- Ash Jogalekar * The Curious Wavefunction * "This interesting anthology on selected topics from the rich history of quantum mechanics, especially during its glory days, will engross any reader who has even a modest acquaintance with quantum theory." * Choice, 2020 Outstanding Academic Title * "Full of striking statistics, commentary, and lovely analogies and metaphors. . . . These are engaging, though-provoking, fun-to-read essays that are compact enough that one can get through several in an evening. They will make you consider familiar physical concepts in new ways. All readers will come away richer in their knowledge of the people and circumstances behind how physics arrived at where it is. You will enjoy this book." * American Journal of Physics * "The book not only gives an insight into the development of quantum theory and the lives of the scientists involved, it also explores the complexities of funding, political and sociological considerations, and the influence of the Cold War. . . . [It] provides useful background for physics educators and deserves a place in school science libraries." * Physics Education * "Kaiser-writing in prose that sometimes soars, often intrigues, and always informs-gives us here a remarkable set of vignettes about major developments in physics and cosmology of the past century. His vignettes beautifully integrate science with human history and with insightful descriptions of outsized personalities. This book will be enjoyable and enlightening for a diverse readership: from complete novices in science, to students of science and history, and to professional scientists and historians." -- Kip Thorne, Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, and 2017 Nobel Laureate in Physics "Physicists are people! They have insecurities, love lives, monetary concerns, and political opinions, all while striving to uncover the fundamental workings of reality. Kaiser spins engaging tales that both explain fascinating aspects of physics in a lucid way and illuminate the human beings who worked to discover them." -- Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply Hidden "Have you ever wondered why Schroedinger chose such a morbid illustration of quantum physics as a half-dead cat? Want to know how an alleged Soviet spy escaped capture and went on to shake up particle physics? Can you guess what propelled The Tao of Physics to bestseller status? If questions like these spark your curiosity, this book is for you. I can imagine no better guide for an insider's tour of twentieth-century physics than Kaiser. These witty vignettes beautifully illustrate what Kaiser calls the 'doubleness' of scientific research, its ability to bequeath enduring insights while reflecting the quirks and foibles of historical circumstances." -- Deborah R. Coen, author of Climate in Motion "Explaining physics is easier than explaining physicists. In Quantum Legacies, Kaiser succeeds at both." -- George Dyson, author of Turing's Cathedral "What is extraordinary about Kaiser as a writer (and what makes his essays so much fun to read) is not only his ability to animate the range of personalities in these pages, from Einstein to Heisenberg, Schroedinger to Hawking, but also the way he brings the same humanizing impulse to their mind-bending ideas. His talent for uncovering connections between otherworldly ideas and the social and political worlds in which they take shape makes him a simply spellbinding guide to the mysteries of the universe." -- Nell Freudenberger, author of Lost and Wanted "Kaiser is a master writer, and this is some of his finest work. An extraordinary combination of technical science, rich history, and telling anecdote, Quantum Legacies is cutting-edge scholarship rendered in a style equal to any popular science writing. When a non-academic asks me 'what is the history of science?' I will give them this book." -- Matthew Stanley, author of Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I "Friendships and rivalries, the demands of war, the limits of technology . . . these are among the rich universe of forces that conflict and conspire to bring us what we usually gloss over as the inevitable march of scientific progress. Kaiser's book provides a wonderful glimpse behind the curtain into the messier-but far more human-truth of the matter. Beautifully written and extraordinarily well researched, the book makes a profound point about the sociopolitical nature of science that all readers-from physics buffs and historians to students and laypeople-need to hear." -- Amanda Gefter, author of Trespassing on Einstein's LawnTable of ContentsForeword Alan Lightman Introduction Quanta 1 All Quantum, No Solace 2 Life-and-Death: When Nature Refuses to Select 3 Operation: Neutrino 4 Quantum Theory by Starlight Calculating 5 From Blackboards to Bombs 6 Boiling Electrons 7 Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics 8 Training Quantum Mechanics 9 Zen and the Art of Textbook Publishing Matter 10 Pipe Dreams 11 Something for Nothing 12 Higgs Hunting 13 When Fields Collide Cosmos 14 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 15 Gaga for Gravitation 16 The Other Evolution Wars 17 No More Lonely Hearts 18 Learning from Gravitational Waves 19 A Farewell to Stephen Hawking Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA transnational approach to understanding and analyzing knowledge circulation. The contributors to this collection focus on what happens to knowledge and know-how at national borders. Rather than treating it as flowing like currents across them, or diffusing out from center to periphery, they stress the human intervention that shapes how knowledge is processed, mobilized, and repurposed in transnational transactions to serve diverse interests, constraints, and environments. The chapters consider both what knowledge travels and how it travels across borders of varying permeability that impede or facilitate its movement. They look closely at a variety of platforms and objects of knowledge, from tangible commoditieslike hybrid wheat seeds, penicillin, Robusta coffee, naval weaponry, seed banks, satellites and high-performance computersto the more conceptual apparatuses of plant phenotype data and statistics. Moreover, this volume decenters the Global North, tracking how knowledge movesTrade Review“Over the past decade, Krige has positioned himself as one of the foremost scholars investigating the seemingly simple yet, in truth, incredibly intricate and complicated issue of how and why knowledge moves around. Whereas his previous work focused on the power, utility and impact of scientific networks during the twentieth century, particularly in the nuclear field, Krige has now moved into the even broader field of knowledge mobility itself. . . . Similar to its predecessor, [Knowledge Flows in a Global Age] once again challenges us to rethink our taken-for-granted assumptions of how and why knowledge moves around, and what factors prevent it from doing so (or, more directly, what factors may deny the designation of knowledge in the first place). It is, for this reason, a richly stimulating collection the significance of which, true to its transnational outlook, transgresses standard disciplinary assumptions, disrupts interpretive frameworks and asks us to reconsider our own roles as academics in these processes.” * Annals of Science *“The volume shows clearly that the very idea of ‘progress’ is wrought with tension, where some actors are constricted by the liberal contractual framework and are expected to generate profits, while others seek to establish asymmetric relations in the contest for the military and technoscientific superiority. Knowledge Flows in a Global Age reads as a compendium of the complexities of transnational knowledge transfer questioning the notion of effortless globalization. It does important work that will certainly be useful for a wide range of scholarship.” * H-Diplo *"Krige and his collaborators have assembled a powerful array of studies that reconfigure conventional narratives about how knowledge flows. Divided among historical case studies related in some way or another to national and economic security, on the one hand, and agricultural exchanges, on the other, the volume avoids the usual binaries of Global North and Global South—or of guns and butter—emphasizing the efforts to block, shape, or redirect the flow of knowledge. The cast of characters and the variety of regions is massively expanded, to excellent effect." -- Michael D. Gordin, Princeton University“For too long, ‘global’ histories of science have envisioned an antiquated hydraulic mechanism, pumping out authorized knowledge from northern laboratories to southern deserts. At last, this book reveals instead the densely and intricately reticulated worldwide networks transmitting the concepts and practices of modern science. Abandoning the imperial optic for such multi-sited transnational perspectives makes global science look truly different and far more compelling." -- Warwick Anderson, University of Sydney"An excellent, absorbing, and refreshingly revisionist collection of cutting-edge studies by eminent scholars in the transnational history of modern science and technology, organized and edited by a pioneer in the field. Integrating enlightening empirical examinations with penetrating analyses, the volume illuminates brilliantly forces that both propelled and blocked knowledge flow across national borders." -- Zuoyue Wang, California State Polytechnic UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Writing the Transnational History of Knowledge Flows in a Global Age John Krige Chapter 1 Knowledge, State Power, and the Invention of International Science Jessica Wang Part I: Regulating Transnational Knowledge Flows Chapter 2 Harnessing Invention: The British Admiralty and the Political Economy of Knowledge in the World War I Era Katherine C. Epstein Chapter 3 Culture Diplomacy: Penicillin and the Problem of Anglo-American Knowledge Sharing in World War II Michael A. Falcone Chapter 4 Dangerous Calculations: The Origins of the US High-Performance Computer Export Safeguards Regime, 1968–1974 Mario Daniels Chapter 5 Regulating the Transnational Flow of Intangible Knowledge of Space Launchers between the United States and China in the Clinton Era John Krige Part II: Facilitating Transnational Knowledge Flows Chapter 6 Beyond Borlaug’s Shadow: Mexican Seeds and the Narratives of the Green Revolution Gabriela Soto Laveaga Chapter 7 Moving Coffee from the Cloud Forests of Colonial Angola to the Breakfast Tables of Main Street America, 1940–1961 Maria Gago Chapter 8 Statistics and Emancipation from New Deal America to Guerrilla Warfare in Guinea-Bissau Tiago Saraiva Chapter 9 Security versus Sovereignty in a Palestinian Seed Bank Courtney Fullilove Chapter 10 How Data Cross Borders: Globalizing Plant Knowledge through Transnational Data Management and Its Epistemic Economy Sabina Leonelli Conclusion Decentering the Global North John Krige Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisA history of the unsustainable modern dietheavy in meat, wheat, and sugarthat requires more land and resources than the planet is able to support. We are facing a world food crisis of unparalleled proportions. Our reliance on unsustainable dietary choices and agricultural systems is causing problems both for human health and the health of our planet. Solutions from lab-grown food to vegan diets to strictly local food consumption are often discussed, but a central question remains: how did we get to this point? In Diet for a Large Planet, Chris Otter goes back to the late eighteenth century in Britain, where the diet heavy in meat, wheat, and sugar was developing. As Britain underwent steady growth, urbanization, industrialization, and economic expansion, the nation altered its food choices, shifting away from locally produced plant-based nutrition. This new diet, rich in animal proteins and refined carbohydrates, made people taller and stronger, but it led to new types of health proTrade Review"The emergence of urban industrial capitalism is one way in which the history of Britain and the history of climate change are linked, but, as the environmental historian Chris Otter shows in his remarkable new book, Diet for a Large Planet, there is another version of this story. Instead of looking at factories, cities, and coal, Otter’s book is a history of farming, food, and animals. In the century before the First World War, Britain remade the planet in order to feed its own people, and in doing so transformed the environment forever." * Tribune Magazine *"He has written a really excellent book, and it deserves a wide readership." * London Review of Books *"In Diet for a Large Planet: Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology, an impressive feat of scholarly work, Chris Otter goes back to the roots of the current environmental and health problems that have accompanied dietary changes in the West, focusing on the transformations in British diets in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Apart from the extensive array of sources, the greatest asset of his book lies in Otter’s thorough survey of the breadth of techno-logical, metabolic, and environmental transformations that produced the “large planet” diet,while never losing sight of its social and political consequences. By paying close attention to the way evolutions in British diets reshaped technological and ecological landscapes throughout the globe, and to the impact it had on British and colonial bodies, Otter offers what might be considered one of the most accomplished examples of food history. He goes beyond the merely quantitative or cultural dimensions of eating to analyze the political and material dimensions of the widespread reconfigurations of food systems that developed from the beginning of the nineteenth century. . . . this extremely ambitious work is a rewarding read and is bound to become a reference in the field." * Journal of British Studies *"Otter posits that the elements of 'large planet thinking' have shaped world ecology to suit capitalism and have led to inequities between classes and countries at the peril of the planet. Are we creating Malthus’s worst nightmare—a planet that requires more land than it possesses?" * CHoW Line (Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C.) *"Diet for a Large Planet: Industrial Britain, Food Systems, and World Ecology synthesizes a tremendous range of scholarship into a genuinely interdisciplinary narrative that draws from ecology, economics, history, science and technology studies, nutritional science, and evolutionary biology. Especially for the Victorian era, Otter’s primary source base is remarkably deep, most notably including medical journals, industry textbooks, a range of parliamentary papers, newspapers, farming treatises, surveys, cookbooks, and first-person accounts." * Victorian Studies *"Diet for a Large Planet is a marvelous accomplishment. Otter assembles a prodigious range of sources to show how British interventions remaking global foodways in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, linking contemporary planetary crisis to these intellectual, ecological, and agro-industrial transitions." * Environmental History *"In this persuasively argued critique, Otter traces the origins of the modern diet to Britain's eating habits and the way different types of food were perceived in the nineteenth century. Focusing on Britain's desire for meat, sugar and wheat, Diet for a Large Planet shows how the country's almost insatiable historic desire for these commodities has transformed global land use and, in turn, increased carbon emissions and facilitated extinctions. The outsourcing of the country's nutritional needs and the foodways which emerged paved the way for a global agri-food system that consumes more resources than the planet is able to sustain. Otter's perceptive analysis shows how prevailing diets of choice, consisting of red meat, wheat bread and sugar are linked to luxury, wealth and power, and contribute to environmental degradation and climate change." * Agricultural History Review *“Diet for a Large Planet is a brilliant, bold book that forces us to rethink the short- and long-term global implications of changes in what British people ate and how they thought about food in the nineteenth century. Otter masterfully weaves together scientific, technological, political, cultural, and economic histories into a magnificent study of the making of the modern, global food system. This book is a satisfying if filling meal that will appeal to the tastes of anyone interested in the history of food, environment, industry, consumption and global capitalism.” -- Erika Rappaport, author of A Thirst for Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World“The British diet, like British dentistry, is a familiar punchline. But Otter shows that it is much more than this. He argues that Britain’s dietary transformation remade bodies and geographies, and the outsourcing of its nutritional needs paved the way for the global food system. Fast, filling, simultaneously nutritious and unhealthy, Britain’s appetite for meat, wheat, sugar, and dairy presaged the era of ‘Big Food’ as well as cheap food. If looking back is the key to looking forward with any optimism, Otter’s brilliant and pioneering account is an urgent as well as timely intervention.” -- Philip Howell, co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Animal-Human History“Diet for a Large Planet arranges an impressive array of evidence from diverse sources into a powerful analysis of how Britain forged the modern world of food systems and their consequent effects upon human and environmental well-being. Few, if any, books link human and environmental health together in such a sustained and creative way. Otter is clearly a scholar of immense ambition, erudition, and passion.” -- Matthew Klingle, author of Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle"Diet for a Large Planet is an impressive book... A major contribution to the history of diets and the way in which one of them has gained global prominence..." * Food and History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Meat 2. Wheat 3. Sugar 4. Risk 5. Violence 6. Metabolism 7. Bodies 8. Earth 9. Acceleration Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisDrugs and Empires introduces new research that re-evaluates the relationship between intoxicants and empires in the modern world. It re-examines controversies about such issues as the Asian opium trade or the sale of alcohol in Africa and addresses new areas of research, including the impact of imperial drugs profits on American history.Table of ContentsIntroduction; J.H.Mills & P. Barton PART 1: CONSUMPTION China, British imperialism and the myth of the 'Opium Plague'; F.Dikötter , L.Laamann & X.Zhou Developing Habits: Opium and Tobacco in the Indonesian Archipelago, c. 1619-c. 1794; G.B.Souza Early British encounters with the Indian opium eater; R.Newman 'Cannot we induce the people of England to eat opium?' The moral economy of opium in colonial India; J.F.Richards PART 2: CONTROL Opium and the Trading World of Western India in the Early Nineteenth Century; A.Farooqui Dangerous Drinks and the Colonial State: 'Illicit' Gin Prohibition and Control in Colonial Nigeria; C.J.Korieh Empire and Excise: Drugs and drink revenue and the fate of states in south Asia; M.J.Gilbert Powders, Potions and Tablets: The 'quinine fraud' in British India, 1890 to 1939; P.Barton PART 3: 'HIGH' POLITICS Colonial Africa and the international politics of cannabis: Egypt, South Africa and the origins of global control; J.H.Mills 'A grave danger to the peace of the East': Opium and Imperial Rivalry in China, 1895-1920; W.O.Walker III 'Wolf by the Ears': The Dilemmas of Imperial Opium Policymaking in the 20th Century; W.B.McAllister The Trade-Off: Chinese Opium Traders and Antebellum Reform in the United States, 1815-1860; K.Gray

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Book SynopsisThe renowned cognitive scientist Philip Lieberman demonstrates that there is no better guide to the world’s living—and still evolving—things than Darwin and that the phenomena he observed are still being explored at the frontiers of science. Lieberman relates the insights that led to groundbreaking discoveries in both Darwin’s time and our own.Trade ReviewAn awesome accompanying book for anyone who reads On the Origin of Species. -- Rob DeSalle, curator of entomology at the American Museum of Natural History Strikes a balance between the historical context in which Darwin made his remarkable contributions to science and contemporary scientific work. -- Christina Behme, Brandon UniversityTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1. Strawberries2. No Cats, No Flowers3. Grandfather Erasmus4. Crafting the Human Brain5. What Would Darwin Think About . . .NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisExploring the natural scientific foundations of far-reaching social ideologiesTrade Review"Olson provides another in a series of fine works detailing the social history of science. . . . Masterfully detailed. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice "No brief review can so this book justice. Suffice to say that both the student and seasoned scholar will find his synthesis and insight compelling."--FCS Quarterly"Both the student and seasoned scholar will find his synthesis and insight compelling."--Review of Metaphysics

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Book SynopsisTable of Contents Acknowledgments Queer Feminist Science Studies: An Introduction Part One | Histories of Difference 1. Sexing the X: How the X Became the “Female Chromosome” / Sarah S. Richardson 2. Pelvic Politics: Sexual Dimorphism and Racial Difference / Sally Markowitz 3. The Sexual Reproduction of “Race”: Bisexuality, History, and Racialization / Merl Storr 4. From Masturbator to Homosexual: The Construction of the Sex Pervert / Ladelle McWhorter 5. “An Unnamed Blank that Craved a Name”: A Genealogy of Intersex as Gender / David A. Rubin Part Two | Contemporary Archives and Case Studies 1. Black Anality / Jennifer C. Nash 2. At the Same Time, Out of Time: Ashley X / Alison Kafer 3. “BIID”? Queer (Dis)Orientations and the Phenomenology of “Home” / Nikki Sullivan 4. The Allure of Artifice: Deploying a Filipina Avatar in the Digital Porno-Tropics / Mitali Thakor 5. Gone, Missing: Queering and Racializing Absence in Trans & Intersex Archives / Hilary Malatino Part Three | Disruptive Practices 1. Immodest Witnessing, Affective Economies, and Objectivity / Michelle Murphy 2. Pussy Ballistics and the Queer Appeal of Peristalsis, or Belly Dancing with Margaret Cho / Rachel Lee 3. Embodiments of Safety / Kane Race 4. Consent, Capacity, and the Non-Narrative / Amber Musser 5. Brains, Sex, and Queers 2090: An Ideal Experiment / Isabelle Dussauge Part Four | Beyond the Human 1. “Why Do Voles Fall in Love?”: Sexual Dimorphism in Monogamy Gene Research / Angela Willey and Sara Giordano 2. Natural Convers(at)ions: Or, What if Culture Was Really Nature All Along? / Vicki Kirby 3. “The Bio-Technological Impact” and “Abstract Sex” / Luciana Parisi 4. Toxic Animacies, Inanimate Affections / Mel Y. Chen 5. Plasmodial Improprieties: Octavia E. Butler, Slime Molds, and Imagining a Femi-Queer Commons / Aimee Bahng Index

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Book SynopsisA fascinating historical account of the American Phage Group and how its new research framework became the foundation for molecular biologyTrade Review“With style, wisdom, and unprecedented depth of understanding, William Summers explores the ‘phage group’ founded by Max Delbrück, and how it contributed to the establishment of molecular biology—arguably the most important development in the life sciences over the past century.”—Nicolas Rasmussen, author of Gene Jockeys: Life Science and the Rise of Biotech Enterprise“A historically and sociologically nuanced account of a discipline and a research school which played a pivotal role in the emergence of molecular biology, but whose ‘Founding Myth’ has been uncritically accepted for too long.”—James Strick, author of Wilhelm Reich, Biologist“In this deeply researched new book, Bill Summers skillfully introduces us to the host of characters who created the field of molecular biology, transforming our understanding of all living things.”—Bruce Alberts, coauthor of Molecular Biology of the Cell

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Book SynopsisWarfare in Medieval Europe, now in its second edition, offers considerably more attention to the transition from the later Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages, the composition of the armies of the opponents of the West, and the experience of commanders and individual combatants on the battlefield.This second revised and expanded edition provides a more in-depth thematic discussion of the nature and conduct of war, with an emphasis on its overall impact on society, from the late Roman Empire to the end of the Hundred Yearsâ War. The authors explore the origins of the institutions, physical infrastructure, and intellectual underpinnings of warfare, with chapters on military topography, military technology, logistics, combat, and strategy. Bernard and David Bachrach have also added a new chapter, which provides two detailed campaign narratives that highlight the themes treated throughout the text. The geographical scope of the volume encompasses Latin Europe, tTrade ReviewPraise for previous edition:‘This book is a masterpiece, bringing together the collected scholarship of the past several decades and more in a brilliant synthesis that illuminates not only medieval military matters, but the whole "medieval millennium" as well.’Paul F. Crawford, California University of Pennsylvania, USA‘The perfect introduction to Medieval Warfare for students of history and strategic or security studies. This is an excellent overview which teases out evidence for the continuity of Roman institutions and infrastructure, and furnishes evidence for the complexity of medieval warfare including the complex and discriminating application of military, economic and diplomatic tools – in short, grand strategy. Firmly rooted in source evidence, this remains faithful to contemporary terminology yet helps us interpret it in the light of today’s military-strategic vocabulary.’Beatrice Heuser, University of Reading, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Sources: The writing of medieval military history2. Military topography3. Military organization of medieval Europe4. Military logistics5. Military technology6. Medieval combat7. Strategy8. Two Campaigns in FocusConclusion

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Book SynopsisThe increasing globalization of trade, travel and transport since the mid-19th century had unwelcome consequences one of them was the spread of contagious animal diseases over greater distances in a shorter time than ever before. Borders and national control strategies proved to be insufficient to stop the pathogens. Not surprisingly, the issue of epizootics (epidemics of animals) was among the first topics to be addressed by international meetings from the 1860s onwards. Pathogens Crossing Borders explores the history of international efforts to contain and prevent the spread of animal diseases from the early 1860s to the years after the Second World War. As an innovative contribution to global history and the history of internationalism, the book investigates how disease experts, politicians and state authorities developed concepts, practices and institutional structures at the international level to tackle the spread of animal diseases across borders. By following their aTable of Contents1. Introduction, 2. Animal Diseases and the Global 19th Century, 3. International Approaches to Contain Cross-Border Epizootics, 1863–1914, 4. Restarting Veterinary Internationalism After the First World War, 5. The League of Nations and International Projects Addressing Animal Diseases, 6. Veterinary Internationalism in Times of Crisis: The OIE, 1927–1947, 7. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of trends and cultures connected to electrical telegraphy and recent digital communications, this collection emerges from the research project Scrambled Messages: The Telegraphic Imaginary 1866â1900, which investigated cultural phenomena relating to the 1866 transatlantic telegraph. It interrogates the ways in which society, politics, literature and art are imbricated with changing communications technologies, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Contributors consider control, imperialism and capital, as well as utopianism and hope, grappling with the ways in which human connections (and their messages) continue to be shaped by communications infrastructures.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1ANNE CHAPMAN AND NATALIE HUME1 To Be Connected: Perspectives on Autonomy and Risk from the Electric Age 7MANU LUKSCH AND MUKUL PATEL2 Cyborg Imperium, c. 1900 48DUNCAN BELL3 Universal Visual Languages in the Age of Telegraphy 71GRACE BROCKINGTON4 Plotting Passengers at a Metropolitan Station: Paddington in the Mid-Nineteenth Century 96NICOLA K IRKBY5 ‘Some Sentient Creature’. The Cable Body and the Body of Labour: Robert Dudley, William Howard Russell and the 1865 Voyage of the Great Eastern 114KATE FLINT6 Signal Markings in Victorian Miscellanies: Noise and Signal from the Idyll to Aestheticism 137CAROLINE ARSCOTT AND CLARE PETTITT7 ‘Recoding the Sea’: Uneven and Combined Capitalism in the Work of Allan Sekula (Telegraph Version) 161GAIL DAY AND STEVE EDWARDS8 random international 189INTERVIEW BY ANNE CHAPMAN AND NATALIE HUME

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Book SynopsisWhen historians of the future come to examine western civilization in the twentieth century, one area of intellectual accomplishment will stand out above all others: more than any other era before it, the twentieth century was an age of science. Not only were the practical details of daily life radically transformed by the application of scientific discoveries, but our very sense of who we are, how our minds work, how our world came to be, how it works and our proper role in it, our ultimate origins, and our ultimate fate were all influenced by scientific thinking as never before in human history. In The Age of Science, the former editor and publisher of Scientific American gives us a sweeping overview of the scientific achievements of the twentieth century, with chapters on the fundamental forces of nature, the subatomic world, cosmology, the cell and molecular biology, earth history and the evolution of life, and human evolution. Beautifully written and illustrated, this is a

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Book SynopsisThis fifth volume presents the surviving correspondence from the period of almost four years which is, from a bibliographical point of view, the most important time in Newton's life: with Roger Cotes, Newton revised his Philosophise Naturalis Principia Mathematics and saw it through the press.Table of ContentsPreface; A Note on the Manuscripts used in this Volume; The Correspondence.

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Book SynopsisAs Newton had by now entered his eighth decade, it can be no surprise that the correspondence in this sixth volume shows a marked decline in his activity and intellectual vigour. While the number of extant letters written by him on other that Mint business is relatively small, the majority of them are devoted to his controversy with Leibniz.Table of ContentsList of Plates; Preface; Short Titles and Abbreviations; Introduction; The Correspondence.

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Book SynopsisSeventeenth-century Europe witnessed an extraordinary flowering of discoveries and innovations. This study, beginning with the Dutch-invented telescope of 1608, casts Galileo's discoveries into a global framework. Although the telescope was soon transmitted to China, Mughal India, and the Ottoman Empire, those civilizations did not respond as Europeans did to the new instrument. In Europe, there was an extraordinary burst of innovations in microscopy, human anatomy, optics, pneumatics, electrical studies, and the science of mechanics. Nearly all of those aided the emergence of Newton's revolutionary grand synthesis, which unified terrestrial and celestial physics under the law of universal gravitation. That achievement had immense implications for all aspects of modern science, technology, and economic development. The economic implications are set out in the concluding epilogue. All these unique developments suggest why the West experienced a singular scientific and economic ascendancTrade Review'This is a well-researched, objectively written, eminently readable book. Anyone interested in any dimension of modern science and technology will find it useful.' Rajesh Kochhar, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali'A magisterial comparative sociology of the relationship between specific social contexts and scientific creativity in seventeenth-century Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and China. With a remarkable eye for detail, Huff elegantly poses the big questions about the past, present, and possible future of modern science in a globalized world.' Zaheer Baber, University of Toronto'Using the invention and dispersal of the telescope as a probe, Toby Huff examines the initial impact of this discovery machine in Europe compared with the Ottoman and Mughal empires and Ming China. He then turns to other scientific discoveries of the West and their surprisingly absent influence elsewhere. Huff's carefully documented research brings this material together in an altogether new way. His fascinating and lucid historico-sociological investigation casts brilliant light on the preeminence of the West today.' Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics'Intellectual Curiosity and the Scientific Revolution disseminates genuine information about the crucial role played by the West in the history of science, showing that after many centuries of near scientific inactivity, the West, beginning in the twelfth century, saw the virtue of absorbing science and natural philosophy from Greco-Islamic sources. For the numerous reasons Huff presents, the culture of the West, with its corporations, universities, and other features, made it feasible for science to emerge as a powerful force. Huff presents this entire process in a lucid and engaging manner, using the telescope as the instrument that most vividly reveals the striking differences between Europe and the civilizations of China, the Mughals, and the Ottomans. I believe his book will have a significant impact on the history of science, and on history generally.' Edward Grant, Indiana UniversityTable of ContentsPart I. Something New Under the Sun: 1. Introduction: outline of a new perspective; 2. Inventing the discovery machine; 3. The new telescopic evidence; 4. The 'far seeing looking glass' goes to China; 5. 'Galileo's glass' goes to the Muslim world; Part II. Patterns of Education: 6. Three ideals of higher education: Islamic, Chinese, and Western; Part III. Science Unbound: 7. Infectious curiosity I: anatomy and microbiology; 8. Infectious curiosity II: weighing the air and atmospheric pressure; 9. Infectious curiosity III: magnetism and electricity; 10. Prelude to the grand synthesis; 11. The path to the grand synthesis; 12. The scientific revolution in comparative perspective; Epilogue: science, literacy and economic development.

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Book SynopsisJoseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China is a monumental piece of scholarship which breaks new ground in presenting to the Western reader a detailed and coherent account of the development of science, technology and medicine in China from the earliest times until the advent of the Jesuits and the beginnings of modern science in the late seventeenth century. It is a vast work, necessarily more suited to the scholar and research worker than the general reader. This paperback version, abridged and re-written by Colin Ronan, makes this extremely important study accessible to a wider public. The present book covers the material treated in volumes I and II of Dr Needham's original work. The reader is introduced to the country of China, its history, geography and language, and an account is given of how scientific knowledge travelled between China and Europe. The major part of the book is then devoted to the history of scientific thought in China itself. Beginning with ancient timesTable of ContentsList of illustrations; List of tables; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The Chinese language; 3. The geography of China; 4. Chinese history: (i) the pre-Imperial Ages; 5. Chinese history: (ii) the empire of all under heaven; 6. The travelling of science between China and Europe; 7. Confucianism; 8. Taoism; 9. The Mohists and Logicians; 10. The fundamental ideas of Chinese science; 11. The pseudo-sciences and the sceptical tradition; 12. Chin and Tang Taoists and Sung Neo-Confucians; 13. Sung and Ming idealists and the last great figures of Chinese naturalism; 14. Buddhist thought; 15. The Legalists; 16. Human law and the laws of nature; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Empire of Chance tells how quantitative ideas of chance transformed the natural and social sciences, as well as daily life, in the last three centuries. It connects the earliest applications of probability and statistics in gambling and insurance to the most recent forays into law, medicine polling and baseball.Trade Review'The book provides a welcome introduction to the main historical themes of probability, statistics and inference. It is, at the same time, impressive in its range and subject-matter and in its depth of analysis.' The Times Higher Education SupplementTable of ContentsAcknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Classical probabilities, 1660–1840; 2. Statistical probabilities, 1820–1900; 3. The inference experts; 4. Chance and life: controversies in modern biology; 5. The probabilistic revolution in physics; 6. Statistics of the mind; 7. Numbers rule the world; 8. The implications of chance; References; Name index; Subject index.

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Book SynopsisJohn Dee's angel conversations have been an enigmatic facet of Elizabethan England's most famous natural philosopher's life and work. Professor Harkness contextualizes Dee's angel conversations within the natural philosophical, religious and social contexts of his time. These conversations include discussions of the natural world, the practice of natural philosophy, and the apocalypse.Trade Review" John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature, marks an important addition to Dee scholarship. For the first time, it places Dee's conversations with angels into a comprehensible framework. Harkness elegantly demonstrates that Dee's angel conversations were at the center of his mission to reform nature and the world in the midst of intellectual and religious tumult when the end of human history was imminently expected. This book brilliantly brings out the place of the angel conversations as exegetical aids in a natural philosophy that was meant to restore a corrupted and decaying Book of Nature. Natural philosophy was to provide a bridge between this world and the next, but only with the help of angels could faulty human perception and intelligence be remedied and the real significance of the things of nature be made clear." Pamela Smith, Pomona College"John Dee's 'angelic conversations' have long proved resistant to the attentions of intellectual historians. Deborah Harkness's impressive and important new book, by situating this unique intellectual formation in a full range of appropriate historical contexts not only makes them intelligible for the modern reader, but identifies some of the key cultural imperatives which shaped late-Elizabethan intellectual life." Stephen Clucas, Birkbeck College, University of London"[A] fascinating study." Religious Studies Review"Harkness' book is a welcome addition to Dee scholarship, one that perpahs will open the way to solving the questions that remain." Albion"Harkness's monography is a lively read that offers an interesting interpretation of Dee's works and their place within early modern intellectual life. It is a work that clearly deserves a place within the corpus of Dee scholarship." The Historian"Through careful description and analysis, Harkness takes us into that very strange world of early modern thought-a world of astrology, alchemy, and Christian cabala-which eventually led to the rise of science. This is a scholarly book, full of interesting footnotes and with an extensive bibliography, Such apparatus, however, should not dter the interested but nonacademic reader. This is clearly one of the best books to be published on esoteric spirituality during the Renaissance in recent years. It is clear, insightful, and a pleasure to read." the quest Sept-Oct 2001"This is a truly remarkable story and merits telling for its own sake. Harkness's version is beautifully written with rich footnoting and a good command of the sources. That she has told it unflinchingly and with sensitivity to its subject only adds to its value." Canadian Journal of HistoryTable of ContentsList of illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations and conventions; Introduction; Part I. Genesis: 1. The colloquium of angels: Prague, 1586; 2. Building Jacob's ladder: the genesis of the angel conversations; 3. Climbing Jacob's ladder: angelology as natural philosophy; Part II. Revelations: 4. 'Then commeth the ende': apocalypse, natural philosophy, and the angel conversations; 5. 'The true cabala': reading the book of nature; 6. Adam's alchemy: the medicine of God and the restitution of nature; Epilogue; Select bibliography; Index.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisBoth beer and wine have histories spanning thousands of years. This is the first book to compare them from the perspectives of history, technology, the market for each, and the effect that they have on human health and nutrition.Trade Review"Wine results from a shaky art, beer from a stately science asserts Charles Bamforth who guides the reader through the history and production of both from vine to vintage, and barley to beer bubbles. So why is it that in countries such as the United States wine is revered as sophisticated and beer dismissed as common? In pondering such questions Grape vs. Grain offers humorous as well as penetrating insights into two of the world's favorite beverages." –Kenneth Kiple, Author of A Movable Feast"Which do you prefer, Beer or Wine? Irrespective of your response, this highly entertaining and informative text is a valued reference for wine and beer aficionados. It will give you a much better insight and appreciation of both. Charlie Bamforth, Chair Department of Food Science and Technology and Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences, is well qualified to discuss wine and beer. It is obvious which one is his first love, but he demonstrates impressive knowledge and profound respect for professionals in both fields and their efforts. He has comparable disdain for inferior products, tacky marketing ploys, and intemperate consumption. He rightfully laments beer's second class image and presents compelling counter arguments. From the history and tradition to modern developments and health benefits--both good and bad--Charlie provides a fascinating, reasonably objective comparison of beer and wine. The complex technical details (more so beer than wine) are presented in easily understandable language; even the lay reader can grasp the whys and wherefore from raw material to consumption. There's an instructive mix of technology, history, geography, sociology, medicine, economics, even politics. So be it beer or wine, using Charlie's guidelines for selection and tasting, savor your favorite - slowly, thoughtfully, and in moderation. But don't neglect the alternate beverage or unfamiliar styles; you'll learn much and be pleasantly surprised." - Robert Bates, University of Florida"Many great books have been written about wine, and many about beer, but until now there has been no comprehensive work comparing the two. Charles Bamforth’s Grapes and Grain delves into the social history and technology of both wine and beer, and out of this yeasty mix, provocative insights flow. Bamforth gives the edge to brewed beverages, but wine connoisseurs will be fascinated, and everybody will enjoy his infectious enthusiasm." - Andrew F. Smith, Editor in chief, The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink"Grape vs. Grain offers a thorough, comparative look at mankind’s two most beloved and culturally significant beverages that will surely change the mind of anyone who thinks of beer as wine’s less-sophisticated ‘poor relation’. Charles Bamforth’s jovial approach to the subject is as clean and refreshing as a Blanche de Bruges on a hot summer day. Not only did I learn a lot from this book, I enjoyed reading it too; I’d love to sit down and share a pint with its author!" -Alan Tardi, Author of Romancing the Vine (Winner of the 2006 James Beard Best Wine and Spirits Book)"...readers will find that the book presents a wealth of interesting material that will correct a number of common myths about the subject of beer and wine." Agricultural History, David Hanson, University of North-Carolina- Chapel Hill"...good in covering the technical side of both wine making and beer brewing..." -GastronomicaTable of Contents1. Beer and wine: some social commentary; 2. A brief history of wine; 3. A brief history of beer; 4. How wine is made; 5. How beer is made; 6. The quality of wine; 7. The quality of beer; 8. Types of wine; 9. Types of beer; 10. The healthfulness of wine and beer; 11. Conclusions about beer and wine - and the future.

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Book SynopsisThe Geographical Tradition presents the history of an essentially contested tradition. By examining a series of key episodes in geography''s history since 1400, Livingstone argues that the messy contingencies of history are to be preferred to the manufactured idealizations of the standard chronicles. Throughout, the development of geographical thought and practice is portrayed against the background of the broader social and intellectual contexts of the times. Among the topics investigated are geography during the Age of Reconnaissance, the Scientific Revolution and The Englightenment; subsequently geography''s relationships with Darwinism, imperialism, regionalism, and quantification are elaborated.Trade Review"A major piece of work. Not since reading Glacken's Traces on the Rhodian Shore have I read a book on the history of geography that was equally bold in its ambition and erudite in supporting its claims." John A. Agnew, Syracuse University "He approaches five centuries of geographical work with zest, sympathy, catholicity and (not infrequently) irreverence in an easy style that grinds no particular axe. The reader is shown a kaleidoscope of the different motives, contexts and spirit of those who have taken part in this wide-ranging quest for knowledge. Highly readable, and recommended to all students of the history of geography and of science in general." David Hooson, University of California at Berkeley "Superb ... a real winner. A fine and well-written book that will become the core of all courses and seminars in the history and philosophy of our field." Peter R. Gould, Pennsylvania State University "It is clear that The Geographical Tradition is a tour-de-force. I congratulate you on a major achievement ... the best thing to come through my in-tray for many months." Peter Haggett, University of Bristol "Livingstone ... writes in a lively style, through which the depth of his scholarship shines brightly ... Each chapter ... is a gem: well-written, based on wide reading, and informative about both the particular subject-matter and the book's general theme. An excellent book ... which will surely stand the test of time as a major contribution to the history and historiography of geography." The Times Higher Education Supplement "David Livingstone's book is an outstanding achievement, a scholarly tour de force unmatched in previous writing on the history and philosophy of geography as a distinct form of knowledge. The scope of his project is so vast that no reviewer can do justice to the complexity of its argumentation and the wealth of its exemplification." Progress in Human Geography "This arresting book is easily the best intellectual history of geography since Clarence Clacken's Traces on the Rhodian Shore." Australian Geographical Studies "A fine example of intellectual history. Illuminating and convincing." Nature "This intellectual roller coaster has a superabundance of memorable statements." Geographical Review "A most interesting book concerning the history of geography, with special reference to European and North American theatres since the Middle Ages. Well written and contributes to an understanding of the history of science in general and the history of geography in particular. Helpful illustrations and a thorough bibliography add to this well-produced work." Choice "Elegant and eloquent." Times Literary Supplement "Geographers, historians of geography, historians of science and religion, and historians in general, take heed! This book is one of the few discussions of the history of geography truly worth reading and owning ... This is the work of a widely read, imaginative, and gifted scholar who makes full use of the sources available within the Anglo-Saxon world, dips periodically into the non-Anglo-Saxon literature, and adds a good deal of his own insight and perspective ... this is a marvellous book. Unapologetically intellectual and rigorous, it is also engagingly and beautifully written. It is a delight to read. It will prove an invaluable source of ideas and further reading. It is also a book to show to non-geographers with pride. Indeed, I suppose that it is part of a geographic tradition." The Canadian GeographerTable of ContentsPreface. 1. Should the History of Geography be X-Rated? Telling Geography's Story. 2. Of Myths and Maps: Geography in the Age of Reconnaissance. 3. Revolution, Celestial and Terrestrial: Geography nad the Scientific Revolution. 4. Naturalists and Navigators: Geography in the Enlightenment. 5. Of Design and Dining Clubs: Pre-Darwinian Geography. 6. The Geographical Experiment: Evolution and the Founding of a Discipline. 7. A 'Sternly Practical' Pursuit: Geography, Race and Empire. 8. The Regionalising Ritual: Geography, Place and Particularity. 9. Statistics Don't Bleed: Quantification and its Detractors. 10. The Geographical Tradition: A Conversational Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisLeads us on a tour of organisms, which differ radically from both animals and plants. This book ponders the impact of microbes on the evolution of civilization. It offers various tales into an account of the nature of fungi. It discusses topics such as the role of fungi in the Irish potato famine. It is intended for science enthusiasts.Trade Review"An utterly delightful book that can be read by anyone who can hardly tell a shiitake from a morel... Hudler makes an excellent brief on behalf of the fungi."--The New York Times Book Review "Thoroughly entertaining... Hudler takes readers on an enthralling and informative tour of this much maligned kingdom."--Publishers Weekly "George Hudler is clearly in love with his subject ... he translates his fascination for all things fungal into a joyful and intelligent read... People who normally shun biology should find it difficult to resist."--New Scientist "[Hudler] presents a remarkable story of the fungi and their impact on human affairs in a highly readable style that will appeal to all... A joy to read."--Choice "Unseen, misunderstood, or regarded with suspicion, we cannot escape [fungi's] influence. [Hudler] explains why in this most readable book."--Nature "Hudler is infectiously--and sometimes amusingly--enthusiastic about his subject, cheering on those who have paid fungi the attention they deserve and castigating those who have ignored them. The result is informative and entertaining popular science. It will be of particular interest to those who pick their own mushrooms or brew their own beer, activities Hudler writes about at length, but it should appeal quite broadly."--Danny Yee, Danny ReviewsTable of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroductionCh. 1Classification and Naming3Ch. 2What Fungi Do and How They Do It16Ch. 3Fungi as Pathogens of Food Crops35Ch. 4Fungi as Agents of Catastrophic Tree Diseases52Ch. 5Ergot of Grain Crops69Ch. 6Mycotoxins: Toxic By-Products of Fungal Growth85Ch. 7Mycoses: Fungus Diseases of Humans99Ch. 8Medicinal Molds113Ch. 9Yeasts for Baking and Brewing132Ch. 10Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms147Ch. 11Hallucinogenic Mushrooms172Ch. 12Wood Decay186Ch. 13Interactions of Fungi and Insects202Ch. 14Symbiotic Relationships of Fungi with Plants217Epilogue230Notes235Index245

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Book SynopsisIn 1858, aged thirty-five, weak with malaria, isolated in the remote Spice Islands, Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to Charles Darwin: he had, he said excitedly, worked out a theory of natural selection. Darwin was aghast - his work of decades was about to be scooped. Within a fortnight, his outline and Wallace''s paper were presented jointly in London. A year later, with Wallace still at the opposite side of the world, On the Origin of Species was published. Wallace had none of Darwin''s advantages or connections. Born in Usk, Gwent, in 1823, he left school at fourteen and in his mid-twenties spent four years in the Amazon collecting for museums and wealthy patrons, only to lose all his finds in a shipboard fire in mid-Atlantic. He vowed never to travel again. Yet two years later he was off to the East Indies, beginning an eight-year trek over thousands of miles; here he discovered countless unknown species and identified for the first time the point of divide between Asian and Australian

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Book SynopsisThe clearest, most accessible explanation yet of the amazing world of quantum mechanics: a Duckworth contemporary classic, beautifully repackaged for our 125th anniversaryTrade Review'A fascinating read and a must for anyone who would like to find out the latest experimental advances made in this most fundamental of quantum experiments' Physics World‘Offers beginners the tools they need to seriously engage with the philosophical questions that likely drew them to quantum mechanics’ Science‘Cleverly comes at quantum physics from a different direction... An excellent addition to the “Quantum physics for the rest of us” shelf’ Brian Clegg‘Simply an outstanding exploration of the double slit experiment and what makes it so weird’ Forbes

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Book SynopsisThe most common sexually transmitted infection, HPV causes cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, and anus. When the HPV vaccine first came to the market in 2006, it immediately grabbed attention. This book explores the national arguments and global disputes surrounding the hotly controversial HPV vaccine.Trade ReviewWell written and well researched. It is a valuable addition to the fields of public health, public policy, and pharmaceutical marketing. Choice 2011Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. A Cancer Vaccine for Girls? HPV, Sexuality, and the New Politics of PreventionVaccine Time LinesPart I: The Known and the Unknown: Vaccination Decisions amid Risk and UncertaintyChapter 1. The Coercive Hand, the Benefi cent Hand: What the History of Compulsory Vaccination Can Tell Us about HPV Vaccine MandatesChapter 2. Gardasil: A Vaccine against Cancer and a Drug to Reduce RiskChapter 3. HPV Vaccination Campaigns: Masking Uncertainty, Erasing ComplexityChapter 4. The Great Undiscussable: Anal Cancer, HPV, and Gay Men's HealthChapter 5. Cervical Cancer, HIV, and the HPV Vaccine in BotswanaPart II: Girls at the Center of the Storm: Marketing and Managing Gendered RiskChapter 6. Safeguarding Girls: Morality, Risk, and ActivismChapter 7. Producing and Protecting Risky GirlhoodsChapter 8. Re- Presenting Choice: Tune in HPVPart III: Focus on the Family: Parents Assessing Morality, Risk, and Opting OutChapter 9. Parenting and Prevention: Views of HPV Vaccines among Parents Challenging Childhood ImmunizationsChapter 10. Decision Psychology and the HPV VaccineChapter 11. Nonmedical Exemptions to Mandatory Vaccination: Personal Belief, Public Policy, and the Ethics of RefusalChapter 12. Sex, Science, and the Politics of Biomedicine: Gardasil in Comparative PerspectivePart IV: In Search of Good Government: Eu rope, Africa, and America at the Crossroads of Cancer PreventionChapter 13. Vaccination as Governance: HPV Skepticism in the United States and Africa, and the North- South DivideChapter 14. Public Discourses and Policymaking: The HPV Vaccination from the Europe an PerspectiveChapter 15. HPV Vaccination in Context: A View from FranceNotes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisMathematicians and historians of mathematics and science will find in The Chinese Roots of Linear Algebra new ways to conceptualize the intellectual development of linear algebra.Trade ReviewA pivotal work in the history of non-Western mathematics that will revolutionize people's understanding of the origins of techniques previously viewed as Western inventions. Choice 2011Table of ContentsPreface1. IntroductionOverview of This BookHistoriographic IssuesOutline of the Chapters2. PreliminariesChinese ConventionsChinese MathematicsModern Mathematical Terminology3. The Sources: Written Records of Early Chinese MathematicsPractices and Texts in Early Chinese MathematicsThe Book of ComputationThe Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Arts4. Excess and DeficitExcess and Deficit Problems in the Book of Computation"Excess and Deficit," Chapter 7 of the Nine Chapters5. Fangcheng, Chapter 8 of the Nine ChaptersThe Fangcheng ProcedureProcedure for Positive and Negative NumbersConclusions6. The Fangcheng Procedure in Modern Mathematical TermsConspectus of Fangcheng Problems in the Nine ChaptersEliminationBack SubstitutionIs the Fangcheng Procedure Integer-Preserving?Conclusions7. The Well ProblemTraditional Solutions to the Well ProblemThe Earliest Extant Record of a Determinantal CalculationThe Earliest Extant Record of a Determinantal SolutionConclusions8. Evidence of Early Determinantal SolutionsThe Classification of ProblemsFive Problems from the Nine ChaptersConclusions9. ConclusionsThe Early History of Linear AlgebraQuestions for Further ResearchMethodological IssuesSignificance and ImplicationsAppendix A: Examples of Similar ProblemsExamples from Diophantus's ArithmeticaExamples from ModernWorks on Linear AlgebraAppendix B: Chinese Mathematical TreatisesBibliographies of Chinese Mathematical TreatisesMathematical Treatises Listed in Chinese BibliographiesAppendix C: Outlines of ProofsBibliography of Primary and Secondary SourcesIndex

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Book SynopsisAlthough the dream of flying is as old as the human imagination, the notion of rocketing into space may have originated with Chinese gunpowder experiments during the Middle Ages. Rockets as both weapons and entertainment are examined in this engaging history of how human beings acquired the ability to catapult themselves into space.Trade Review"Let us hope for as good a companion volume taking the story to the shuttle and space-station era and the emergence of space powers other than Russia and the U.S."-Roland Green, Booklist -- Roland Green Booklist "As much a story of cultural ambition and personal destiny as of scientific progress and technological history, To a Distant Day offers a thoroughly compelling account of humankind's determined efforts-sometimes poignant, sometimes amazing, sometimes mad-to leave Earth behind."-Quest Quest "As someone who has been teaching a course on space exploration for many years and has visited most of NASA's space centers, I have found plenty of new and valuable material in To a Distant Day... I recommend the book to all who wish to know more about the conditions, people, and discoveries between 1890 and 1960 that led to the space age."-Pangratios Papacosta, Physics Today -- Pangratios Papacosta Physics Today "To a Distant Day is not simply about scientific and technical developments. It provides insight into the social and political context of the early rocket pioneers and how progress emerged amidst competing egos, political pressures, and technical challenges... Insightful, instructive, and definitely worth the read."-Greg Andres, Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada -- Greg Andres Journal of The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada "Since the dawn of time, mankind has looked skyward and longed to travel the heavens, to feel the glow of distant stars, to explore the celestial bodies of our galactic neighborhood, and to venture beyond this earthly cradle. Chris Gainor's work, To a Distant Day, tells of the engineers, the scientists, and the explorers who realized the ancient dream and ventured from Earth."-David R. Self, Technology and Culture -- David R. Self Technology and Culture "Chris Gainor's new book, To a Distant Day, recreates the colorful history of how rocketry came to be."-David Reneke, davidreneke.com -- David Reneke davidreneke.comTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsForeword from Col. Alfred WordenAcronymsChapter 1 Space Dreams and War DrumsChapter 2 Tsiolkovsky and the Birth of Soviet AstronauticsChapter 3 Robert Goddard’s Solitary TrailChapter 4 Hermann Oberth and Early German RocketryChapter 5 Von Braun, Dornberger and World War IIChapter 6 Rockets, Balloons and the Right StuffChapter 7 Korolev and the First ICBMChapter 8 The Military Industrial ComplexChapter 9 Sputniks and MuttniksChapter 10 The Birth of NASAChapter 11 Man In Space SoonestEpilog: July 6, 1969SourcesIndex

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking history that illuminates the foundations of the multibillion-dollar human growth hormone (HGH) industry. Drawing on medical and public health histories as well as on photography, film, music, prose, and other examples from popular culture, Aimee Medeiros tracks how the stigmatization of short stature in boys and growth hormone technology came together in the twentieth century.Trade Review“Heightened Expectations is an excellent treatment of a significant subject, the history of American ideas about height and medical approaches to issues of human growth, from the late 1800s onward. Medeiros’s treatment fits beautifully into the powerful and growing literature on the history of medicine, disability, gender, and the body.” —Amy Sue Bix, author of Girls Coming to Tech!: A History of American Engineering Education for Women and Inventing Ourselves Out of Jobs?: America’s Debate over Technical Unemployment, 1929–1981 “Heightened Expectations offers a lively and engaging discussion of how short stature became a ‘disease’ in need of medical treatment. It convincingly demonstrates that the pathology-making of short stature dates back to the nineteenth century and is intertwined with the rise of modern capitalism.” —Heather Munro Prescott, author of A Doctor of Their Own: The History of Adolescent Medicine and The Morning After: A History of Emergency Contraception in the United States""Heightened Expectations is a good solid piece of work on a topic of much interest. It intersects the new field of disability history and adopts the newer approach, discussing how long-standing issues have been managed rather than simply exposed, allowing fundamental cleavages in the social fabric."" — Alan I Marcus, senior series editor, neXus

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Book SynopsisA science studies text that reveals the legal and political origins of the concept of immunity.Trade Review“Ed Cohen offers a provocative and demanding account of what he calls the ‘back story’ of the apotheosis of the modern body through the thought provoking trajectory of immunity as an unquestioned metaphor that unreflectively incorporates juridico-political assumptions. . . . A Body Worth Defending has much to offer the diligent reader, who is interested in tracing modernity’s genealogy and its shape-shifting over time in its understanding of the nature of the human and its present manifestation as a biological phenomena separated and distinct from the environment. ” - C. F. Black, Leonardo“[W]ith a decisive reading of Foucault, a well-researched insight into contemporary biopolitics and immunity, both philosophically and scientifically, and an historical genealogy of these topics that has no current rival, there is little doubt this work will have longstanding status.” - Elliot A. Jarbe, Foucault Studies“A Body Worth Defending presents an erudite analysis of immunity that elucidates complex theoretical ideas through the patient weaving of historical narrative. Cohen’s text, which in itself constitutes a fascinating historical study, presents a strong, well supported case for how politics insinuates itself into the fabric of our being. This persuasive and timely critique makes an important contribution to political and philosophical engagements with immunology, and to histories of medicine more generally.” - Michelle Jamieson, Social History of Medicine“Ed Cohen’s A Body Worth Defending provides an excellent example of the latter genre. . . . Cohen’s sociopolitical history brilliantly navigates through various nineteenth-century interfaces of the medical and the political domains. . . . A Body Worth Defending reinforces the importance of the idea of immunity to elucidate notions of personal identity in advanced Western societies.” - Alfred J. Tauber, Isis“For those inclined to Foucauldian approaches—and I include myself here—it is a most welcome and thorough study that pushes the Foucauldian corpus further, conceptually and substantively. . . . [T]his book is unsurpassed.” - Alison Bashford, Metascience“Inspired by Michel Foucault’s writings about biopolitics and biopower, Cohen traces immunity’s migration from politics and law into the domains of medicine and science. Offering a genealogy of the concept, he illuminates a complex of thinking about modern bodies which percolates through European political, legal, philosophical, economic, governmental, scientific, and medical discourses from the mid-seventeenth century through the twentieth. . . . In this lively cultural rumination, Cohen argues that by embracing the idea of immunity-as-defense so exclusively, biomedicine naturalizes the individual as the privileged focus for identifying and treating illness, thereby devaluing or obscuring approaches to healing situated within communities or collectives.” - Nelson Santos, VisualAIDS Blog“Ed Cohen provides a breathtakingly original exploration of the ways in which the immunity, a concept defined and complicated through the strange interlocking of biological and medical with legal and political discourses, has come to explain modern bodies, both individual and collective. A brilliant, timely contribution to understanding the biopolitics of illness, contagion and defense.”—Elizabeth Grosz, author of The Nick of Time: Politics, Evolution and the Untimely“Ed Cohen’s original epistemological history sheds new light on the taken for granted modern imperative to care for our health by tending our immune systems. This important book reveals in startling and fresh ways the philosophical groundings that made this imperative seem natural.”—Emily Martin, author of Flexible Bodies: Tracking Immunity in American Culture from the Days of Polio to the Age of AIDS“A Body Worth Defending presents an erudite analysis of immunity that elucidates complex theoretical ideas through the patient weaving of historical narrative. Cohen’s text, which in itself constitutes a fascinating historical study, presents a strong, well supported case for how politics insinuates itself into the fabric of our being. This persuasive and timely critique makes an important contribution to political and philosophical engagements with immunology, and to histories of medicine more generally.” -- Michelle Jamieson * Social History of Medicine *“[W]ith a decisive reading of Foucault, a well-researched insight into contemporary biopolitics and immunity, both philosophically and scientifically, and an historical genealogy of these topics that has no current rival, there is little doubt this work will have longstanding status.” -- Elliot A. Jarbe * Foucault Studies *“Ed Cohen offers a provocative and demanding account of what he calls the ‘back story’ of the apotheosis of the modern body through the thought provoking trajectory of immunity as an unquestioned metaphor that unreflectively incorporates juridico-political assumptions. . . . A Body Worth Defending has much to offer the diligent reader, who is interested in tracing modernity’s genealogy and its shape-shifting over time in its understanding of the nature of the human and its present manifestation as a biological phenomena separated and distinct from the environment. ” -- C. F. Black * Leonardo Reviews *“Ed Cohen’s A Body Worth Defending provides an excellent example of the latter genre. . . . Cohen’s sociopolitical history brilliantly navigates through various nineteenth-century interfaces of the medical and the political domains. . . . A Body Worth Defending reinforces the importance of the idea of immunity to elucidate notions of personal identity in advanced Western societies.” -- Alfred J. Tauber * Isis *“For those inclined to Foucauldian approaches—and I include myself here—it is a most welcome and thorough study that pushes the Foucauldian corpus further, conceptually and substantively. . . . [T]his book is unsurpassed.” -- Alison Bashford * Metascience *“Inspired by Michel Foucault’s writings about biopolitics and biopower, Cohen traces immunity’s migration from politics and law into the domains of medicine and science. Offering a genealogy of the concept, he illuminates a complex of thinking about modern bodies which percolates through European political, legal, philosophical, economic, governmental, scientific, and medical discourses from the mid-seventeenth century through the twentieth. . . . In this lively cultural rumination, Cohen argues that by embracing the idea of immunity-as-defense so exclusively, biomedicine naturalizes the individual as the privileged focus for identifying and treating illness, thereby devaluing or obscuring approaches to healing situated within communities or collectives.” -- Nelson Santos * VisualAIDS Blog *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Opening Up a Few Concepts: Introductory Ruminations 1 1. Living Before and Beyond the Law, or A Reasonable Organism Defends Itself 32 2. A Body Worth Having, or A System of Natural Governance 68 3. A Policy called Milieu, or The Human Organism's Vital Space 130 4. Incorporating Immunity, or The Defensive Poetics of Modern Medicine 206 Conclusion: Immune Communities, Common Immunities 269 Notes 283 Bibliography 323 Index 359

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