Science: general issues Books

Book SynopsisInvestigates twelve of the instructive episodes involving the interaction between science and Christianity, aiming to tell each story in its historical specificity and local particularity.Trade Review"Taken together, these papers provide a comprehensive survey of current thinking on key issues in the relationships between science and religion, pitched - as the editors intended - at just the right level to appeal to students." - Peter J. Bowler, Isis"

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Book SynopsisDraws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with professional dominatrices in New York City and San Francisco to offer a portrait of these unusual specialists, their work, and their clients. This work presents an analysis of how gender, power, sexuality, and hierarchy shape all of our social experiences.Trade Review"In the tradition of the great occupational ethnographies, Danielle J. Lindemann takes us into professional dominatrices' worlds and shows us, with graceful and consistently engaging prose, how the women she studied build careers, negotiate with clients, and develop accounts that make sense of their work and of the relationships it entails. Dominatrix has much to teach us about gender and sexuality." (Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University)"

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding the chimpanzee mind is akin to opening a window onto human consciousness. Many of our complex cognitive processes have origins that can be seen in the way that chimpanzees think, learn, and behave. This title brings together scientists from around the world to share the research into what goes on inside the mind of the chimpanzee.

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Book SynopsisBoth practitioners and admirers of Buddhism have proclaimed its compatibility with science. This book explores how and why these two seemingly disparate modes of understanding the inner and outer universe have been so persistently linked.Trade Review"A tour de force. This extremely original and well-written book... provides all the background needed for those unfamiliar with Buddhism to understand the tradition and the perplexing scientific claims made for it." - Richard M. Jaffe, Duke University "In Buddhism and Science, Donald Lopez fills a major gap, and he does so with his trademark rigor, concision, and elan. No serious student of science-and-religion can afford to skip this book." - Jack Miles, general editor, Norton Anthology of World Religions"

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Book SynopsisDNA profiling is often heralded as unassailable criminal evidence, a veritable "truth machine" that can overturn convictions based on eyewitness testimony, confessions, and other forms of forensic evidence. This book traces the controversial history of DNA fingerprinting by looking at court cases in the US and UK from the mid-1980s onwards.Trade Review"I could not put it down. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science." (Times Higher Education) "An interesting read.... It illustrates that the controversy of DNA profiling is rooted not in the science, but mainly in the restrictions of the adversarial system." (Nature)"

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Book SynopsisThese days, the idea of the cyborg is less the stuff of science fiction and more a reality, as we are all, in one way or another, constantly connected, extended, wired, and dispersed in and through technology. The author focuses on a man who is permanently attached to assemblages of machines, devices, and collectivities of people: Stephen Hawking.Trade Review"First things first: Hawking Incorporated: Stephen Hawking and the Anthropology of the Knowing Subject is a masterful, inspiring book. Rather than producing a biography of Hawking, which this is decidedly not, Helene Mialet's book encourages us to question the very possibility of knowing who Hawking is without taking away the agency of the man himself, ultimately helping readers reconsider how we think about individuality, embodiment, and personhood in extremely productive ways... Inspired by Actor-Network Theory but pushing it into new territory, Mialet's study uses a thick description of Hawking's 'extended body' to allow us a glimpse into the formation, movement, and circulation of identity in general, in the sciences and potentially well beyond. What does it mean to say 'he thinks'? What's the difference between dealing with texts and people? How do we define what is 'original' and how does that translate into the archive? Mialet's work explores these and other questions in a series of ethnographic accounts and stories that are both fascinating to read and extremely helpful to think with." (Carla Nappi New Books in Science, Technology, and Society) "For Helene Mialet, what we know is not Hawking but a construct she calls 'HAWKING,' which is sustained by an extended network of nurses, postgraduate assistants, students and other ancillaries, further institutional support, plus indispensable media assistance. In this rather thorough exploration, she gives us a thick description of how this all works, interwoven with much discussion of distributed identities and personhood in performance." (Jon Turney Times Higher Education Supplement) "Hawking Incorporated will draw readers because of the extraordinary fame of its subject. However, it is most valuable because its case study identifies exaggerated but important features of ordinary science in practice." (Jon Agar Science) "He is a household name, and not just in scientific circles. As the world's most famous living scientist, Stephen Hawking needs no introduction - whether appearing on late night chat shows or an episode of The Simpsons. But why? In Hawking Incorporated, historian and philosopher of science Helene Mialet sets out to answer this question, and in the process comes to some interesting conclusions about the way we perceive science and scientists." (New Scientist) "Hawking Incorporated: Stephen Hawking and the Anthropology of the Knowing Subject by Helene Mialet is a book that deserves a spot on every Transhumanist's virtual bookshelf... [A] must read." (Peter Rothman h+) "This fascinating book takes a fresh approach to Stephen Hawking... Highly recommended." (V. V. Raman, Rochester Institute of Technology Choice) "From a disability studies perspective, Hawking Incorporated serves as a superb case study for examining the ordinary practices that maintain disability as an undertheorized phenomenon. Disability, depicted by Mialet as a forceful provocation, puts the reader on the path to witness how various competencies are enabled by an able-ist network of power and knowledge. Moreover, this book is an excellent addition to science and technology studies; anthropology of the knowing subject; sociology of work; and, of course, a must-read for those interested in thinking critically about Stephen Hawking." (Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto Disability & Society) "Hawking Incorporated, while very much a work of anthropology based in the present, sits at the intersection of some of the most pressing questions for historians of science. To pose just a few: what is the relationship between individual and collective scientific activity? How do materials and machines matter in theoretical sciences? How is a subject constituted in an archive? How do private and public images of science shape scientific knowledge and practice and vice versa? Each question turns on Mialet's presiding interest in just who and what make up the knowing subject, a figure she unpacks in ways that can challenge and enrich many historians' work." (Michael J. Barany, Princeton University British Journal for the History of Science) "The book is written engagingly and may perhaps attract readers to the remarkable literature on the social and cultural workings of science that anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers have produced over the past four decades or so." (American Ethnologist) "A unique story." (Ian Hacking Common Knowledge) "Hawking Incorporated offers a new analysis of the ways in which the scientist Stephen Hawking's persona is produced and used in an astonishingly wide range of spheres. Using materials from interviews, film and audio records, correspondence and informal documents, Helene Mialet offers nothing less than a new anthropology of the contemporary scientist. This is a story with a fascinating cast: assistants, students, secretaries, archivists, physicians, engineers, journalists, and filmmakers all figure as key participants in the enormous work of sustaining and distributing Hawking's projects. Mialet's tactful and astute inquiry addresses the intimate details of the modern scientific world: its artful use of ingenious software, computational diagrams, and calculating aids; its ceremonial system of lectures and conferences; its career structure of disciplinary training and public mastery. The book will be of inestimable value both as a highly original biography of a fascinating intellectual presence and a broad study of one of the most important themes in the culture of modern sciences." (Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge) "Helene Mialet has offered a brilliant and provocative book, taking the example of Stephen Hawking to probe the contemporary articulation of 'man.' What we discover is the anthropos radically rethought as an assemblage of body, machine, media event and image, object, and industrial effect. Indeed, the human body turns out to be a series of interrelated connections, and this book persuades us to rethink our most basic ideas of human form and the tasks of science itself." (Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley) "On a terribly risky topic, Helene Mialet manages with a delicate and caring touch to approach one of the most vexing questions of science studies: how to give a concrete description of the material network able to generate abstraction? By connecting disability studies, distributed cognition, and the ethnography of formalism, she also manages to write a moving portrait of an embodied mind at work." (Bruno Latour, Sciences Po Paris) "Hawking Incorporated provides a social anatomy of how Stephen Hawking - as a physicist, person, and cyborgian collective - lives and breathes in human space-time, even as his theories reach toward a cosmic elsewhere. Helene Mialet takes the reader on an anthropological odyssey through the worlds of those assistants, machines, students, and TV documentary teams that have helped to conjure Hawking as the singular figure he has become. When Mialet finally meets Hawking in person, the results are riveting and revelatory." (Stefan Helmreich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) "Mialet doesn't ask what the famous scientist has taught us about cosmology. She asks what his life and career can teach us about scientific thinking in general - and about ordinary thinking too, for that matter. There is no doubt that Hawking is doubly exceptional, both in his mind and his body. The brilliant gambit of Mialet's book is to explore this exceptionalism in order to reveal how scientific knowledge is made under far more ordinary circumstances." (Ken Alder LA Review of Books)

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Book SynopsisThese days, the idea of the cyborg is less the stuff of science fiction and more a reality, as we are all, in one way or another, constantly connected, extended, wired, and dispersed in and through technology. The author focuses on a man who is permanently attached to assemblages of machines, devices, and collectivities of people: Stephen Hawking.Trade Review"First things first: Hawking Incorporated: Stephen Hawking and the Anthropology of the Knowing Subject is a masterful, inspiring book. Rather than producing a biography of Hawking, which this is decidedly not, Helene Mialet's book encourages us to question the very possibility of knowing who Hawking is without taking away the agency of the man himself, ultimately helping readers reconsider how we think about individuality, embodiment, and personhood in extremely productive ways... Inspired by Actor-Network Theory but pushing it into new territory, Mialet's study uses a thick description of Hawking's 'extended body' to allow us a glimpse into the formation, movement, and circulation of identity in general, in the sciences and potentially well beyond. What does it mean to say 'he thinks'? What's the difference between dealing with texts and people? How do we define what is 'original' and how does that translate into the archive? Mialet's work explores these and other questions in a series of ethnographic accounts and stories that are both fascinating to read and extremely helpful to think with." (Carla Nappi New Books in Science, Technology, and Society) "For Helene Mialet, what we know is not Hawking but a construct she calls 'HAWKING,' which is sustained by an extended network of nurses, postgraduate assistants, students and other ancillaries, further institutional support, plus indispensable media assistance. In this rather thorough exploration, she gives us a thick description of how this all works, interwoven with much discussion of distributed identities and personhood in performance." (Jon Turney Times Higher Education Supplement) "Hawking Incorporated will draw readers because of the extraordinary fame of its subject. However, it is most valuable because its case study identifies exaggerated but important features of ordinary science in practice." (Jon Agar Science) "He is a household name, and not just in scientific circles. As the world's most famous living scientist, Stephen Hawking needs no introduction - whether appearing on late night chat shows or an episode of The Simpsons. But why? In Hawking Incorporated, historian and philosopher of science Helene Mialet sets out to answer this question, and in the process comes to some interesting conclusions about the way we perceive science and scientists." (New Scientist) "Hawking Incorporated: Stephen Hawking and the Anthropology of the Knowing Subject by Helene Mialet is a book that deserves a spot on every Transhumanist's virtual bookshelf... [A] must read." (Peter Rothman h+) "This fascinating book takes a fresh approach to Stephen Hawking... Highly recommended." (V. V. Raman, Rochester Institute of Technology Choice) "From a disability studies perspective, Hawking Incorporated serves as a superb case study for examining the ordinary practices that maintain disability as an undertheorized phenomenon. Disability, depicted by Mialet as a forceful provocation, puts the reader on the path to witness how various competencies are enabled by an able-ist network of power and knowledge. Moreover, this book is an excellent addition to science and technology studies; anthropology of the knowing subject; sociology of work; and, of course, a must-read for those interested in thinking critically about Stephen Hawking." (Tanya Titchkosky, University of Toronto Disability & Society) "Hawking Incorporated, while very much a work of anthropology based in the present, sits at the intersection of some of the most pressing questions for historians of science. To pose just a few: what is the relationship between individual and collective scientific activity? How do materials and machines matter in theoretical sciences? How is a subject constituted in an archive? How do private and public images of science shape scientific knowledge and practice and vice versa? Each question turns on Mialet's presiding interest in just who and what make up the knowing subject, a figure she unpacks in ways that can challenge and enrich many historians' work." (Michael J. Barany, Princeton University British Journal for the History of Science) "The book is written engagingly and may perhaps attract readers to the remarkable literature on the social and cultural workings of science that anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers have produced over the past four decades or so." (American Ethnologist) "A unique story." (Ian Hacking Common Knowledge) "Hawking Incorporated offers a new analysis of the ways in which the scientist Stephen Hawking's persona is produced and used in an astonishingly wide range of spheres. Using materials from interviews, film and audio records, correspondence and informal documents, Helene Mialet offers nothing less than a new anthropology of the contemporary scientist. This is a story with a fascinating cast: assistants, students, secretaries, archivists, physicians, engineers, journalists, and filmmakers all figure as key participants in the enormous work of sustaining and distributing Hawking's projects. Mialet's tactful and astute inquiry addresses the intimate details of the modern scientific world: its artful use of ingenious software, computational diagrams, and calculating aids; its ceremonial system of lectures and conferences; its career structure of disciplinary training and public mastery. The book will be of inestimable value both as a highly original biography of a fascinating intellectual presence and a broad study of one of the most important themes in the culture of modern sciences." (Simon Schaffer, University of Cambridge) "Helene Mialet has offered a brilliant and provocative book, taking the example of Stephen Hawking to probe the contemporary articulation of 'man.' What we discover is the anthropos radically rethought as an assemblage of body, machine, media event and image, object, and industrial effect. Indeed, the human body turns out to be a series of interrelated connections, and this book persuades us to rethink our most basic ideas of human form and the tasks of science itself." (Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley) "On a terribly risky topic, Helene Mialet manages with a delicate and caring touch to approach one of the most vexing questions of science studies: how to give a concrete description of the material network able to generate abstraction? By connecting disability studies, distributed cognition, and the ethnography of formalism, she also manages to write a moving portrait of an embodied mind at work." (Bruno Latour, Sciences Po Paris) "Hawking Incorporated provides a social anatomy of how Stephen Hawking - as a physicist, person, and cyborgian collective - lives and breathes in human space-time, even as his theories reach toward a cosmic elsewhere. Helene Mialet takes the reader on an anthropological odyssey through the worlds of those assistants, machines, students, and TV documentary teams that have helped to conjure Hawking as the singular figure he has become. When Mialet finally meets Hawking in person, the results are riveting and revelatory." (Stefan Helmreich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) "Mialet doesn't ask what the famous scientist has taught us about cosmology. She asks what his life and career can teach us about scientific thinking in general - and about ordinary thinking too, for that matter. There is no doubt that Hawking is doubly exceptional, both in his mind and his body. The brilliant gambit of Mialet's book is to explore this exceptionalism in order to reveal how scientific knowledge is made under far more ordinary circumstances." (Ken Alder LA Review of Books)

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Book SynopsisBringing together historians of science and medicine with environmental historians, and adding more contemporary vantage points from geography, anthropology, and sociology, Osiris Volume 19: Landscapes of Exposure offers an unprecedented interdisciplinary depiction of how, over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,.

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Book SynopsisMark Monmonier looks at the increased use of geographic data, satellite imagery, and location tracking across a wide range of fields. Could these diverse forms of geographic monitoring, he asks, lead to grave consequences for society?Trade Review"With electronic spies in the sky, sensors under the streets, and geographic data banks everywhere, it takes Mark Monmonier's knowledge and insight to make sense of the new landscape of locational privacy. This is fascinating reading, indispensable to watchers and watched alike." - Edward Tenner, author of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences

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Book SynopsisIn Spying with Maps, the "mapmatician" Mark Monmonier looks at the increased use of geographic data, satellite imagery, and location tracking across a wide range of fields such as military intelligence, law enforcement, market research, and traffic engineering.

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Book SynopsisHigher education is a strange beast. Teaching is a critical skill for scientists in academia, yet one that is barely touched upon in their professional trainingdespite being a substantial part of their career. This book is a practical guide for anyone teaching STEM-related academic disciplines at the college level, from graduate students teaching lab sections and newly appointed faculty to well-seasoned professors in want of fresh ideas. Terry McGlynn's straightforward, no-nonsense approach avoids off-putting pedagogical jargon and enables instructors to become true ambassadors for science. For years, McGlynn has been addressing the need for practical and accessible advice for college science teachers through his popular blog Small Pond Science. Now he has gathered this advice as an easy readone that can be ingested and put to use on short deadline. Readers will learn about topics ranging from creating a syllabus and developing grading rubrics to mastering online teaching and ensurTrade Review"The teaching book I’ve always needed." * Scientist Sees Squirrel blog *"This won’t be the only book in your teaching and learning collection, but it’s a great first book to set the tone and seed the bookshelf. The guide provides a clear orientation to respectful, empathetic, and effective teaching; for me, it will prompt some updates to my syllabus and reinvigorate my efforts to be familiar with the scholarship of teaching. If it has this effect on all new instructors who read it, the true benefit will accrue to the students who will learn the sciences in courses that trend toward lower anxiety and higher engagement. Although the text will be most useful to new instructors—graduate students and early-career faculty—even established professors will likely find refreshing perspectives and ideas." * American Entomologist *"Smart, thoughtful, and practical." * Quarterly Review of Biology *"It is the empathy that McGlynn brings to his subject that sets his book apart, for McGlynn, an experienced professor of Biology, is first and foremost a teacher of empathy in this text, a rare and precious skill. As instructors, we think we already know the nuts and bolts of how to teach a course, but how to structure a classroom such that it may foster the empathy required to promote lasting change? We haven’t thought about this enough, but lucky for us, McGlynn has. Every subject covered within this ‘Practical Guide’ is grounded in McGlynn’s vision of a more equitable and compassionate learning environment and promises deep benefits for students and teachers alike." -- Hope Jahren, Author of Lab Girl and The Story of More"Many of us find ourselves in front of a university classroom with little formal training in how to be effective instructors or how to mentor diverse populations of undergraduates. McGlynn’s book is the resource so many of us have been waiting for. It is practical, informative, and full of helpful tips. Whether you are new to college instruction or a seasoned professor you are certain to discover tools that will improve your science teaching." -- Corrie Moreau, Professor and Collection Curator, Cornell University Dept. of Entomology"I love field guides. In this useful, interesting book, Terry McGlynn offers a field guide to the wonderful wilds of the classroom. This is the book every aspiring or new instructor should have, but so too seasoned professors. It is extraordinarily useful, but in as much as it draws on insights from a broad range of fields, also fascinating. It will be a classic." -- Rob Dunn, Professor of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State UniversityTable of ContentsPreface 1. Before You Meet Your Students 2. The Syllabus 3. The Curriculum 4. Teaching Methods 5. Assignments 6. Exams 7. Common Problems 8. Online Teaching Afterword Acknowledgments Notes Suggested Readings Index

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Book SynopsisHigher education is a strange beast. Teaching is a critical skill for scientists in academia, yet one that is barely touched upon in their professional trainingdespite being a substantial part of their career. This book is a practical guide for anyone teaching STEM-related academic disciplines at the college level, from graduate students teaching lab sections and newly appointed faculty to well-seasoned professors in want of fresh ideas. Terry McGlynn's straightforward, no-nonsense approach avoids off-putting pedagogical jargon and enables instructors to become true ambassadors for science. For years, McGlynn has been addressing the need for practical and accessible advice for college science teachers through his popular blog Small Pond Science. Now he has gathered this advice as an easy readone that can be ingested and put to use on short deadline. Readers will learn about topics ranging from creating a syllabus and developing grading rubrics to mastering online teaching and ensurTrade Review"The teaching book I’ve always needed." * Scientist Sees Squirrel blog *"This won’t be the only book in your teaching and learning collection, but it’s a great first book to set the tone and seed the bookshelf. The guide provides a clear orientation to respectful, empathetic, and effective teaching; for me, it will prompt some updates to my syllabus and reinvigorate my efforts to be familiar with the scholarship of teaching. If it has this effect on all new instructors who read it, the true benefit will accrue to the students who will learn the sciences in courses that trend toward lower anxiety and higher engagement. Although the text will be most useful to new instructors—graduate students and early-career faculty—even established professors will likely find refreshing perspectives and ideas." * American Entomologist *"Smart, thoughtful, and practical." * Quarterly Review of Biology *"It is the empathy that McGlynn brings to his subject that sets his book apart, for McGlynn, an experienced professor of Biology, is first and foremost a teacher of empathy in this text, a rare and precious skill. As instructors, we think we already know the nuts and bolts of how to teach a course, but how to structure a classroom such that it may foster the empathy required to promote lasting change? We haven’t thought about this enough, but lucky for us, McGlynn has. Every subject covered within this ‘Practical Guide’ is grounded in McGlynn’s vision of a more equitable and compassionate learning environment and promises deep benefits for students and teachers alike." -- Hope Jahren, Author of Lab Girl and The Story of More"Many of us find ourselves in front of a university classroom with little formal training in how to be effective instructors or how to mentor diverse populations of undergraduates. McGlynn’s book is the resource so many of us have been waiting for. It is practical, informative, and full of helpful tips. Whether you are new to college instruction or a seasoned professor you are certain to discover tools that will improve your science teaching." -- Corrie Moreau, Professor and Collection Curator, Cornell University Dept. of Entomology"I love field guides. In this useful, interesting book, Terry McGlynn offers a field guide to the wonderful wilds of the classroom. This is the book every aspiring or new instructor should have, but so too seasoned professors. It is extraordinarily useful, but in as much as it draws on insights from a broad range of fields, also fascinating. It will be a classic." -- Rob Dunn, Professor of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State UniversityTable of ContentsPreface 1. Before You Meet Your Students 2. The Syllabus 3. The Curriculum 4. Teaching Methods 5. Assignments 6. Exams 7. Common Problems 8. Online Teaching Afterword Acknowledgments Notes Suggested Readings Index

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Book SynopsisProvides a comprehensive account of the energetics of birds and mammals. This title also provides an overview of thermal rates and explains how the basal rate of metabolism drives energy use, especially in extreme environments.Trade Review"This is a fascinating book and one that obviously represents a grand synthesis of a lifetime of data collection by the author. More than ever this type of synthesis is needed if conservation efforts are to move forward." (Terrie M. Williams, University of California, Santa Cruz)"

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Book SynopsisLife on earth is characterized by three phenomena: adaptation; diversity; and complexity. Natural selection explains adaptation. But what explains diversity and complexity? This book argues that there exists in evolution a spontaneous tendency toward increased diversity and complexity, one that acts whether natural selection is present or not.Trade Review"The ZFEL will be obvious to some, heretical to others, so the book will be controversial. But at the same time, the argument is rich enough to convince a skeptic, provided that skeptic is open-minded. A novel contribution of far-reaching importance in evolutionary biology." - Michael Foote, University of Chicago.

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Book SynopsisLife on earth is characterized by three phenomena: adaptation; diversity; and complexity. Natural selection explains adaptation. But what explains diversity and complexity? This book argues that there exists in evolution a spontaneous tendency toward increased diversity and complexity, one that acts whether natural selection is present or not.Trade Review"The ZFEL will be obvious to some, heretical to others, so the book will be controversial. But at the same time, the argument is rich enough to convince a skeptic, provided that skeptic is open-minded. A novel contribution of far-reaching importance in evolutionary biology." - Michael Foote, University of Chicago"

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Book SynopsisSince the Enlightenment, alchemy has been viewed as a sort of antiscience, disparaged by many historians as a form of lunacy that impeded the development of rational chemistry. This title exposes the speciousness of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins of the Scientific Revolution.Trade Review"Atoms and Alchemy is the newest installment of Newman's scholarship that continues to challenge scholars to rethink some of their most cherished assumptions concerning the actuality of a clearcut demarcation during the early modern period between so-called 'rational' and 'occult' spheres in the discipline we now refer to as chemistry." - Mordechai Feingold, California Institute of Technology"

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Book SynopsisBoth the quest for natural knowledge and the aspiration to alchemical wisdom played crucial roles in the scientific revolution, as William R. Newman demonstrates in this work on George Starkey (1628-1665), America's first famous scientist.Trade Review"A richly detailed account that provides many new insights into the intersection of medicine, natural philosophy, and alchemy in seventeenth-century education, medical practice, and scientific thought." - Nancy G. Siraisi, Renaissance Quarterly "The deep scholarship of this book is presented to the nonexpert reader with exemplary lucidity.... It should lead to a rethinking of the role of alchemy in the scientific revolution." - Roy Porter, William and Mary Quarterly "Newman shows how studying an obscure and ambiguous figure can bring the science of a period to life." - David Knight, Nature

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Book SynopsisShows how linguistic resources discourage any shared, multidisciplinary public deliberation over environmental goals and policy. Emphasizing cooperation and adaptation through social learning, the author provides a practical framework that encourages an experimental approach to language clarification and problem formulation.

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Book SynopsisJust as Darwin's ideas continue to propel the modern study of adaptation, so too Richard Owen's contributions fuel the interest in homology, organic form, and evolutionary developmental biology. This title offers his theory of the archetype and his views on species origins.Trade Review"I look at Owen's Archetypes as more than ideal, as a real representation as far as the most consummate skill and loftiest generalization can represent the parent form of the Vertebrata." - Charles Darwin, marginalia in his copy of On the Nature of Limbs"

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Book SynopsisAlthough it was first published 20 years ago, Stuart Pimm's Food Webs remains a clear introduction to the study of food webs, diagrams depicting which species interact - in other words, who eats whom.Trade Review"[An] important and long-needed book....[It] should attract a wide audience and should serve, for years to come, as the basis for new investigations, both theoretical and empirical." - Michael Gllpin, Nature

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Book SynopsisImmerses readers in the world of those who regularly go to sea - aquanauts living underwater, marine biologists seeking unseen life in the deep ocean, and tall-ship captains at the helm, among others - and tells the fascinating tale of what life, and science, is like at the mercy of Mother Nature.Trade Review"As an unorthodox handbook for would-be ocean scientists, this title is invaluable." - "Booklist." "Prager... uses breezy, accessible prose to evoke the beauty and magic of the underwater world." - "Wall Street Journal" "With tongue only slightly in cheek, Prager offers advice for any field scientist: always bring spare pencils and be prepared for things to go wrong, from pirates to valuable equipment getting lost or damaged.... Focused on adventure rather than in-depth science, this entertaining book will appeal most to casual and younger readers." - "Publishers Weekly" "Prager's book brings alive the moments of wonder, surprise, enlightenment, frustration, humor, camaraderie and danger involved in fieldwork on and beneath the waves.... Her book assembles anecdotes from colleagues such as marine biologists, geologists and engineers. Their tales range from divers chasing parrotfish poo with plastic bags to oceanographers seeing an actual step in the surface of the sea at the edge of the Gulf Stream. In bringing these briny tales together, Prager explores some of their common themes to convey why many of us study the ocean - and why it matters." - Jon Copley, "Times Higher Education"

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Book SynopsisAnts are probably the most dominant insect group on Earth. This title brings together findings from the scientific literature on the coevolution of ants and plants to provide an understanding of the unparalleled success of these two remarkable groups, of interspecific interactions in general, and, ultimately, of terrestrial biological communities.

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Book SynopsisIn the French Enlightenment, empiricism was intimately bound up with sensibility. What Riskin describes as a 'sentimental empiricism' is the ideology which brought together ideas and institutions, practices and politics.

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Book SynopsisLocated in the heart of England's Lake District, the placid waters of Thirlmere seem to be the embodiment of pastoral beauty. This title re-creates the battle for Thirlmere and the clashes between conservationists who wished to preserve the lake and developers eager to supply the needs of a growing urban population.Trade Review"Clear and utterly readable." (Independent)"

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Book SynopsisThe vertebrate fossil record extends back more than 500 million years, and bonebeds - localized concentrations of the skeletal remains of vertebrate animals - help unlock the secrets of this long history. This book provides readers with definitions, theoretical frameworks, and modern techniques in bonebed data collection and analysis.

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Book SynopsisHow do we know that species change? Has there really been enough time for evolution to operate? This title details the evidence for evolution. It covers different levels of evolution, from within-species changes, which are much less challenging to see and believe, to much larger ones, say, from fish to amphibian, or from land mammal to whale.Trade Review"A well-written and timely book. Rogers has the unique ability to present complicated and seemingly illogical ideas in a very coherent way." (Christina Richards, University of South Florida)"

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Book SynopsisExamines the ideas and practices of earth scientists throughout the Western world to show how the story of what we call "deep time" was pieced together. This title explores who was responsible for the discovery of the earth's history, and details how the study of the history of the earth helped define a new branch of science called geology.Trade Review"Bursting the Limits of Time is a massive work and is quite simply a master-piece of science history.... The book should be obligatory for every geology and history of science library, and is a highly recommended companion for every civilized geologist who can carry an extra 2.4 kg in his rucksack." - Stephen Moorbath, Nature "To describe Rudwick as 'scholarly' is rather like describing Mozart as 'musically talented.' He is omniscient, and it's greatly to be wished that this book becomes known beyond the ranks of historians of the recondite." - Richard Fortey, London Review of Books"

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Book SynopsisChronicles the author's two years of travel and observation of gorillas in East and Central Africa in the late 1950s, high in the Virunga volcanoes on the Zaire-Rwanda-Uganda border. This edition also features a postscript detailing Schaller's more recent visits with gorillas, current to 2009.Trade Review"Whether the author is tracking gorillas, slipping past elephant herds on narrow jungle paths, avoiding poachers' deadfalls, or routing Watusi invaders, this is an exciting book. Although Schaller feels that this is 'not an adventure book,' few readers will be able to agree." - Irven DeVore, Science "In the course of his fresh, bright book, Schaller does not so much argue for his biological ecumenism as - talking, walking, doing, going, describing - he exemplifies it." - Naomi Bliven, New Yorker"

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Book SynopsisIntends to advance a comprehensive articulation of ecological theories, covering a wide range of topics, from ecological niche theory to population dynamic theory to island biogeography theory. This book demonstrates how theory in ecology accounts for observations about the natural world and how models provide predictive understandings.Trade Review"The Theory of Ecology provides a simple framework for interpreting the multifaceted role of theory in the field of ecology. This approach is unique, extremely brave, and contentious at times, but definitely intriguing." (Kevin McCann, University of Guelph)"

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Book SynopsisIncludes thirty articles on communicable illness published in the pages of "Scientific American" magazine since 1993. This book includes sections devoted to viral infections, infectious disease, the immune system, and global management and treatment issues.

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Book SynopsisWho are scientists? What kind of people are they? What capacities and virtues are thought to stand behind their considerable authority? This book tells the author's story about who scientists are, who we think they are, and why our sensibilities about such things matter.Trade Review"Remarkably rich in detail and revelation.... Shapin may not be doing a conventional history of the 'scientific life,' but what he has done is both novel and provocative." - New York Review of Books "[A] thought-provoking challenge to the assumptions of scientific objectivity by science's practitioners and an acknowledgment of just how important the morality of scientists may be in the advancement and authority of knowledge." - Library Journal "The Scientific Life provokes us to discard worn-out understandings that science outside universities is necessarily aberrant.... The book succeeds masterfully." - Science "A stunning antidote to the naive portraits of how science is or should be done." - Choice "Required reading for all scientists and those studying the social activity of science." - Nature "Shapin has produced a work of exceptional originality, power, and significance. He has also given readers much to chew over in regard to contemporary developments and perennial issues.... Shapin tells this story exceedingly well, framing its episodes richly and developing them through vivid depictions of representative figures, texts, incidents, and anecdotes." - London Review of Books"

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Book SynopsisThe story of seeds, in a nutshell, is a tale of evolution. This book presents the oft-ignored seed with the natural history it deserves, one nearly as varied and surprising as the earth's flora itself. It delves into the science of seeds: How and why do some lie dormant for years on end? How did seeds evolve?Trade Review"Anyone who has ever marveled at the idea of a tree exploding from something as tiny as a seed will exalt in the beauty of this book." - San Francisco Chronicle "I loved this little book.... An Orchard Invisible practically spills over with interesting insights." - Boston Globe "A subtle but engaging narrative of the evolutionary struggles of seeds.... Each of the first twelve chapters of this book tells a remarkable story, accompanied by well-chosen literary excerpts." - Times Literary Supplement "Silvertown is a witty botanist with a flair for seeds.... All botanists will enjoy this tribute to seeds." - Choice "Seeds may look small and boring, yet tricks, bribes and devious deceptions lie at the heart of their evolution, as ecologist Jonathan Silvertown entertainingly recounts in this fascinating celebration of the green world upon which all human life depends." - New Scientist "A fabulous book.... Silvertown's skills are in telling stories. Expect wonders, too.... In this book, Silvertown has produced a gem.... Read it as a gardener, scientist, food aficionado, historian, botanist, or naturalist, and you'll not be disappointed." - Times Higher Education"

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Book SynopsisSerengeti National Park is one of the world's most diverse ecosystems, a natural laboratory for ecology, evolution, and conservation. This book documents changes to this ecosystem. It focuses on the interactions between the natural system and the human-dominated agricultural system.

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Book SynopsisMarshals a distinguished group of thinkers to forge a dialogue among the emerging brain sciences, the liberal arts, and social sciences. Demonstrating how formerly divided fields are converging around shared issues, this title maps a cross-disciplinary adventure.

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Book SynopsisOffers a distinctive approach to the origins of modern physics by exploring both the material culture that stimulated relativity and the reaction of Einstein's colleagues to his pioneering work.Trade Review"One of the ever pressing dangers for the history of science is that it becomes the history of great men and women. Therefore, any book that emphasizes the setting of a scientific change is to be welcomed and, where Einstein is concerned, is to be doubly welcomed. Staley's overall project, then, is a great one." - Harry Collins, author of Rethinking Expertise"

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Book SynopsisOffers a distinctive approach to the origins of modern physics by exploring both the material culture that stimulated relativity and the reaction of Einstein's colleagues to his pioneering work.Trade Review"One of the ever pressing dangers for the history of science is that it becomes the history of great men and women. Therefore, any book that emphasizes the setting of a scientific change is to be welcomed and, where Einstein is concerned, is to be doubly welcomed. Staley's overall project, then, is a great one." - Harry Collins, author of Rethinking Expertise"

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

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Book SynopsisAmbitiously identifying fresh issues in the study of complex systems, Peter J. Taylor, in a model of interdisciplinary exploration, makes these concerns accessible to scholars in the fields of ecology, environmental science, and science studies.Trade Review"Unruly Complexity makes a strong case that if research is to be successfully implemented in the public discourse, researchers and the public alike must consider the larger web of interactions that influences how scientific knowledge is created and used." - Jeff Gerwing, Portland State University"

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Book SynopsisAlthough bats and dolphins live in very different environments and are vastly different in size, both groups have evolved similar sonar systems, known as echolocation to locate food and navigate seas and skies. This volume compares each group and indentifies future areas of research.

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Book SynopsisCoevolution - reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species driven by natural selection - is one of the most important ecological and genetic processes organizing the earth's biodiversity: most plants and animals require coevolved interactions with other species to survive and reproduce.Trade Review"John Thompson's lucid arguments will effectively put to rest the idea that species cannot coevolve with more than one or a few species simultaneously. He has provided a fresh and compelling framework for viewing the evolution of species interaction." - Craig Benkman, University of Wyoming"

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Book SynopsisThe election of America's first black president has led many to believe that race is no longer a real obstacle to success and that remaining racial inequality stems largely from the failure of minority groups to take personal responsibility for seeking out opportunities. The author upends this view.Trade Review"Jack Turner has canvassed a remarkable range of sources to develop a profoundly revisionist take on individualism, a theme absolutely central to the nation's founding and which has ongoing - in fact heightened - relevance in the 'postracial' age-of-Obama United States. Turner both makes a convincing case that individualism as a central American value needs to be recaptured from the Right and demonstrates that the rich tradition of American political thought does indeed provide us with the necessary conceptual resources for doing so." (Charles W. Mills, Northwestern University)"

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Book SynopsisLife in a research lab can be daunting, especially for early-career scientists. Personal and professional hurdles abound in bench research, and this book by two seasoned lab professionals is here to help graduate students, postdocs, and staff scientists recognize stumbling blocks and avoid common pitfalls. Building and maintaining a mentoring network, practicing self-care and having a life outside of the lab, understanding that what works perfectly for a labmate might not work for youthese are just a few of the strategies that lab manager and molecular biologist Paris H. Grey and PI and geneticist David G. Oppenheimer wished they had implemented far sooner in their careers. They also offer practical advice on managing research projects, sharing your work on social media, and attending conferences. Above all, they coach early-career scientists to avoid burnout and make the most of every lab experience to grow and learn. Trade Review“Part survival guide and part pep-talk, Life and Research: An Early-Career Guide for Biomedical Scientists should be included in every welcome package for scientists joining a new lab or research program. Grey and Oppenheimer have created a portable version of the ideal mentor – helpful, honest, and compassionate. I wish I’d had this book ten years ago, as it would have saved me a lot of frustration and loneliness while navigating the confusing world of grad school.” -- Susanna Harris, Ph.D., Founder and Chair of PhD BalanceParis Grey and David Oppenheimer are the mentors you never had in graduate school. They will teach you how to carry out scientific research while still living your best life, so you can do high-quality work without risking burnout. -- Jennifer Polk, Ph.D., Principal, FromPhdToLifeLife and Research is a practical guide to surviving academic research as an early career researcher (and beyond). In this book, Grey and Oppenheimer strike a friendly tone while discussing very personal issues like finding the right work-life balance and establishing a network of mentors, but also when focusing on more utilitarian information like travel reimbursements. They are also realistic about the process of research itself – the ups and downs – and they provide practical tips for handling failure in the lab and how to get back on track. Much of the text focuses on practical matters for new grad students, but the advice is universal. For example, the book often focuses on issues of equity, inclusion, and the hidden curriculum in biomedical research. While this information is important for new researchers, it's also important for new (and established) PIs to consider when creating a healthy and supportive lab environment. They are also honest in advising early career researchers to prioritize career development and exploration from the first years of graduate school. Resources for graduate students are all too often developed to keep researchers on an academic track even as PI positions become ever more scarce. Grey and Oppenheimer steer early career scientists to identify their strengths and pursue relevant training outside of the lab to broaden their skill sets should they decide to pursue non-academic careers. This book should be required reading for researchers, especially those early in their career. -- Danielle R. Snowflack, Ph.D. Senior Director of Education, EdvotekTable of ContentsPreface Part 1 Chapter 1: Beginnings Are Hard for Everyone Chapter 2: Building Your Mentoring and Advising Network Chapter 3: Determining and Achieving Your Work-Life Balance Part 2 Chapter 4: Managing Your Professional Activity Chapter 5: Managing Your Research Project Chapter 6: Being a Good Labmate Chapter 7: Managing Your Research Workday Chapter 8: Practicing Science Communication Chapter 9: Presenting Your Research Acknowledgments Index

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisInvestigates the origins of life's diversity and integrates data from molecular genetics, evolutionary developmental biology, embryology, comparative morphology, and paleontology into an analysis of interest to scholars from any of these fields. This book examines the sorts of evidence that can be gleaned from fossils, molecules, and morphology.Trade Review"A magisterial compendium.... Valentine offers a judicious evaluation of an astonishing array of evidence." - Richard Fortey, New Scientist "Truly a magnum opus, On the Origin of Phyla has already taken its place as one of the classic scientific texts of the twentieth century, affecting the work of paleontologists, morphologists, and developmental, molecular, and evolutionary biologists for decades to come." - Ethology, Ecology & Evolution "Valentine is one of the Renaissance minds of our time.... Darwin wisely called his best-known work On the Origin of Species; the origin of the phyla is an even stickier problem, and Valentine deserves credit for tackling it at such breadth.... A magnificent book." - Stefan Bengtson, Nature"

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Book SynopsisPortrays the intimate relationships of pollination over time and space and reveals patterns of interactions from individual to community levels, showing how these patterns change at different spatial and temporal scales. This book covers an important theme in evolutionary ecology with far-reaching applications in conservation and agriculture.

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