What's going on up there when the rain falls, when the wind blows, when the clouds roll in and the lightning flashes? How do hurricanes arise and where to tornadoes come from? Why do seasonal conditions sometimes vary so much from one year to the next? Our ways of life, our very existences depend on knowing the answers to questions like these. Economies have been wiped out, civilizations have risen and fallen, entire species have come into being or gone extinct because of a temperature shift of just a few degrees, or a brief shortage or glut of rainfall. With so much riding on the weather, it makes you wonder how you've lived this long without knowing more about it. Don't worry it's never too late to find out about what makes the weather tick. And there's never been an easier or more enjoyable way to learn than Weather For Dummies.
For Dummies; 1st edition
|
9781119806776
|
1st Edition
Voyaging in Strange Seas
By Knight, David
In 1492 Columbus set out across the Atlantic; in 1776 American colonists declared their independence. Between these two events old authorities collapsed—Luther’s Reformation divided churches, and various discoveries revealed the ignorance of the ancient Greeks and Romans. A new, empirical worldview had arrived, focusing now on observation, experiment, and mathematical reasoning. This engaging book takes us along on the great voyage of discovery that ushered in the modern age. David Knight, a distinguished historian of science, locates the Scientific Revolution in the great era of global oceanic voyages, which became both a spur to and a metaphor for scientific discovery. He introduces the well-known heroes of the story (Galileo, Newton, Linnaeus) as well as lesser-recognized officers of scientific societies, printers and booksellers who turned scientific discovery into public knowledge, and editors who invented the scientific journal.
Yale University Press
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9780300173796
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Book
Human Errors
By Lents, Nathan H.
An illuminating, entertaining tour of the physical imperfections that make us human We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often - two hundred times more often than a dog does? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? Why is the vast majority of our genetic code pointless? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake. As professor of biology Nathan H. Lents explains in Human Errors, our evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last. The human body is one big pile of compromises. But that is also a testament to our greatness: as Lents shows, humans have so many design flaws precisely because we are very, very good at getting around them. A rollicking, deeply informative tour of humans' four billion year long evolutionary saga, Human Errors both celebrates our imperfections and offers an unconventional accounting of the cost of our success.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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9781328974693
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Hardcover
Highway of Tears
By Mcdiarmid, Jessica
In the vein of the astonishing and eye-opening bestsellers I'll Be Gone in the Dark and The Line Becomes a River, this stunning work of investigative journalism follows a series of unsolved disappearances and murders of Indigenous women in rural British Columbia.Along northern Canada's Highway 16, a yellow billboard reads GIRLS, DON'T HITCHHIKE. KILLER ON THE LOOSE. The highway is a 450-mile stretch of dirt and asphalt, surrounded by rugged wilderness and snowy mountain peaks. It is known as the Highway of Tears. It is here that countless women and girls - most of them Indigenous - have vanished since 1969. Highway of Tears explores the true story of what has happened along this troubled road. Journalist Jessica McDiarmid reassembles the lives of the victims - who they were, where they came from, who loved them, and what led them to the highway - and takes us into their families' determined fight for the truth. The book also indicts the initial police investigations marred by incompetence and systemic racism, even as it shines a light on a larger phenomenon: the fact that more than a thousand indigenous women have gone missing or been found murdered across Canada, a topic brought to international attention when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau opened an official inquiry into the case. Combining hard-hitting reporting with a keen, human eye, Highway of Tears is a penetrating look at decades' worth of tragedy and the fight to honor the victims by preserving their stories and providing them the justice they deserve.
Publisher: n/a
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9781501160288
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Hardcover
The Universe Explained
By Couper, Heather
Answers to the most popular astronomy questions of today. Over the course of their illustrious work in astronomy, Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest collected hundreds of the most popular astronomy questions that they've been asked. In this book they explain the scientific answers to these questions with expertise and a healthy dose of humor. Below are just a few of the 185 questions they answer: What would happen to an astronaut exposed to space? Can people live on Mars? Can an amateur astronomer make useful discoveries? Why do we have leap years and leap seconds? What are the most extreme conditions life can survive? Is there an edge to the Universe? What happens inside a black hole? Is Pluto a planet? The Universe Explained answers questions about space travel; telescopes; the solar system; comets, asteroids and meteors; stars; black holes; the Milky Way and other galaxies; the big bang and space and time. As well, Couper and Henbest explore the possibility of life beyond our planet with up-to-date space discoveries and debunk persistent myths and legends. The Universe Explained is a fun and informative book for anyone curious about astronomy.
Firefly Books
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9780228100829
|
Paperback
Out of the Shadow of a Giant
By Gribbin, John
What if Newton had never lived? A compelling dual biography argues that Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley easily could have filled the giant's shoes - and deserve credit for the birth of modern science. Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose place in history has been overshadowed by the giant figure of Newton, were pioneering scientists within their own right, and instrumental in establishing the Royal Society. Although Newton is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time and the father of the English scientific revolution, John and Mary Gribbin uncover the fascinating story of Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose scientific achievements neatly embrace the hundred years or so during which science as we know it became established. They argue persuasively that, even without Newton, science would have made a great leap forward in the second half of the seventeenth century, headed by two extraordinary figures, Hooke and Halley.
Yale University Press
|
9780300226751
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Hardcover
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth
By Druker, Steven
This book uncovers the biggest scientific fraud of our age. It tells the fascinating and frequently astounding story of how the massive enterprise to restructure the genetic core of the world's food supply came into being, how it advanced by consistently violating the protocols of science, and how for more than three decades, hundreds of eminent biologists and esteemed institutions have systematically contorted the truth in order to conceal the unique risks of its products-and get them onto our dinner plates. Altered Genes, Twisted Truth provides a graphic account of how this elaborate fraud was crafted and how it not only deceived the general public, but Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and a host of other astute and influential individuals as well.
Clear River Press; 1 edition
|
9780985616908
|
Book
The Grand Design
By Hawking, Stephen
The first major work in nearly a decade by one of the worlds great thinkersa marvelously concise book with new answers to the ultimate questions of lifeWhen and how did the universe begin Why are we here Why is there something rather than nothing What is the nature of reality Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves And, finally, is the apparent grand design of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motionor does science offer another explanation The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meetif only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.
Bantam
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9780553805376
|
Hardcover
The Star Builders
By Turrell, Arthur
The most important energy-making process in the universe takes place inside stars. The ability to duplicate that process in a lab, once thought out of reach, may now be closer than we think. Today, all across the world teams of scientists are being assembled by the world's boldest entrepreneurs, big business, and governments to solve what is the most difficult technological challenge humanity has ever faced: building the equivalent of a star on earth. If their plans to capture star power are successful, they will unlock thousands, potentially millions, of years of clean, carbon-free energy. Not only would controlled nuclear fusion go a long way toward solving the climate crisis, it could help make other highly desired technological ambitions possible - like journeying to the stars.
Weather For Dummies
By Cox, John D.
What's going on up there when the rain falls, when the wind blows, when the clouds roll in and the lightning flashes? How do hurricanes arise and where to tornadoes come from? Why do seasonal conditions sometimes vary so much from one year to the next? Our ways of life, our very existences depend on knowing the answers to questions like these. Economies have been wiped out, civilizations have risen and fallen, entire species have come into being or gone extinct because of a temperature shift of just a few degrees, or a brief shortage or glut of rainfall. With so much riding on the weather, it makes you wonder how you've lived this long without knowing more about it. Don't worry it's never too late to find out about what makes the weather tick. And there's never been an easier or more enjoyable way to learn than Weather For Dummies.
Voyaging in Strange Seas
By Knight, David
In 1492 Columbus set out across the Atlantic; in 1776 American colonists declared their independence. Between these two events old authorities collapsed—Luther’s Reformation divided churches, and various discoveries revealed the ignorance of the ancient Greeks and Romans. A new, empirical worldview had arrived, focusing now on observation, experiment, and mathematical reasoning. This engaging book takes us along on the great voyage of discovery that ushered in the modern age. David Knight, a distinguished historian of science, locates the Scientific Revolution in the great era of global oceanic voyages, which became both a spur to and a metaphor for scientific discovery. He introduces the well-known heroes of the story (Galileo, Newton, Linnaeus) as well as lesser-recognized officers of scientific societies, printers and booksellers who turned scientific discovery into public knowledge, and editors who invented the scientific journal.
Human Errors
By Lents, Nathan H.
An illuminating, entertaining tour of the physical imperfections that make us human We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often - two hundred times more often than a dog does? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? Why is the vast majority of our genetic code pointless? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake. As professor of biology Nathan H. Lents explains in Human Errors, our evolutionary history is nothing if not a litany of mistakes, each more entertaining and enlightening than the last. The human body is one big pile of compromises. But that is also a testament to our greatness: as Lents shows, humans have so many design flaws precisely because we are very, very good at getting around them. A rollicking, deeply informative tour of humans' four billion year long evolutionary saga, Human Errors both celebrates our imperfections and offers an unconventional accounting of the cost of our success.
Highway of Tears
By Mcdiarmid, Jessica
In the vein of the astonishing and eye-opening bestsellers I'll Be Gone in the Dark and The Line Becomes a River, this stunning work of investigative journalism follows a series of unsolved disappearances and murders of Indigenous women in rural British Columbia.Along northern Canada's Highway 16, a yellow billboard reads GIRLS, DON'T HITCHHIKE. KILLER ON THE LOOSE. The highway is a 450-mile stretch of dirt and asphalt, surrounded by rugged wilderness and snowy mountain peaks. It is known as the Highway of Tears. It is here that countless women and girls - most of them Indigenous - have vanished since 1969. Highway of Tears explores the true story of what has happened along this troubled road. Journalist Jessica McDiarmid reassembles the lives of the victims - who they were, where they came from, who loved them, and what led them to the highway - and takes us into their families' determined fight for the truth. The book also indicts the initial police investigations marred by incompetence and systemic racism, even as it shines a light on a larger phenomenon: the fact that more than a thousand indigenous women have gone missing or been found murdered across Canada, a topic brought to international attention when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau opened an official inquiry into the case. Combining hard-hitting reporting with a keen, human eye, Highway of Tears is a penetrating look at decades' worth of tragedy and the fight to honor the victims by preserving their stories and providing them the justice they deserve.
The Universe Explained
By Couper, Heather
Answers to the most popular astronomy questions of today. Over the course of their illustrious work in astronomy, Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest collected hundreds of the most popular astronomy questions that they've been asked. In this book they explain the scientific answers to these questions with expertise and a healthy dose of humor. Below are just a few of the 185 questions they answer: What would happen to an astronaut exposed to space? Can people live on Mars? Can an amateur astronomer make useful discoveries? Why do we have leap years and leap seconds? What are the most extreme conditions life can survive? Is there an edge to the Universe? What happens inside a black hole? Is Pluto a planet? The Universe Explained answers questions about space travel; telescopes; the solar system; comets, asteroids and meteors; stars; black holes; the Milky Way and other galaxies; the big bang and space and time. As well, Couper and Henbest explore the possibility of life beyond our planet with up-to-date space discoveries and debunk persistent myths and legends. The Universe Explained is a fun and informative book for anyone curious about astronomy.
Out of the Shadow of a Giant
By Gribbin, John
What if Newton had never lived? A compelling dual biography argues that Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley easily could have filled the giant's shoes - and deserve credit for the birth of modern science. Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose place in history has been overshadowed by the giant figure of Newton, were pioneering scientists within their own right, and instrumental in establishing the Royal Society. Although Newton is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time and the father of the English scientific revolution, John and Mary Gribbin uncover the fascinating story of Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose scientific achievements neatly embrace the hundred years or so during which science as we know it became established. They argue persuasively that, even without Newton, science would have made a great leap forward in the second half of the seventeenth century, headed by two extraordinary figures, Hooke and Halley.
Altered Genes, Twisted Truth
By Druker, Steven
This book uncovers the biggest scientific fraud of our age. It tells the fascinating and frequently astounding story of how the massive enterprise to restructure the genetic core of the world's food supply came into being, how it advanced by consistently violating the protocols of science, and how for more than three decades, hundreds of eminent biologists and esteemed institutions have systematically contorted the truth in order to conceal the unique risks of its products-and get them onto our dinner plates. Altered Genes, Twisted Truth provides a graphic account of how this elaborate fraud was crafted and how it not only deceived the general public, but Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and a host of other astute and influential individuals as well.
The Grand Design
By Hawking, Stephen
The first major work in nearly a decade by one of the worlds great thinkersa marvelously concise book with new answers to the ultimate questions of lifeWhen and how did the universe begin Why are we here Why is there something rather than nothing What is the nature of reality Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves And, finally, is the apparent grand design of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motionor does science offer another explanation The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meetif only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.
The Star Builders
By Turrell, Arthur
The most important energy-making process in the universe takes place inside stars. The ability to duplicate that process in a lab, once thought out of reach, may now be closer than we think. Today, all across the world teams of scientists are being assembled by the world's boldest entrepreneurs, big business, and governments to solve what is the most difficult technological challenge humanity has ever faced: building the equivalent of a star on earth. If their plans to capture star power are successful, they will unlock thousands, potentially millions, of years of clean, carbon-free energy. Not only would controlled nuclear fusion go a long way toward solving the climate crisis, it could help make other highly desired technological ambitions possible - like journeying to the stars.