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Thirteen: The apollo flight that failed
Par Henry S.F. Cooper. 2021
On the evening of April 13, 1970, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were just hours from the third lunar…
landing in history. But as they soared through space, two hundred thousand miles from Earth, an explosion badly damaged their spacecraft. With compromised engines and failing life-support systems, the crew was in incomparably grave danger. Faced with below-freezing temperatures, a seriously ill crewmember, and a dwindling water supply, a safe return seemed unlikely. Thirteen is the shocking and miraculous true story of how the astronauts and ground crew guided Apollo 13 back to Earth. Expanding on dispatches written for The New Yorker , Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. brings listeners unparalleled detail on the moment-by-moment developments of one of NASA's most dramatic missionsHelgoland: Making sense of the quantum revolution
Par Carlo Rovelli. 2021
&“Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator… This is the place where science comes to life.&” ― Neil Gaiman…
&“ Helgoland is Rovelli&’s most beautiful yet… Unforgettable.&” ― The London Times A startling new look at quantum theory, from the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time . One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland , he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving. Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious. As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of the theory, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness. Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better comprehend our place in itThe Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
Par David Graeber, David Wengrow. 2021
Renowned activist and public intellectual David Graeber teams up with professor of comparative archaeology David Wengrow to deliver a trailblazing…
account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution--from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality--and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could only be achieved by sacrificing those original freedoms, or alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. Graeber and Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what's really there. If humans did not spend 95% of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.Cræft: an inquiry into the origins and true meaning of traditional crafts
Par Alexander Langlands. 2018
Archaeologist examines the meaning of the Old English word "craeft," which denoted a sense of knowledge, wisdom, and resourcefulness through…
the history of production of goods made by human hands. Topics include making hay, sticks and stones, beekeeping, textiles, homebuilding, agriculture, and more. 2017Searching for the Amazons: the real warrior women of the ancient world
Par John Man. 2018
An exploration of the mythos of the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors. Discusses the stories told in many cultures…
about them and the past conclusions that they must have been merely myth. The author, however, uses research and archeological discoveries to demonstrate that they did, in fact, exist. 2018Letters of Note: Space (Letters of Note)
Par Shaun Usher. 2021
An awe-inspiring collection of letters on the subject of outer space curated by the founder of the phenomenally popular Letters…
of Note website. The first volume in the bestselling Letters of Note series was a collection of hundreds of the world's most entertaining, inspiring, and unusual letters, based on the seismically popular website of the same name--an online museum of correspondence visited by over 70 million people. From Virginia Woolf's heartbreaking suicide letter, to Queen Elizabeth II's recipe for drop scones sent to President Eisenhower; from the first recorded use of the expression 'OMG' in a letter to Winston Churchill, to Gandhi's appeal for calm to Hitler; and from Iggy Pop's beautiful letter of advice to a troubled young fan, to Leonardo da Vinci's remarkable job application letter. Now, the curator of Letters of Note, Shaun Usher, gives us wonderful new volumes featuring letters organized around a universal theme. In this volume, Shaun Usher turns to the subject of outer space and space travel. Contributors to be confirmed.Maker of patterns: an autobiography through letters
Par Freeman Dyson. 2018
British American theoretical physicist Dyson (born 1923) shares his autobiography through letters he has exchanged over the years, beginning in…
1941 when he attended Trinity College, Cambridge. Includes reminiscences of his work and acquaintance with scientists like Robert Oppenheimer and Richard Feynman. 2018Forgotten bones: uncovering a slave cemetery
Par Lois Miner Huey. 2016
Dark emu: Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture
Par Bruce Pascoe. 2018
Examination of the ways aboriginal Australians developed the land to support their societies long before colonization of the continent by…
European explorers. Topics include agriculture, aquaculture, population and housing, storage and preservation, fire, cultural norms, non-Aboriginal agriculture techniques, and understanding history to improve the future. 2018Lost in math: how beauty leads physics astray
Par Sabine Hossenfelder. 2018
Physicist argues against the use of aesthetic criteria when developing and testing theories. Reflects on her career, the historical fascination…
with aesthetics in science, particle physics, meetings with fellow physicists, the difference between math and magic, the search for a unified theory, string theory, and other topics. Strong language. 2018Walls: a history of civilization in blood and brick
Par David Frye. 2018
A historian discusses the role of man-made edifices and barriers throughout history. Explores the importance of walls in ancient civilizations,…
a thousand-mile-long wall in Asia, sieges of fortified cities, political conflicts centered upon walls, gated communities, and more. 2018A quantum life: My unlikely journey from the street to the stars
Par Hakeem Oluseyi. 2021
In this inspiring coming-of-age memoir, a world-renowned astrophysicist emerges from an impoverished childhood and crime-filled adolescence to ascend through the…
top ranks of research physics. &“You&’ll encounter one extraordinary turn of events after another, as the extraordinary chess player, puzzle solver, and occasional grifter works his way from grinding poverty and deep despair to worldwide acclaim as a physicist.&”—Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society Navigating poverty, violence, and instability, a young James Plummer had two guiding stars—a genius IQ and a love of science. But a bookish nerd is a soft target, and James faced years of bullying and abuse. As he struggled to survive his childhood in some of the country&’s toughest urban neighborhoods in New Orleans, Houston, and LA, and later in the equally poor backwoods of Mississippi, he adopted the persona of &“gangsta nerd&”—dealing weed in juke joints while winning state science fairs with computer programs that model Einstein&’s theory of relativity. Once admitted to the elite physics PhD program at Stanford University, James found himself pulled between the promise of a bright future and a dangerous crack cocaine habit he developed in college. With the encouragement of his mentor and the sole Black professor in the physics department, James confronted his personal demons as well as the entrenched racism and classism of the scientific establishment. When he finally seized his dream of a life in astrophysics, he adopted a new name, Hakeem Muata Oluseyi, to honor his African ancestors. Alternately heartbreaking and hopeful , A Quantum Life narrates one man&’s remarkable quest across an ever-expanding universe filled with entanglement and choiceUnder jerusalem: The buried history of the world's most contested city
Par Andrew Lawler. 2021
A sweeping history of the hidden world below the Holy City—a saga of biblical treasures, intrepid explorers, and political upheaval…
"These untold stories of archeological digs near and under Jerusalem&’s sacred sites convey all the colorful and violent and contentious history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... A compulsive read.&” —Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and author of The Outlier In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem&’s storied past. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city&’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem&’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.  Cities: the first 6,000 years
Par Monica L. Smith. 2019
An account of cities throughout time that draws on archaeology, history, and contemporary observation. Discusses the rise of urban development…
and the role of cities in the development of civilization, networked infrastructure, the middle class, and more. 2019Mummies exposed!: Creepy and True #1 (Creepy and True)
Par Kerrie Logan Hollihan. 2019
Uncovers the mysteries behind unearthed human mummies from around the globe, from mutilated bodies preserved in Irish bogs to sacrificed…
children entombed in an Incan burial site on a mountaintop. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 2019Isaac Newton: the asshole who reinvented the universe (G - Reference, Information And Interdisciplinary Subjects Ser.)
Par Brian Taylor, Florian Freistetter. 2018
Astronomer presents a biography of Isaac Newton that is filled with both praise for his accomplishments as well as a…
harsh assessment of the effects of his abrasive personality on his personal and professional relationships. Translated from the 2017 German edition. Strong language. 2018The Little Ice Age: how climate made history, 1300-1850
Par Brian Fagan. 2019
History of climatic shifts and adaptations by Europeans to them. Covers the last ten centuries, describing the Medieval Warm Period…
to the era of global warming that began in the 1850s. Examines human vulnerability in the face of sudden climate change. Includes author's afterword from 2019. 2000The elements: a very short introduction (Very Short Introductions #Vol. 104)
Par Philip Ball. 2004
Beginning with the ancient Greeks' earth, air, fire, and water, science journalist goes on to discuss the discovery of oxygen,…
the aesthetic and economic appeal of gold, the periodic table's origins, and practical uses of the elements in science, medicine, manufacturing, and technology. 2002Spaceman: an astronaut's unlikely journey to unlock the secrets of the universe
Par Mike Massimino. 2016
An astronaut chronicles his life and the journey to his career. Discusses growing up in New York, figuring out how…
to achieve his dreams of working for NASA, his initial medical disqualification due to his eyesight, and his eventual training. Includes anecdotes of the other astronauts he has met over the years. 2016The plague of war: Athens, Sparta, and the struggle for ancient Greece (Ancient warfare and civilization)
Par Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. 2017
An account of the conflict between Athens and Sparta that began in 431 BC and continued until Sparta's defeat at…
Leuctra in 371 BC. Describes how this long period of war affected life in the two city-states, as well as its impact on Greek cultural life. 2017