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Water in Ancient Mediterranean Households (Global Perspectives on Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology)
Par Rick Bonnie, Patrik Klingborg. 2024
This book provides the first detailed study of the water supply of households in antiquity. Chapters explore settings from Classical…
Greece to the Late Roman Empire across a wide variety of environments, from dry deserts and moderate Mediterranean zones to wet and temperate climates further north.The different case studies presented in each chapter are united by three intimately interconnected aspects. The first, rainwater harvesting in cisterns, provides detailed techno-hydraulic investigations of the household water supply systems. The second aspect, households and water at the margins, stresses how domestic water supply systems were successfully adapted to unusually harsh environmental conditions. The third, other waters for houses, focuses on other types of water supply systems (rivers, water-bearers, stepped pools, wells) and their life biographies. As shown by the different chapters, a careful study of a household’s water supply is a rich source of evidence for understanding everyday decisions, anxieties, and changes in life. They also build towards a greater understanding of the social inequalities that are at play in the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, providing a wealth of new research to greatly augment our understanding of water as a resource in the ancient Mediterranean.Providing a new and important perspective on a central part of everyday life in the ancient world, this book is aimed at archaeologists and historians of the ancient Mediterranean, notably the Greek and Roman worlds, especially those with an interest in ancient households and water culture.This book presents a new way of thinking about quantum mechanics and machine learning by merging the two. Quantum mechanics…
and machine learning may seem theoretically disparate, but their link becomes clear through the density matrix operator which can be readily approximated by neural network models, permitting a formulation of quantum physics in which physical observables can be computed via neural networks. As well as demonstrating the natural affinity of quantum physics and machine learning, this viewpoint opens rich possibilities in terms of computation, efficient hardware, and scalability. One can also obtain trainable models to optimize applications and fine-tune theories, such as approximation of the ground state in many body systems, and boosting quantum circuits’ performance. The book begins with the introduction of programming tools and basic concepts of machine learning, with necessary background material from quantum mechanics and quantum information also provided. This enables the basic building blocks, neural network models for vacuum states, to be introduced. The highlights that follow include: non-classical state representations, with squeezers and beam splitters used to implement the primary layers for quantum computing; boson sampling with neural network models; an overview of available quantum computing platforms, their models, and their programming; and neural network models as a variational ansatz for many-body Hamiltonian ground states with applications to Ising machines and solitons. The book emphasizes coding, with many open source examples in Python and TensorFlow, while MATLAB and Mathematica routines clarify and validate proofs. This book is essential reading for graduate students and researchers who want to develop both the requisite physics and coding knowledge to understand the rich interplay of quantum mechanics and machine learning.Fundamentals of NMR and MRI: From Quantum Principles to Medical Applications
Par Fatemeh Khashami. 2024
This book bridges the gap between physical foundations and medical applications of the NMR and MRI technologies, making them accessible…
to both physicists and biomedical scientists. The physical basis of these technologies is discussed in a manner that can be easily understood by scientists from different backgrounds, aiding them in gaining a clearer understanding of the subject.. For instance, the medical applications of NMR and MRI technologies are described in a way that is accessible to physicists. Moreover, geometrical descriptions and specific mathematical tools are used to facilitate the visualizations of many concepts. Furthermore, the book covers modern technologies such as hyperpolarization and several other state-of-the-art techniques, along with their foundations.Nur im Museum ist es möglich, in wenigen Schritten Milliarden Jahre Evolution, Menschheits- oder Technikgeschichte hinter sich zu bringen. Auf…
dem Weg durch fast 14 Milliarden Jahre stellt dieses Buch auf kurzweilige Art Museen und das in ihnen präsentierte Wissen vor. In zwanzig Stationen geht es vom Urknall über die Entstehung der Erde und des Lebens, zur Gründung erster Königreiche, zu Kleopatra, Luther und den Menschenrechten, zu Napoleon, Computern und dem Klimawandel. Man erfährt, warum Kuh und Wal so nahe Verwandte sind, warum die Preußen schon lange vor dem Berliner Hauptstadt-Flughafen ruinöse Bauprojekte realisierten und ob wir Menschen die Chance haben, jemals eine Supernova mit bloßen Augen zu sehen. Auf dieser unterhaltsamen Reise durch Raum und Zeit geht es aber auch um die Museen selbst, ihre Entstehungsgeschichten und ihre oft exzentrischen Gründer – unter denen einer die Wildtiere kurzerhand selbst erschoss, die er ausstellen wollte, während ein anderer kistenweise Landkarten und Bücher aus Japan stahl, bevor Stürme ihn zurück an die Küste warfen, oder jener dritte, der sich inmitten seiner Ausstellungsfläche begraben ließ und dort noch immer liegt. In diesem Buch vergehen (fast) 14 Milliarden Jahre wie im Flug.A United Europe of Things: Portable Material Culture across Medieval Europe (Themes in Contemporary Archaeology)
Par Jakub Sawicki, Michael Lewis, Mária Vargha. 2023
This volume studies high and late medieval material culture in a Pan-European context. The idea of ‘unity of culture’ in…
Medieval Latin Europe is well known in historical texts, especially when it concerns the so-called ‘Europe North of the Alps’. This book investigates the similarities and differences in material culture between areas, regions and political entities and opens the dialogue for a more interregional discussion. The editors acknowledge that there are numerous challenges in understanding the phenomenon the volume addresses, the fundamental one being defining (or even redefining) a common material culture of Europe. Important in determining this is greater appreciation of how objects reflect interactions between peoples, both local and foreign, which can be driven by a variety of factors, including trade, conflict and diplomacy etc. But just as important is observing the differences between ‘things’ across Europe, reflecting developments and transformations its cultural, social and economic history. These works are traditionally presented in isolation or at the local level, maybe even in very specialized tomes, as often it is thought their observation are not relevant to wider discourses. Conversely, what is clear, however, is that by interconnecting these seemingly introvert studies of specific artefact types or sites etc., readers can better appreciate the similarities and differences in material culture across Europe. This book is of interest to researchers in archaeology and material culture.Advanced Methods of Joint Inversion and Fusion of Multiphysics Data (Advances in Geological Science)
Par Michael S. Zhdanov. 2023
Different physical or geophysical methods provide information about distinctive physical properties of the objects, e.g., rock formations and mineralization. In…
many cases, this information is mutually complementary, which makes it natural for consideration in a joint inversion of the multiphysics data. Inversion of the observed data for a particular experiment is subject to considerable uncertainty and ambiguity. One productive approach to reducing uncertainty is to invert several types of data jointly. Nonuniqueness can also be reduced by incorporating additional information derived from available a priori knowledge about the target to reduce the search space for the solution. This additional information can be incorporated in the form of a joint inversion of multiphysics data.Generally established joint inversion methods, however, are inadequate for incorporating typical physical or geological complexity. For example, analytic, empirical, or statistical correlations between different physical properties may exist for only part of the model, and their specific form may be unknown. Features or structures that are present in the data of one physical method may not be present in the data generated by another physical method or may not be equally resolvable.This book presents and illustrates several advanced, new approaches to joint inversion and data fusion, which do not require a priori knowledge of specific empirical or statistical relationships between the different model parameters or their attributes. These approaches include the following novel methods, among others: 1) the Gramian method, which enforces the correlation between different parameters; 2) joint total variation functional or joint focusing stabilizers, e.g., minimum support and minimum gradient support constraints; 3) data fusion employing a joint minimum entropy stabilizer, which yields the simplest multiphysics solution that fits the multi-modal data. In addition, the book describes the principles of using artificial intelligence (AI) in solving multiphysics inverse problems. The book also presents in detail both the mathematical principles of these advanced approaches to joint inversion of multiphysics data and successful case histories of regional-scale and deposit-scale geophysical studies to illustrate their indicated advantages.The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy
Par Moiya McTier. 2022
In this approachable and fascinating biography of the galaxy, an astrophysicist and folklorist details everything humans have discovered—from the Milky…
Way's formation to its eventual death, and what else there is to learn about the universe we call home. After a few billion years of bearing witness to life on Earth, of watching one hundred billion humans go about their day-to-day lives, of feeling unbelievably lonely, and of hearing its own story told by others, The Milky Way would like a chance to speak for itself. All one hundred billion stars and fifty undecillion tons of gas of it. It all began some thirteen billion years ago, when clouds of gas scattered through the universe's primordial plasma just could not keep their metaphorical hands off each other. They succumbed to their gravitational attraction, and the galaxy we know as the Milky Way was born. Since then, the galaxy has watched as dark energy pushed away its first friends, as humans mythologized its name and purpose, and as galactic archaeologists have worked to determine its true age (rude). The Milky Way has absorbed supermassive (an actual technical term) black holes, made enemies of a few galactic neighbors, and mourned the deaths of countless stars. Our home galaxy has even fallen in love. After all this time, the Milky Way finally feels that it's amassed enough experience for the juicy tell-all we've all been waiting for. Its fascinating autobiography recounts the history and future of the universe in accessible but scientific detail, presenting a summary of human astronomical knowledge thus far that is unquestionably out of this world. NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2022 BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY AND SCIENCENET NAMED A BEST AUDIOBOOK OF 2022 BY BOOKPAGELiving Ruins: Native Engagements with Past Materialities in Contemporary Mesoamerica, Amazonia, and the Andes
Par Philippe Erikson, Valentina Vapnarsky. 2022
Ruins and remnants of the past are endowed with life, rather than mere relics handed down from previous generations. Living…
Ruins explores some of the ways Indigenous people relate to the material remains of human activity and provides an informed and critical stance that nuances and contests institutionalized patrimonialization discourse on vestiges of the past in present landscapes. Ten case studies from the Maya region, Amazonia, and the Andes detail and contextualize narratives, rituals, and a range of practices and attitudes toward different kinds of vestiges. The chapters engage with recently debated issues such as regimes of historicity and knowledge, cultural landscapes, conceptions of personhood and ancestrality, artifacts, and materiality. They focus on Indigenous perspectives rather than mainstream narratives such as those mediated by UNESCO, Hollywood, travel agents, and sometimes even academics. The contributions provide critical analyses alongside a multifaceted account of how people relate to the place/time nexus, expanding our understanding of different ontological conceptualizations of the past and their significance in the present. Living Ruins adds to the lively body of work on the invention of tradition, Indigenous claims on their lands and history, “retrospective ethnogenesis,” and neo-Indianism in a world where tourism, NGOs, and Western essentialism are changing Indigenous attitudes and representations. This book is significant to anyone interested in cultural heritage studies, Amerindian spirituality, and Indigenous engagement with archaeological sites in Latin America. Contributors: Cedric Becquey, Laurence Charlier Zeineddine, Marie Chosson, Pablo Cruz, Philippe Erikson, Antoinette Molinié, Fernando Santos-Granero, Emilie Stoll, Valentina Vapnarsky, Pirjo Kristiina VirtanenTaking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists
Par Fred A. Wolf. 1981
World renowned physicist Fred Alan Wolf explains the scientific concepts of quantum mechanics in accessible language for nonscientists.Winner of the…
National Book AwardTaking the Quantum Leap entertainingly traces the history of physics from the observations of the early Greeks through the discoveries of Galileo and Newton to the dazzling theories of such scientists as Planck, Einstein, Bohr, and Bohm. This humanized view of science opens up the mind-stretching visions of how quantum mechanics, God, human thought, and will are related, and provides profound implications for our understanding of the nature of reality and our relationship to the cosmos.“The prose, indeed, is exhilarating, and exhibits a passion to explain—humorously . . . Wolf provides commendable explanations of visions and revisions of atomic models; he is fin, in particular, on the Uncertainty Principle . . . Enjoy the book for its bravura.” —Kirkus ReviewsThe Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic in the Eastern Fertile Crescent: Revisiting the Hilly Flanks
Par Tobias Richter, Hojjat Darabi. 2024
This volume brings together the latest results and discussions from research carried out in the eastern Fertile Crescent, the so-called…
hilly flanks, and adjacent regions, as well as providing key historical perspectives on earlier fieldwork in the region. The emergence of sedentary food producing societies in southwest Asia ca. 10,000 years ago has been a key research focus for archaeologists since the 1930s. This book provides a balance to the weight of work undertaken in the western Fertile Crescent, namely the Levant and southern Anatolia. This preference has led to a heavy emphasis on these regions in discussions about where, when and how the transition from hunting and gathering to plant cultivation and animal domestication occurred. Chapters assess the role of the eastern Fertile Crescent as a key region in the Neolithization process in southwest Asia, highlighting the key and important contributions people in this region made to the emergence of sedentary farming societies.This book is primarily aimed at academics researching the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in southwest Asia. It will also be of interest to archaeologists working on this transition in other parts of Eurasia.This book focuses in detail on data science and data analysis and emphasizes the importance of data engineering and data…
management in the design of big data applications. The author uses patterns discovered in a collection of big data applications to provide design principles for hypothesis generation, integrating big data processing and management, machine learning and data mining techniques. The book proposes and explains innovative principles for interpreting hypotheses by integrating micro-explanations (those based on the explanation of analytical models and individual decisions within them) with macro-explanations (those based on applied processes and model generation). Practical case studies are used to demonstrate how hypothesis-generation and -interpretation technologies work. These are based on “social infrastructure” applications like in-bound tourism, disaster management, lunar and planetary exploration, and treatment of infectious diseases. The novel methods and technologies proposed in Hypothesis Generation and Interpretation are supported by the incorporation of historical perspectives on science and an emphasis on the origin and development of the ideas behind their design principles and patterns. Academic investigators and practitioners working on the further development and application of hypothesis generation and interpretation in big data computing, with backgrounds in data science and engineering, or the study of problem solving and scientific methods or who employ those ideas in fields like machine learning will find this book of considerable interest.Conservation of Contemporary Art: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice (Studies in Art, Heritage, Law and the Market #9)
Par Renée van de Vall, Vivian Van Saaze. 2024
This open access book investigates whether and how theoretical findings and insights in contemporary art conservation can be translated into…
the daily work practices of conservators or, vice versa, whether and how the problems and dilemmas encountered in conservation practice can inform broader research questions and projects. For several decades now, the conservation of contemporary art has been a dynamic field of research and reflection. Because of contemporary art’s variable constitution, its care and management calls for a fundamental rethinking of the overall research landscape of museums, heritage institutions, private-sector organizations and universities. At first, this research was primarily pursued by conservation professionals working in or with museums and other heritage organizations, but increasingly academic researchers and universities became involved, for instance through collaborative projects. This book is the result of such collaboration. It sets out to bridge the “gap” between theory and practice by investigating conservation practices as a form of reflection and reflection as a form of practice.The Windsors at War: The King, His Brother, and a Family Divided
Par Alexander Larman. 2023
The next volume in Alexander Larman's biographical chronicle of the Windsor family, as they go to war with Adolf Hitler—and…
each other.At the beginning of 1937, the British monarchy was in a state of turmoil. The previous king, Edward VIII, had abdicated the throne, leaving his unprepared and terrified brother Bertie to become George VI, surrounded by a gaggle of courtiers and politicians who barely thought him up to the job. Meanwhile, as the now-Duke of Windsor awaited the decree that would allow him to marry his mistress Wallis Simpson, he took an increased interest in the expansionist plans of Adolf Hitler. He may even have gone so far as to betray his country in the process. And as double agents and Nazi spies thronged the corridors of Buckingham Palace, the only man the King could trust was his Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. But they faced a formidable, even unbeatable, adversary: his own brother.The Windsors at War tells the never-before-told story of World War Two in Britain and America with a fresh focus on the royal family, their conflicted relationships, and the events that rocked the international press. How did this squabbling, dysfunctional family manage to put their differences aside and unite to help win the greatest conflict of their lifetimes? Alexander Larman, author of The Crown in Crisis, now chronicles the Windsor family at war with Germany—and each other.Optical Fiber Current and Voltage Sensors (Series in Fiber Optic Sensors)
Par Klaus Bohnert. 2024
Optical Fiber Current and Voltage Sensors is the first book to provide a complete, comprehensive and up to date treatment…
of the domain of fiber optic and polarimetric sensors, covering fundamental operating principles, characteristics, and construction. Written by one of the most recognised experts in polarimetric sensing, Optical Fiber Current and Voltage Sensors begins by covering the fundamentals of polarized light, as well as essential sensor components. The author then goes on to outline various sensor types and their applications, with a focus on sensors for electric phenomena. The chapters then lay out the demands that sensors need to meet, the technical obstacles and limitations which need to be considered. The book also covers comparisons to corresponding traditional instruments, as well as covering alternative non-conventional sensors. This book will be of interest to a broad audience of prospective readers ranging from graduate research students, to researchers in physics and engineering fields, to industry professionals active in the field who wish to learn about the technology and/or are interested in the development of new commercial solutions based on polarimetric-type fiber sensing as well as their use for high voltage current and voltage sensing.Violence and Inequality: An Archaeological History (Path to Open)
Par Thomas P. Leppard, Sarah C. Murray. 2023
Violence and Inequality explores the deep-time archaeological relationship between violence and inequality, focusing on prehistoric archaeology’s contribution to the understanding of…
the human dynamics among coercive force, aggression, and the state. Detailed archaeological case studies within a strong theoretical framework built from historical studies consider the role of coercive violence in trajectories toward complexity, how levels and types of violence can be traced alongside emerging wealth disparities, and the social role of violence. The assumption that violence and its threat buttressed elite social control is now challenged from various perspectives. This volume incorporates new models of the relationship between violence and social inequalities into the archaeology of social complexity, building more complicated and nuanced understandings of how different modes of social violence can militate different types of social constitution. Contributions from a variety of methodological angles—such as the bioarchaeology of health and trauma and radiogenic isotope studies and the aesthetics of violence—use a comparative perspective, drawing on data from the Southwestern US, Bronze Age China, early dynastic Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, Roman Britain, and the Andes. Violence and Inequality offers an original and deep history of violence and inequality. Understanding the long-term intersection of violence and inequality and how they support or erode one another is of intrinsic importance, making this work significant to the study of archaeology, economic history, and collective action.Scattering Amplitudes in Quantum Field Theory (Lecture Notes in Physics #1021)
Par Simon Badger, Johannes Henn, Jan Christoph Plefka, Simone Zoia. 2024
This open access book bridges a gap between introductory Quantum Field Theory (QFT) courses and state-of-the-art research in scattering amplitudes.…
It covers the path from basic definitions of QFT to amplitudes, which are relevant for processes in the Standard Model of particle physics. The book begins with a concise yet self-contained introduction to QFT, including perturbative quantum gravity. It then presents modern methods for calculating scattering amplitudes, focusing on tree-level amplitudes, loop-level integrands and loop integration techniques. These methods help to reveal intriguing relations between gauge and gravity amplitudes and are of increasing importance for obtaining high-precision predictions for collider experiments, such as those at the Large Hadron Collider, as well as for foundational mathematical physics studies in QFT, including recent applications to gravitational wave physics.These course-tested lecture notes include numerous exercises with solutions. Requiring only minimal knowledge of QFT, they are well-suited for MSc and PhD students as a preparation for research projects in theoretical particle physics. They can be used as a one-semester graduate level course, or as a self-study guide for researchers interested in fundamental aspects of quantum field theory.The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life?
Par Paul Davies. 2007
An acclaimed physicist and cosmologist considers the multiverse and more: &“Very readable indeed . . . This is Doctor Who, but for real.&” —TheGuardianThe…
Goldilocks Enigma is Paul Davies&’s eagerly awaited return to cosmology, the successor to his critically acclaimed bestseller The Mind of God. Here he tackles all the &“big questions,&” including the biggest of them all: Why does the universe seem so well adapted for life? In his characteristically clear and elegant style, Davies shows how recent scientific discoveries point to a perplexing fact: many different aspects of the cosmos, from the properties of the humble carbon atom to the speed of light, seem tailor-made to produce life. A radical new theory says it&’s because our universe is just one of an infinite number of universes, each one slightly different. Our universe is bio-friendly by accident—we just happened to win the cosmic jackpot. While this &“multiverse&” theory is compelling, it has bizarre implications, such as the existence of infinite copies of each of us and Matrix-like simulated universes. And it still leaves a lot unexplained. Davies believes there&’s a more satisfying solution to the problem of existence: the observations we make today could help shape the nature of reality in the remote past. If this is true, then life—and, ultimately, consciousness—aren&’t just incidental byproducts of nature, but central players in the evolution of the universe. Whether he&’s elucidating dark matter or dark energy, M-theory or the multiverse, Davies brings the leading edge of science into sharp focus, provoking us to think about the cosmos and our place within it in new and thrilling ways.Survival Guide Wissenschaft: (Über-)Lebenstipps für akademische Karrieren
Par Kai Noeske, Benjamin Rott, Katrin Hille. 2023
Survival Guide Wissenschaft – der unverzichtbare Begleiter für angehende Wissenschaftler:innen! Wertvolle Ratschläge, bewährte Strategien und Insiderwissen aus vielen Jahrzehnten akademischer…
Laufbahnen mit Kurven, Ecken und Kanten. Tipps und Tricks, Dos and Don’ts, um wissenschaftliche Karrieren an Universitäten und anderen Forschungseinrichtungen zu starten, zu überleben und erfolgreich voranzutreiben. Von der Forschungsplanung bis zur Bewerbung um Stipendien und Stellen, von der Netzwerkbildung bis zur Work-Life-Balance, aber auch Exit-Strategien – dieser Survival Guide liefert die entscheidenden (Über-)Lebenstipps für ein Leben in Academia.Cómo funciona la ciencia (DK How Stuff Works)
Par Dk. 2018
Encuentra respuestas científicas a las preguntas que siempre te has hecho, desde que significa estar vivo hasta por qué explotan…
las cosas.Este libro de ciencia nos desvela todos los secretos del universo. Deslumbra a tus amigos y familiares con respuestas a las preguntas científicas cotidianas, como ¿cómo se mantienen los aviones en el aire? ¿Cómo funciona una computadora? ¡y mucho más!Mediante explicaciones claras, gráficos y esquemas visuales, este libro de ciencia en español explica conceptos científicos que no te enseñaron en la escuela, hasta los últimos descubrimientos y noticias científicas como el descubrimiento del Bosón de Higgs. ¡Verás que esto sí que es ciencia simplificada!Tanto para el estudiante de ciencias como para cualquier persona interesada en ampliar sus conocimientos en el campo científico.Este libro es el compañero ideal de El libro de la ciencia de la serie de Big Ideas (Spanish Edition)Ciencia: la mejor manera de entender el universo¿Qué es la materia, la energía, la vida, el espacio? ¡Estamos rodeados de ciencia! Aprende a identificar y a comprender cómo funciona desde la electricidad hasta la realidad virtual, desde la transmisión genética al envejecimiento. Explora el mundo de las estrellas, las galaxias y descubre cuál es el tamaño del universo. Esta guía sobre la ciencia nos descubre todos los aspectos sobre la existencia humana desde la mirada científica. Comprenderás cómo se forma la luz, el sonido, o la presión. Aprenderás a definir conceptos como la relatividad, la inteligencia artificial, la inteligencia física, la nanotecnología, los virus, la terapia genética, la física cuántica, la clonación e incluso el Big Bang.Una guía de referencia actualizada sobre todos los descubrimientos que nos regala la ciencia a día a de hoy, desde el origen del universo hasta los robots, a través de los siguientes capítulos:La materia.Energía y fuerzas.La vida.El espacio.La Tierra.Cómo funciona la ciencia, pertenece a la colección de libros juveniles en español de Conocimiento de la editorial DK, un rincón de nuestro catálogo destinado a mentes jóvenes curiosas que estén interesadas en conocer más sobre el mundo que les rodea, con disciplinas tales como la filosofía, economía y psicología. Los títulos incluidos en esta colección responden a infinidad de preguntas con un lenguaje sencillo y cercano y se apoyan en formidables ilustraciones y esquemas para ayudar a entender complejos asuntos y teorías que capten el interés del público juvenil, mientras desarrollan sus habilidades lectoras y sus conocimientos generales.The Cosmos: An Eye-Opening Look at Our Sun, Its Planets, and Their Moons (Idiot's Guides)
Par Christopher De Pree. 2014
Major new discoveries in space are made almost weekly and there is so much for any new enthusiast to learn…
and explore. Beginning with the solar system, the Sun, all its planets, major moons, and other features, such as the asteroid belt, Idiot's Guides: The Cosmos is packed with information and features the best photos from various explorations. Beautiful photography and detailed descriptions of the various types of masses are compared to Earth-- making the information as easy to grasp as possible. The book also explores the Milky Way, the various star types, including black holes, galaxy filaments, and much more.Idiot's Guides: The Cosmos is a fascinating and easy-to-understand exploration of the universe. Dozens of stunning, full-color photos highlight the latest discoveries and beauty of space, including the solar system, the Sun, the asteroid belt, the Milky Way, various star types, black holes, and more.