- Table View
- List View
What Pushes? What Pulls?
by Margie Burton Cathy French Tammy JonesThis book is about the difference between pushing and pulling, and how force moves things from one place to another.
What Radiology Residents Need to Know: Chest Radiology
by Ronald L. EisenbergThis book is an introduction to chest radiology, specifically designed for the needs of first-year residents. On the first rotation in chest imaging, radiology residents are asked to learn significant amounts of information at a fast and unrelenting pace. However, most current books are densely written and contain far more material than residents need to know. Moreover, the number, variety, and quality of images is often limited. What Radiology Residents Need to Know: Chest Radiology answers these needs by presenting the important information in bullet fashion, divided into convenient sub-units, such as “clinical information,” “imaging findings,” and “management.” In most cases, an individual pathological condition can be presented in one page or less. This book covers such topics as volume loss, pneumonia, pulmonary edema, inhalation diseases, and pulmonary, mediastinal, and pleural tumor imaging. In addition, it contains tips on approaching and interpreting chest radiographs and CT based on decades of practical experience and teaching residents at the work station. With liberal use of illustrations in the text and an online bank of many more high-quality images, this book gives readers a comprehensive library of chest imaging scans and serves as an ideal guide for radiology residents.
What Radiology Residents Need to Know: Musculoskeletal Radiology (What Radiology Residents Need to Know)
by Ronald L. EisenbergThis book is an introduction to musculoskeletal radiology, specifically designed for the needs of first-year residents. On the first rotation in musculoskeletal imaging, radiology residents are asked to learn significant amounts of information at a fast and unrelenting pace. However, most current books are densely written and contain far more material than residents need to know. Moreover, the number, variety and quality of images is often limited.What Radiology Residents Need to Know: Musculoskeletal Radiology answers these needs by presenting the important information in bullet fashion, divided into convenient sub-units, such as “clinical information,” “imaging findings,” and “management.” In most cases, an individual pathological condition can be presented in one page or less. In addition, it contains tips on approaching and interpreting radiographs, MRI and CT based on decades of practical experience and teaching residents at the work station.With liberal use of illustrations in the text and an online bank of many more high-quality images, this book gives readers a comprehensive library of musculoskeletal imaging scans and serves as an ideal guide for radiology residents.
What Really Counts: The Case for a Sustainable and Equitable Economy
by Ronald ColmanPoliticians and economists fixate on “growing the economy”—measured by a country’s gross domestic product. But this yardstick counts harmful activities such as greenhouse gas emissions, plastic waste, and cigarette sales as gains, and it ignores environmental protection, voluntary community work, and other benefits. What we measure is a choice, and what is and isn’t counted determines what sorts of policies are enacted. How can we shift the focus to well-being and quality of life?What Really Counts is an essential, firsthand story of the promise and challenges of accounting for social, economic, and environmental benefits and costs. Ronald Colman recounts two decades of working with three governments to adopt measures that more accurately and comprehensively assess true progress. Chronicling his path from Nova Scotia to New Zealand to Bhutan, Colman details the challenge of devising meaningful metrics, the effort to lay the foundations of a new economic system, and the obstacles that stand in the way. Reflecting on successes and failures, he considers how to shift policy priorities from a narrow economic-growth agenda toward a future built on sustainability and equity.Colman has taken the critique of GDP outside the academy and attempted to realize an alternative. The lessons he offers in What Really Counts are vital for anyone interested in how we can measure what matters—and how better measures can help build a better world.
What Remains: Bringing America’s Missing Home from the Vietnam War
by Sarah E. WagnerNearly 1,600 Americans who took part in the Vietnam War are still missing and presumed dead. Sarah Wagner tells the stories of those who mourn and continue to search for them. Today’s forensic science can identify remains from mere traces, raising expectations for repatriation and forcing a new reckoning with the toll of America’s most fraught war.
What Science Is and How It Really Works
by James C. ZimringScientific advances have transformed the world. However, science can sometimes get things wrong, and at times, disastrously so. Understanding the basis for scientific claims and judging how much confidence we should place in them is essential for individual choice, societal debates, and development of public policy and laws. We must ask: what is the basis of scientific claims? How much confidence should we put in them? What is defined as science and what is not? This book synthesizes a working definition of science and its properties, as explained through the eyes of a practicing scientist, by integrating advances from philosophy, psychology, history, sociology, and anthropology into a holistic view. Crucial in our political climate, the book fights the myths of science often portrayed to the public. Written for a general audience, it also enables students to better grasp methodologies and helps professional scientists to articulate what they do and why.
What Science Is and How It Works
by Gregory N. DerryHow does a scientist go about solving problems? How do scientific discoveries happen? Why are cold fusion and parapsychology different from mainstream science? What is a scientific worldview? In this lively and wide-ranging book, Gregory Derry talks about these and other questions as he introduces the reader to the process of scientific thinking. From the discovery of X rays and semiconductors to the argument for continental drift to the invention of the smallpox vaccine, scientific work has proceeded through honest observation, critical reasoning, and sometimes just plain luck. Derry starts out with historical examples, leading readers through the events, experiments, blind alleys, and thoughts of scientists in the midst of discovery and invention. Readers at all levels will come away with an enriched appreciation of how science operates and how it connects with our daily lives. An especially valuable feature of this book is the actual demonstration of scientific reasoning. Derry shows how scientists use a small number of powerful yet simple methods--symmetry, scaling, linearity, and feedback, for example--to construct realistic models that describe a number of diverse real-life problems, such as drug uptake in the body, the inner workings of atoms, and the laws of heredity. Science involves a particular way of thinking about the world, and Derry shows the reader that a scientific viewpoint can benefit most personal philosophies and fields of study. With an eye to both the power and limits of science, he explores the relationships between science and topics such as religion, ethics, and philosophy. By tackling the subject of science from all angles, including the nuts and bolts of the trade as well as its place in the overall scheme of life, the book provides a perfect place to start thinking like a scientist.
What Scientists Think
by Jeremy StangroomWhat are scientists working on today? What do they worry about? What do they think about the working of the brain, climate change, animal experimentation, cancer, and mental illness? Is science progressing or in retreat? Is this century humankind's last?These are just some of the compelling and provocative questions tackled here by twelve of the world's leading scientists and scientific thinkers. In engaging and lucid discussion, they clarify many of the most urgent scientific challenges and dilemmas facing science today. Essential reading for anyone interested in popular science, What Scientists Think is edited and written by Jeremy Stangroom of the highly successful The Philosopher's Magazine and includes a foreword by Marek Kohn, author of A Reason for Everything: Natural Selection and the British Imagination.
What Should a Clever Moose Eat?: Natural History, Ecology, and the North Woods
by Bernd Heinrich John PastorHow long should a leaf live? When should blueberries ripen? And what shoulda clever moose eat? Questions like these may seem simple or downright strange--yet they form the backbone of natural history, a discipline that fostered some of our most important scientific theories, from natural selection to glaciation. Through careful, patient observations of the organisms that live in an area, their distributions, and how they interact with other species, we gain a more complete picture of the world around us, and our place in it.In What Should a Clever Moose Eat?, John Pastor explores the natural history of the North Woods, an immense and complex forest that stretches from the western shore of Lake Superior to the far coast of Newfoundland. The North Woods is one of the most ecologically and geologically interesting places on the planet, with a host of natural history questions arising from each spruce or sugar maple. From the geological history of the region to the shapes of leaves and the relationship between aspens, caterpillars, and predators, Pastor delves into a captivating range of topics as diverse as the North Woods themselves. Through his meticulous observations of the natural world, scientists and nonscientists alike learn to ask natural history questions and form their own theories, gaining a greater understanding of and love for the North Woods--and other natural places precious to them.In the tradition of Charles Darwin and Henry David Thoreau, John Pastor is a joyful observer of nature who makes sharp connections and moves deftly from observation to theory. Take a walk in John Pastor's North Woods--you'll come away with a new appreciation for details, for the game trails, beaver ponds, and patterns of growth around you, and won't look at the natural world in the same way again.
What Should Armies Do?: Armed Forces and Civil Security
by John L. ClarkeClarke examines the role of North American and European armed forces in support of civil authorities in domestic contingencies. He seeks to answer the question of what roles are - and are not - appropriate for contemporary armed forces in carrying out task and functions within national borders. The book takes as its starting point, two key elements in the North American and European security debate: the decline of both the external threats to most North American and European states and that of budgetary resources available for defense. These twin declines are coupled with a desire on the part of civil leaders to engage the military in more domestic tasks and the desire of senior military leaders to preserve force structure, resulting in a dynamic in which civil leaders will ask their militaries to do more, and military leaders will be more inclined to say yes. As such, this book focuses on the enormous increase in the provision of non-military services and support asked of North American and European military establishments. Looking at the historical context for how North America's and Europe’s armed forces have been employed in the past, this book establishes guidelines for their employment in the future.
What Should We Be Worried About?
by Mr John BrockmanDrawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about--and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"--The Guardian), posed to the planet's most influential minds. He asked them to disclose something that, for scientific reasons, worries them--particularly scenarios that aren't on the popular radar yet. Encompassing neuroscience, economics, philosophy, physics, psychology, biology, and more--here are 150 ideas that will revolutionize your understanding of the world.Steven Pinker uncovers the real risk factors for war * Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi peers into the coming virtual abyss * Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek laments our squandered opportunities to prevent global catastrophe * Seth Lloyd calculates the threat of a financial black hole * Alison Gopnik on the loss of childhood * Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why firefighters understand risk far better than economic "experts" * Matt Ridley on the alarming re-emergence of superstition * Daniel C. Dennett and george dyson ponder the impact of a major breakdown of the Internet * Jennifer Jacquet fears human-induced damage to the planet due to "the Anthropocebo Effect" * Douglas Rushkoff fears humanity is losing its soul * Nicholas Carr on the "patience deficit" * Tim O'Reilly foresees a coming new Dark Age * Scott Atran on the homogenization of human experience * Sherry Turkle explores what's lost when kids are constantly connected * Kevin Kelly outlines the looming "underpopulation bomb" * Helen Fisher on the fate of men * Lawrence Krauss dreads what we don't know about the universe * Susan Blackmore on the loss of manual skills * Kate Jeffery on the death of death * plus J. Craig Venter, Daniel Goleman, Virginia Heffernan, Sam Harris, Brian Eno, Martin Rees, and more
What Should We Be Worried About?
by Mr John BrockmanDrawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about--and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"--The Guardian), posed to the planet's most influential minds. He asked them to disclose something that, for scientific reasons, worries them--particularly scenarios that aren't on the popular radar yet. Encompassing neuroscience, economics, philosophy, physics, psychology, biology, and more--here are 150 ideas that will revolutionize your understanding of the world.Steven Pinker uncovers the real risk factors for war * Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi peers into the coming virtual abyss * Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek laments our squandered opportunities to prevent global catastrophe * Seth Lloyd calculates the threat of a financial black hole * Alison Gopnik on the loss of childhood * Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why firefighters understand risk far better than economic "experts" * Matt Ridley on the alarming re-emergence of superstition * Daniel C. Dennett and george dyson ponder the impact of a major breakdown of the Internet * Jennifer Jacquet fears human-induced damage to the planet due to "the Anthropocebo Effect" * Douglas Rushkoff fears humanity is losing its soul * Nicholas Carr on the "patience deficit" * Tim O'Reilly foresees a coming new Dark Age * Scott Atran on the homogenization of human experience * Sherry Turkle explores what's lost when kids are constantly connected * Kevin Kelly outlines the looming "underpopulation bomb" * Helen Fisher on the fate of men * Lawrence Krauss dreads what we don't know about the universe * Susan Blackmore on the loss of manual skills * Kate Jeffery on the death of death * plus J. Craig Venter, Daniel Goleman, Virginia Heffernan, Sam Harris, Brian Eno, Martin Rees, and more
What Should We Be Worried About?
by Mr John BrockmanDrawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about--and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"--The Guardian), posed to the planet's most influential minds. He asked them to disclose something that, for scientific reasons, worries them--particularly scenarios that aren't on the popular radar yet. Encompassing neuroscience, economics, philosophy, physics, psychology, biology, and more--here are 150 ideas that will revolutionize your understanding of the world.Steven Pinker uncovers the real risk factors for war * Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi peers into the coming virtual abyss * Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek laments our squandered opportunities to prevent global catastrophe * Seth Lloyd calculates the threat of a financial black hole * Alison Gopnik on the loss of childhood * Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why firefighters understand risk far better than economic "experts" * Matt Ridley on the alarming re-emergence of superstition * Daniel C. Dennett and george dyson ponder the impact of a major breakdown of the Internet * Jennifer Jacquet fears human-induced damage to the planet due to "the Anthropocebo Effect" * Douglas Rushkoff fears humanity is losing its soul * Nicholas Carr on the "patience deficit" * Tim O'Reilly foresees a coming new Dark Age * Scott Atran on the homogenization of human experience * Sherry Turkle explores what's lost when kids are constantly connected * Kevin Kelly outlines the looming "underpopulation bomb" * Helen Fisher on the fate of men * Lawrence Krauss dreads what we don't know about the universe * Susan Blackmore on the loss of manual skills * Kate Jeffery on the death of death * plus J. Craig Venter, Daniel Goleman, Virginia Heffernan, Sam Harris, Brian Eno, Martin Rees, and more
What Should We Be Worried About?
by Mr John BrockmanDrawing from the horizons of science, today's leading thinkers reveal the hidden threats nobody is talking about--and expose the false fears everyone else is distracted by.What should we be worried about? That is the question John Brockman, publisher of Edge.org ("The world's smartest website"--The Guardian), posed to the planet's most influential minds. He asked them to disclose something that, for scientific reasons, worries them--particularly scenarios that aren't on the popular radar yet. Encompassing neuroscience, economics, philosophy, physics, psychology, biology, and more--here are 150 ideas that will revolutionize your understanding of the world.Steven Pinker uncovers the real risk factors for war * Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi peers into the coming virtual abyss * Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek laments our squandered opportunities to prevent global catastrophe * Seth Lloyd calculates the threat of a financial black hole * Alison Gopnik on the loss of childhood * Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why firefighters understand risk far better than economic "experts" * Matt Ridley on the alarming re-emergence of superstition * Daniel C. Dennett and george dyson ponder the impact of a major breakdown of the Internet * Jennifer Jacquet fears human-induced damage to the planet due to "the Anthropocebo Effect" * Douglas Rushkoff fears humanity is losing its soul * Nicholas Carr on the "patience deficit" * Tim O'Reilly foresees a coming new Dark Age * Scott Atran on the homogenization of human experience * Sherry Turkle explores what's lost when kids are constantly connected * Kevin Kelly outlines the looming "underpopulation bomb" * Helen Fisher on the fate of men * Lawrence Krauss dreads what we don't know about the universe * Susan Blackmore on the loss of manual skills * Kate Jeffery on the death of death * plus J. Craig Venter, Daniel Goleman, Virginia Heffernan, Sam Harris, Brian Eno, Martin Rees, and more
What Species Mean: A User's Guide to the Units of Biodiversity (Species and Systematics)
by Julia D. SigwartEveryone uses species. All human cultures, whether using science or not, name species. Species are the basic units for science, from ecosystems to model organisms. Yet, there are communication gaps between the scientists who name species, called taxonomists or systematists, and those who use species names—everyone else. This book opens the "black box" of species names, to explain the tricks of the name-makers to the name-users. Species are real, and have macroevolutionary meaning, and it follows that systematists use a broadly macroevolution-oriented approach in describing diversity. But scientific names are used by all areas of science, including many fields such as ecology that focus on timescales more dominated by microevolutionary processes. This book explores why different groups of scientists understand and use the names given to species in very different ways, and the consequences for measuring and understanding biodiversity. Key selling features: Explains the modern, multi-disciplinary approach to studying species evolution and species discovery, and the role of species names in diverse fields throughout the life sciences Documents the importance and urgent need for high-quality taxonomic work to address today’s most pressing problems Summarises controversies in combining different—sometimes quite different—datasets used to estimate global biodiversity Focusses throughout on a central theme—the disconnect between the makers and the users of names—and seeks to create the rhetorical foundation needed to bridge this disconnect Anticipates the future of taxonomy and its role in studies of global biodiversity
What Stars Are Made Of: The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
by Donovan MooreCecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the revolutionary scientific thinker who discovered what stars are made of. But her name is hard to find alongside those of Hubble, Herschel, and other great astronomers. Donovan Moore tells the story of Payne-Gaposchkin’s life of determination against all the obstacles a patriarchal society erected against her.
What Successful Science Teachers Do: 75 Research-Based Strategies
by Neal A. Glasgow Michele C. Cheyne Randy K. YerrickSupercharge your science lessons with proven strategies! The experience and science expertise of these award-winning authors makes this easy-to-use guide a teacher’s treasure trove. Included are 75 research-based strategies, each with a concise description of the supporting research, classroom applications, pitfalls to avoid, and references for additional learning. Teachers of students in Grades K–12 will find novel ways to engage children’s natural curiosity, concern, and creativity. Highlights include how to: Promote collaborative learning Differentiate instruction with culturally responsive practices Build students' scientific literacy and reasoning skills Involve parents in their children's science learning
What the Bleep Do We Know!?™: Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality
by William Arntz Betsy Chasse Mark VicenteDo you want to take a trip down the rabbit hole? Get ready, because that’s exactly what you’ll do when you open this book! Never before has a self-help book so dramatically altered the status quo—or reality for that matter. With a genre-busting breakthrough format and layout, the graphics, colors and concepts compel readers to ask themselves Great Questions that will recreate their lives as they know them. With the help of 14 leading quantum physicists, scientist and spiritual thinkers, this book guides readers on a course from the scientific to the spiritual, from the universals to the deeply personal. Along the way, it asks such questions as: Are we seeing the world as it really is? What are thoughts made of? What is the relationship between our thoughts and our world? Are we biologically addicted to certain emotions? Can I create my ideal day every day? The answer to the last question is a resounding yes: you are an infinite set of possibilities, and you can choose every day which reality you want to create for yourself. This book shows you how. Oversized hardcover! Full-color throughout! Active page design feauturing boxes, pull-outs and exercises! More than 50 movie stills, photos and illustrations! New interviews and theories! More than 30 short chapters! In this book a unique synergy is achieved between the interactive format, full-color graphics and the ability to take the complicated, dense material of mysticism, philosophy and quantum physics and boil it down to easy to understand, practical advice. What the Bleep Do We Know!? is the self-help phenomena millions have been waiting for. Key Features Forget your boring self-help books. This book has a different size, feel and look than anything else on the shelf. Uses the graphics, style, feel and basic structure of the phenomenal movie. Short chapters will be easy to understand and digest. Concise 30-step journey from the theoretic (quantum physics) to the personal (how to“create your day”). Practical exercises show how complex theories interact with daily life.
What the Body Knows: A Guide to the New Science of Our Immune System
by John TrowsdaleA leading scientist&’s guide to the way our immune system protects us—but only most of the time What is our immune system, and how does it work? A vast array of cells, proteins and chemicals spring into action whenever our bodies are damaged, but immunity is not something you can see, touch or feel. It can fight off malicious bacteria and viruses, locate cancerous growths, and even re-wire our brains – but sometimes our own tissues can get caught in its crossfire, with catastrophic consequences. Humans may be the most disease-ridden animals on the planet. Professor John Trowsdale shows how the immune system protects us, and how our bodies invest huge resources to keep it running. Immunity influences how we age, and controls how we learn to fight off recurring diseases, and how our bodies respond to chronic conditions such as heart disease and dementia. But, in the case of allergies and autoimmune conditions, it can also easily get things wrong. What the Body Knows is a hugely readable account of a fascinating phenomenon—one which, for good or for ill, impacts every aspect of our lives.
What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World's Most Familiar Bird
by Sy MontgomeryA charming and eye-opening exploration of the special relationship between humans and chickens from Sy Montgomery, &“one of our finest chroniclers of the natural world&” (The New York Times). For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery—whose The Soul of an Octopus was a National Book Award finalist—has kept a flock of chickens in her backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality (outgoing or shy, loud or quiet, reckless or cautious) and connects with Sy in her own way. In this short, delightful book, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals all the things that make chickens such remarkable creatures: only hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run, and peck; relationships are important to them and the average chicken can recognize more than one hundred other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information through at least twenty-four distinct calls. Visitors to her home are astonished by all this, but for Sy what&’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially considering there are about twenty percent more chickens on earth than people. With a winning combination of personal narrative and science, What the Chicken Knows is exactly the kind of book that has made Sy Montgomery such a beloved and popular author.
What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs
by Cat WarrenA firsthand exploration of the extraordinary abilities and surprising, sometimes life-saving talents of “working dogs”—pups who can sniff out drugs, find explosives, even locate the dead—as told through the experiences of a journalist and her intrepid canine companion, which The New York Times calls “a fascinating, deeply reported journey into the…amazing things dogs can do with their noses.”There are thousands of working dogs all over the US and beyond with incredible abilities—they can find missing people, detect drugs and bombs, pinpoint unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers, or even find drowning victims more than two hundred feet below the surface of a lake. These abilities may seem magical or mysterious, but author Cat Warren shows the science, the rigorous training, and the skilled handling that underlie these creatures’ amazing abilities. Cat Warren is a university professor and journalist who had tried everything she could think of to harness her dog Solo’s boundless energy and enthusiasm…until a behavior coach suggested she try training him to be a “working dog.” What started out as a hobby soon became a calling, as Warren was introduced to the hidden universe of dogs who do this essential work and the handlers who train them. Her dog Solo has a fine nose and knows how to use it, but he’s only one of many astounding dogs in a varied field. Warren interviews cognitive psychologists, historians, medical examiners, epidemiologists, and forensic anthropologists, as well as the breeders, trainers, and handlers who work with and rely on these intelligent and adaptable animals daily. Along the way, Warren discovers story after story that prove the capabilities—as well as the very real limits—of working dogs and their human partners. Clear-eyed and unsentimental, Warren explains why our partnership with working dogs is woven into the fabric of society, and why we keep finding new uses for the wonderful noses of our four-legged friends.
What the Dog Knows Young Readers Edition: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World
by Cat WarrenIn this young readers edition of the New York Times bestseller, Cat Warren and her canine companion, Solo, teach readers that the nose knows no bounds when it comes to working together, being persistent, and helping others. <P><P>Solo has a fine nose and knows how to use it, but he’s only one of many thousands of scent-detection dogs all over the United States. That’s a group that includes cadaver dogs, tracking, trailing, and apprehension dogs; dogs that can locate unmarked graves of Civil War soldiers; and even dogs that can find drowning victims more than two hundred feet below the surface of a lake. All these dogs love to use their noses. They think their job is simply the best, most interesting game they’ve ever played! <P><P>What good working dogs can do may seem magical or mysterious, but What the Dog Knows shows the science, the rigorous training, and the skilled handling that underlie these amazing abilities.
What the Ear Hears (And Doesn't): Inside the Extraordinary Everyday World of Frequency
by Richard Mainwaring"You'll never listen to the world the same way again. A truly ear-opening experience!" —Chris Ferrie, award-winning physicist and author of Where Did the Universe Come From? And Other Cosmic QuestionsFor readers of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill O'Neill, What the Ear Hears (and Doesn't) is a fascinating science book for adults that explores the physics principle of frequency and the (sometimes weird) role it plays in our everyday lives.What do the world's loneliest whale, a black hole, and twenty-three people doing Tae Bo all have in common?In 2011, a skyscraper in South Korea began to shake uncontrollably without warning and was immediately evacuated. Was it an earthquake? An attack? No one seemed quite sure. The actual cause emerged later and is utterly fascinating: Twenty-three middle-aged folks were having a Tae Bo fitness class in the office gym on the twelfth floor. Their beats had inadvertently matched the building's natural frequency, and this coincidence—harnessing a basic principle of physics—caused the building to shake at an alarming rate for ten minutes. Frequency is all around us, but little understood.Musician, composer, TV presenter, and educator Richard Mainwaring uses the concept of the Infinite Piano to reveal the extraordinary world of frequency in a multitude of arenas—from medicine to religion to the environment to the paranormal—through the universality of music and a range of memorable human (and animal) stories laced with dry humor. Whether you're science curious, musically inclined, or just want to know what a Szechuan pepper has to do with physics, What the Ear Hears (and Doesn't) is an immensely enjoyable read filled with "did you know?" trivia you'll love to share with friends.
What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
by Mona Hanna-AttishaFlint was already a troubled city in 2014 when the state of Michigan—in the name of austerity—shifted the source of its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Soon after, citizens began complaining about the water that flowed from their taps—but officials rebuffed them, insisting that the water was fine. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician at the city’s public hospital, took state officials at their word and encouraged the parents and children in her care to continue drinking the water—after all, it was American tap water, blessed with the state’s seal of approval. <p><p> But a conversation at a cookout with an old friend, leaked documents from a rogue environmental inspector, and the activism of a concerned mother raised red flags about lead—a neurotoxin whose irreversible effects fall most heavily on children. Even as circumstantial evidence mounted and protests grew, Dr. Mona knew that the only thing that could stop the lead poisoning was undeniable proof—and that to get it, she’d have to enter the fight of her life. <p> What the Eyes Don’t See is the inspiring story of how Dr. Mona—accompanied by an idiosyncratic team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders—proved that Flint’s kids were exposed to lead and then fought her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. Paced like a scientific thriller, this book shows how misguided austerity policies, the withdrawal of democratic government, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. And at the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself—an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice. <p> What the Eyes Don’t See is a riveting, beautifully rendered account of a shameful disaster that became a tale of hope, the story of a city on the ropes that came together to fight for justice, self-determination, and the right to build a better world for their—and all of our—children.
What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, And Ourselves
by Benjamin K. BergenIt may be starred, beeped, and censored--yet profanity is so appealing that we can't stop using it. In the funniest, clearest study to date, Benjamin Bergen explains why, and what that tells us about our language and brains.Nearly everyone swears-whether it's over a few too many drinks, in reaction to a stubbed toe, or in flagrante delicto. And yet, we sit idly by as words are banned from television and censored in books. We insist that people excise profanity from their vocabularies and we punish children for yelling the very same dirty words that we'll mutter in relief seconds after they fall asleep. Swearing, it seems, is an intimate part of us that we have decided to selectively deny.That's a damn shame. Swearing is useful. It can be funny, cathartic, or emotionally arousing. As linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin K. Bergen shows us, it also opens a new window onto how our brains process language and why languages vary around the world and over time.In this groundbreaking yet ebullient romp through the linguistic muck, Bergen answers intriguing questions: How can patients left otherwise speechless after a stroke still shout Goddamn! when they get upset? When did a cock grow to be more than merely a rooster? Why is crap vulgar when poo is just childish? Do slurs make you treat people differently? Why is the first word that Samoan children say not mommy but eat shit? And why do we extend a middle finger to flip someone the bird?Smart as hell and funny as fuck, What the F is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to know how and why we swear.