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Author recounts spending the summer of 2008 in mission control of the Phoenix Mars expedition with one hundred thirty scientists…
and engineers. Describes the team's discovery of ice on Mars, discusses the possibility of life on the planet, and addresses conspiracy stories about the mission's findings. 2011
Detailed account of college intern Thad Roberts's theft of moon rocks from NASA in 2002 and the FBI sting that…
snared him. Describes Roberts's sheltered upbringing, his estrangement from his parents, and his romance with a coworker that motivated the heist. Some strong language. 2011
Father recounts the 2004 car accident that injured him and left his six-year-old son Alex in a coma. Alex describes…
waking two months later and discovering that some of his spinal injuries had healed without medical intervention--and believing that he had entered heaven and met Jesus. Bestseller. 2010
Journalist examines the intersecting experiences of three scholars and one ambitious freshman at Harvard during the winter of 1960-1961. Discusses…
their experiments in psychedelic drug research that set the stage for the social, spiritual, sexual, and psychological revolution of the 1960s. 2010
Theoretical physicist and author of From Eternity to Here (DB 71474) explains the research involved in and the potential impact…
of the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson, also known as the God particle, that gives particles their mass. Details the role of engineers, theorists, and experimentalists. 2012
Journalist explores the rivalry between financier Henry Graves Jr. and automobile magnate James Ward Packard to build and own the…
most remarkable watch in history. Graves and Packard spurred Swiss watchmaker Patek Phillipe to manufacture the Graves Supercomplication--the most complex mechanical watch ever created. Details early-twentieth-century watchmaking techniques. 2013
Angels, universal beacons of hope, symbols of humanity and grace. In this book, you will encounter people who have had…
extraordinary experiences, and you will read stories that may seem impossible or too amazing to be true. Vernon Oickle recounts deeply personal stories of real people who have encountered otherworldly beings who have brought comfort and provoked life-altering changes: * A woman in white appears on the deck of fishing boat and warns a fisherman of impending danger * Lost in a blinding snowstorm in a dense forest, a boy is guided home to his family by a mysterious stranger * A young boy saves his family from perishing in a house fire after a strange visitor wakes him up and leads him to safety * During a difficult delivery, an expectant mother sees a woman engulfed in a bright light hovering over the doctor and knows that everything will be all right * An unknown man appears out of nowhere to save a young girl from drowning, and then he suddenly disappears * While sitting in a jail cell, a despondent man has a life-changing conversation with another man in the cell next to him, only to find out the next day that the cell was empty * Many of these true stories defy logic, yet point to the existence of angels among us.
Arizona State University cosmologist challenges belief in a divine creator and describes modern research in quantum mechanics that suggests the…
universe originated out of nothing--and could eventually return to that. Includes afterword by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The Greatest Show on Earth (DB 70102). 2012
Journalist recounts his 2008 search for the lost city of Ciudad Blanca in Central America. Discusses studying the 1940 expedition…
journals of American spy Theodore Morde, who claimed to have found the city. Compares Morde's journey with his own. Young adult appeal. 2013
Account of fifty-four-year-old Harvard-educated neurosurgeon Alexander and his 2008 recovery from a coma induced by bacterial meningitis. Describes his near-death…
experience--including a feeling of unconditional love and acceptance--that convinced him of the existence of heaven and a personal God. Bestseller. 2012
Physicist and author of The House of Wisdom (DB 75023) discusses nine theories and ideas that seem to defy common…
sense, including the Paradox of the Twins and Achilles and the Tortoise. Explains the science and math required to understand these brainteasers. 2012
Science journalist examines ancient and modern myths of monsters, from the Nemean Lion of ancient Greece to King Kong and…
the Terminator. Uses archaeology and other disciplines to theorize on the sources of these tales and the reasons they fascinate us. Young adult appeal. Some violence. 2012
Founder of The Skeptics Society explores the intersection of science and religion through the lens of an examination of humans'…
fascination with the afterlife. Topics covered include mortal experiences and immortal quests, the scientific search for immortality, yesterdays and tomorrows, and mortality and meaning. 2018
The instant New York Times bestseller &“Expert storytelling . . . [Pollan] masterfully elevates a series of big questions about…
drugs, plants and humans that are likely to leave readers thinking in new ways.&”— New York Times Book Review From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants—and the equally powerful taboos. Of all the things humans rely on plants for—sustenance, beauty, medicine, fragrance, flavor, fiber—surely the most curious is our use of them to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: People around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. But we do not usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So, then, what is a &“drug&”? And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In This Is Your Mind on Plants , Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs—opium, caffeine, and mescaline—and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs while consuming (or, in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and fraught feelings? In this unique blend of history, science, and memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively—as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that is one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay published almost twenty-five years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world
Journalist chronicles historical and contemporary explorations into the nature of light, both scientific and artistic. Discusses creation myths, Greek philosophers,…
religious representations, scientific investigations and feuds, filmmaking, and the development of such artistic movements as Romanticism. 2016
This basic primer for the interested student of witchcraft is divided into two parts. Part one is an introduction to…
the history and types of witchcraft, including the toolkit any witch needs. Part two is a collection of spells that focus on positive thinking and supporting rituals. 2014
Doctor and professor of biomedicine explores the energies of the human body. Oliva claims that advances in electro-photon imaging technology…
reveal human energy fields, which can be measured and provide important insights about health and psychical well-being. Spanish language. 2015
The La Posada Hotel in Santa Fe has a famous resident ghost, a woman named Julia Schuster Staab, who lived…
there when the hotel was her family's home in the late 19th century. Journalist Nordhaus, Julia's descendent, researches Julia's life and afterlife in this tale of the American West. 2015
Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, scientific advisor for Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar, guides readers through the science at work throughout the…
movie. Chapters provide context for each of the film's scientific concepts, in addition to explaining the theory and mechanics of such subjects as wormholes, planet dynamics, and quantum gravity. 2014