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The big cheat: How donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family
By David Cay Johnston. 2021
Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and dean of Trumpologists David Cay Johnston reveals years of eye-popping financial misdeeds by Donald Trump and…
his family. While the world watched Donald Trump's presidency in horror or delight, few noticed that his lifelong grifting quietly continued. Less than forty minutes after taking the oath of office, Trump began turning the White House into a money machine for himself, his family, and his courtiers. More than $1.7 billion flowed into Donald Trump's bank accounts during his four years as president. Foreign governments rented out whole floors of his hotel five blocks from the White House while lobbyists conducted business in the hotel's restaurants. Payday lenders and other trade groups moved their annual conventions to Trump golf resorts. And individual favor seekers joined his private Mar-a-Lago club with its $200,000 admission fee in hopes of getting a few minutes with the President. Despite earning more than $1 million every day he was in office, Trump left the White House as he arrived—hard up for cash. More than $400 million in debt comes due by 2024, and Trump still lacks the resources to pay it back. The Big Cheat takes you on a guided tour of how money flowed in and out of Trump's hundreds of enterprises, showing in simple terms how his family and courtiers used his presidency to enrich themselves, even putting national security at risk. Johnston details the four most recent years of the corruption that has defined the Trump family since 1885 and reveals the costs of Trump's extravagant lifestyle for American taxpayers
The new corporation: How "good" corporations are bad for democracy
By Joel Bakan. 2020
A deeply informed and unflinching look at the way corporations have slyly rebranded themselves as socially conscious entities ready to…
tackle society's problems, while CEO compensation soars, income inequality is at all-time highs, and democracy sits in a precarious situation. &“A very important book, an arresting study directed to a central issue of the times&” (Noam Chomsky), from the author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power . Over the last decade and a half, business leaders have been calling for a new kind of capitalism. With income inequality soaring, wages stagnating, and a climate crisis escalating, they realized that they had to make social and environmental values the very core of their messaging. The problem is corporations are still, first and foremost, concerned with their bottom line. In lucid and engaging prose, Joel Bakan documents how increasing corporate freedom encroaches on individual liberty and democracy. Through deep research and interviews with both top executives and their sharpest critics, he exposes the inhumanity and destructive force of the current order—profit-driven privatization subverting the public good, governments neglecting duties to protect the environment, the increasing alienation we experience as every aspect of life is economized, and how the Covid-19 pandemic lays bare the unjust fault lines of our corporate-led society. Beyond diagnosing major problems, in The New Corporation Bakan narrates a hopeful path forward. He reveals how citizens around the world are fighting back and making gains in ways that bolster democracy and benefit ordinary citizens rather than the corporate elite
Martian summer: robot arms, cowboy spacemen, and my 90 days with the Phoenix Mars Mission
By Andrew Kessler. 2011
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
Sex on the moon: the amazing story behind the most audacious heist in history
By Ben Mezrich. 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
Back to work: why we need smart government for a strong economy
By Bill Clinton. 2011
In the wake of the 2010 elections, former U.S. president Clinton explains his views of what has happened to America…
in the past thirty years and why our political system has not met the challenges facing our nation. Provides forty-six specific proposals to restore economic growth. Bestseller. 2011
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
A grand complication: the race to build the world's most legendary watch
By Stacy Perman. 2013
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
A universe from nothing: why there is something rather than nothing
By Lawrence M. Krauss, Lawrence Maxwell Krauss. 2012
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
The price of politics
By Bob Woodward. 2012
Award-winning reporter chronicles the White House's efforts to restore the American economy from 2009-2011, giving special attention to the debt-limit…
showdown. Posits that lack of leadership and resistance to alliances with top members of Congress led to discord and a possible 2013 fiscal crisis. Strong language. Bestseller. 2012
Paradox: the nine greatest enigmas in physics
By Jim Al-Khalili. 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
René Lévesque et nous: 50 regards sur l'homme et son héritage politique
By Marie Grégoire, Pierre Gince. 2020
En 1960, RENÉ LÉVESQUE fait le saut en politique avec l'«équipe du tonnerre» de Jean Lesage. Ministre des Ressources naturelles,…
l'ancien journaliste pilote le projet de nationalisation de l'électricité. Sa conviction profonde que le Québec doit être maître de son destin l'incite à fonder le Mouvement souveraineté-association, puis le Parti québécois. Une fois aux commandes de l'État, de 1976 à 1985, il poursuit l'héritage de la Révolution tranquille en multipliant les réformes.Profondément démocrate, René Lévesque aura jonglé tout au long de sa carrière politique avec la quête d'un pays et la gestion d'un État en mutation.À l'aube de son centième anniversaire de naissance, que reste-t-il de lui et de l'empreinte qu'il a voulu laisser sur le Québec? Les auteurs sont allés à la rencontre de membres de sa famille, d'amis, de collaborateurs, d'observateurs et d'adversaires pour tenter de répondre à cette question complexe. Ceux-ci se sont confiés avec franchise pour nous faire découvrir «leur» René Lévesque dans ce portrait intime et pluriel.
Light: a radiant history, from creation to the quantum age
By Bruce Watson. 2016
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
The science of Interstellar
By Kip Thorne, Kip S Thorne. 2014
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
The quantum moment: how Planck, Bohr, Einstein, and Heisenberg taught us to love uncertainty
By Robert P. Crease, Alfred Scharff Goldhaber, Robert P Crease. 2014
Philosopher Crease and physicist Goldhaber discuss the lasting legacy of the research into quantum physics in the early 1900s. Present…
material from their cross-disciplinary course that explores how science and human behavior meet in the definition of "quantum." Describe the impact of quantum research on science and popular culture. 2014
To explain the world: the discovery of modern science
By Steven Weinberg. 2015
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Weinberg examines the development of scientific reasoning across the world in a number of different fields. Chronologically…
examines the advancements of the ancient Greeks, Europe, and the Arab world in the Middle Ages, and the scientific revolution during the Enlightenment. 2015
Five billion years of solitude: the search for life among the stars
By Lee Billings. 2013
Journalist examines the growth of discoveries of exoplanets--planets that orbit stars other than the Sun--in the late twentieth and early…
twenty-first centuries and what it means for the identification of extraterrestrial life. Profiles astronomers and planetary scientists responsible for this batch of identified planets. 2013
Theoretical physicist examines advances in brain research that once could only be imagined in science fiction. Explores possibilities such as…
connecting brains to computers to power exoskeletons for those with paralyzed limbs, learning new subjects through artificial memory, and constructing a "brain-net" to link minds across the world. Bestseller. 2014
Journalist focuses on the experiences of the people working at NASA from the aftermath of the 1986 Challenger shuttle explosion…
to the July 2011 final shuttle flight. Interviews flight controllers, shuttle workers, and astronauts. Covers the 2003 loss of the Columbia. Includes foreword by astronaut Jerry Ross. 2013
Faraday, Maxwell, and the electromagnetic field: how two men revolutionized physics
By Basil Mahon, Nancy Forbes. 2014
Examination of the lives of Michael Faraday (1791-1867) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) and their contributions in the development of…
physics. Discusses Faraday's early life of poverty--and the challenges he faced because of his background--and Maxwell's ability to support Faraday's theories with mathematical formulas. 2014
Newton's football: the science behind America's game
By Allen St. John, Ainissa G. Ramirez. 2013
Journalist St. John and engineer Ramirez examine the game of football and discuss the behavioral and mechanical science concepts behind…
it. The authors explore the notion that chaos theory--as explained to them by MacArthur Fellow Stephan Wolfram--is the underpinning for Cincinnati Bengals' coach Sam Wyche's no-huddle. 2013