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Stamping the Earth from Space
By Renato Dicati. 2016
This unique book presents a historical and philatelic survey of Earth exploration from space. It covers all areas of research…
in which artificial satellites have contributed in designing a new image of our planet and its environment: the atmosphere and ionosphere, the magnetic field, radiation belts and the magnetosphere, weather, remote sensing, mapping of the surface, observation of the oceans and marine environments, geodesy, and the study of life and ecological systems. Stamping the Earth from Space presents the results obtained with the thousands of satellites launched by the two former superpowers, the USSR and the USA, and also those of the many missions carried out by the ESA, individual European countries, and the many emerging space nations. Beautifully illustrated, it contains almost 1000 color reproductions of philatelic items. In addition to topical stamps and thematic postal documents, the book provides an extensive review of astrophilatelic items. The most important space missions are documented through covers and cards canceled at launch sites, tracking stations, research laboratories, and mission control facilities.The Scientific 100
By John, Lynda, Simmons. 1919
Who are the great scientists throughout the ages, and what exactly did they do to earn their importance? From Archimedes…
to Newton to Einstein to Hawking, The Scientific 100 provides the fascinating answers. Vivid biographical sketches chronicle the lives and accomplishments of the world's preeminent scientists. And in the tradition of the Citadel Press 100 Series, they are ranked provocatively in order of influence--an inspiration for lively discussion. This unique volume is a browser's treasure trove and a handy reference for the general reader. John Simmons has been associated with Current Biography for more than fifteen years. He has written frequently about Nobel laureates in science. A member of the New York Academy of Sciences, he divides his time between New York City and Paris.God's Hotel
By Victoria Sweet. 2012
A medical "page-turner" that traces one doctor's "remarkable journey to the essence of medicine" (The San Francisco Chronicle). San Francisco's…
Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hôtel-Dieu (God's hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves--"anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times" and needed extended medical care--ended up here. So did Victoria Sweet, who came for two months and stayed for twenty years. Laguna Honda, relatively low-tech but human-paced, gave Sweet the opportunity to practice a kind of attentive medicine that has almost vanished. Gradually, the place transformed the way she understood her work. Alongside the modern view of the body as a machine to be fixed, her extraordinary patients evoked an older idea, of the body as a garden to be tended. God's Hotel tells their story and the story of the hospital itself, which, as efficiency experts, politicians, and architects descended, determined to turn it into a modern "health care facility," revealed its own surprising truths about the essence, cost, and value of caring for the body and the soul.The Sociable Sciences
By Patience A. Schell. 2013
This beautifully written history traces the fortunes of Charles Darwin and his contemporaries in Chile. It explains how they showed…
Chileans a new way to see their own natural environment, teaching a younger generation of scientists there and forging international networks that helped to shape the modern world.Mary Breckinridge
By Melanie Beals Goan. 2008
In 1925 Mary Breckinridge (1881-1965) founded the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), a public health organization in eastern Kentucky providing nurses…
on horseback to reach families who otherwise would not receive health care. Through this public health organization, she introduced nurse-midwifery to the United States and created a highly successful, cost-effective model for rural health care delivery that has been replicated throughout the world.In this first comprehensive biography of the FNS founder, Melanie Beals Goan provides a revealing look at the challenges Breckinridge faced as she sought reform and the contradictions she embodied. Goan explores Breckinridge's perspective on gender roles, her charisma, her sense of obligation to live a life of service, her eccentricity, her religiosity, and her application of professionalized, science-based health care ideas. Highly intelligent and creative, Breckinridge also suffered from depression, was by modern standards racist, and fought progress as she aged--sometimes to the detriment of those she served.Breckinridge optimistically believed that she could change the world by providing health care to women and children. She ultimately changed just one corner of the world, but her experience continues to provide powerful lessons about the possibilities and the limitations of reform.Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology
By Edward H. Burtt, William E. Davis. 2013
Audubon was not the father of American ornithology. That honorific belongs to Alexander Wilson, whose encyclopedic American Ornithology established a…
distinctive approach that emphasized the observation of live birds. In the first full-length study to reproduce all of Wilson's unpublished drawings for the nine-volume Ornithology, Edward Burtt and William Davis illustrate Wilson's pioneering and, today, underappreciated achievement as the first ornithologist to describe the birds of the North American wilderness. Abandoning early ambitions to become a poet in the mold of his countryman Robert Burns, Wilson emigrated from Scotland to settle near Philadelphia, where the botanist William Bartram encouraged his proclivity for art and natural history. Wilson traveled 12,000 miles on foot, on horseback, in a rowboat, and by stage and ship, establishing a network of observers along the way. He wrote hundreds of accounts of indigenous birds, discovered many new species, and sketched the behavior and ecology of each species he encountered. Drawing on their expertise in both science and art, Burtt and Davis show how Wilson defied eighteenth-century conventions of biological illustration by striving for realistic depiction of birds in their native habitats. He drew them in poses meant to facilitate identification, making his work the model for modern field guides and an inspiration for Audubon, Spencer Fullerton Baird, and other naturalists who followed. On the bicentennial of his death, this beautifully illustrated volume is a fitting tribute to Alexander Wilson and his unique contributions to ornithology, ecology, and the study of animal behavior.Is American Science in Decline?
By Yu Xie, Alexandra A. Killewald. 2006
Alarmists argue that the United States urgently needs more and better-trained scientists to compete with the rest of the world.…
Their critics counter that, far from facing a shortage, we are producing a glut of young scientists with poor employment prospects. Both camps have issued reports in recent years that predict the looming decline of American science. Drawing on their extensive analysis of national data sets, Yu Xie and Alexandra Killewald have welcome news to share: American science is in good health. Is American Science in Decline? does reveal areas of concern, namely scientistsâ low earnings, the increasing competition they face from Asia, and the declining number of doctorates who secure academic positions. But the authors argue that the values inherent in American culture make the country highly conducive to science for the foreseeable future. They do not see globalization as a threat but rather a potential benefit, since it promotes efficiency in science through knowledge-sharing. In an age when other countries are catching up, American science will inevitably become less dominant, even though it is not in decline relative to its own past. As technology continues to change the American economy, better-educated workers with a range of skills will be in demand. So as a matter of policy, the authors urge that science education not be detached from general education.Suffering the Silence
By Bernard Raxlen, Allie Cashel. 2015
Allie Cashel has suffered from chronic Lyme disease for sixteen years--but much of the medical community refuses to recognize her…
symptoms as the result of infectious disease. In Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial, Cashel paints a living portrait of what is often called post-treatment Lyme syndrome, featuring the stories of chronic Lyme patients from around the world and their struggle for recognition and treatment. In the United States alone, at least 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, and it is estimated that 20 percent of them go on to develop chronic symptoms of the disease, including (but not limited to) muscle and joint pain; digestive problems; extreme fatigue, confusion, and dizziness; sensations of burning and numbness; and immune-system dysfunction. Before reaching a final diagnosis, many of these patients are misdiagnosed with diseases and conditions like lupus, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, anxiety, and even dementia. Despite these numbers and routine misdiagnoses, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) claim it is impossible for the Lyme bacteria to survive in the body after standard antibiotic therapy. For these chronic patients who have their suffering routinely dismissed by doctors--and even family and friends--the social effects of the illness can be as crippling as the disease itself. Suffering the Silence is a personal and provocative call to break the stigma and ignorance that currently surrounds chronic Lyme disease and other misunderstood chronic illnesses--but it is also a message of hope and comfort for Lyme sufferers, encouraging them to share their stories, seek out treatment, and remember that they are not alone.From the Trade Paperback edition.From Aristotle’s Teleology to Darwin’s Genealogy
By Marco Solinas. 2015
Starting with Aristotle and moving on to Darwin, Marco Solinas outlines the basic steps from the birth, establishment and later…
rebirth of the traditional view of living beings, and its overturning by evolutionary revolution. The classic framework devised by Aristotle was still dominant in the 17th Century world of Galileo, Harvey and Ray, and remained hegemonic until the time of Lamarck and Cuvier in the 19th Century. Darwin's breakthrough thus takes on the dimensions of an abandonment ofthe traditional finalistic theory. It was a transition exemplified in the morphological analysis of useless parts, such as the sightless eyes of moles, already discussed by Aristotle, which Darwin used as a crowbar to unhinge the systematic recourse to final causes. With many excerpts, a chronological sequence and an analytical approach, this book follows the course of the two conceptions that have shaped the destiny of living beings in western culture.One More Step
By Neal Bascomb, Bonner Paddock. 2015
In 2008, Bonner Paddock summited 19,341-foot-high mount kilimanjaro, the world's tallest freestanding mountain. Four years later, he earned the elite…
triathlete title kona Ironman. Thousands have done each individually. Bonner is the first person with cerebral palsy to do both.Bonner Paddock grew up just wanting to be ordinary. Despite his skinny legs and habit of tripping over nothing, he fought to keep up with his athletic older brothers, learned to battle riptides with his grandfather on close watch, and did everything he could to feel like a regular kid, even when it became clear he wasn't. After being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age eleven, Bonner didn't let it limit him--instead he simply ignored its existence. For the next eighteen years, he guarded the truth about his health, building a normal life and keeping his secret from everyone--most of all himself.But the sudden death of a friend's young son named Jake, a boy who also suffered from cerebral palsy, forced Bonner to reevaluate who he was. No longer content striving for normal, he began to pursue one breathtaking experience after another in Jake's memory, never hiding from his physical limitations and, in the process, raising international awareness about cerebral palsy. T is appetite for challenges led him to the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro where, pushing his fragile body to the brink and barely surviving, he braved one mountain only to discover that he still had farther to climb.Embracing his weaknesses to understand his strengths, he then pursued the ultimate adventure: testing his mind, body, and will at the Ironman in Kona, Hawaii, a race regarded by many as the hardest on earth. Along the way he forged a renewed bond with his family and launched a foundation to help disabled children in Africa and at home.In the end, his remarkable journey took him across the globe and introduced him to a compelling cast of characters--from Tanzanian mountain guides to top-class surgeons, to disabled children, to champion athletes--all of whom inspired his quest. Infused with his irresistible charisma, courage, and heart, and illustrated with sixteen pages of color photos, One More Step is a gripping story of human perseverance that demonstrates how our lives are not defined by limits, but by the moments and lessons that push us past them.Einstein's Opponents
By Milena Wazeck, Geoffrey S. Koby. 2014
This detailed account of the controversy surrounding the publication of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity explores the ferocious popular and…
academic opposition which at one time encircled one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century. Based on extensive archival research, this fascinating discourse includes a compelling and entertaining examination of the contemporary literature created by Einstein's detractors. Exploring the arguments and strategies, social contexts, and motivations of Einstein's detractors, and providing unique insights into the dynamics of scientific controversies, this book is ideal for anyone interested in the history and philosophy of physics, popular science, and the public understanding of science.Alan M. Turing
By Sara Turing. 2012
Turing's reputation has grown, as his contributions to logic, mathematics, computing, and artificial intelligence have become better appreciated. This republication…
of his mother's biography is enriched by a never-before-published memoir by Alan's older brother.Half the Mother, Twice the Love
By Tonya Bolden, Mother Love. 2006
As a talk-show host and inspirational speaker, Mother Love used to have to just grin and bear it -- all…
that extra weight and the poor health that went along with it. Today she can truly smile as she serves up sound advice with big portions of humor in her new book about better living and good health that can turn your life around just like it did hers. Half the Mother, Twice the Love tells about the major weight loss Mother Love achieved over the last three years to reverse the decline in her health and regain control over her life. She went from size 22 to size 10 using a multitiered approach that included exercise, diet, and other lifestyle adjustments, and all her secrets are here in this informative and uplifting book. Half the Mother, Twice the Love speaks to everyone who wants the good life without the bad habits that can make us tired, overweight, and eventually ruin our health. Part memoir and part self-help, this book teaches you how to learn from the mistakes which almost cost Mother Love her life. In the end, she may be half the woman she used to be, but she can give twice as much love as ever.Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean: Remembering Chinese Scientist Pu Zhelong
By Sigrid Schmalzer, Melanie Linden Chan. 2018
Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean tells its story through the memories of a farm boy who, inspired by Pu…
Zhelong, became a scientist himself. The narrator is a composite of people Pu Zhelong influenced in his work. With further context from Melanie Chan’s historically precise watercolors, this story will immerse young readers in Chinese culture, the natural history of insects, and the use of biological controls in farming. Backmatter provides context and background for this lovely, sophisticated picture book about nature, science, and Communist China. “The first time I saw a scientist in my village was also the first time I saw a wasp hatch out of a moth’s egg,” writes the narrator of this picture book about Chinese scientist Pu Zhelong. “In that moment I could not have said which was the more unexpected—or the more miraculous.” In the early 1960s, while Rachel Carson was writing and defending Silent Spring in the U.S., Pu Zhelong was teaching peasants in Mao Zedong’s Communist China how to forgo pesticides and instead use parasitic wasps to control the moths that were decimating crops and contributing to China’s widespread famine. This story told through the memories of a farm boy (a composite of people inspired by Pu Zhelong) will immerse young readers in Chinese culture, the natural history of insects, and sustainable agriculture. Backmatter provides historical context for this lovely, sophisticated picture book. The author, Sigrid Schmalzer, won the Joseph Levenson Post-1900 Book Prize for 2018 for her book Red Revolution, Green Revolution. This is the most prestigious prize for a book about Chinese history, and the book upon which Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean is based. Fountas & Pinnell Level UGuerrilla Science
By Ernesto Altshuler. 2017
Full of drama, dedication, and humor, this book narrates the author's often frustrating experiences working as an experimental physicist in…
Cuba after the disintegration of the so-called socialist block. Lacking finance and infrastructure, faced with makeshift equipment, unpredictable supplies, and unreliable IT, Altshuler tells how he and his students overcame numerous challenges to make novel and interesting contributions to several fields of science. Along the way, he explains the science - from studies of ant colonies to superconductivity - either qualitatively or quantitatively, but always at a level fully understandable to an undergraduate student of natural sciences or engineering. An even wider audience, however, may skip the technical sections without missing the essence. With numerous anecdotes, photographs and the author's own delightful cartoons, the book tells a remarkable, and often amusing story of how successful science can be performed against all odds.Memorial Tributes: Volume 14
By National Academy of Engineering. 2011
This is the fourteenth volume in the series of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a…
personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and foreign associates. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased.Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn
By Pieter C. van der Kruit. 2015
Jacobus C. Kapteyn (1851-1922) was a Dutch astronomer who contributed heavily to major catalogs of star positions, such as the…
Cape Photographic Durchmusterung and the Harvard-Groningen Durchmusterung, and arranged extensive international collaboration through his Plan of Selected Areas. He contributed to the establishment of statistical astronomy and structure and dynamics of the Sidereal System. All aspects of Kapteyn's life are discussed, from his birth in Barneveld, the Netherlands, to his death in Amsterdam, and his entire resume of scientific achievements in between. Kapteyn had some conflicts with others in his field, especially after the world became divided on how to handle scientific contributions from Germany post-World War I. Both Kapteyn's struggles and achievements are written against the backdrop of both the historical context of the world at that time as well as the scientific one.The Color of Atmosphere
By Maggie Kozel. 1980
Kozel, a graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1980, spent the first 10 years of her medical career…
as a physician in the US military, with its universal, single-payer health coverage offering every family the same access to the latest health care. In this memoir for general readers, she recounts with warmth and humor her journey from idealistic young pediatrician to the culture shock of private practice outside the military. Her personal story is told in the context of the changing healthcare system, focusing on how the current method of paying for health care has changed the way doctors practice, not for the better. Kozel, now a high school teacher, argues that the profession is currently shaped by health insurance reimbursements and pharmaceutical marketing rather than by science. The book will be of interest to those working in the medical profession, those considering it, and general readers. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)It's Probably Nothing
By Beach Conger. 2011
It's Probably Nothing continues the tale woven by Dr. Beach Conger in his first book, Bag Balm and Duct Tape.…
This new collection sees Conger and his wife yearning for new challenges and relocating to the suburbs of Philadelphia after 25 years in mythical Dumster, Vermont. Conger gamely takes a job in a teaching hospital in the poorest part of the city and gets to experience urban bureaucratized medicine and its trials-a far cry from the more idiosyncratic and hands-on version he practiced in Vermont. After 5 years Conger and his wife move back to Dumster, where he rediscovers more about his patients' capacity to both cope and cherish one another than he expected. Each of the tightly constructed chapters is centered around a particular patient or particular theme in medicine. It's Probably Nothing is both funny and poignant, and showcases both Conger's irreverent view into medicine and his profound empathy for the characters he encounters along the way. His experience highlights how medicine-and problems with our current medical system-can remain the same and yet be vastly different across class, race, and region. Among the people the reader meets are urban drag queens, small-town farmers and other heroes, Vermont celebrities, and the occasional reclusive author.Letters to My Grandchildren
By David Suzuki. 2015
In this inspiring series of letters to his grandchildren, David Suzuki offers grandfatherly advice mixed with stories from his own…
remarkable life and explores what makes life meaningful. He challenges his grandchildren - and us - to do everything at full tilt. He explains why sports, fishing, feminism, and failure are important; why it is dangerous to deny our biological nature; and why First Nations must lead a revolution. Drawing on his own experiences and the wisdom he has gained over his long life, he decries the lack of elders and grandparents in the lives of many people, especially immigrants, and champions the importance of heroes. And he even has something to say about fashion. The book also provides an intimate look at Suzuki's life as a father and grandfather with letters that are chock-full of anecdotes about his children and grandchildren when they were small. As he ponders life's deepest questions and offers up a lifetime of wisdom, Suzuki inspires us all to live with courage, conviction, and passion.