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Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military
By Avis Lang, Neil DeGrasse Tyson. 2019
“Extraordinary.… A feast of history, an expert tour through thousands of years of war and conquest.” —Jennifer Carson, New York…
Times Book Review In this far-reaching foray into the millennia-long relationship between science and military power, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-author Avis Lang examine how the methods and tools of astrophysics have been enlisted in the service of war. Spanning early celestial navigation to satellite-enabled warfare, Accessory to War is a richly researched and provocative examination of the intersection of science, technology, industry, and power that will introduce Tyson’s millions of fans to yet another dimension of how the universe has shaped our lives and our world.On Foot to Canterbury: A Son’s Pilgrimage (Wayfarer)
By Ken Haigh. 2021
The Gift
By Zoe Maeve. 2021
The Shining meets Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette in this gripping debut from an award-winning talent.The Gift opens on the snow-blanketed…
grounds of the Alexander Palace in Western Russia where a moth has come to attend the birth of the fourth Romanov princess, Anastasia. She and her siblings grow up in a gilded world, isolated from the society beyond the palace walls despite their dominion over it. After mysteriously receiving a camera on her fifteenth birthday, she begins to document her world, but the gift carries with it a weight she can't yet see. A creature moves on the edge of her vision and stalks her dreams. As the revolution unfolds, the confines of Anastasia's world keep closing in. Something is following her, and it might not be human.Vlad the Impaler: The Real Count Dracula
By Enid A. Goldberg, Norman Itzkowitz. 2007
Loyalty meant nothing to Vlad Dracula, a Transylvanian prince who'd sacrifice anything to stay in power. He ruled with a…
thirst for blood so terrible that the most famous vampire in literature was named after him.Grigory Rasputin
By Enid A. Goldberg, Norman Itzkowitz. 2007
Our Man in Hibernia: Ireland, The Irish and Me
By Charlie Connelly. 2010
Each year on St Patrick's Day eighty million people around the world celebrate their Irish ancestry. Millions more don leprechaun…
hats and down pints of Guinness in the annual high-fiving of Ireland and the Irish. Charlie Connelly was one of them. He thought he had a good idea of what Ireland was all about. He was, after all, practically Irish. He had a bodhran and everything. Then, when he was least expecting it, he went to live there. Our Man in Hibernia follows Charlie's adventures among the Irish. Immersing himself in Ireland's language, music and literature, he learns how closely the rose-tinted image he'd grown up with matches the reality, and explores the land, from the small patch of Connemara bog that changed the world to the Holy Tree Stump of Rathkeale. From defining moments of the country's history - the Great Famine and the Easter Rising - to its quirkier phenomena, such as the National Ploughing Championships and the Rose of Tralee, in Our Man in Hibernia Charlie Connelly paints an evocative, entertaining and witty portrait of Ireland today.Francisco Pizarro: Destroyer of the Inca Empire
By John Diconsiglio. 2009
Isaac Newton, The Asshole Who Reinvented the Universe: The Asshole Who Reinvented The Universe
By Brian Taylor, Florian Freistetter. 2018
A blunt and humorous profile of Isaac Newton focusing on his disagreeable personality and showing that his offputting qualities were…
key to his scientific breakthroughs.Isaac Newton may have been the most important scientist in history, but he was a very difficult man. Put more bluntly, he was an asshole, an SOB, or whatever epithet best describes an abrasive egomaniac. In this colorful profile of the great man--warts and all--astronomer Florian Freistetter shows why this damning assessment is inescapable.Newton's hatred of fellow scientist Robert Hooke knew no bounds and he was strident in expressing it. He stole the work of colleague John Flamsteed, ruining his career without a second thought. He carried on a venomous battle with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz over the invention of calculus, vilifying him anonymously while the German scientist was alive and continuing the attacks after he died. All evidence indicates that Newton was conniving, sneaky, resentful, secretive, and antisocial. Compounding the mystery of his strange character is that he was also a religious fanatic, a mystery-monger who spent years studying the Bible and predicted the apocalypse.While documenting all of these unusual traits, the author makes a convincing case that Newton would have never revolutionized physics if he hadn't been just such an obnoxious person. This is a fascinating character study of an astounding genius and--if truth be told--an almighty asshole as well.Mani: Travels In Southern Peloponnese (New York Review Books. Classics)
By Patrick Fermor. 2006
This is Patrick Leigh Fermor's spellbinding part-travelogue, part inspired evocation of a part of Greece's past. Joining him in the…
Mani, one of Europe's wildest and most isolated regions, cut off from the rest of Greece by the towering Taygettus mountainPortrait of Orkney
By George Brown. 1989
Photomechanical Materials, Composites, and Systems: Wireless Transduction of Light into Work
By Timothy J White. 2017
An exhaustive review of the history, current state, and future opportunities for harnessing light to accomplish useful work in materials,…
this book describes the chemistry, physics, and mechanics of light-controlled systems.• Describes photomechanical materials and mechanisms, along with key applications• Exceptional collection of leading authors, internationally recognized for their work in this growing area• Covers the full scope of photomechanical materials: polymers, crystals, ceramics, and nanocomposites• Deals with an interdisciplinary coupling of mechanics, materials, chemistry, and physics• Emphasizes application opportunities in creating adaptive surface features, shape memory devices, and actuators; while assessing future prospects for utility in optics and photonics and soft roboticsCatherine the Great: Empress of Russia
By Zu Vincent. 2009
Henry the Young King, 1155-1183
By Matthew Strickland. 2016
This first modern study of Henry the Young King, eldest son of Henry II but the least known Plantagenet monarch,…
explores the brief but eventful life of the only English ruler after the Norman Conquest to be created co-ruler in his father's lifetime. Crowned at fifteen to secure an undisputed succession, Henry played a central role in the politics of Henry II's great empire and was hailed as the embodiment of chivalry. Yet, consistently denied direct rule, the Young King was provoked first into heading a major rebellion against his father, then to waging a bitter war against his brother Richard for control of Aquitaine, dying before reaching the age of thirty having never assumed actual power. In this remarkable history, Matthew Strickland provides a richly colored portrait of an all-but-forgotten royal figure tutored by Thomas Becket, trained in arms by the great knight William Marshal, and incited to rebellion by his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, while using his career to explore the nature of kingship, succession, dynastic politics, and rebellion in twelfth-century England and France.Roumeli: Travels In Northern Greece (John Murray Travel Classics)
By Patrick Leigh Fermor. 2003
Patrick Leigh Fermor's Mani compellingly revealed a hidden world of Southern Greece and its past. Its northern counterpart takes the…
reader among Sarakatsan shepherds, the monasteries of Meteora and the villages of Krakora, among itinerant pedlars and beggars, and even tracks down at Missolonghi a pair of Byron's slippers.Roumeli is not on modern maps: it is the ancient name for the lands from the Bosphorus to the Adriatic and from Macedonia to the Gulf of Corinth. But it is the perfect, evocative name for the Greece that Fermor captures in writing that carries throughout his trademark vividness of description. But what is more, the pictures of people, traditions and landscapes that he creates on the page are imbued with an intimate understanding of Greece and its history.Guidance and Control Technology of Spacecraft on Elliptical Orbit (Navigation: Science and Technology)
By Fucheng Liu, Shan Lu, Yue Sun. 2019
This book introduces readers to the navigation guidance and control technologies involved in single-spacecraft double-spacecraft and multiple-spacecraft…
tasks in elliptical orbits It comprehensively covers the key technologies of guidance navigation and control GNC system design for spacecraft in elliptical orbits including the orbit design formation configuration design and maintenance autonomous navigation technology and relative navigation technology as well as autonomous rendezvous technology The methods that this book introduces are very close to actual practical engineering applications and presented in an accessible style The book can serve as reference teaching material for senior undergraduates and postgraduates with space navigation related majors while also providing essential information and guidance for research personnel and engineering technical personnel engaged in the development of GNC systems for spacecraftThe Secret File of the Duke of Windsor
By Michael Bloch. 1988
In this brilliant and authoritative work, based on their private correspondence and papers, Michael Bloch describes the feud which developed…
between the Duke of Windsor and the British royal establishment after the Abdication, the humiliations which were suffered by the ex-King and his wife, and the plots to ensure that they remained in exile.Rick Steves Best of England (Rick Steves)
By Rick Steves. 2016
Hit England's can't-miss art, sights, and bites in two weeks or less with Rick Steves Best of England!Rick's expert advice…
on what's worth your time and moneyShort itineraries covering the best of London, Bath, the Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon, Liverpool, the Lake District, and York, including Windsor Castle, Cambridge, Oxford, Stonehenge, and moreRick's tips for beating the crowds, skipping lines, and avoiding tourist trapsThe best of local culture, flavors, and haunts, including step-by-step walking tours of world-class museums and atmospheric neighborhoodsTrip planning strategies like how to link destinations and design your itinerary, what to pack, where to stay, and how to get aroundOver 400 full-color pages with detailed maps and vibrant photosSuggestions for side trips and excursionsExperience England's Old-World sophistication and modern-day excitement for yourself with Rick Steves Best of England!Planning a longer trip? Rick Steves England is the classic, in-depth guide to exploring the country.Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere
By Jan Morris. 2001
Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection
By Mark Pendergrast. 2003
As our first technology for contemplation of the self, the mirror is arguably as important an invention as the wheel…
and perhaps even more universal. Mirror Mirror is the fascinating story of the mirror's invention, refinement, and use in an astonishing range of human activities-from the bloodthirsty smoking gods of the Toltecs, to the fantastic mirrored rooms wealthy Romans created for their orgies, to the mirror's key role in the use and understanding of light. From Archimedes to Isaac Newton to Max Factor to David Hockney, this is the fascinating tale of one of the most remarkable inventions in human history and its effects on myth, religion, science, manners, and the arts.Every year more than 270,000 students from all around the world come to study in the UK - and the…
number is growing by 10 per cent a year. At present, most students coming to the UK have to rely on information from their friends, and brief leaflets and booklets supplied by universities. This indispensable guide tells students all they need to know about Britain's higher education system: the application process, funding, immigration controls, health service, accommodation, study methods and employment opportunities, as well as university life, British customs and habits, and lots of other information on day to day living in the UK.