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Who Is Richard Branson? (Who Was?)
By Michael Burgan, Ted Hammond. 2015
What would you do with a billion dollars? This question gets a definitive answer from billionaire Richard Branson: do everything!…
Born into a wealthy family in London, Branson suffered from dyslexia and was a poor student. Still, his knack for business started early with a successful parakeet-breeding enterprise at age 11.The charismatic entrepreneur launched his first major business, Virgin Records, at age 22 and spent the next few decades building the Virgin group that now includes more than 400 companies. Known for his eccentric lifestyle and trillion-watt smile, Branson's hot air balloon flights, innovative leadership, and world record attempts have made him an instantly-recognizable global icon.Who Was Marie Curie? (Who was?)
By Megan Stine, Nancy Harrison, Ted Hammond. 2014
Born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867, Marie Curie was forbidden to attend the male-only University of Warsaw, so…
she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris to study physics and mathematics. There she met a professor named Pierre Curie, and the two soon married, forming one of the most famous scientific partnerships in history. Together they discovered two elements and won a Nobel Prize in 1903. (Later Marie won another Nobel award for chemistry in 1911.) She died in Savoy, France, on July 4, 1934, a victim of many years of exposure to toxic radiation."Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
By Ralph Leighton, Richard P. Feynman. 1985
A New York Times bestseller--the outrageous exploits of one of this century's greatest scientific minds and a legendary American original.…
Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. Here he recounts in his inimitable voice his experience trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek; cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets; accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums; painting a naked female toreador. In short, here is Feynman's life in all its eccentric--a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.Endurance, Young Readers Edition: My Year In Space And How I Got There
By Scott Kelly. 2018
An awe-inspiring memoir from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly who spent a record-breaking year in space, now newly adapted for young…
readers.Prepare to blast off with astronaut Scott Kelly as he takes readers on a journey through his year aboard the International Space Station and his life prior to becoming a true American hero.Discover the extreme challenges of long-term spaceflight, the pressures of living in close quarters with people from many countries, the extremely dangerous risk of colliding with space junk and the unnerving feeling of not being able to help if tragedy strikes at home. Find out the story of Kelly's childhood, his struggles in school, and ultimately the inspiration that sparked his incredible career, and the training to become a test-pilot and then astronaut.This personal and fascinating story will encourage aspiring astronauts and young readers everywhere to believe in the impossible and reach for the stars.Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics
By Basil Mahon, Nancy Forbes. 2014
The story of two brilliant nineteenth-century scientists who discovered the electromagnetic field, laying the groundwork for the amazing technological and…
theoretical breakthroughs of the twentieth centuryTwo of the boldest and most creative scientists of all time were Michael Faraday (1791-1867) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). This is the story of how these two men - separated in age by forty years - discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and devised a radically new theory which overturned the strictly mechanical view of the world that had prevailed since Newton's time.The authors, veteran science writers with special expertise in physics and engineering, have created a lively narrative that interweaves rich biographical detail from each man's life with clear explanations of their scientific accomplishments. Faraday was an autodidact, who overcame class prejudice and a lack of mathematical training to become renowned for his acute powers of experimental observation, technological skills, and prodigious scientific imagination. James Clerk Maxwell was highly regarded as one of the most brilliant mathematical physicists of the age. He made an enormous number of advances in his own right. But when he translated Faraday's ideas into mathematical language, thus creating field theory, this unified framework of electricity, magnetism and light became the basis for much of later, 20th-century physics.Faraday's and Maxwell's collaborative efforts gave rise to many of the technological innovations we take for granted today - from electric power generation to television, and much more. Told with panache, warmth, and clarity, this captivating story of their greatest work - in which each played an equal part - and their inspiring lives will bring new appreciation to these giants of science.Who Was Albert Einstein? (Who was?)
By Robert Andrew Parker, Nancy Harrison, Jess Brallier. 2002
Everyone has heard of Albert Einstein-but what exactly did he do? How much do kids really know about Albert Einstein…
besides the funny hair and genius label? For instance, do they know that he was expelled from school as a kid? Finally, here's the story of Albert Einstein's life, told in a fun, engaging way that clearly explores the world he lived in and changed.Una brillante y valiente investigación de Michael Pollan, autor de cinco best sellers de The New York Times, sobre la…
revolución médica y científica en torno a las drogas psicodélicas, y la fascinante historia de sus propias experiencias psicodélicas que le cambiaron la vida. Cuando Michael Pollan se propuso investigar por qué el LSD y la psilocibina (el ingrediente activo de las setas mágicas) brindaban un enorme alivio a las personas que padecían condiciones difíciles de tratar como el TEPT (trastorno por estrés postraumático), la depresión o la adicción, no tenía la intención de escribir lo que es indudablemente su libro más personal. Pero al descubrir cómo estas notables sustancias estaban mejorando la vida no solo de los pacientes con problemas de salud mental sino también de las personas que simplemente se enfrentaban a los altibajos de la vida cotidiana, decidió explorar los límites de la mente en primera y tercera persona. Así comenzó una singular aventura entorno a la experiencia de la conciencia alterada, así como una profunda inmersión en el estudio de la neurociencia más pionera y la toma de contacto con una prodigiosa comunidad subterránea de expertos psicodélicos. En esta ejemplar investigación periodística, Pollan revisa archivos históricos y documentos científicos para separar la verdad sobre estas misteriosas drogas de los mitos, la propaganda y el pánico moral que se ha ido acumulando desde los años sesenta, cuando un puñado de personajes rebeldes catalizaron una poderosa reacción contra lo que entonces era un prometedor campo de investigación. Sugerente, polémico y deslumbrante este libro es el resultado de un viaje a una nueva, emocionante e inesperada frontera de la percepción, de nuestra comprensión de la mente, del yo y de nuestro lugar en el mundo.Well: Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa
By Sarah Thebarge. 2017
Sarah Thebarge ponders the intersection of faith and medicine in this insightful narrative of her medical mission trip to Togo,…
West Africa.Sarah Thebarge, a Yale-trained physician assistant, nearly died of breast cancer at age twenty-seven, but that did not end her deeply felt spiritual calling to medical missions in Africa. Risking her own health, she moved to Togo, West Africa-ranked by the United Nations as the least happy country in the world-to care for sick and suffering patients. Serving without pay in a mission hospital, she pondered the intersection of faith and medicine in her quest to help make the world "well."In the hospital wards, she witnessed death over and over again. In the outpatient clinic, she daily diagnosed patients with deadly diseases, many of which had simple but unavailable cures. She lived in austere conditions and nearly succumbed herself in a harrowing bout with malaria.She describes her experiences in gripping detail and reflects courageously about difficult and deep human connections-across race, culture, material circumstances, and medical access. Her experience exemplifies the triumph of surviving in order to share the stories that often go untold. In the end, WELL is an invitation to ask what happens when, instead of asking why God allows suffering to happen in the world, we ask, "Why do we?"The remarkable story of Benjamin Rush, medical pioneer and one of our nation’s most provocative and unsung Founding Fathers In…
the summer of 1776, fifty-six men put their quills to a dangerous document they called the Declaration of Independence. Among them was a thirty-year-old doctor named Benjamin Rush. One of the youngest signatories, he was also, among stiff competition, one of the most visionary. A brilliant physician and writer, Rush was known as the “American Hippocrates” for pioneering national healthcare and revolutionizing treatment of mental illness and addiction. Yet medicine is only part of his legacy. Dr. Rush was both a progressive thorn in the side of the American political establishment—a vocal opponent of slavery, capital punishment, and prejudice by race, religion or gender—and close friends with its most prominent leaders. He was the protégé of Franklin, the editor of Common Sense, Washington’s surgeon general, and the broker of peace between Adams and Jefferson, yet his stubborn convictions more than once threatened his career and his place in the narrative of America’s founding. Drawing on a trove of previously unpublished letters and images, the voluminous correspondence between Rush and his better-known counterparts, and his candid and incisive personal writings, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Stephen Fried resurrects the most significant Founding Father we’ve never heard of and finally installs Dr. Rush in the pantheon of great American leaders.A Mind Unraveled: A Memoir
By Kurt Eichenwald. 2018
The compelling story of an acclaimed journalist and New York Times bestselling author’s ongoing struggle with epilepsy—his torturous decision to…
keep his condition a secret to avoid discrimination, and his ensuing decades-long battle to not only survive, but to thrive. As a college freshman, Kurt Eichenwald awoke one night on the floor of his dorm room, confused and in pain. In the aftermath of that critical moment, his once-carefree life would be consumed by confrontations with medical incompetence, discrimination that almost cost him his education and employment, physical abuse, and dark moments when he contemplated suicide. This is the story of one man’s battle to pursue his dreams despite an often incapacitating brain disorder. From his early experiences of fear and denial to his exasperating search for treatment, Eichenwald provides a deeply candid account of his years facing this misunderstood and often stigmatized condition. He details his encounters with the doctors whose negligence could have killed him, but for the heroic actions of a brilliant neurologist and the family and friends who fought for him. Many of Eichenwald’s recollections are drawn from his diaries, vivid and painstakingly kept records that helped sharpen his skills as a journalist. He raises important questions about the nature of memory, the revelations of brain science, and the profound mysteries of human perception. Ultimately, A Mind Unraveled is an inspirational story, one that chronicles how Eichenwald, faced often with his own mortality, transformed trauma into a guide for reaching the future he desired. Defying relentless threats to his emotional and physical well-being, he affirmed his decision to never give up, and in the process learned how to rise from the depths of despair to the heights of unimagined success.Ticker: The Quest to Create an Artificial Heart
By Mimi Swartz. 2018
It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. If America could send a man to the moon, shouldn’t the best surgeons…
in the world be able to build an artificial heart? In Ticker, Texas Monthly executive editor and two time National Magazine Award winner Mimi Swartz shows just how complex and difficult it can be to replicate one of nature’s greatest creations. Part investigative journalism, part medical mystery, Ticker is a dazzling story of modern innovation, recounting fifty years of false starts, abysmal failures and miraculous triumphs, as experienced by one the world’s foremost heart surgeons, O.H. “Bud” Frazier, who has given his life to saving the un-savable. His journey takes him from a small town in west Texas to one of the country’s most prestigious medical institutions, The Texas Heart Institute, from the halls of Congress to the animal laboratories where calves are fitted with new heart designs. The roadblocks to success —medical setbacks, technological shortcomings, government regulations – are immense. Still, Bud and his associates persist, finding inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. A field beside the Nile irrigated by an Archimedes screw. A hardware store in Brisbane, Australia. A seedy bar on the wrong side of Houston. Until post WWII, heart surgery did not exist. Ticker provides a riveting history of the pioneers who gave their all to the courageous process of cutting into the only organ humans cannot live without. Heart surgeons Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, whose feud dominated the dramatic beginnings of heart surgery. Christian Barnaard, who changed the world overnight by performing the first heart transplant. Inventor Robert Jarvik, whose artificial heart made patient Barney Clark a worldwide symbol of both the brilliant promise of technology and the devastating evils of experimentation run amuck. Rich in supporting players, Ticker introduces us to Bud’s brilliant colleagues in his quixotic quest to develop an artificial heart: Billy Cohn, the heart surgeon and inventor who devotes his spare time to the pursuit of magic and music; Daniel Timms, the Brisbane biomedical engineer whose design of a lightweight, pulseless heart with but a single moving part offers a new way forward. And, as government money dries up, the unlikeliest of backers, Houston’s furniture king, Mattress Mack. In a sweeping narrative of one man’s obsession, Swartz raises some of the hardest questions of the human condition. What are the tradeoffs of medical progress? What is the cost, in suffering and resources, of offering patients a few more months, or years of life? Must science do harm to do good? Ticker takes us on an unforgettable journey into the power and mystery of the human heart.Sabias en la Segunda República (Flash Ensayo)
By Adela Muñoz Páez. 2017
Un breve recorrido por la historia de la ciencia española y sus primeras grandes científicas. ¿Qué papel desempeñaron las mujeres…
durante la Edad de Plata que la ciencia vivió en la Segunda República española? Adela Muñoz Páez rescata la historia de algunas de las mujeres españolas que han hecho contribuciones relevantes a la ciencia y paralelamente, para entender por qué fueron tan escasas y hoy son tan desconocidas, realiza un paseo por la España de comienzos del siglo XX hasta nuestros días. Así, descubriremos que el movimiento feminista español gestado a finales del siglo XIX dio sus frutos más brillantes durante la Segunda República; que debido a la guerra una generación entera de científicas cayó en el olvido y que durante el franquismo no solo se anularon todos los logros conseguidos en cuestiones de igualdad, sino que se desprestigió a las mujeres y los hombres que los protagonizaron y se borraron sus huellas de los anales de la ciencia. Hoy su redescubrimiento es un ejercicio de justicia histórica para que por fin brillen con todo su esplendor.Dr. Benjamin Rush: The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation
By Harlow Giles Unger. 2018
A gripping, often startling biography of the Founding Father of an America that other Founding Fathers forgot--an America of women,…
African Americans, Jews, Roman Catholics, Quakers, indentured workers, the poor, the mentally ill, and war veteransNinety percent of Americans could not vote and did not enjoy rights to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness when our Founding Fathers proclaimed, "all men are created equal." Alone among those who signed the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush heard the cries of those other, deprived Americans and stepped forth as the nation's first great humanitarian and social reformer.Remembered primarily as America's leading, most influential physician, Rush led the Founding Fathers in calling for abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, improved medical care for injured troops, free health care for the poor, slum clearance, citywide sanitation, an end to child labor, free universal public education, humane treatment and therapy for the mentally ill, prison reform, and an end to capital punishment. Using archival material from Edinburgh, London, Paris, and Philadelphia, as well as significant new materials from Rush's descendants and historical societies, Harlow Giles Unger's new biography restores Benjamin Rush to his rightful place in American history as the Founding Father of modern American medical care and psychiatry.La ciencia pop
By Gabriel Leon. 2017
La ciencia pop es un libro de divulgación apasionante ¿Por qué los tomates lindos son desabridos? ¿Cómo el descubrimiento de…
un Premio Nobel hizo quebrar un país? ¿Qué tienen que ver las palomas con los misiles y las guerras? ¿De qué están hechos los genes? ¿Cómo fue descubierta la sacarina? ¿Se puede afirmar que las fresas son chilenas? ¿Qué tienen que ver las jibias de la Quinta Región en los avances de la neurobiología? ¿Podemos decir que el agua tiene recuerdos? ¿Que las plantas son inteligentes? El científico chileno Gabriel León aborda estas y otras preguntas y las responde de una manera amena y convincente, para acercanos así a un mundo a veces incógnito y, en el camino, despejar los secretos del planeta y nuestra especie.Kid Scientists: True Tales of Childhood from Science Superstars (Kid Legends #5)
By David Stabler, Anoosha Syed. 2018
From the author who brought young readers KID ATHLETES, KID PRESIDENTS, KID ARTISTS, and KID AUTHORS comes KID SCIENTISTS, a…
lively look into the childhoods of the world's most brilliant scientists.Lest We Forget: A Doctor's Experience with Life and Death During the Ebola Outbreak
By Kwan Kew Lai. 2018
In 2014 after fighting through yards of bureaucratic red tape, leaving her family, and putting her own health at risk…
in order to help suffering strangers, Kwan Kew Lai finally arrived in Africa to volunteer as an infectious disease specialist in the heart of the largest Ebola outbreak in history. What she found was not only blistering heat, inhospitable working conditions, and deadly, unrelenting illness, but hope, resilience, and incredible courage. Lest We Forget chronicles the harrowing and inspiring time spent serving on the front lines of the ongoing Ebola outbreak—the complicated Personal Protective Equipment, the chlorine-scented air, the tropical heat, and the heartbreaking difficulties of treating patients she could not touch. Dr. Lai interweaves original diary entries to create a gripping narrative about life, death, and human relationships that will leave no reader unmoved. Lest We Forget exposes the raw brutality of Ebola, as well as the chaotic nature of the undersupplied and understaffed health infrastructure in the developing world. At once a memoir of triumphs and failures and a memorial, this book will ensure that the victims of Ebola and the fighters who sought to heal them will not be forgotten.When outdoorsman, avid hunter, and nature writer Steven Rinella stumbles upon Auguste Escoffier's 1903 milestone Le Guide Culinaire, he's inspired…
to assemble an unusual feast: a forty-five-course meal born entirely of Escoffier's esoteric wild game recipes. Over the course of one unforgettable year, he steadily procures his ingredients--fishing for stingrays in Florida, hunting mountain goats in Alaska, flying to Michigan to obtain a fifteen-pound snapping turtle--and encountering one colorful character after another. And as he introduces his vegetarian girlfriend to a huntsman's lifestyle, Rinella must also come to terms with the loss of his lifelong mentor--his father. An absorbing account of one man's relationship with family, friends, food, and the natural world, The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine is a rollicking tale of the American wild and its spoils. Praise for The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine "If Jack Kerouac had hung out with Julia Child instead of Neal Cassady, this book might have been written fifty years ago. . . . Steven Rinella brings bohemian flair and flashes of poetic sensibility to his picaresque tale of a man, a cookbook, and the culinary open road."--The Wall Street Journal "If you rue the 'depersonalization of food production,' or you're tired of chemical ingredients, [Rinella] will make you howl."--Los Angeles Times "A walk on the wild side of hunting and gathering, sure to repel a few professional food sissies but attract many more with its sheer in-your-face energy and fine storytelling."--Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall "[A] warped, wonderful memoir of cooking and eating . . . [Rinella] recounts these madcap wilderness adventures with delicious verve and charm."--Men's JournalFrom the Trade Paperback edition.Awesome Minds: Video Game Creators (Awesome Minds)
By Alejandro Arbona, Chelsea O'Mara. 2018
Did you know that Nintendo started in the mid-19th century as a playing card company and that the Japanese giant…
also sold rice and operated taxi cabs? And did you know that the very first video game was called Tennis for Two and was created by a US government scientist named William Higinbotham? Today, video games play a gigantic role in our culture and none of this would have been possible without people like Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative mastermind that turned a failed business venture into the game that eventually inspired him to build Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., or Donna Bailey, who created the arcade video game sensation Centipede. With full-color illustrations and lively text, and chock-full of interesting facts, Awesome Minds: Video Game Creators tells the stories of these amazing men and women who turned a small hobby into a multimillion-dollar industry that changed the way we play and interact, from our living rooms to the arcades, on our computers to our handheld devices. Awesome Minds: Video Game Creators is the perfect read for those with creative spirits, curious minds, and a love of technology and video games.Garrett Morgan: Inventor Hero
By Paula Morrow. 2018
Garrett Morgan was an inventor concerned for the well-being of other people. His inventions included the safety hood gas mask…
and signals that set the standard for today's traffic lights. It is easy to see that the lives of many people were made better or saved by Garrett Morgan’s inventions.We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, the Internet's Culture Laboratory
By Christine Lagorio-Chafkin. 2018
A riveting look inside Reddit, the wildly popular, often misunderstood website, whose intensely-engaged users have changed the culture of the…
Internet--"a must-read for anyone hoping to make sense of the century ahead" (Ashlee Vance, bestselling author of Elon Musk). Reddit hails itself as "the front page of the Internet." It's the third most-visited website in the United States--and yet, millions of Americans have no idea what it is. We Are the Nerds is an engrossing look deep inside this captivating, maddening enterprise, whose army of obsessed users have been credited with everything from solving cold case crimes and spurring tens of millions of dollars in charitable donations to seeding alt-right fury and landing Donald Trump in the White House. We Are the Nerds is a gripping start-up narrative: the story of how Reddit's founders, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, rose up from their suburban childhoods to become millionaires and create an icon of the digital age--before seeing the site engulfed in controversies and nearly losing control of it for good. Based on Christine Lagorio-Chafkin's exclusive access to founders Ohanian and Huffman, We Are the Nerds is also a compelling exploration of the way we all communicate today--and how we got here. Reddit and its users have become a mirror of the Internet: it has dingy corners, shiny memes, malicious trolls, and a sometimes heart-melting ability to connect people across cultures, oceans, and ideological divides.