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A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science
By Michael S. Schneider. 1994
Discover how mathematical sequences abound in our natural world in this definitive exploration of the geography of the cosmosYou need…
not be a philosopher or a botanist, and certainly not a mathematician, to enjoy the bounty of the world around us. But is there some sort of order, a pattern, to the things that we see in the sky, on the ground, at the beach? In A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe, Michael Schneider, an education writer and computer consultant, combines science, philosophy, art, and common sense to reaffirm what the ancients observed: that a consistent language of geometric design underpins every level of the universe, from atoms to galaxies, cucumbers to cathedrals. Schneider also discusses numerical and geometric symbolism through the ages, and concepts such as periodic renewal and resonance. This book is an education in the world and everything we can't see within it.Contains numerous b&w photos and illustrations.After enduring years of hunger, deprivation, and devastating loss at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, ten-year-old Loung Ung became…
the "lucky child," the sibling chosen to accompany her eldest brother to America while her one surviving sister and two brothers remained behind. In this poignant and elegiac memoir, Loung recalls her assimilation into an unfamiliar new culture while struggling to overcome dogged memories of violence and the deep scars of war. In alternating chapters, she gives voice to Chou, the beloved older sister whose life in war-torn Cambodia so easily could have been hers. Highlighting the harsh realities of chance and circumstance in times of war as well as in times of peace, Lucky Child is ultimately a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and to the salvaging strength of family bonds.Samurai: The Last Warrior: A History
By John Man. 2014
The definitive history of the Samurai, by acclaimed author of Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior“One could ask for…
no better storyteller or analyst than John Man.” —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography The inspiration for the Jedi knights of Star Wars and the films of Akira Kurosawa, the legendary Japanese samurai have captured modern imaginations. Yet with these elite warriors who were bound by a code of honor called Bushido—the Way of the Warrior—the reality behind the myth proves more fascinating than any fiction. In Samurai, celebrated author John Man provides a unique and captivating look at their true history, told through the life of one man: Saigo Takamori, known to many as "the last samurai." In 1877 Takamori led a rebel army of samurai in a heroic "last stand" against the Imperial Japanese Army, who sought to end the "way of the sword" in favor of firearms and modern warfare. Man's thrilling narrative brings to life the hidden world of the samurai as never before.1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI—the Untold Story
By Peter Lance. 2003
1000 Years for Revenge is a groundbreaking investigative work that uncovers startling evidence of how the FBI missed dozens of…
opportunities to stop the attacks of September 11, dating back to 1989. Award-winning journalist Peter Lance explains how an elusive al Qaeda mastermind defeated the entire American security system in what the author calls "the greatest failure of intelligence since the Trojan Horse." Threading the stories of FBI agent Nancy Floyd, FDNY fire marshal Ronnie Bucca, and bomb-maker Ramzi Yousef, Lance uncovers the years of behind-the-scenes intrigue that put these three strangers on a collision course. An unparalleled work of investigative reporting and masterful storytelling, 1000 Years for Revenge will change forever the way we look at the FBI and the war on terror in the twenty-first century.“This book grills up an enjoyable read for both avid foodies and novice diners alike! Perman’s sneak peek into the…
fascinating history of In-N-Out is as good as the delicious burgers themselves.”—Mario Batali, celebrity chef and author of Molto ItalianoA behind-the-counter look at the fast-food chain that breaks all the rules, Stacy Perman’s In-N-Out Burger is the New York Times bestselling inside story of the family behind the California-based hamburger chain with a cult following large enough to rival the Grateful Dead’s. A juicy unauthorized history of a small business-turned-big business titan, In-N-Out Burger was named one of Fast Company magazine’s Best Business Books of 2009, and Fortune Small Business insists that it “should be required reading for family business owners, alongside Rich Cohen’s Sweet and Low and Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks.”The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers
By Richard McGregor. 2010
“A masterful depiction of the party today. . . . McGregor illuminates the most important of the contradictions and paradoxes.…
. . . An entertaining and insightful portrait of China’s secretive rulers.” —The Economist“Few outsiders have any realistic sense of the innards, motives, rivalries, and fears of the Chinese Communist leadership. But we all know much more than before, thanks to Richard McGregor’s illuminating and richly-textured look at the people in charge of China’s political machinery. . . . Invaluable.” — James Fallows, National Correspondent for The AtlanticIn this provocative and illuminating account, Financial Times reporter Richard McGregor offers a captivating portrait of China’s Communist Party, its grip on power and control over China, and its future.China’s political and economic growth in the past three decades has been one of astonishing, epochal dimensions. The most remarkable part of this transformation, however, has been left largely untold—the central role of the Chinese Communist Party. McGregor delves deeply into China’s inner sanctum for the first time, showing how the Communist Party controls the government, courts, media, and military and keeps all corruption accusations against its members in-house. The Party’s decisions have a global impact, yet the CCP remains a deeply secretive body, hostile to the law and unaccountable to anyone or anything other than its own internal tribunals. It is the world’s only geopolitical rival of the United States, and is primed to think the worst of the West.BRST Symmetry and de Rham Cohomology
By Soon-Tae Hong. 2024
This book provides an advanced introduction to extended theories of quantum field theory and algebraic topology, including Hamiltonian quantization associated…
with some geometrical constraints, symplectic embedding and Hamilton-Jacobi quantization and Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) symmetry, as well as de Rham cohomology. This extended new edition offers a multifaced insight into phenomenology of particles such as baryons and photons, in terms of extended objects. In particular, in the second edition, the baryons are described in hypersphere soliton model, and the photon properties are additionally included in stringy photon model and in Dirac type relativistic quantum mechanics for a photon.It offers a critical overview of the research in this area and unifies the existing literatures, employing a consistent notation. Although the results presented apply in principle to all alternative quantization schemes, special emphasis is placed on the BRST quantization and its de Rham cohomology group which contribute to a deep understanding of constrained physical theories. The book describes how solitons and other models subject to constraints include rigorous treatments of the geometrical constraints which affect the predictions themselves. The book is intended for use by any graduate-level student with quantum field and relativity theories, and it also serves as a useful reference for those working in the field. An extensive bibliography guides the reader toward the source literature on particular topics.Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien
By Toriyama Sekien. 2016
First English publication of all four of Sekien's masterworks: The Illustrated Demons' Night Parade, More Illustrated Demons from Past and…
Present, Even More Demons from Past and Present, and An Idle Horde of Things.Israel/Palestine in World Religions: Whose Promised Land?
By S. Ilan Troen. 2024
The struggle over Israel/Palestine is not just another contest by competing nationalisms or an instance of geopolitical competition. It is…
also about control of sacred territory that involves local Jews, Muslims, and Christians as well as worldwide faith communities, each with their own interests and stake in what transpires. This balanced introduction to a complex subject presents the multiple positions within the great monotheistic traditions. It demonstrates that the secular discourses in the public square concerning ownership privileges, historical precedence, political rights, and justice that have allegedly replaced religious claims actually coexist with, and often complement, the theological. It explores the century-long tangle of secular and theological debates about Israel’s legitimacy. Whether readers support a Jewish state or are resolutely opposed, the serious and substantial scholarship of this well-reasoned and innovative book will contribute to a nuanced and better-informed understanding of this persistent issue that has entered its second century on the international agenda.This book offers a comprehensive collection of introductory experiments in nuclear and cosmic ray physics utilizing Geiger counters. It features…
over 50 experiments with brief explanations of the physics involved, guidance on setting up educational and amateur experiments, and showcases actual results. The experiments cover the fundamentals of Geiger counters for detecting alpha, beta, gamma, and cosmic radiation, assessing detector performance, monitoring radiation in various environments and sources, conducting coincidence experiments, and applying counting statistics and analysis algorithms. Additionally, introductory chapters delve into radiation principles, interactions with matter, and the history of particle detectors, particularly Geiger counters. With the widespread availability of modern, affordable Geiger detectors and DIY devices, many experiments are suitable for high school and university students, aligning with modern physics curricula. The author has conducted some of these experiments himself over the past 20 years with third-year physics students. The book is also addressed to amateur scientists and a broad audience interested in exploring radiation phenomena. It features around 250 original illustrations and references to historical experiments and contemporary findings.Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley
By Antonio Garcia Martinez. 2016
The instant New York Times bestseller, now available in paperback and featuring a new afterword from the author—the insider's guide to the…
Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, the inner workings of the tech world, and who really runs Silicon Valley“Incisive.... The most fun business book I have read this year.... Clearly there will be people who hate this book — which is probably one of the things that makes it such a great read.”— Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York TimesImagine a chimpanzee rampaging through a datacenter powering everything from Google to Facebook. Infrastructure engineers use a software version of this “chaos monkey” to test online services’ robustness—their ability to survive random failure and correct mistakes before they actually occur. Tech entrepreneurs are society’s chaos monkeys. One of Silicon Valley’s most audacious chaos monkeys is Antonio García Martínez.After stints on Wall Street and as CEO of his own startup, García Martínez joined Facebook’s nascent advertising team. Forced out in the wake of an internal product war over the future of the company’s monetization strategy, García Martínez eventually landed at rival Twitter. In Chaos Monkeys, this gleeful contrarian unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing and reveals how it is invading our lives and shaping our future.The Templars: The History & the Myth (Rough Guide Reference Ser.)
By Michael Haag. 2007
Arguably one of the most provocative, puzzling, and misunderstood organizations of medieval times, the legendary Knights Templar have always been…
shrouded in a veil of mystery, while inspiring popular culture from Indiana Jones to Dan Brown. In The Templars, author Michael Haag offers a definitive history of these loyal Christian soldiers of the Crusades—sworn to defend the Holy Land and Jerusalem, but ultimately damned and destroyed by the Pope and his church. A bestseller in the United Kingdom—the first history of the enigmatic warriors to include findings from the Chinon Parchment, the long-lost Vatican document absolving the Knights of heresy—The Templars by Michael Haagis fascinating reading.Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time (Eminent Lives)
By Karen Armstrong. 2006
The Man Who Inspired the World's Fastest-Growing Religion Muhammad presents a fascinating portrait of the founder of a religion that…
continues to change the course of world history. Muhammad's story is more relevant than ever because it offers crucial insight into the true origins of an increasingly radicalized Islam. Countering those who dismiss Islam as fanatical and violent, Armstrong offers a clear, accessible, and balanced portrait of the central figure of one of the world's great religions.The Tragedy of the Templars: The Rise and Fall of the Crusader States
By Michael Haag. 2013
From Michael Haag, bestselling author of The Templars: The History and the Myth, comes The Tragedy of the Templars, an…
exciting new look at the rise of Templar power and the saga of their destruction. Founded on Christmas Day 1119 in Jerusalem, the Knights Templar was a religious order dedicated to defending the Holy Land and its Christian pilgrims in the decades after the First Crusade. Legendary for their bravery and dedication, the Templars became one of the wealthiest and most powerful bodies of the medieval world—and the chief defenders of Christian society against growing Muslim forces. In The Tragedy of the Templars: The Rise and Fall of the Crusader States, Haag masterfully details the conflicts and betrayals that sent this faction of powerful knights spiraling from domination to condemnation. This stirring and thoroughly researched work of historical investigation includes maps and full-color photographs of important cultural sites, many of which doubled as battlefields during the Crusades.The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East
By Christopher Harding. 2024
This rich and enjoyable book by the acclaimed author of Japan Story explores the many ways in which Asia has…
influenced Europe and North America over centuries of tangled, dynamic encountersFrom the time of the ancient Greeks onwards the West's relationship with Asia consisted for the most part of outrageous tales of strange beasts and monsters, of silk and spices shipped over vast distances and an uneasy sense of unknowable empires fantastically far away. By the twentieth century much of Asia might have come under Western rule after centuries of warfare, but its intellectual, artistic and spiritual influence was fighting back.The Light of Asia is a wonderfully varied and entertaining history of the many ways in which Asia has shaped European and North American culture over centuries of tangled, dynamic encounters, and the central importance of this vexed, often confused relationship. From Marco Polo onwards Asia has been both a source of genuine fascination and equally genuine failures of comprehension. China, India and Japan were all acknowledged to be both great civilizations and in crude ways seen as superseded by the West. From Chicago to Calcutta, and from antiquity to the new millennium, this is a rich, involving story of misunderstandings and sincere connection, of inspiration and falsehood, of geniuses, adventurers and con-men.Christopher Harding's captivating gallery of people and places celebrates Asia's impact on the West in all its variety.Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe
By Lisa Randall. 2015
In this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times bestselling author of Warped…
Passages and Knocking on Heaven’s Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startling connections between the furthest reaches of space and life here on Earth.Sixty-six million years ago, an object the size of a city descended from space to crash into Earth, creating a devastating cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs, along with three-quarters of the other species on the planet. What was its origin? In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Lisa Randall proposes it was a comet that was dislodged from its orbit as the Solar System passed through a disk of dark matter embedded in the Milky Way. In a sense, it might have been dark matter that killed the dinosaurs.Working through the background and consequences of this proposal, Randall shares with us the latest findings—established and speculative—regarding the nature and role of dark matter and the origin of the Universe, our galaxy, our Solar System, and life, along with the process by which scientists explore new concepts. In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Randall tells a breathtaking story that weaves together the cosmos’ history and our own, illuminating the deep relationships that are critical to our world and the astonishing beauty inherent in the most familiar things.“Science has a battle for hearts and minds on its hands….How good it feels to have Lisa Randall’s unusual blend…
of top flight science, clarity, and charm on our side.”—Richard Dawkins“Dazzling ideas….Read this book today to understand the science of tomorrow.”—Steven PinkerThe bestselling author of Warped Passages, one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” Lisa Randall gives us an exhilarating overview of the latest ideas in physics and offers a rousing defense of the role of science in our lives. Featuring fascinating insights into our scientific future born from the author’s provocative conversations with Nate Silver, David Chang, and Scott Derrickson, Knocking on Heaven’s Door is eminently readable, one of the most important popular science books of this or any year. It is a necessary volume for all who admire the work of Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, Simon Singh, and Carl Sagan; for anyone curious about the workings and aims of the Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most expensive machine ever built by mankind; for those who firmly believe in the importance of science and rational thought; and for anyone interested in how the Universe began…and how it might ultimately end.Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space
By Lisa Randall. 2013
On July 4, 2012, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva madehistory when they discovered an entirely new type…
of subatomic particle that many scientists believe is the Higgs boson. For forty years, physicists searched for this capstone to the Standard Model of particle physics—the theory that describes both the most elementary components that are known in matter and the forces through which they interact. This particle points to the Higgs field, which provides the key to understanding why elementary particles have mass. In Higgs Discovery, Lisa Randall explains the science behind this monumental discovery, its exhilarating implications, and the power of empty space.Tibet: The Road Ahead
By Dawa Norbu. 1997
Tibet: The Road Ahead is the extraordinary account of the potential extinction of a civilisation. Written by a gifted Tibetan…
of humble origins, this book tells the story of ordinary Tibetans in the twentieth century.Professor Norbu refutes China's claim that Tibet has been part of China since the seventh century AD, showing how the relationship between the two countries was symbolic and ceremonial, rather than one of political suppression. He portrays pre-1950 Tibet as a place of complete and genuine freedom, in stark contrast with recent events in the region.Beautifully written and offering a fresh, incisive look at the road ahead for Tibet in post-Deng China, this book will appeal to all those fascinated by, and concerned for 'the land of the snows'.Thoughts From the Ice-Drinker's Studio: Essays on China and the World
By Liang Qichao. 2023
'China's first iconic modern intellectual. His lucid and prolific writings, touching on all major concerns in his own time and…
anticipating many in the future, inspired several generations of thinkers' Pankaj Mishra'A country does not become corrupt and weak overnight. Rather, we are now reaping the evil harvest of what previous generations sowed.'The power, anger and fluency of Liang Qichao's writings make him one of the towering figures in modern Chinese literature. He saw his great, almost unmanageable task as an attempt to write China into the new era - to provide an ancient country, devastated by civil war and foreign predators, with the intellectual equipment to renew itself.Liang said that he wrote from an 'ice-drinker's studio', implying that underneath his dispassionate, disabused and rational tone lay an ardour and passion which only ice could cool. China could only recover through a clear-sighted, informed understanding of its enemies - and by engaging in a thorough-going self-critique. Liang did not propose aping the West but taking only what China needed to 'renew the people' and create 'new citizens'. Then China would be able to expel its invaders, reform its society and become a great power once more.This selection of pieces shows Liang's extraordinary range and the burning sense of mission which drove him on, attempting to galvanize and refresh an entire nation. Blending together Confucianism, Buddhism and the Western Enlightenment, Liang's ideas about nation, democracy, and morality had a profound impact on Chinese visions of the political order, though the China that eventually emerged from the further disasters of the 1930s and 1940s would be a very different one.