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Math and science

  • The woman who smashed codes : a true story of love, spies, and the unlikely heroine who outwitted America's enemies
    Author:
    Fagone, Jason
    Summary:

    The true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together and used it to confront the evils of their time, solving puzzles that unmasked Nazi spies and helped win World War II.
  • The wizard and the prophet : two remarkable scientists and their dueling visions of tomorrow's world
    Author:
    Mann, Charles C.
    Summary:

    In 40 years, Earth's population will reach 10 billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups - Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate! was Borlaug's cry. Only in that way can everyone win! Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces - food, water, energy, climate change - grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author's insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth.
  • The wisdom of wolves : lessons from the Sawtooth pack
    Author:
    Dutcher, Jamie, Manfull, James, Dutcher, Jim
    Summary:

    For six years Jim and Jamie Dutcher lived intimately with a pack of wolves, gaining their trust as no one has before. In this book, the Dutchers reflect on the virtues they observed in wolf society and behavior. Their heartfelt stories combine into a thought-provoking meditation on the values shared between the human and the animal world.
  • The wild world handbook : creatures : how adventurers, artists, scientists--and you--can protect earth's animals
    Author:
    Debbink, Andrea
    Summary:

    Packed with real-life tales of adventure and practical tools, this handbook is an inspiring guide for the next generation of climate activists, conservationists, and nature lovers.
  • The weather makers : how man is changing the climate and what it means for life on Earth
    Author:
    Flannery, Tim F.
    Summary:

    Originally skeptical of global warming, Flannery spent years compiling his own research. What he learned is sobering. Human beings are weather makers whose production of carbon dioxide is polluting the planet at a devastating rate. Species are disappearing, the natural world is changing, and weather events, like Hurricane Katrina, are becoming increasingly disastrous. But as Flannery shows, there are cleaner ways to live--and doing so is the only wat to avoid global catastrophe.
  • The wasp that brainwashed the caterpillar : evolution's most unbelievable solutions to life's biggest problems
    Author:
    Simon, Matt
    Summary:

    From the man behind the popular Wired series "Absurd Creature of the Week," a fun, fascinating collection of unique animals and the unbelievable evolutionary traits they use to survive the most extreme scenarios From Wired columnist Matt Simon, The Wasp that Brainwashed the Caterpillar is an absurdist, comical romp through evolution's weirdest solutions to - appropriately enough - the hazards that evolution itself produces. Each original entry talks about a creature and its amazing adaptation, using Matt's signature blend of scientific accuracy and humor that has made his Wired column and accompanying web show so popular. The creatures themselves are absolutely mind-blowing, with zombie ants mind-controlled by a fungus; beautiful salamanders that can regenerate any part of their bodies including their brains; the mantis shrimp, which fires its club-like appendage so fast that the surrounding water becomes as hot as the surface of the sun; the Antechinus, whose runaway testosterone levels cause them to have so much sex during their three-week mating session that they bleed internally, go blind, and drop dead; and many more.
  • The war on science : muzzled scientists and wilful blindness in Stephen Harper's Canada
    Author:
    Turner, Chris
    Summary:

    A passionate and meticulously researched argument against the Harper government's war on science.
    In this arresting and passionately argued indictment, award-winning journalist Chris Turner argues that Stephen Harper's attack on basic science, science communication, environmental regulations, and the environmental NGO community is the most vicious assault ever waged by a Canadian government on the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment. From the closure of Arctic research stations as oil drilling begins in the High Arctic to slashed research budgets in agriculture, dramatic changes to the nation’s fisheries policy, and the muzzling of government scientists, Harper's government has effectively dismantled Canada's long-standing scientific tradition.
    Drawing on interviews with scientists whose work has been halted by budget cuts and their colleagues in an NGO community increasingly treated as an enemy of the state, The War on Science paints a vivid and damning portrait of a government that has abandoned environmental stewardship and severed a national commitment to the objective truth of basic science as old as Canada itself.
  • The voyage of the Beagle
    Author:
    Darwin, Charles
    Summary:

    Charles Darwin was just twenty-two when he went on his first voyage around the world in 1831. Darwin's father at first refused to allow his young son to go on the voyage. Fortunately, his father relented, and Darwin's journal is now considered by many to be the greatest scientific travel narrative ever written. Revised by the author in 1860, this is an account of his experiences on the HMS Beagle, a ship that was mapping the coast of South America. What was set to be a two- or three-year voyage stretched out to a five-year adventure. Darwin took copious notes during the voyage, notes that would later lead to his formulation of the theory of evolution. He was able to observe coral reefs, fossil-filled rocks, earthquakes, and more, firsthand, and then make his own deductions.
  • The vision revolution how the latest research overturns everything we thought we knew about human vision
    Author:
    Changizi, Mark
    Summary:

    In The Vision Revolution, Mark Changizi, prominent neuroscientist and vision expert, addresses four areas of human vision and provides explanations for why we have those particular abilities, complete with a number of full-color illustrations to demonstrate his conclusions and to engage the reader. Written for both the casual reader and the science buff hungry for new information, The Vision Revolution is a resource that dispels commonly believed perceptions about sight and offers answers drawn from the field's most recent research. Changizi focuses on four "why" questions: 1. Why do we see in color' 2. Why do our eyes face forward' 3. Why do we see illusions' 4. Why does reading come so naturally to us' The Vision Revolution explores phenomena such as cyclopses, peeking and many more you hadn't even thought to wonder about. Changizi shows how deeply involved these evolutionary aspects of our vision are in why we see the way we do'and what the future holds for us. The Vision Revolution is a book that finally gives attention to what before has been largely neglected by other works on human vision'a book that looks at the "why."
  • The unseen body : a doctor's journey through the hidden wonders of human anatomy
    Author:
    Reisman, Jonathan
    Summary:

    In this fascinating journey through the human body and across the globe, Dr. Reisman weaves together stories about our insides with a unique perspective on life, culture, and the natural world. Dr. Jonathan Reisman--a physician, adventure traveler and naturalist--brings listeners on an odyssey navigating our insides like an explorer discovering a new world. With unique insight, Reisman shows us how understanding mountain watersheds helps to diagnose heart attacks, how the body is made mostly of mucus, not water, and how urine carries within it a tale of humanity's origins. Through his offbeat adventures in healthcare and across the globe, Reisman discovers new perspectives on the body: a trip to the Alaskan Arctic reveals that fat is not the enemy, but the hero; a stint in the Himalayas uncovers the boundary where the brain ends and the mind begins; and eating a sheep's head in Iceland offers a lesson in empathy. By relating rich experiences in far-flung lands and among unique cultures back to the body's inner workings, he shows how our organs live inextricably intertwined lives--an internal ecosystem reflecting the natural world around us. Reisman offers a new and deeply moving perspective, and helps us make sense of our bodies and how they work in a way listeners have never before imagined.
  • The unpersuadables : adventures with the enemies of science
    Author:
    Storr, Will
    Summary:

    Interweaves personal memoir and investigative journalism with the latest neuroscience and experimental psychology research to reveal how the stories individuals tell themselves about the world shape their beliefs, leading to self-deception, toxic partisanship, and science denial.
  • The Universe Within From Quantum to Cosmos
    Author:
    Turok, Neil
    Summary:

    Winner of the Lane Anderson Award, longlisted for the Charles Taylor Prize, shortlisted for the Libris Award for Non-Fiction and selected as an Amazon.ca Best Book
    "With [The Universe Within's] deeply thoughtful reflections on the place of science in society, on the need to educate the underserved, and on plenty of other topics rarely addressed in this sort of book, Turok takes you where no physicist has gone before. It's well worth making the journey with him." — TIME Magazine
    The most anticipated nonfiction book of the season, this year's Massey Lectures is a visionary look at the way the human mind can shape the future by world-renowned physicist Neil Turok.
    Every technology we rely on today was created by the human mind, seeking to understand the universe around us. Scientific knowledge is our most precious possession, and our future will be shaped by the breakthroughs to come.
    In this personal, visionary, and fascinating work, Neil Turok, Director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, explores the transformative scientific discoveries of the past three centuries — from classical mechanics, to the nature of light, to the bizarre world of the quantum, and the evolution of the cosmos. Each new discovery has, over time, yielded new technologies causing paradigm shifts in the organization of society. Now, he argues, we are on the cusp of another major transformation: the coming quantum revolution that will supplant our current, dissatisfying digital age. Facing this brave new world, Turok calls for creatively re-inventing the way advanced knowledge is developed and shared, and opening access to the vast, untapped pools of intellectual talent in the developing world. Scientific research, training, and outreach are vital to our future economy, as well as powerful forces for peaceful global progress.
    Elegantly written, deeply provocative, and highly inspirational, The Universe Within is, above all, about the future — of science, of society, of ourselves.
  • The universe in your hand : a journey through space, time, and beyond
    Author:
    Galfard, Christophe
    Summary:

    Using Christophe Galfard's considerable skills as a brilliant theoretical physicist and successful young adult author, this book employs the immediacy of simple, direct language to show us, not explain to us, the theories that underpin everything we know about our universe.
  • The universe in the rearview mirror : how hidden symmetries shape reality
    Author:
    Goldberg, Dave
    Summary:

    The "Ask a Physicist" columnist for io9.com explains how space, time, and everything in between are shaped by hidden symmetries that have driven recent discoveries about the universe.
  • The universe in a nutshell
    Author:
    Hawking, S. W.
    Summary:

    Stephen Hawking brings us to the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where truth is often stranger than fiction, to explain in laymen's terms the principles that control our universe.
  • The universal sense : how hearing shapes the mind
    Author:
    Horowitz, Seth S.
    Summary:

    Every day, we are beset by millions of sounds-ambient ones like the rumble of the train and the hum of air conditioner, as well as more pronounced sounds, such as human speech, music, and sirens. But how do we process what we hear every day? This book answers such revealing questions as:

    Why do we often fall asleep on train rides or in the car, and what does it have to do with hearing?

    What is it about the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard that makes us cringe?

    Why do city folks have trouble sleeping in the country, and vice versa?

    Why can't you get that jingle out of your head?

    Starting with the basics of the biology, neuroscientist and musician Seth Horowitz explains how sound affects us, and in turn, how we've learned to manipulate sound: into music, commercial jingles, car horns, and modern inventions like cochlear implants, ultrasound scans, and the mosquito ringtone. Combining the best parts of This is Your Brain on Music and How We Decide, this book gives new insight into what the sounds of our world have to do with the way we think, feel, and interact.
  • The undoing project : a friendship that changed our minds
    Author:
    Lewis, Michael
    Summary:

    Bestselling author Michael Lewis examines how a Nobel Prize-winning theory of the mind altered our perception of reality. Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind erred, systematically, when forced to make judgments about uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis's own work possible. Kahneman and Tversky are more responsible than anybody for the powerful trend to mistrust human intuition and defer to algorithms. The Undoing Project is about the fascinating collaboration between two men who have the dimensions of great literary figures. They became heroes in the university and on the battlefield both had important careers in the Israeli military and their research was deeply linked to their extraordinary life experiences. In the process they may well have changed, for good, mankind's view of its own mind.
  • The trouble with nature : sex in science and popular culture
    Author:
    Lancaster, Roger N.
    Summary:

    Roger N. Lancaster provides the definitive rebuttal of evolutionary just-so stories about men, women, and the nature of desire in this spirited exposé of the heterosexual fables that pervade popular culture, from prime-time sitcoms to scientific theories about the so-called gay gene. Lancaster links the recent resurgence of biological explanations for gender norms, sexual desires, and human nature in general with the current pitched battles over sexual politics. Ideas about a "hardwired" and immutable human nature are circulating at a pivotal moment in human history, he argues, one in which dramatic changes in gender roles and an unprecedented normalization of lesbian and gay relationships are challenging received notions and commonly held convictions on every front.
  • The town that food saved : how one community found vitality in local food
    Author:
    Hewitt, Ben
    Summary:

    This is the captivating story of a small town coming back to life. Hardwick, Vermont, has jump-started its economy through a local, self-sustaining food system, surviving with its network of community support. 
  • The tangled tree : a radical new history of life
    Author:
    Quammen, David
    Summary:

    Nonpareil science writer David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life's history, with powerful implications for human health and even our own human nature. In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field--the study of life's diversity and relatedness at the molecular level--is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection--a type of HGT. In The Tangled Tree David Quammen, "one of that rare breed of science journalists who blends exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling" (Nature), chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them--such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the twentieth century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about "mosaic" creatures proved to be true; and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health. "Quammen is no ordinary writer. He is simply astonishing, one of that rare class of writer gifted with verve, ingenuity, humor, guts, and great heart" (Elle). Now, in The Tangled Tree, he explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life--including where we humans fit upon it. Thanks to new technologies such as CRISPR, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition--through sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing. The Tangled Tree is a brilliant guide to our transformed understanding of evolution, of life's history, and of our own human nature.

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