Half a century later, only robots have been to the Red Planet and our astronauts rarely venture beyond Earth orbit.Now Mars is back With everyone from Elon Musk to Ridley Scott and Donald Trump talking about it, interplanetary exploration is back on the agenda and Mars is once again the prime destination for future human expansion and colonisation. In Destination Mars, astrophysicist and science writer Andrew May traces the history of our fascination with the Red Planet and explores the science upon which a crewed mission would be based, from assembling a spacecraft in Earth orbit to surviving solar storms. With expert insight, he analyses the new space race and assesses what the future holds for human life on Mars.

    The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia is the one reference that includes all of the information students need to know in today's fast-paced world. Clearly written and illustrated articles provide in-depth insight and concise authoritative information. An impressive reference section at the end of the book contains minibiographies of famous scientists, plus an illustrated time line of key inventions and discoveries. Arranged thematically into ten chapters, with reference summaries at the end of each chapter and a full index, the encyclopedia does more than merely provide facts about science and technology—it helps the reader think for him or herself, develop an enquiring mind, pose challenging questions, and explore new topics.

    Geek Silicon Valley delivers Silicon Valley history, taking us from success story to failed start-up and back again as we drive the roads from Menlo Park to Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara. Place by place, readers get the background info on all the addresses that count: Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Stanford University, NASA Ames, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Santana Row, Genentech, and many more. Journey through a circuitry of places and people—and the stories that created today’s high-tech lifestyle—with Geek Silicon Valley.

    From Beethoven's connection to plumbing to why rotten eggs smell like sulfur, the technical explanations included in this scientific primer tackle 99 chemistry-related questions and provide answers designed to inform and entertain.

    And that evolution has huge implications for everything we see, buy and do online. Rejecting the zero-sum, vending-machine model of ecommerce practiced by other leading internet retailers, who view the Internet purely as a facilitator of speed and profit, Hiroshi Mikitani argues for an alternate model that benefits merchants, consumers, and communities alike by empowering players at every step in the process. He envisions retail "ecosystems," where small and mid-sized brick-and-mortar businesses around the world partner with online marketplaces to maximize their customer bases and service capabilities, and he shows why emphasizing collaboration over competition, customization over top-down control, and long-term growth over short-term revenue is by far the best use of the Internet's power, and will define the 3.0 era.Rakuten has already pioneered this new model, and Marketplace 3.0 offers colorful examples of its success in Japan and around the world. Mikitani reveals how the company enforces a global mindset (including the requirement that all its employees speak English, even in Tokyo); how it incorporates new acquisitions rather than seeking to completely remake or sell them for a quick profit; and how it competes with other retailers on speed and quality, without sacrificing the public good. Marketplace 3.0 is an exciting new vision for global commerce, from a company that's challenging all the accepted wisdom.

    The ability to duplicate that process in a lab, once thought impossible, may now be closer than we think. Today, teams of scientists around the world are being assembled by the boldest entrepreneurs, big business, and governments to solve what is the most difficult technological challenge humanity has ever faced: building the equivalent of a star on earth. If their plans to capture star power are successful, they will unlock thousands, potentially millions, of years of clean, carbon-free energy. Not only would controlled nuclear fusion help solve the climate crisis, it could also make other highly desired technological ambitions possible—like journeying to the stars. Given the rising alarm over deterioration of the environment, and the strides being made in laser and magnetic field technology, powerful momentum is gathering behind fusion and the possibilities it offers. In The Star Builders, award-winning young plasma physicist Arthur Turrell “offers an optimistic outlook for the future of fusion power and is adamant about the need to invest in it” (The New York Times). Turrell describes fascinating star machines with ten times as many parts as the NASA Space Shuttle, and structures that extend over 400 acres in an accessible and entertaining account, spotlighting the individuals, firms, and institutions racing for the finish line: science-minded entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel, companies like Goldman Sachs and Google, universities like Oxford and MIT, and virtually every rich nation. It’s an exciting and game-changing international quest that will make all of us winners.

    It it impossible is to resist quoting passages from this novel, given the author’s brilliant insights into character, wonderful literary flourishes and stunning demonstration of what is meant by inspired writing." - Humber School for Writers. A savage, brilliant, hilarious attack on modern hypocrisy, "The God of Atheists" follows the downfall of three men who wake up one morning and decide to take what they have not earned. Al, a down-and-out music producer, bullies his handsome son into forming a boy-band. Alder, an obscure academic, steals a brilliant idea from a grad student. As they exploit the talents of the naïve youths around them, their fame and wealth increase – but they become more and more terrified of exposure and destruction...

    --Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Helgoland You've got questions: about space, time, gravity, and the odds of meeting your older self inside a wormhole. All the answers you need are right here.As a species, we may not agree on much, but one thing brings us all together: a need to know. We all wonder, and deep down we all have the same big questions. Why can't I travel back in time? Where did the universe come from? What's inside a black hole? Can I rearrange the particles in my cat and turn it into a dog?Researcher-turned-cartoonist Jorge Cham and physics professor Daniel Whiteson are experts at explaining science in ways we can all understand, in their books and on their popular podcast, Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe. With their signature blend of humor and oh-now-I-get-it clarity, Jorge and Daniel offer short, accessible, and lighthearted answers to some of the most common, most outrageous, and most profound questions about the universe they've received.This witty, entertaining, and fully illustrated book is an essential troubleshooting guide for the perplexing aspects of reality, big and small, from the invisible particles that make up your body to the identical version of you currently reading this exact sentence in the corner of some other galaxy. If the universe came with an FAQ, this would be it.

    

    Nearly a half-century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons-most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen-are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel, and send humans even further than NASA has gone. These entrepreneurs have founded some of the biggest brands in the world-Amazon, Microsoft, Virgin, Tesla, PayPal-and upended industry after industry. Now they are pursuing the biggest disruption of all: space. Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry-hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.

    Almost more Japanese than the Japanese—"to think with their thoughts" was his aim—his prolific writings on things Japanese were instrumental in introducing Japanese culture to the West.In this masterful anthology, Donald Richie shows that Hearn was first and foremost a reliable and enthusiastic observer, who faithfully recorded a detailed account of the people, customs, and culture of late nineteen-century Japan. Opening and closing with excerpts from Hearn's final books, Richie's astute selection from among "over 4,000 printed pages" not including correspondence and other writing, also reveals Hearn's later, more sober and reflective attitudes to the things that he observed and wrote about.Part One, "The Land," chronicles Hearn's early years when he wrote primarily about the appearance of his adopted home. Part Two, "The People," records the author's later years when he came to terms with the Japanese themselves. In this anthology, Richie, more gifted in capturing the essence of a person on the page than any other foreign writer living in Japan, has picked out the best of Hearn's evocations.Select writings include:The Chief City of the Province of the GodsThree Popular BalladsIn the Cave of the Children's GhostsBits of Life and DeathA Street SingerKimikoOn A Bridge

     This book is a supplement to What If? and intended to enhance the experience of reading the original book. We recommend purchasing the full version of What If? on Amazon in addition to this book. Introduction What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions presents a wide variety of questions covering a range of dubious potentialities and the results which would ensue should they become reality. The questions are collected from author Randall Munroe’s website, where they are sent in by readers of his blog. Some of the questions are conceptual, for example how much force would be required for Yoda to lift an X-fighter, others are in a more serious vein. All of the answers however are based on research and the application of scientific principles by the author, himself trained in physics and a former roboticist for NASA. Benefits Spend less time reading and more time enjoying your favorite books. Discover important details you may have missed the first time. Review key concepts in an easy-to-understand and efficient manner. Use as a reference or "cheat sheet" to quickly access important information. Pick up where you left off with the original book. Focus only on critical information and eliminate unnecessary details. Buy Now Buy Now: Only $2.99 (Save $3.00 or 50%, Regular Price: $5.99) Money Back Guarantee: If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase, simply return it to Amazon within 7 days of purchase for a full refund. Go to Your Account -> Manage Your Content and Devices -> Find the Book -> Return for Full Refund. Read Now: Your book will be delivered to your Kindle device or free Kindle software automatically.

    on the humid night of September 29, 1959, Braniff Flight 542 crashed on a farm near Buffalo, Texas. Less than six months later, Northwest Flight 710 crashed in a soybean field near Tell City, Indiana. Both planes were Lockheed Electras, and both, for no apparent reason, had lost a wing in mid-air. The combined toll of the two crashes was 97 lives. There were no survivors. Early the following October, during take-off from Boston’s Logan Airport, there was another Electra disaster, and the plane that had been supposedly foolproof became the object of the ugliest controversy in the history of commercial aviation. The Electra Story is an illuminating and incomparably thorough study of the plane’s entire career. From design through construction, rigorous testing, and brilliant initial performance, to the minute-by-minute record of the fatal flights, the scenes of wreckage, and then the painstaking efforts to solve the mystery. While the search for a “probable cause” went on, there was a crucial decision to be made: whether or not to let the Electras go on flying. Elwood R. Quesada, then Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency, had to make that decision, and how he coped with this frightening responsibility is a remarkable tale in itself. The plane that had been a dream, then became a nightmare, is still flying today, and out of tragedy has come an important advance in man’s knowledge. Robert Serling’s evaluation of The Electra Story is an enlightening, vivid, unbiased and rare documented account. It is a human story of suspense, with dedication and courage. And as a story of how government, industry, technology, science and the public were all trapped in one intricate web, it is both revealing and significant. Praise for Robert Serling ‘High level of suspense and excitement.’ - De Moines Sunday Register ‘Serling has spun another winner’ – Publisher’s Weekly ‘…keeps you guessing til the end’ - Arizona Daily Star ‘Aviation buffs will revel in this thoroughgoing chronicle’ – Kirkus Robert J. Serling (1918-2010) was aviation editor of United Press International and won the annual TWA Best Aviation News Reporting Award for four years running.

    His Incompleteness Theorem turned not only mathematics but also the whole world of science and philosophy on its head. Equally legendary were Gö's eccentricities, his close friendship with Albert Einstein, and his paranoid fear of germs that eventually led to his death from self-starvation. Now, in the first popular biography of this strange and brilliant thinker, John Casti and Werner DePauli bring the legend to life. After describing his childhood in the Moravian capital of Brno, the authors trace the arc of Gö's remarkable career, from the famed Vienna Circle, where philosophers and scientists debated notions of truth, to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived and worked until his death in 1978. In the process, they shed light on Gö's contributions to mathematics, philosophy, computer science, artificial intelligence -- even cosmology -- in an entertaining and accessible way.

    deprives them of the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution." Decades of greed and self-interest pushed the NCAA to collapse under the weight of its hypocrisy. The parasitic business of college sports generates billions every year, yet fails to compensate college athletes.