Game Theory 101: The Basics


William Spaniel - 2011
    From the first lesson to the last, each chapter introduces games of increasing complexity and then teaches the game theoretical tools necessary to solve them. Inside, you will find: All the basics fully explained, including pure strategy Nash equilibrium, mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, the mixed strategy algorithm, how to calculate payoffs, strict dominance, weak dominance, iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies, iterated elimination of weakly dominated strategies, and more! Dozens of games solved, including the prisoner's dilemma, stag hunt, matching pennies, zero sum games, battle of the sexes/Bach or Stravinsky, chicken/snowdrift, pure coordination, deadlock, and safety in numbers! Crystal clear, line-by-line calculations of every step, with more than 200 images so you don't miss a thing! Tons of applications: war, trade, game shows, and duopolistic competition. Quick, efficient, and to the point, Game Theory 101: The Basics is perfect for introductory game theory, intermediate microeconomics, and political science.

Pearls of Functional Algorithm Design


Richard S. Bird - 2010
    These 30 short chapters each deal with a particular programming problem drawn from sources as diverse as games and puzzles, intriguing combinatorial tasks, and more familiar areas such as data compression and string matching. Each pearl starts with the statement of the problem expressed using the functional programming language Haskell, a powerful yet succinct language for capturing algorithmic ideas clearly and simply. The novel aspect of the book is that each solution is calculated from an initial formulation of the problem in Haskell by appealing to the laws of functional programming. Pearls of Functional Algorithm Design will appeal to the aspiring functional programmer, students and teachers interested in the principles of algorithm design, and anyone seeking to master the techniques of reasoning about programs in an equational style.

Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)


Christian Rudder - 2014
    In Dataclysm, Christian Rudder uses it to show us who we truly are.   For centuries, we’ve relied on polling or small-scale lab experiments to study human behavior. Today, a new approach is possible. As we live more of our lives online, researchers can finally observe us directly, in vast numbers, and without filters. Data scientists have become the new demographers.   In this daring and original book, Rudder explains how Facebook "likes" can predict, with surprising accuracy, a person’s sexual orientation and even intelligence; how attractive women receive exponentially more interview requests; and why you must have haters to be hot. He charts the rise and fall of America’s most reviled word through Google Search and examines the new dynamics of collaborative rage on Twitter. He shows how people express themselves, both privately and publicly. What is the least Asian thing you can say? Do people bathe more in Vermont or New Jersey? What do black women think about Simon & Garfunkel? (Hint: they don’t think about Simon & Garfunkel.) Rudder also traces human migration over time, showing how groups of people move from certain small towns to the same big cities across the globe. And he grapples with the challenge of maintaining privacy in a world where these explorations are possible.   Visually arresting and full of wit and insight, Dataclysm is a new way of seeing ourselves—a brilliant alchemy, in which math is made human and numbers become the narrative of our time.

Elementary Differential Equations


Earl D. Rainville - 1962
    Each chapter includes many illustrative examples to assist the reader. The book emphasizes methods for finding solutions to differential equations. It provides many abundant exercises, applications, and solved examples with careful attention given to readability. Elementary Differential Equations includes a thorough treatment of power series techniques. In addition, the book presents a classical treatment of several physical problems to show how Fourier series become involved in the solution of those problems. The eighth edition of Elementary Differential Equations has been revised to include a new supplement in many chapters that provides suggestions and exercises for using a computer to assist in the understanding of the material in the chapter. It also now provides an introduction to the phase plane and to different types of phase portraits. A valuable reference book for readers interested in exploring the technological and other applications of differential equations.

The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last


Azra Raza - 2019
    A lyrical journey from hope to despair and back again, The First Cell explores cancer from every angle: medical, scientific, cultural, and personal. Indeed, Raza describes how she bore the terrible burden of being her own husband's oncologist as he succumbed to leukemia. Like When Breath Becomes Air, The First Cell is no ordinary book of medicine, but a book of wisdom and grace by an author who has devoted her life to making the unbearable easier to bear.

The Eudaemonic Pie


Thomas A. Bass - 1985
    “The result is a veritable pi

Science Without the Boring Bits. Cranks, Curiosities, Crazy Experiments and Wild Speculation


Ian Crofton - 2010
    But this isn't fantasy, this is hard fact.

The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul: What Gnarly Computation Taught Me About Ultimate Reality, the Meaning of Life, and How to Be Happy


Rudy Rucker - 2005
    This concept is at the root of the computational worldview, which basically says that very complex systems — the world we live in — have their beginnings in simple mathematical equations. We've lately come to understand that such an algorithm is only the start of a never-ending story — the real action occurs in the unfolding consequences of the rules. The chip-in-a-box computers so popular in our time have acted as a kind of microscope, letting us see into the secret machinery of the world. In Lifebox, Rucker uses whimsical drawings, fables, and humor to demonstrate that everything is a computation — that thoughts, computations, and physical processes are all the same. Rucker discusses the linguistic and computational advances that make this kind of "digital philosophy" possible, and explains how, like every great new principle, the computational world view contains the seeds of a next step.

Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!


Miran Lipovača - 2011
    Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! introduces programmers familiar with imperative languages (such as C++, Java, or Python) to the unique aspects of functional programming. Packed with jokes, pop culture references, and the author's own hilarious artwork, Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! eases the learning curve of this complex language, and is a perfect starting point for any programmer looking to expand his or her horizons. The well-known web tutorial on which this book is based is widely regarded as the best way for beginners to learn Haskell, and receives over 30,000 unique visitors monthly.

The Quantum Rules: How the Laws of Physics Explain Love, Success, and Everyday Life


Kunal K. Das - 2013
    The Quantum Rules is a different kind of physics book, as easy to read as a novel and directly relevant for everyday life issues that affect us all. It is not meant to dazzle you with unproven speculations that have no bearing on your life. Rather, The Quantum Rules will familiarize you with the important and established laws at the heart of physics, in a way never done before – by showing how the defining patterns of our lives, our behavior and our society already follow similar rules. Never took an interest in science before? No problem! you will still understand everything and find plenty to relate to. A scientist or a science junkie? You will find a different perspective on things you may already know. Best of all, you will discover how to have meaningful conversations about physics in a way that won’t make eyes glaze over, and in which all can gladly participate. The Quantum Rules also does something you would never expect from a book on physics – it makes you laugh, often. Its new and original take on established natural laws injects plenty of dry humor into this serious subject, by using life to explain physics and in turn using physics to understand life.

The Complete Book of Clean: Tips & Techniques for Your Home


Toni Hammersley - 2017
    From establishing routines, making schedules, and DIYing green cleaning solutions to help keep every area of your home neat, safe and spotless—find it all here.Learn the best seasons to tackle home projects, storage solutions to simplify the process, and sweet natural solutions for every room and fixture. This book will help you tackle every mess, stain, and dust-magnet, and keep things from getting out of hand in the future—all while being friendly to the environment and keeping toxic chemicals out of your home. Whether you’re a neat freak or new to the world of homekeeping, let Toni Hammersley be your guide to establishing routines, learning techniques and mastering the best home cleaning hacks out there. Learn what needs a deep-clean and how often, how to substitute essential oils and pantry basics for store-bought chemicals and what to do about the toughest homekeeping dilemmas. Soon you’ll find that no matter the number of pets, kids, or others in your home, cleanliness is easier than you ever imagined.

How to Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls: Animal Movement and the Robots of the Future


David L. Hu - 2018
    Animals move with astounding grace, speed, and versatility: how do they do it, and what can we learn from them? In How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls, David Hu takes readers on an accessible, wondrous journey into the world of animal motion. From basement labs at MIT to the rain forests of Panama, Hu shows how animals have adapted and evolved to traverse their environments, taking advantage of physical laws with results that are startling and ingenious. In turn, the latest discoveries about animal mechanics are inspiring scientists to invent robots and devices that move with similar elegance and efficiency.Hu follows scientists as they investigate a multitude of animal movements, from the undulations of sandfish and the way that dogs shake off water in fractions of a second to the seemingly crash-resistant characteristics of insect flight. Not limiting his exploration to individual organisms, Hu describes the ways animals enact swarm intelligence, such as when army ants cooperate and link their bodies to create bridges that span ravines. He also looks at what scientists learn from nature's unexpected feats--such as snakes that fly, mosquitoes that survive rainstorms, and dead fish that swim upstream. As researchers better understand such issues as energy, flexibility, and water repellency in animal movement, they are applying this knowledge to the development of cutting-edge technology.Integrating biology, engineering, physics, and robotics, How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls demystifies the remarkable mechanics behind animal locomotion.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid


Douglas R. Hofstadter - 1979
    However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography


Simon Singh - 1999
    From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world’s most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.

Why Sell Tacos in Africa?: 16 life-changing business strategies you can use anywhere, from the man who turned $400 into $200 million


Paul Oberschneider - 2016
    There is no A-to-Z path, and there are no magic beans that will carry you upward overnight. Have you ever wondered how to start, scale up, build teams, and flourish in an uncontested market? I can tell you. I did it. In 1992, I landed in Estonia with $400 in my pocket. There, I discovered a truth that changed my life and the way I conducted business: You can make a lot of money as an entrepreneur by moving decisively in blue-sky markets - markets where you face very little competition and the tide can carry you to riches.Over the next decade and a half, I built a portfolio of businesses worth $200 million. Now, I want to share the paths that led me to success, passing on my knowledge to you. In Why Sell Tacos in Africa? I explain sixteen principles that allowed me to drive such tremendous growth. May you, too, find a blue-market and watch your business soar.