Included in this edition is a new chapter on the revolutionary topic of quantum computing.

    Here the German-born scientist Wernher von Braun detailed what he believed were the problems and possibilities inherent in a projected expedition to Mars.    Today von Braun is recognized as the person most responsible for laying the groundwork for public acceptance of America's space program. When President Bush directed NASA in 1989 to prepare plans for an orbiting space station, lunar research bases, and human exploration of Mars, he was largely echoing what von Braun proposed in The Mars Project.

      “An unexpectedly intimate look into a highly accomplished man, his colleagues and friends, the development of a new field of geometric analysis, and a glimpse into a truly uncommon mind.”—Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe “Engaging, eminently readable . . . For those with a taste for elegant and largely jargon-free explanations of mathematics, The Shape of a Life promises hours of rewarding reading.”—Judith Goodstein, American Scientist  Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey to becoming one of the world’s most distinguished mathematicians. Beginning with an impoverished childhood in China and Hong Kong, Yau takes readers through his doctoral studies at Berkeley during the height of the Vietnam War protests, his Fields Medal–winning proof of the Calabi conjecture, his return to China, and his pioneering work in geometric analysis. This new branch of geometry, which Yau built up with his friends and colleagues, has paved the way for solutions to several important and previously intransigent problems. With complicated ideas explained for a broad audience, this book offers readers not only insights into the life of an eminent mathematician, but also an accessible way to understand advanced and highly abstract concepts in mathematics and theoretical physics.

    He was trying to find an equation that explained all physical reality - a theory of everything. He failed, but others have taken up the challenge in a remarkable quest that is shedding light on unsuspected secrets of the cosmos.Experimental physicist and award-winning educator Dr. Don Lincoln of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory takes you on this exciting journey in The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality. Suitable for the intellectually curious at all levels and assuming no background beyond basic high-school math, these 24 half-hour lectures cover recent developments at the forefront of particle physics and cosmology, while delving into the history of the centuries-long search for this holy grail of science.You trace the dream of a theory of everything through Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, Bohr, Schrödinger, Feynman, Gell-Mann, Weinberg, and other great physicists, charting their progress toward an all-embracing, unifying theory. Their resulting equations are the masterpieces of physics, which Dr. Lincoln explains in fascinating and accessible detail. Studying them is like touring a museum of great works of art - works that are progressing toward an ultimate, as-yet-unfinished masterpiece.Listening Length: 12 hours and 21 minutes

    In this simple pattern beginning with two ones, each succeeding number is the sum of the two numbers immediately preceding it (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ad infinitum). Far from being just a curiosity, this sequence recurs in structures found throughout nature - from the arrangement of whorls on a pinecone to the branches of certain plant stems. All of which is astounding evidence for the deep mathematical basis of the natural world. With admirable clarity, two veteran math educators take us on a fascinating tour of the many ramifications of the Fibonacci numbers. They begin with a brief history of a distinguished Italian discoverer, who, among other accomplishments, was responsible for popularizing the use of Arabic numerals in the West. Turning to botany, the authors demonstrate, through illustrative diagrams, the unbelievable connections between Fibonacci numbers and natural forms (pineapples, sunflowers, and daisies are just a few examples). In art, architecture, the stock market, and other areas of society and culture, they point out numerous examples of the Fibonacci sequence as well as its derivative, the "golden ratio." And of course in mathematics, as the authors amply demonstrate, there are almost boundless applications in probability, number theory, geometry, algebra, and Pascal's triangle, to name a few.Accessible and appealing to even the most math-phobic individual, this fun and enlightening book allows the reader to appreciate the elegance of mathematics and its amazing applications in both natural and cultural settings.

    Water speaks for what is in our mind. Water awakens the subconscious memory in each person. . . . I now know why water is indispensable to the phenomenon of life, and why alternative therapies exist and why they’re effective. Water helped me understand religion and prayer and gave me a clue to understanding the nature of energy. It helped me understand the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. It gave me a clue to help me understand what dimensionality is. I could come one step closer to understanding the eternal theme of humanity that asks where we come from, why we are here, and what happens when we die.         “Thus, for the release of this, the third volume in my series of The Message from Water, I decided to choose what the world most urgently needs at present as a theme. That is, of course, the need to eliminate war and terrorism throughout the world. The theme I have chosen is ‘prayer.’ When I thought about it more deeply, I realized that prayer is most effectively sent when each person in the world raises their energy of love by imagining a scene where the peoples of the world are living in peace. I’ve been taught this through the process of asking water many questions.         “For this reason, the title of this book is ‘Love Thyself.’ First you must shine with positive, high-spirited vibrations, and be full of love. In order to do that, I think it’s important to love, thank, and respect yourself. If that’s the case, then each of those vibrations will be sent out into the world and the cosmos, and the great symphony of that harmonic vibration will wrap our planet in waves of love that serve to cherish our Heaven-granted lives. This is the message from water.” — Masaru Emoto

    In question-and-answer format, Polkinghorne and his collaborator Nicholas Beale offer their highly informed opinions about some of the most frequently asked of these questions. Readers can follow their own paths through the book, selecting questions that interest them and looking at the additional material if they choose. This unique book will help Christians clarify their beliefs regarding difficult issues and better face challenges--from within and from others--to their faith.

    Quantum paradoxes and the eventful life of Schroedinger's Cat are explained, along with the Many Universe explanation of quantum measurement in this newly revised edition. Updated throughout, the book also looks ahead to the nanotechnology revolution and describes quantum cryptography, computing and teleportation. Including an account of quantum mechanics and science fiction, this accessible book is geared to the general reader. Anthony Hey teaches at the University of Southampton, UK, and is the co-author of several books, including two with Patrick Walters, The Quantum Universe (Cambridge, 1987), and Einstein's Mirror (Cambridge, 1997). Patrick Walters is a Lecturer in Continuing Education at the University of Wales at Swansea. He co-ordinates the Physical Science Programme in DACE which includes the Astronomy Programme. His research interests include science education, and he also writes non-technical books on science for the general reader and beginning undergraduates. First Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-31845-9

    Never before in history have we been able to acquire, record, communicate, and use information in so many different forms. Never before have we had access to such vast quantities of data of every kind. This revolution goes far beyond the limitless content that fills our lives, because information also underlies our understanding of ourselves, the natural world, and the universe. It is the key that unites fields as different as linguistics, cryptography, neuroscience, genetics, economics, and quantum mechanics. And the fact that information bears no necessary connection to meaning makes it a profound puzzle that people with a passion for philosophy have pondered for centuries.Table of ContentsLECTURE 1The Transformability of Information 4LECTURE 2Computation and Logic Gates 17LECTURE 3Measuring Information 26LECTURE 4Entropy and the Average Surprise 34LECTURE 5Data Compression and Prefix-Free Codes 44LECTURE 6Encoding Images and Sounds 57LECTURE 7Noise and Channel Capacity 69LECTURE 8Error-Correcting Codes 82LECTURE 9Signals and Bandwidth 94LECTURE 10Cryptography and Key Entropy 110LECTURE 11Cryptanalysis and Unraveling the Enigma 119LECTURE 12Unbreakable Codes and Public Keys 130LECTURE 13What Genetic Information Can Do 140LECTURE 14Life’s Origins and DNA Computing 152LECTURE 15Neural Codes in the Brain 169LECTURE 16Entropy and Microstate Information 185LECTURE 17Erasure Cost and Reversible Computing 198LECTURE 18Horse Races and Stock Markets 213LECTURE 19Turing Machines and Algorithmic Information 226LECTURE 20Uncomputable Functions and Incompleteness 239LECTURE 21Qubits and Quantum Information 253LECTURE 22Quantum Cryptography via Entanglement 266LECTURE 23It from Bit: Physics from Information 281LECTURE 24The Meaning of Information 293

    Today, these paradoxes remain on the cutting edge of our investigations into the fabric of space and time. Zeno's Paradox uses the motion paradox as a jumping-off point for an exploration of the twenty-five-hundred-year quest to uncover the true nature of the universe. From Galileo to Einstein to Stephen Hawking, some of the greatest minds in history have tackled the problem and made spectacular breakthroughs, but through it all, the paradox of motion remains.

    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 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.

    Imagine that you face three doors, behind one of which is a prize. You choose one but do not open it. The host--call him Monty Hall--opens a different door, alwayschoosing one he knows to be empty. Left with two doors, will you do better by sticking with your first choice, or by switching to the other remaining door? In this light-hearted yet ultimately serious book, Jason Rosenhouse explores the history of this fascinating puzzle. Using a minimum ofmathematics (and none at all for much of the book), he shows how the problem has fascinated philosophers, psychologists, and many others, and examines the many variations that have appeared over the years. As Rosenhouse demonstrates, the Monty Hall Problem illuminates fundamental mathematical issuesand has abiding philosophical implications. Perhaps most important, he writes, the problem opens a window on our cognitive difficulties in reasoning about uncertainty.

    It ranges from the study of the universe itself to the smallest particles of matter contained within it - and everything in between. It explores everything from the big bang to theories about the end of the universe. If you want to better understand our physical world, as most of us do, gaining a basic understanding of science itself is profoundly important - yet many are intimidated by the breathtaking scope of such an endeavor. Now an award-winning science teacher has taken out the intimidation, harnessing that breathtaking scope into a series of 60 exciting, comprehensive, and accessible lectures that let you explore and understand the wealth of ideas, discoveries, and principles in all of the physical and biological sciences. You learn that understanding science comes from understanding not only its component disciplines - each of which has its own theories, pioneers, problems, and fundamental questions - but of knowing how these disciplines work with one another to create an entire mosaic of human knowledge. The lectures have been crafted to make those relationships crystal-clear, with an integrated approach that takes you through all of the major disciplines that fall under the umbrella of "science," including physics, chemistry, Earth science, geophysics, and biology. Each lecture covers one of the 60 fundamental principles of the scientific world - offering you new knowledge and insight into topics such as the scientific method, gravitation, atoms, the big bang, plate tectonics, volcanoes, proteins, ecosystems, and electricity.

    Sympathetic yet balanced, Michael White's Isaac Newton offers a revelatory picture of Newton as a genius who stood at the point in history where magic ended and science began.

    Collected here to keep your wits sharp, The Best Brain Teasers of All Time features the cleverest brain teasers from around the world and throughout history.The Best Brain Teasers of All Time gives you hours of fun-filled entertainment with brain teasers that develop your problem-solving skills in math, logic, and wordplay. Organized as an integrated challenge, these brain teasers build in momentum as they increase in difficulty from classic nursery rhymes to the riddle of the sphinx.The Best Brain Teasers of All Time puts your mind to the test with: 125 Brain Teasers that require no special skills to solve. Plus, each question comes with an optional clue in case you get stumped and a handy answer key in the back to test yourself or play with friends Brain Teasers for Every Level that cater to beginners and advanced masterminds alike, with brain teasers organized by level of difficulty to improve your skills as you move forward Hints of History that provide fun facts and background information for every brain teaser Get ready to sharpen your wit with every “aha” moment. The Best Brain Teasers of All Time is a go-to source for timeless fun and mind-blowing challenges.