A full fledged techie himself, he relates some classic philosophical reflections, his interviews with dozens of fellow techies, and his own personal take on his Catholic beliefs to provide, like a set of "worked out sample problems," the hard data on the challenges and joys of embracing a life of faith as a techie. And he also gives a roadmap of the traps that can befall an unwary techie believer. With lively prose and wry humor, Brother Guy shows how he not only believes in God but gives religion an honored place alongside science in his life. This book offers an engaging look at how--and why--scientists and those with technological leanings can hold profound, "unprovable" religious beliefs while working in highly empirical fields. Through his own experience and interviews with other scientists and engineers who profess faith, Brother Guy explores how religious beliefs and practices make sense to those who are deeply rooted in the world of technology.

    The first volume in this annual series of the best writing by Americans, meticulously selected by bestselling author James Gleick, one of the foremost chronicles of scientific social history, debuts with a stellar collection of writers and thinkers.  Many of these cutting-edge essays offer glimpses of new realms of discovery and thought, exploring territory that is unfamiliar to most of us, or finding the unexpected in the midst of the familiar.  Nobel Laureate physicist Steven Weinberg challenges the idea of whether the universe has a designer; Pulitzer Prize winner Natalie Angier reassesses caveman (and-woman) couture; bestselling author and Darwinian theorist Stephen Jay Gould makes a claim for the man whose ideas Darwin discredited; Timothy Ferris proposes a realistic alternative to wrap-speed interseller travel; neurologist and bestselling author Oliver Sacks reminisces about his first loves-chemistry and math.  This diverse, stimulating and accessible collection is required reading for anyone who wants to travel to the frontier of knowledge.

    Comparing the key events of the Old Testament with the latest findings in physics, biochemistry, and paleontology, a physicist and theologian shows that science and the Bible can be reconciled to resolve the age-old debates about God.

    With his own research as well as that of some of the most distinguished scientists of our time, Schäfer moves us from a reality of Darwinian competition to cooperation, a meaningless universe to a meaningful one, and a disconnected, isolated existence to an interconnected one. In so doing, he shows us that our potential is infinite and calls us to live in accordance with the order of the universe, creating a society based on the cosmic principle of connection, emphasizing cooperation and community.

     During fourteen years, from 1955 to 1969, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were engaged in a dramatic race against each other to conquer space. This period encompassed dramatic victories, humbling defeats, and more than one tragedy. This is a story of human courage and ingenuity at its best and political maneuvering at its worst, of almost unbelievable technological progress undertaken with the object not just of advancing human knowledge but also of proving the superiority of one country over another. Inside you will read about... ✓ From Missiles to Rockets ✓ Russia Takes the Lead ✓ Early American Failures ✓ The First Men in Space ✓ Fatalities on Both Sides ✓ The Moon Landing And much more! The space race culminated in man setting foot upon the moon, but each milestone on the way to that final goal was bitterly contested. Two powerful nations pledged a substantial part of their national resources to beat the other in a scientific and technological race to be the first to achieve new records. In terms of contests between major powers, there has never been anything quite as dramatic, public, and sustained as the space race; it remains one of the most fascinating and engaging episodes of the Cold War.

    As they see matters, wealth in the form of means of production and wealth in the form of consumers’ goods are essentially indistinguishable. For all practical purposes, they have no awareness of the existence of capital and of its importance. Thus, capitalists are generally depicted as fat men, whose girth allegedly signifies an excessive consumption of food and of wealth in general, while their alleged victims, the wage earners, are typically depicted as substantially underweight, allegedly signifying their inability to consume, thanks to the allegedly starvation wages paid by the capitalists.The truth is that in a capitalist economic system, the wealth of the capitalists is not only overwhelmingly in the form of means of production, such as factory buildings, machinery, farms, mines, stores, warehouses, and means of transportation and communication, but all of this wealth is employed in producing for the market, where its benefit is made available to everyone in the economic system who is able to afford to buy its products.Consider. Whoever can afford to buy an automobile benefits from the existence of the automobile factory and its equipment where that car was made. He also benefits from the existence of all the other automobile factories, whose existence and competition served to reduce the price he had to pay for his automobile. He benefits from the existence of the steel mill that provided the steel for his car, and from the iron mine that provided the iron ore needed for the production of that steel, and, of course, from the existence of all the other steel mills and iron mines whose existence and competition served to hold down the prices of the steel and iron ore that contributed to the production of his car.And, thanks to the great magnitude of wealth employed as capital, the demand for labor, of which capital is the foundation, is great enough and thus wages are high enough that virtually everyone is able to afford to a substantial degree most of the products of the economic system. For the capital of the capitalists is the foundation both of the supply of products that everyone buys and of the demand for the labor that all wage earners sell. More capital—a greater amount of wealth in the possession of the capitalists—means a both a larger and better supply of products for wage earners to buy and a greater demand for the labor that wage earners sell. Everyone, wage earners and capitalists alike, benefits from the wealth of the capitalists, because, as I say, that wealth is the foundation of the supply of the products that everyone buys and of the demand for the labor that all wage earners sell. More capital in the hands of the capitalists always means a more abundant, better quality of goods and services offered for sale and a larger demand for labor. The further effect is lower prices and higher wages, and thus a higher standard of living for wage earners.Furthermore, the combination of the profit motive and competition operates continually to improve the products offered in the market and the efficiency with which they are produced, thus steadily further improving the standard of living of everyone.In the alleged conflict between the so-called 99 percent and the so-called 1 percent, the program of the 99 percent is to seize as far as possible the wealth of the 1 percent and consume it. To the extent that it is enacted, the effect of this program can only be to impoverish everyone, and the 99 percent to a far greater extent than the 1 percent. To the extent that the 1 percent loses its mansions, luxury cars, and champagne and caviar, 99 times as many people lose their houses, run-of-the mill cars, and steak and hamburger.

    The emphasis is, instead, on the myriad ways in which the universe presents itself to us--and how, as observers and participants in its processes, we respond to it. "Life, like a dome of many-colored glass," wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley, "stains the white radiance of eternity." The author seeks here to explore the variety that gives life its beauty.Taken from Dyson's recent public lectures--delivered to audiences with no specialized knowledge in hard sciences--the book begins with a consideration of the practical and political questions surrounding biotechnology. As he seeks how best to explain the place of life in the universe, Dyson then moves from the ethical to the purely scientific. The book concludes with an attempt to understand the implications of biology for philosophy and religion.The pieces in this collection touch on numerous disciplines, from astronomy and ecology to neurology and theology, speaking to the lay reader as well as to the scientist. As always, Dyson's view of human nature and behavior is balanced, and his predictions of a world to come serve primarily as a means for thinking about the world as it is today.

    A brilliantly clear and penetrating exposition of developments in physical science and mathematics brought about by the advent of non-Euclidean geometries, including in-depth coverage of the foundations of geometry, the theory of time, Einstein's theory of relativity and its consequences, other key topics.

    

    In this exciting sequel, Barbara Hand Clow takes these teachings to a practical level so that we can all discover multidimensionality in our daily lives.Based on more than ten years of experience with students, and years of research into the new sciences that validate the breakthrough concepts in The Pleiadian Agenda, Clow presents each dimension in detail. Alchemy of Nine Dimensions reveals how the Pleiadians described the nine dimensionssharpens our understanding with scientific and historical explanationsoffers a startling interpretation of crop circleshelps you contact and work with beings in many dimensions, and provides meditations on how to ground these nine dimensions of awareness energetically into our bodiesFinally, Clow reveals the true significance of the date December 21, 2012--the end of the Mayan calendar--and tells you what you need to know to begin physical and spiritual preparation.

    Using his theory of morphic resonance, Sheldrake was able to reinterpret the regularities of nature as being more like habits than immutable laws, offering a new understanding of life and consciousness. In the years since its first publication, Sheldrake has continued his research to demonstrate that the past forms and behavior of organisms influence present organisms through direct immaterial connections across time and space. This can explain why new chemicals become easier to crystallize all over the world the more often their crystals have already formed, and why when laboratory rats have learned how to navigate a maze in one place, rats elsewhere appear to learn it more easily. With more than two decades of new research and data, Rupert Sheldrake makes an even stronger case for the validity of the theory of formative causation that can radically transform how we see our world and our future.

    Yet psychologists and philosophers agree that these commonplace approaches to creating happiness, success, and fulfillment make critical mistakes. Stop Chasing Carrots reveals how these mistakes begin with misconceptions about happiness and then presents a philosophy of life to achieve better results.Here is the rare book that creates a philosophy of life based on scientific evidence. Replacing self-help materialism, Eastern spiritualism/minimalism, and complex but insightful psychological studies with an accessible, balanced, and realistic concept, Stop Chasing Carrots empowers readers to lead lives based on proven ideas.

    In the quantum realm, objects can be in two places at once. It's a place where time travel is not only possible, but necessary. It's a place where cause and effect can happen in reverse and observing something changes its state. From parallel universes to antimatter, quantum mechanics has revealed that when you get right down to it, the laws of nature are insane. The scientist J. B. S. Haldane once said, 'Reality is not only stranger than we imagine . . . it's stranger than we can imagine.' Never is this more true than with quantum mechanics; our best, most recent attempt to make sense of the fundamental laws of nature.Fundamental is a comprehensive beginner's guide to quantum mechanics, explaining not only the weirdness of the subject but the experiments that proved it to be true. Using a humorous and light-hearted approach, Fundamental tells the story of how the most brilliant minds in science grappled with seemingly impossible ideas and gave us everything from microchips to particle accelerators. Fundamental gives clear explanations of all the quantum phenomena known to modern science, without requiring an understanding of complex mathematics; tells the eccentric stories of the scientists who made these shattering discoveries and what they used them for; explains how quantum field theory (a topic not covered in detail by any other popular-science book) gave rise to particle physics and why the Higgs boson isn't the end of the story.

    Now they can stop worrying, take charge of their brain health, and begin enjoying a sharper mind quickly and for years to come. In 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain, Dr. Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan translate the latest brain science into practical strategies and exercises that everyone can use to get immediate and long-lasting benefits. Dr. Small's studies have found that the sooner each of us gets started on a younger brain program, the greater the potential benefits. Following the authors' advice will not only improve your memory, but will also strengthen your physical health by reducing your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. In a new study published by the journal Psychological Science, researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital reported that the ability to reason, learn, and remember information ebbs and flows over our lifespan Although some forms of rapid recall peak in our late teens, our ability to evaluate another person's emotions by just viewing their eyes is strongest in midlife. And, vocabulary skills may not decline until well into our 60s. Remarkably, their data showed that since the late-1970s and early 1980s, our peak-ability to define words has gradually increased from age 40 to age 60. After three decades of helping thousands of patients improve their mental acuity, Dr. Small has shown that our daily lifestyle habits are directly linked to brain health. 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain reveals how you can rapidly form new habits that bolster cognitive abilities and help prevent, and reverse, brain aging. 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain makes sense of the latest scientific discoveries showing that: • Brain aging starts as young as age 20 • Sex is good for your brain • Memory exercises can erase senior moments from your brain scan • Aerobic conditioning can overcome even a genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease

    The objective here is to explain science in a simple, attractive and fun form that is open to all.The first axiom of this approach was set out as follows: “We believe in the magic of science. We hope to show you that sci-ence is not a secret art, accessible only to a dedicated few. It involves learning about nature and society, and aspects of our existence which affect us all, and which we should all therefore have the chance to understand. We shall interpret science for those who might not speak its language fluently, but want to understand its meaning. We don’t teach, we just tell stories about the beginnings of science, the natural phenomena and the underlying principles through which they occur, and the lives of the people who discovered them.”The aim of the writings collected in this series is to present some key scientific events, ideas and personalities in the form of short stories that are easy and fun to read. Scientific and philo-sophical concepts are explained in a way that anyone may under-stand. Each story may be read separately, but at the same time they all band together to form a wide-ranging introduction to the history of science and areas of contemporary scientific research, as well as some of the recurring problems science has encountered in history and the philosophical dilemmas it raises today.Review“If I were the only survivor on a remote island and all I had with me were this book, a Swiss army knife and a bottle, I would throw the bottle into the sea with the note: ‘Don’t worry, I have everything I need.’”— Ciril Horjak, alias Dr. Horowitz, a comic artist“The writing is understandable, but never simplistic. Instructive, but never patronizing. Straightforward, but never trivial. In-depth, but never too intense.”— Ali Žerdin, editor at Delo, the main Slovenian newspaper“Does science think? Heidegger once answered this question with a decisive No. The writings on modern science skillfully penned by Sašo Dolenc, these small stories about big stories, quickly convince us that the contrary is true. Not only does science think in hundreds of unexpected ways, its intellectual challenges and insights are an inexhaustible source of inspiration and entertainment. The clarity of thought and the lucidity of its style make this book accessible to anyone … in the finest tradition of popularizing science, its achievements, dilemmas and predicaments.”— Mladen Dolar, philosopher and author of A Voice and Nothing More“Sašo Dolenc is undoubtedly one of our most successful authors in the field of popular science, possessing the ability to explain complex scientific achievements to a broader audience in a clear and captivating way while remaining precise and scientific. His collection of articles is of particular importance because it encompasses all areas of modern science in an unassuming, almost light-hearted manner.”— Boštjan Žekš, physicist and former president of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts