The Last Volcano: A Man, a Romance, and the Quest to Understand Nature's Most Magnificant Fury
John Dvorak - 2015
They have destroyed cities and ended civilizations. John Dvorak, the acclaimed author of Earthquake Storms, looks into the early years of volcanology and its "father," Thomas Jaggar. Jaggar was the youngest of five scientists to investigate the explosion of Mount Pelee in Martinique, which leveled the entire city of St. Pierre and killed its entire population in two minutes. This explosion changed science forever, and Jaggar became obsessed with understanding the force of nature that could do this.A colorful cast of scientists wind their way through The Last Volcano, including an escaped slave who became the leading volcanic guide in Hawaii. But the focus is on Jaggar, who was so fixated on volcanology that he moved to a small house overlooking the lava lake of Kilauea, much to the derision of the scientific community.Falling in love a widowed schoolteacher who shared his passion, Jaggar devoted his life to studying volcanic activity and the mysteries beneath the earth's surface. From their precarious perch, this dynamic husband and wife duo would discover a way to predict volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, promote geothermal energy, and theorize new ways to study the ocean bottom.
Jack Trout on Strategy
Jack Trout - 2004
In the more than two decades since then, he has remained at the forefront of marketing and strategic thinking. Written in response to the demands by Trout fans, acolytes, and students worldwide, this book brings together the key ideas from his substantial body of work in a quick-bite format."Trout on Strategy" Is an ideal introduction to the thinking of one of the century's most influential marketing innovators Explores Trout's major themes, including survival, perception, differentiation, and more Connects the dots in his major works and makes his ideas relevant to the biggest issues facing business today
The Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses
Peter Brannen - 2017
In The Ends of the World, Peter Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth’s past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future.Many scientists now believe that the climate shifts of the twenty-first century have analogs in these five extinctions. Using the visible clues these devastations have left behind in the fossil record, The Ends of the World takes us inside “scenes of the crime,” from South Africa to the New York Palisades, to tell the story of each extinction. Brannen examines the fossil record—which is rife with creatures like dragonflies the size of sea gulls and guillotine-mouthed fish—and introduces us to the researchers on the front lines who, using the forensic tools of modern science, are piecing together what really happened at the crime scenes of the Earth’s biggest whodunits.Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, The Ends of the World takes us on a tour of the ways that our planet has clawed itself back from the grave, and casts our future in a completely new light.
Bretz's Flood: The Remarkable Story of a Rebel Geologist and the World's Greatest Flood
John Soennichsen - 2008
Legendary geologist J Harlen Bretz was the first to explore the area, starting in the 1920s. This dramatic book tells the story of this scientific maverick — how he came to study the region, his radical theory that a flood of biblical proportions created it, and how a campaign by the mainstream geologic community tried to derail him for pursuing an idea that satellite photos would confirm decades later.
The Purpose-Guided Universe: Believing in Einstein, Darwin, and God
Bernard Haisch - 2010
Bernard Haisch contends that there is a purpose and an underlying intelligence behind the Universe, one that is consistent with modern science, especially the Big Bang and evolution. It is based on recent discoveries that there are numerous coincidences and fine-tunings of the laws of nature that seem extraordinarily unlikely.A more rational concept of God is called for. As astrophysicist Sir James Jeans wrote, "the Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine."Despite bestsellers by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris that have denounced the evils of religion and proclaimed that science has shown that there is no God, The Purpose-Guided Universe shows how one can believe in God and science.
Work: The World in Photographs
Ferdinand Protzman - 2006
We see cowboys and clowns, dancers and dog groomers, miners and models. On one page, drill sergeants bark orders to U.S. Navy recruits; on another, young Tibetan monks study Buddhist scriptures; and on another, Kenyan women spread coffee beans to dry. Work is a subject that is both worldwide and personal. It is a shared endeavor at the very core of our identity. From the glamour of a Parisian fashion show to the grit of an African diamond mine, there are countless ways to make a living. The book illuminates scores of them many in never-before-published photographs offering revealing glimpses into various eras and cultures and engaging the reader with entertaining text and informative captions. With a wonderful mix of the utterly unexpected and the instantly familiar, this vivid panorama takes an essential human activity and shows us myriad ways in which work is at once universal and delightfully, unforgettably unique."
Rocks and Minerals
Chris Pellant - 1990
Packed with photographs and details on characteristics, distinguishing features, and more, Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks and Minerals makes identification easy.Designed for beginning and experienced collectors alike, this guide explains what rocks and minerals are, how they are classified, and how to start a collection. Look up different rocks and minerals, and find clear, annotated photography to pick out the key distinguishing features. Learn the differences between igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and reference the glossary for many more technical and scientific terms.Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks and Minerals is filled with information about characteristics, colors, unique attributes, and more, making it one of the clearest identification guides for rock and mineral enthusiasts.
Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool
Hal Edward Runkel - 2005
. . Tonight ScreamFree Parenting is not just about lowering your voice. It’s about learning to calm your emotional reactions and learning to focus on your own behavior more than your kids’ behavior . . . for their benefit. Our biggest enemy as parents is not the TV, the Internet, or even drugs. Our biggest enemy is our own emotional reactivity. When we say we “lost it” with our kids, the “it” in that sentence is our own adulthood. And then we wonder why our kids have so little respect for us, why our kids seem to have all the power in the family. It’s time to do it differently. And you can. You can start to create and enjoy the types of calm, mutually respectful, and loving relationships with your kids that you’ve always craved. You can begin to revolutionize your family, starting tonight. Parenting is not about kids, it’s about parents. If you’re not in control, then you cannot be in charge. What every kid really needs are parents who are able to keep their cool no matter what.
The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood
David R. Montgomery - 2012
Montgomery heard a local story about a great flood that bore a striking similarity to Noah's Flood. Intrigued, Montgomery began investigating the world's flood stories and, drawing from historic works by theologians, natural philosophers, and scientists, discovered the counter-intuitive role Noah's Flood played in the development of both geology and creationism. Steno, the grandfather of geology, even invoked the Flood in laying geology's founding principles based on his observations of northern Italian landscapes. Centuries later, the founders of modern creationism based their irrational view of aglobal flood on a perceptive critique of geology. With an explorer's eye and a refreshing approach to both faith and science, Montgomery takes readers on a journey across landscapes and cultures. In the process we discover the illusive nature of truth, whether viewed through the lens of science or religion, and how it changed through history and continues changing, even today.
A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs
Ben Garrod - 2019
Learning all the tongue twisting names, picking favorites based on ferocity, armor, or sheer size. For many kids this love of ‘terrible lizards’ fizzles out at some point between starting and leaving primary school. All those fancy names slowly forgotten, no longer any need for a favorite.For all those child dino fanatics who didn’t grow up to become paleontologists, dinosaurs seem like something out of mythology. They are dragons, pictures in books, abstract, other, extinct.They are at the same time familiar and mysterious. And yet we’re in an age of rapid discovery—new dinosaur species and genera are being discovered at an accelerating rate, we’re learning more about what they looked like, how they lived, how they evolved and where they all went.This series isn’t just a top trumps list of dino facts—we’re interested in the why and the how and like all areas of science there is plenty of controversy and debate.
The Illustrated Directory of Healing Crystals: A Comprehensive Guide to 150 Crystals and Gemstones
Cassandra Eason - 2003
From Agate to Zoisite, each crystal entry includes a color photo, description of properties, listing of associated herbs, oils, and incenses, and astrological significance. You'll not only learn how to identify crystals, but how to harness their powers for decision-making, protection, health, and well-being. Relieve a child's earache with rose quartz or rid the workplace of tension with an amethyst geode tucked in your desk. Whether you carry a core set of crystals, fashion an amulet for portable empowerment, or whip up a pitcher of energy-boosting crystalline water, these practical suggestions can help you face fears and soothe daily stresses.
Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science
Brian Fay - 1991
Distinct, engaging and timely 'multicultural' approach Clear, non-technical overview of the nature of social inquiry First volume of outstanding new Contemporary Philosophy series
Sooner or Later
Elizabeth Adler - 1997
She saw him in the shadows. She felt him watching her. She knew he was going to get her...The killer always left a signature on his victims...an X carved in their flesh. But he'd spent the last twenty years in a mental hospital. Long enough for the world to forget him. But not long enough for him to forget the rich old woman who had him committed--or her pretty granddaughter.Now he's been set free.Ellie Duveen was busy running her own restaurant and tenderly watching over her fragile grandmother. Then she met former cop Dan Cassidy, the owner of a local vineyard, and Ellie's hectic life slowed just enough to let her fall in love.So Ellie didn't notice when police found a dead body marked with a grisly X. She only felt someone watching her. Following her. And as a terrifying secret came back from the past to haunt her, Ellie needed an ex-cop's instincts and more. She needed her own unshakable courage to outsmart a killer's deadly, twisted plan.
Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling and Production
Norman J. Hyne - 1995
Hyne provides an easy-to-understand explanation of complex topics with pictures, graphs and illustrations covering everything on how oil and gas is formed; how to find commercial quantities; how to drill, evaluate and complete a well; all the way through production and improved oil recovery.