Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest, Most Fought Over T-Rex Ever Found


Steve Fiffer - 2000
    In 1990 her skeleton was found, virtually complete, in what many have called the most spectacular dinosaur fossil discovery to date.And then another battle began -- a "survival of the fittest" free-for-all involving commercial dinosaur hunters, gun-toting law officers, an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Native American tribe, jealous academics, an enterprising auction house, major museums, and corporate giants, all making their claim for the dinosaur named Sue. Before it was over, there would be claims and counterclaims; charges of checkbook-polluted science, criminal larceny, and vengeful prosecutions; and devastating prison terms. And the gavel would come down on the largest-ever ($8.36 million) auction price tag for a fossil, paid by Chicago's Field Museum, with help from Disney and McDonald's.Capturing the whole range of characters and issues embroiled in the fight for Sue, Steve Fiffer communicates both the excitement over Sue's discovery and the motivations, maneuverings, and absurdities of the various forces attempting to control her destiny.

The Walking Whales: From Land to Water in Eight Million Years


Johannes G.M. Thewissen - 2014
    As evidenced in the record, whales evolved from herbivorous forest-dwelling ancestors that resembled tiny deer to carnivorous monsters stalking lakes and rivers and to serpentlike denizens of the coast. Thewissen reports on his discoveries in the wilds of India and Pakistan, weaving a narrative that reveals the day-to-day adventures of fossil collection, enriching it with local flavors from South Asian culture and society. The reader senses the excitement of the digs as well as the rigors faced by scientific researchers, for whom each new insight gives rise to even more questions, and for whom at times the logistics of just staying alive may trump all science. In his search for an understanding of how modern whales live their lives, Thewissen also journeys to Japan and Alaska to study whales and wild dolphins. He finds answers to his questions about fossils by studying the anatomy of otters and porpoises and examining whale embryos under the microscope. In the book's final chapter, Thewissen argues for approaching whale evolution with the most powerful tools we have and for combining all the fields of science in pursuit of knowledge.

Sociopath: Inside the Mind of a Sociopath


Paul Sorensen - 2014
    * * *Download for FREE on Kindle Unlimited + Free BONUS Inside!* * *From the ~Personality Disorders and Mental Illnesses~ collection and the award winning writer, Paul Sorensen, comes a masterful explanation into the mind of a sociopath! "An excellent depiction of the modern day sociopath!" - Alex Lemmings, Book CritiqueThink of sociopaths, and what’s the first thing that enters your mind? The soulless murderer, lurking in the shadows? Or perhaps you think of the ruthless business man turned hardened criminal, a modern day depiction in recent movies and media.You’d probably be surprised to know that you’ve met a sociopath already, at least one. Are they your classmate, colleague, friend, or even lover? The thing about sociopaths that so few realize is that they are chameleons, masters at blending in. Unless you know them intimately, you will have no idea what’s going on behind the charming façade.In the real world, sociopaths are far more likely to lie to family members, steal from workplaces, cheat on their partners, abuse drugs, and commit fraud, than they ever are to murder someone.Although not all actions by a sociopath are criminal, many are what society considers immoral, and you remain unaware of the sociopaths in your own life at your peril. In this book you will learn what a true sociopath is like, how to recognize them, and how to deal with them – especially if they cannot be avoided. I also discuss how to help yourself heal after you come out the other side.Is there a cure, or even any hope for sociopaths? The short answer is ‘we don’t know’, but there’s a lot more to it than that, and forewarned is forearmed. Don’t let yourself become the next to be manipulated, lied to, or even assaulted or have your life destroyed by the sociopath you know.Topics of Discussion ✓ What is Sociopathy? ✓ Sociopathic Personalities ✓ How to Recognize a Sociopath ✓ Surviving a Sociopath ✓ Clinical Sociopathy ✓ The Cause of Sociopathy ✓ Is there a Cure? ✓ BONUS! Find Inside… Download Your Copy Today! The contents of this book are easily worth over $20 but if you download it right now you'll get it for only $3.99 or FREE on Kindle Unlimited!---------Tags: Sociopath, ASPD

The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story


Dimitra Papagianni - 2013
    It turns out that the Neanderthals’ behavior was surprisingly modern: they buried the dead, cared for the sick, hunted large animals in their prime, harvested seafood, and communicated with spoken language. Meanwhile, advances in DNA technologies are compelling us to reassess the Neanderthals’ place in our own past.For hundreds of thousands of years, Neanderthals evolved in Europe parallel to Homo sapiens evolving in Africa, and, when both species made their first forays into Asia, the Neanderthals may even have had the upper hand. In this important volume, Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse compile the first full chronological narrative of the Neanderthals’ dramatic existence—from their evolution in Europe to their expansion to Siberia, their subsequent extinction, and ultimately their revival in popular novels, cartoons, cult movies, and television commercials.

The Tarantula Keeper's Guide


Stanley A. Schultz - 1985
    The book opens with a detailed description of the tarantula's origins, anatomy, and physiology. Comprehensive information on care, housing, and feeding is provided for all who want to keep one or more tarantulas as pets or for scientific research. And for those who prefer to do it themselves, there is even advice on where and how to capture a tarantula in the wild! Extensive tables classify tarantulas according to classes, orders, families, and subfamilies. Still another table outlines measures one should take in the event of a tarantula bite--though in many cases a bite is little more than a passing annoyance. Dozens of color photos and scientifically accurate drawings illustrate virtually everything the reader needs to know about these exotic creatures.

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are


Joseph E. LeDoux - 2002
    In 1996 Joseph LeDoux's "The Emotional Brain" presented a revelatory examination of the biological bases of our emotions and memories. Now, the world-renowned expert on the brain has produced with a groundbreaking work that tells a more profound story: how the little spaces between the neurons-the brain's synapses--are the channels through which we think, act, imagine, feel, and remember. Synapses encode the essence of personality, enabling each of us to function as a distinctive, integrated individual from moment to moment. Exploring the functioning of memory, the synaptic basis of mental illness and drug addiction, and the mechanism of self-awareness, "Synaptic Self" is a provocative and mind-expanding work that is destined to become a classic.

Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth


Chris Stringer - 2011
    Stringer's new theory, based on archeological and genetic evidence, holds that distinct humans coexisted and competed across the African continent—exchanging genes, tools, and behavioral strategies.Stringer draws on analyses of old and new fossils from around the world, DNA studies of Neanderthals (using the full genome map) and other species, and recent archeological digs to unveil his new theory. He shows how the most sensational recent fossil findings fit with his model, and he questions previous concepts (including his own) of modernity and how it evolved.Lone Survivors will be the definitive account of who and what we were, and will change perceptions about our origins and about what it means to be human.

At the Water's Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea


Carl Zimmer - 1998
    The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us. We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago. In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.

Close Encounters with Humankind: A Paleoanthropologist Investigates Our Evolving Species


Sang-Hee Lee - 2018
    Through a series of entertaining, bite-sized chapters that combine anthropological insight with cutting-edge science, we gain fresh perspectives into our first hominin ancestors and ways to challenge perceptions about the traditional progression of evolution. With Lee as our guide, we discover that we indeed have always been a species of continuous change.

The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs


James Woodford - 2002
    The discovery has been described as "the equivalent of finding a small dinosaur still alive on Earth."

Hoover Dam: An American Adventure


Joseph E. Stevens - 1988
    Through the worst years of the Great Depression as many as five thousand laborers toiled twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to erect the huge structure that would harness the Colorado River and transform the American West.Construction of the giant dam was a triumph of human ingenuity, yet the full story of this monumental endeavor has never been told. Now, in an engrossing, fast-paced narrative, Joseph E. Stevens recounts the gripping saga of Hoover Dam. Drawing on a wealth of material, including manuscript collections, government documents, contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts, and personal interviews and correspondence with men and women who were involved with the construction, he brings the Hoover Dam adventure to life.Described here in dramatic detail are the deadly hazards the work crews faced as they hacked and blasted the dam’s foundation out of solid rock; the bitter political battles and violent labor unrest that threatened to shut the job down; the deprivation and grinding hardship endured by the workers’ families; the dam builders’ gambling, drinking, and whoring sprees in nearby Las Vegas; and the stirring triumphs and searing moments of terror as the massive concrete wedge rose inexorably from the canyon floor.Here, too, is an unforgettable cast of characters: Henry Kaiser, Warren Bechtel, and Harry Morrison, the ambitious, headstrong construction executives who gambled fortune and fame on the Hoover Dam contract; Frank Crowe, the brilliant, obsessed field engineer who relentlessly drove the work force to finish the dam two and a half years ahead of schedule; Sims Ely, the irascible, teetotaling eccentric who ruled Boulder City, the straightlaced company town created for the dam workers by the federal government; and many more men and women whose courage and sacrifice, greed and frailty, made the dam’s construction a great human, as well as technological, adventure.Hoover Dam is a compelling, irresistible account of an extraordinary American epic.

Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Microbiology


Richard A. HarveyVictor Stollar - 2001
    The book has the hallmark features for which Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews volumes are so popular: an outline format, over 600 full-color illustrations, end-of-chapter summaries, review questions, plus an entire section of clinical case studies with full-color illustrations. This edition's medical/clinical focus has been sharpened to provide a high-yield review. Five additional case studies have been included, bringing the total to nineteen. Review questions have been reformatted to comply with USMLE Step 1 style, with clinical vignettes.

Evolving the Alien


Jack Cohen - 2002
    This text offers radical but scientifically accurate thinking on the possibility of life on other planets.

Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code


Matt Ridley - 2006
    Between 1953 and 1966 he made and led a revolution in biology by discovering, quite literally, the secret of life: the digital cipher at the heart of heredity that distinguishes living from non-living things -- the genetic code. His own discoveries -- though he always worked with one other partner and did much of his thinking in conversation -- include not only the double helix but the whole mechanism of protein synthesis, the three-letter nature of the code, and much of the code itself.Matt Ridley's biography traces Crick's life from middle-class mediocrity in the English Midlands, through a lackluster education and six years designing magnetic mines for the Royal Navy, to his leap into biology at the age of thirty-one. While at Cambridge, he suddenly began to display the unique visual imagination and intense tenacity of thought that would allow him to see the solutions to several great scientific conundrums -- and to see them long before most biologists had even conceived of the problems. Having set out to determine what makes living creatures alive and having succeeded, he immigrated at age sixty to California and turned his attention to the second question that had fascinated him since his youth: What makes conscious creatures conscious? Time ran out before he could find the answer.

Ethics in Information Technology


George W. Reynolds - 2002
    This book offers an excellent foundation in ethical decision-making for current and future business managers and IT professionals.