Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology Coursebook with CD-ROM (Cambridge International Examin)


Mary Jones - 2012
    The experienced author team have reviewed the core text, expanded the Applications of Biology chapters, and added two new chapters on practical skills. Each chapter now has a set of exam-style practice questions, as well as questions to help review the material. Also included are advice on how to revise and prepare for the examinations, multiple choice questions, revision summaries and answers to all book questions.

Summary of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: Valuable Knowledge in Less Than 30 Minutes


La Moneda Publishing - 2016
    Summary of the ideas from Kahneman’s book “Thinking Slow, and Fast". This short Kindle work discusses and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Daniel Kahneman is a Senior Scholar and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at the Woodrow Wilson School, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University, and a fellow of the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 To learn more, read " Thinking Slow, and Fast".

Genes vs Cultures vs Consciousness: A Brief Story of Our Computational Minds


Andres Campero - 2019
    It touches on its evolutionary development, its algorithmic nature and its scientific history by bridging ideas across Neuroscience, Computer Science, Biotechnology, Evolutionary History, Cognitive Science, Political Philosophy, and Artificial Intelligence.Never before had there been nearly as many scientists, resources or productive research focused on these topics, and humanity has achieved some understanding and some clarification. With the speed of progress it is timely to communicate an overreaching perspective, this book puts an emphasis on conveying the essential questions and what we know about their answers in a simple, clear and exciting way.Humans, along with the first RNA molecules, the first life forms, the first brains, the first conscious animals, the first societies and the first artificial agents constitute an amazing and crucial development in a path of increasingly complex computational intelligence. And yet, we occupy a minuscule time period in the history of Earth, a history that has been written by Genes, by Cultures and by Consciousnesses. If we abandon our anthropomorphic bias it becomes obvious that Humans are not so special after all. We are an important but short and transitory step among many others in a bigger story. The story of our computational minds, which is ours but not only ours. What is the relationship between computation, cognition and everything else? What is life and how did it originate? What is the role of culture in human minds? What do we know about the algorithmic nature of the mind, can we engineer it? What is the computational explanation of consciousness? What are some possible future steps in the evolution of minds? The underlying thread is the computational nature of the Mind which results from the mixture of Genes, Cultures and Consciousness. While these three interact in complex ways, they are ultimately computational systems on their own which appeared at different stages of history and which follow their own selective processes operating at different time scales. As technology progresses, the distinction between the three components materializes and will be a key determinant of the future.Among the many topics covered are the origin of life, the concept of computation and its relation to Turing Machines, cultural evolution and the notion of a Selfish Meme, free will and determinism, moral relativity, the hard problem of consciousness, the different theories of concepts from the perspective of cognitive science, the current status of AI and Machine Learning including the symbolic vs sub-symbolic dichotomy, the contrast between logical reasoning and neural networks, and the recent history of Deep Learning, Geoffrey Hinton, DeepMind and its algorithm AlphaGo. It also develops on the history of science and looks into the possible future building on the work of authors like Daniel Dennett, Yuval Harari, Richard Dawkins, Francis Crick, George Church, David Chalmers, Susan Carey, Stanislas Dehaene, Robert Boyd, Joseph Henrich, Daniel Kahneman, Moran Cerf, Josh Tenenbaum, David Deutsch, Steven Pinker, Ray Kurzweil, John von Neumann, Herbert Simon and many more. Andres Campero is a researcher and PhD student at the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department and at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Pox


Richard Reinking - 2011
    Dr. Harry Bennett, a physician practicing near Chicago, sees the first two cases of smallpox, a mother and daughter, and he watches helplessly as they become seriously ill and die. A few days later, Dr. Vicky Anderson, an emergency room physician in New York City, diagnoses the third case. The outbreak is recognized as a terrorist attack, but even with a massive public health response, smallpox explodes across America, engulfing the country in fear and panic. Many Americans believe that the threat of a biological terrorist attack is genuine, and Pox describes a disturbingly real possibility. In Pox, the reader witnesses the destructiveness of self-righteous, intolerant fanatics who devise a grim plan to wreak pain and havoc on America. Pox offers an intense look at how contradictory ideologies and philosophies realistically play out, and causes us to realize our vulnerabilities.

Fat Funeral: The Scientific Approach to Long-Term Weight Loss


Daniel Dell'uomo - 2018
    But don’t blame yourself if you’ve struggled losing weight. There’s a lot of conflicting information and nonsense out there. Drawing on years of research, Fat Funeral answers critical questions, busts myths, and introduces The Five Golden Weight-Loss Habits—a system of simple, science-based habits that are proven, practical, and powerful enough to completely change your life.

The Clot Thickens


Malcolm Kendrick - 2021
    

The Miraculous Cure For and Prevention of All Diseases What Doctors Never Learned


Jeff T. Bowles - 2019
    This book has at least twice the life-saving information contained in his first book and describes in detail how all autoimmune diseases can now be easily cured without doctors or drugs. How you can virtually bullet proof your health by correcting the 5 deadly deficiencies of the modern age. And the shocking part about this is that doctors in general have no clue as to what is really making us all sick! This information in this book could literally wipe out 90% of the medical industry if everyone adopts its advice. Bold claims to be sure! Unbelievable? -Yes! But overwhelming proof is provided for all the claims! Once you read this book, the blindfold will be lifted and you might laugh and say...."So Simple! Why didn't I think of that!?". In this book, cures for every autoimmune disease known to man are described in detail, including a chapter that relates a number of case studies of people who have cured their Multiple Sclerosis with this protocol. And further describes how 100,000+ people all around the world have cured their MS using this simple information. But it doesn't stop there, cures for many more diseases are described and examples are provided for asthma, psoriasis, COPD, lupus, myasthenia gravis, eczema, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic hives, depression, etc. etc. and even cancer! The bottom line premise is simple; virtually all diseases not caused by old age or genetic mutations are caused by an unfocused immune system. Lazy when it comes to bad actors such as viruses, infectious bacteria, fungi, and newly emergent cancer cells while being hyperactive when confronted with good tissues that should normally not be attacked. The solution? Simply fine tune your immune system to operate correctly, and all these diseases will be a thing of the past. And it is so easy to do. Why don't doctors know about this? Could it be that it is bad for business or were they just taught incorrectly in med school? Hard to tell. Most diseases are caused by incorrect advice from doctors concerning a hormone that we all make that the author calls the ultimate biologic. This hormone fine tunes 2,700+ genes that control your immune and tissue-remodeling systems. Incorrect advice from many doctors keeps us all from producing enough of this hormone to remain healthy. Another large segment of diseases is caused by modern farming practices that deplete soils of essential cofactors to this hormone that leave approximately 80%+ of us deficient. And doctors basically never test for these deficiencies and know very little about them! Simple neglect and ignorance on the part of health professionals? Impossible you say? Well you will just have to read the book and find out how possible it is!

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.

Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind


Candace B. Pert - 2000
    This revelation by Dr. Candace Pert challenges conventional science--and everyone interested in total wellness--to reconsider how our bodies think, feel, and heal.As the leading pioneer in a radical new science of life, this bestselling author and world-class neuroscientist has given us an inside look at the molecular drama being staged within every cell of the human body--and a glimpse into the future of medicine. Now, in her own words, Dr. Pert describes her extraordinary search for the grail of the body's inborn intelligence with Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind.Dr. Pert first came to prominence when she dazzled the scientific community with her discovery of the opiate receptor in 1972. But this breakthrough event was only the beginning of a uniquely productive--and often controversial--career.On Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind, Dr. Pert describes her efforts over the past two decades to actually decode the information molecules, such as peptides and their receptors, that regulate every aspect of human physiology. Her model of how these biochemicals flow and resonate, distributing information to every cell in the body simultaneously, has unlocked the secret of how emotions literally transform our bodies--and create our health.Easily shifting from a bench scientist's view to a spiritual one, she relates her research to past and present mind/body topics, ranging from AIDS and cancer to the chakra system. Dr. Pert's personal and compelling voice makes this a listening experience that is part detective story, part spiritual odyssey--and entirely irresistible. Your Body Is Your Subconscious Mind takes you on a scientific adventure of the first order, escorted by this pathfinder, iconoclast, and goddess of neuroscience.

Identity Theft: Rediscovering Ourselves After Stroke


Debra Meyerson - 2019
    In addition to providing realistic expectations for the hard work needed to regain everyday capabilities, Meyerson focuses on the less frequently documented emotional journey in recovery. Virtually every survivor is haunted by questions like: “Who am I now?” and “How do I rebuild a meaningful and rewarding life?” after losing so much of what they had before—capabilities, careers and jobs, relationships, and more. This is a book full of hope for survivors—from stroke or other injuries—as well as their families and support networks.Debra Meyerson and her husband, Steve Zuckerman, have created Stroke Onward (strokeonward.org), a non-profit initiative of the Social Good Fund, to provide stroke survivors, families and caregivers with more resources to help them navigate the emotional journey to rebuild their identities and rewarding lives.”Winner of the 2019 Silver Nautilus Book Award, Identity Theft centers on Debra’s experience: her stroke, her extraordinary efforts to recover, and her journey to redefine herself. But she also draws on her skills as a social scientist, sharing stories from several dozen fellow survivors, family members, friends, colleagues, therapists, and doctors she has met and interviewed. By sharing this diversity of experiences, Debra highlights how every person is different, every stroke is different, and every recovery is different. She provides a valuable look at the broad possibilities for successfully navigating the challenging physical recovery—and the equally difficult emotional journey toward rebuilding one’s identity and a rewarding life after a trauma like stroke.

Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious


António R. Damásio - 2021
    In the forty-eight brief chapters of Feeling & Knowing, and in writing that remains faithful to our intuitive sense of what feeling and experiencing are about, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large. He combines the latest discoveries in various sciences with philosophy and discusses his original research, which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior. Here is an indispensable guide to understand­ing how we experience the world within and around us and find our place in the universe.

How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed


Ray Kurzweil - 2012
    In How to Create a Mind, Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization—reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines.Kurzweil discusses how the brain functions, how the mind emerges from the brain, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence in addressing the world’s problems. He thoughtfully examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical possibilities of our merging with the intelligent technology we are creating.Certain to be one of the most widely discussed and debated science books of the year, How to Create a Mind is sure to take its place alongside Kurzweil’s previous classics which include Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever and The Age of Spiritual Machines.

Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order


Steven H. Strogatz - 2003
    Along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies congregate and flash in unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the earth; our hearts depend on the synchronous firing of ten thousand pacemaker cells. While the forces that synchronize the flashing of fireflies may seem to have nothing to do with our heart cells, there is in fact a deep connection. Synchrony is a science in its infancy, and Strogatz is a pioneer in this new frontier in which mathematicians and physicists attempt to pinpoint just how spontaneous order emerges from chaos. From underground caves in Texas where a French scientist spent six months alone tracking his sleep-wake cycle, to the home of a Dutch physicist who in 1665 discovered two of his pendulum clocks swinging in perfect time, this fascinating book spans disciplines, continents, and centuries. Engagingly written for readers of books such as Chaos and The Elegant Universe, Sync is a tour-de-force of nonfiction writing.

Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts


Stanislas Dehaene - 2014
    We can now pin down the neurons that fire when a person reports becoming aware of a piece of information and understand the crucial role unconscious computations play in how we make decisions. The emerging theory enables a test of consciousness in animals, babies, and those with severe brain injuries.A joyous exploration of the mind and its thrilling complexities, Consciousness and the Brain will excite anyone interestedin cutting-edge science and technology and the vast philosophical, personal, and ethical implications of finally quantifyingconsciousness.

Cognitive Neuroscience: A Very Short Introduction


Richard Passingham - 2016
    This began to change with the devising of methods to try to tap into what was going on in the 'black box' of the mind, and the development of 'cognitive psychology'. With the study of patients who had suffered brain damage or injury to limited parts of the brain, outlines of brain components and processes began to take shape, and by the end of the 1970s, a new science, cognitive neuroscience, was born. But it was with the development of ways of accessing activation of the working brain using imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI that cognitive neuroscience came into its own, as a science cutting across psychology and neuroscience, with strong connections to philosophy of mind. Experiments involving subjects in scanners while doing various tasks, thinking, problem solving, and remembering are shedding light on the brain processes involved. The research is exciting and new, and often makes media headlines. But there is much misunderstanding about what brain imaging tells us, and the interpretation of studies on cognition.In this Very Short Introduction Richard Passingham, a distinguished cognitive neuroscientist, gives a provocative and exciting account of the nature and scope of this relatively new field, and the techniques available to us, focusing on investigation of the human brain. He explains what brain imaging shows, pointing out common misconceptions, and gives a brief overview of the different aspects of human cognition: perceiving, attending, remembering, reasoning, deciding, and acting. Passingham concludes with a discussion of the exciting advances that may lie ahead.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.