Seeing compassion in this way, we lose out on experiencing the transformative potential of one of our most neglected inner resources.Dr Lorne Ladner rescues compassion from this marginalised view, showing how its practical application in our life can be a powerful force in achieving happiness. Combining the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism and Western psychology, Ladner presents clear, effective practices for cultivating compassion in daily living.

    And as we discover countless exoplanets orbiting other stars—among them, rocky super-Earths and gaseous Hot Jupiters—we become ever more hopeful that we may come across extraterrestrial life. Yet even as we become aware of the vast numbers of planets outside our solar system, it has also become clear that Earth is exceptional. The question is: why?In Lucky Planet, astrobiologist David Waltham argues that Earth’s climate stability is one of the primary factors that makes it able to support life, and that nothing short of luck made such conditions possible. The four-billion-year stretch of good weather that our planet has experienced is statistically so unlikely, he shows, that chances are slim that we will ever encounter intelligent extraterrestrial others.Describing the three factors that typically control a planet’s average temperature—the heat received from its star, how much heat the planet absorbs, and the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—Waltham paints a complex picture of how special Earth’s climate really is. He untangles the mystery of why, although these factors have shifted by such massive measures over the history of life on Earth, surface temperatures have never fluctuated so much as to make conditions hostile to life. Citing factors such as the size of our Moon and the effect of an ever-warming Sun, Waltham challenges the prevailing scientific consensus that other Earth-like planets have natural stabilizing mechanisms that allow life to flourish.A lively exploration of the stars above and the ground beneath our feet, Lucky Planet seamlessly weaves the story of Earth and the worlds orbiting other stars to give us a new perspective of the surprising role chance plays in our place in the universe.

    As exciting as any action/adventure novel, this is actually the story of incredible individuals and engrossing tales behind the most profound, enduring mathematical theorems.Archimedes famously ran naked through the streets shouting, “Eureka, eureka!” after finding a method for measuring the volume of an irregular-shaped object. René Descartes was not only a great French mathematician, philosopher, physicist, and natural scientist; he was also an expert swordsman who traveled with European armies from town to town, dressed in green taffeta and accompanied by a valet. Georg Cantor grappled with mental illness as he explored the highly counterintuitive, bizarre properties of infinite sets and numbers. Emmy Noether struggled to find employment as she laid the mathematical groundwork for modern theoretical physics. And Alexander Grothendieck taught himself mathematics while interned in Nazi concentration camps, only to disappear into the Pyrenees at the zenith of his career.These are just a few stories recounted in this absorbing narrative. In probing the lives of the preeminent mathematicians in history, a Strange Wilderness will leave you entertained and enlightened, with a newfound appreciation of the tenacity, complexity, and brilliance of the mathematical genius.

    It also scrutinizes Frank Herbert’s science fiction world by asking questions such as Is the ecology of Dune realistic? Is it theoretically possible to get information from the future? Could humans really evolve as Herbert suggests? and Which of Herbert’s inventions have already come to life? This companion to the Dune series is a must-have for any fan who wants to revisit this science fiction world and explore it even further.

    

    They will also develop a deeper understanding of the many interconnections that exist among the different areas of psychology. Goodwin's book not only provides accounts of the lives and contributions of psychology's pioneers set into historical context; it also contains original writings by these psychologists, interwoven with informative comments from the author. The text is written in a conversational and engaging style with discrete attention to recent scholarship in the history of psychology, especially that of the past 150 years.

    Here are Pythagoras, intoxicated by the mystical significance of numbers; Euclid, who gave the world the very idea of a proof; Leibniz and Newton, co-discoverers of the calculus; Cantor, master of the infinite; and Gödel, who in one magnificent proof placed everything in doubt. The elaboration of mathematical knowledge has meant nothing less than the unfolding of human consciousness itself. With his unmatched ability to make abstract ideas concrete and approachable, Berlinski both tells an engrossing tale and introduces us to the full power of what surely ranks as one of the greatest of all human endeavors.

    Students, researchers, historians, specialists — in short, everyone with an interest in mathematics — will find it engrossing and stimulating.Beginning with the ancient Near East, the author traces the ideas and techniques developed in Egypt, Babylonia, China, and Arabia, looking into such manuscripts as the Egyptian Papyrus Rhind, the Ten Classics of China, and the Siddhantas of India. He considers Greek and Roman developments from their beginnings in Ionian rationalism to the fall of Constantinople; covers medieval European ideas and Renaissance trends; analyzes 17th- and 18th-century contributions; and offers an illuminating exposition of 19th century concepts. Every important figure in mathematical history is dealt with — Euclid, Archimedes, Diophantus, Omar Khayyam, Boethius, Fermat, Pascal, Newton, Leibniz, Fourier, Gauss, Riemann, Cantor, and many others.For this latest edition, Dr. Struik has both revised and updated the existing text, and also added a new chapter on the mathematics of the first half of the 20th century. Concise coverage is given to set theory, the influence of relativity and quantum theory, tensor calculus, the Lebesgue integral, the calculus of variations, and other important ideas and concepts. The book concludes with the beginnings of the computer era and the seminal work of von Neumann, Turing, Wiener, and others."The author's ability as a first-class historian as well as an able mathematician has enabled him to produce a work which is unquestionably one of the best." — Nature Magazine.

    The Clay Mathematics Institute is offering a prize of $1 million to anyone who can discover a general solution to the problem. In this book, Avner Ash and Robert Gross guide readers through the mathematics they need to understand this captivating problem.The key to the conjecture lies in elliptic curves, which are cubic equations in two variables. These equations may appear simple, yet they arise from some very deep--and often very mystifying--mathematical ideas. Using only basic algebra and calculus while presenting numerous eye-opening examples, Ash and Gross make these ideas accessible to general readers, and in the process venture to the very frontiers of modern mathematics. Along the way, they give an informative and entertaining introduction to some of the most profound discoveries of the last three centuries in algebraic geometry, abstract algebra, and number theory. They demonstrate how mathematics grows more abstract to tackle ever more challenging problems, and how each new generation of mathematicians builds on the accomplishments of those who preceded them. Ash and Gross fully explain how the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture sheds light on the number theory of elliptic curves, and how it provides a beautiful and startling connection between two very different objects arising from an elliptic curve, one based on calculus, the other on algebra.

    

    Suitable for a two semester course in complex analysis, or as a supplementary text for an advanced course in function theory, this book aims to give students a good foundation of complex analysis and provides a basis for solving problems in mathematics, physics, engineering and many other sciences.

    When he died in London in 1727 he was so renowned he was given a state funeral—an unheard-of honor for a subject whose achievements were in the realm of the intellect. During the years he was an irascible presence at Trinity College, Cambridge, Newton imagined properties of nature and gave them names—mass, gravity, velocity—things our science now takes for granted. Inspired by Aristotle, spurred on by Galileo’s discoveries and the philosophy of Descartes, Newton grasped the intangible and dared to take its measure, a leap of the mind unparalleled in his generation.James Gleick, the author of Chaos and Genius, and one of the most acclaimed science writers of his generation, brings the reader into Newton’s reclusive life and provides startlingly clear explanations of the concepts that changed forever our perception of bodies, rest, and motion. Ideas so basic to the twenty-first century we literally take them for granted.

    Julia Diggins masterfully recreates the atmosphere of ancient times, when men, using three simple tools, the string, the straightedge, and the shadow, discovered the basic principles and constructions of elementary geometry. Her book reveals how these discoveries related to the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece.The fabric of the story is woven out of archeological and historical records and legends about the major men of mathematics. By reconstructing the events as they might have happened, Diggins enables the attentive reader to easily follow the pattern of reasoning that leads to an ingenious proof of the Pythagorean theorem, an appreciation of the significance of the Golden Mean in art and architecture, and the construction of the five regular solids.Out of print for 34 years, Julia Diggins' classic book is back and is a must-read for middle school students or for parents helping their children through their first geometry course. You will be fascinated with the graphic illustrations and written depiction of how the knowledge and wisdom of so many cultures helped shape our civilization today. This book is popular with teachers and parents who use Jamie York's Making Math Meaningful curriculum books.

    As he did so masterfully in Prime Obsession, Derbyshire brings the evolution of mathematical thinking to dramatic life by focusing on the key historical players. Unknown Quantity begins in the time of Abraham and Isaac and moves from Abel's proof to the higher levels of abstraction developed by Galois through modern-day advances. Derbyshire explains how a simple turn of thought from this plus this equals this to this plus what equals this? gave birth to a whole new way of perceiving the world. With a historian's narrative authority and a beloved teacher's clarity and passion, Derbyshire leads readers on an intellectually satisfying and pleasantly challenging historical and mathematical journey.

     Free BONUS Inside! James Clerk Maxwell was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, but his impact on this world goes even deeper than that. Maxwell singlehandedly overturned what was believed to be fact with a whole new outlook on fundamental aspects of the universe. Maxwell is often credited as one of the first pioneers of quantum physics and rightly so because it was Maxwell who envisioned particles such as electrons spinning inside an electric current before anyone else had so much as guessed that such a thing might be possible. The rarefied scientific mind of James Clerk Maxwell has left us with a lasting legacy of incredible innovations in thought that still affect us to this very day. Read this book in order to get a full grasp of just what kind of enlightening fire this nineteenth-century Prometheus has gifted all of humanity with. Discover a plethora of topics such as Early Life and Loss The World’s First Color Photograph Maxwell’s Equations The Cavendish Laboratory Illness and Death And much more! So if you want a straightforward book on James Clerk Maxwell, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!