This fascinating book traces what was a massive accomplishment right from the early launches through manned orbital spaceflights, detailing each step. Out of the battlefields of World War II came the gifted German engineers and designers who developed the V-2 rocket, which evolved into the powerful Saturn V booster that propelled men to the Moon. David Woods tells this exciting story, starting from America 's postwar astronautical research facilities. The techniques and procedures developed have been recognised as an example of human exploration at its greatest, demonstrating a peak of technological excellence.

    We currently see no evidence of any kind indicating that extraterrestrials exist outside of our solar system. But at this moment, millions of engineers, scientists, corporations, universities and entrepreneurs are racing to create the second intelligent species right here on planet earth. And we can see the second intelligent species coming from all directions in the form of self-driving cars, automated call centers, chess-playing and Jeopardy-playing computers that beat all human players, airport kiosks, restaurant tablet systems, etc. The frightening thing is that these robots will soon be eliminating human jobs in startling numbers. The first wave of unemployed workers is likely to be a million truck drivers who are replaced by self-driving trucks. Pilots will be eliminated soon as well. Then, as new computer vision systems come online, we will see tens of millions of workers in retail stores, fast food restaurants and construction sites replaced by robots. Unless we take steps now to change the economy, we will soon have tens of millions of workers who are unemployed and seeking welfare because they will have no other choice. Marshall Brain's new book "The Second Intelligent Species: How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches" explores how the future will unfold as the second intelligent species emerges. The book answers questions like: - How will new computer vision systems affect the job market? - How many people will become unemployed by the second intelligent species? - What will happen to millions of newly unemployed workers? - How can modern society and modern economies cope with run-away unemployment caused by robots? - What will happen when the first sentient, conscious computer appears? - What moral and ethical principles will guide the second intelligent species? - Why do we see no extraterrestrials in our universe? "The Second Intelligent Species" offers a unique and fascinating look at the future of the human race, and the choices we will need to make to avoid massive unemployment and poverty worldwide as intelligent machines start eliminating millions of jobs.

    Let the finest science fiction writer of our time, co-author of the smash bestseller LUCIFER'S HAMMER, take you on a guided tour of the wonders of our age, and of ages to come. We live in an age of marvels. We could still go to space. We could still mine the asteroids. We could still take part in developing mankind’s vast future. Indeed, it is easier to do now than it would have been when I wrote these essays. We have computers and the Internet. There is free exchange of ideas throughout most of the world, and the information revolution relentlessly expands that area. We still face the threat of famine, but it is not as acute as it was in the times when these essays were written. Communications, transportation, electronics, rocket technology, it’s all better now. We can still go to the planets.Read about: The monstrous Black Hole that may be slowly devouring our galaxy; The Fact and Fancy of flying Saucers; How micro-cybernetic and bio-implants will one day give you a photographic memory and the calculating power of an Einstein; Turning venus into a second Earth--and the Asteroids into our own Back Yard; How Western Civilization can not only survive--but survive with style! All this and much much more. Every chapter is State of the Art, every idea A Step Farther Out.Contents: * Non-Fiction by Jerry Pournelle (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Preface: The Freedom of Choice (A Step Farther Out) (1979) • essay by Larry Niven * Foreword (A Step Farther Out) (1979) • essay by A. E. van Vogt * Introduction (A Step Farther Out) (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part One: Survival with Style) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 1] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Survival with Style [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Blueprint for Survival [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * How long the Doomsday (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * That Buck Rogers Stuff [A Step Farther Out] • (1976) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Two: Stepping Farther Out) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 2] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Here Come the Brains [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * The Big Rain [A Step Farther Out] (1975) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Flying Saucers (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Building the Mote in God's Eye [A Step Farther Out] (1976) • essay by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Three: A Step Farther In: Black Holes) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 3] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Gravity Waves, Black Holes, and Cosmic Censors (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Fuzzy Black Holes Have No Hair [A Step Farther Out] (1975) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Crashing Neutron Stars, Mini Black Holes, and Spacedrives (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * In the Beginning ... (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Afterword to Part III (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Four: Space Travel) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 4] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Halfway to Anywhere [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Those Pesky Belters and Their Torchships [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Ships for Manned Spaceflight [A Step Farther Out] (1974) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Life Among the Asteroids [A Step Farther Out] (1975) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * What's It Like Out There? (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Five: A Generation of Wonder) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 5] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * A Potpourri (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Highways to Space (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Come Fly with Me (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * The Tools of the Trade (And Other Scientific Matters) (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Commentary (A Step Farther Out: Part Six: The Energy Crisis) [Commentary (A Step Farther Out) • 6] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Fusion Without Ex-Lax [A Step Farther Out] (1979) • essay by Jerry Pournelle (variant of Fusion Without Exlax 1976) * Can Trash Save Us? [A Step Farther Out] (1977) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * The Moral Equivalent of War [A Step Farther Out] (1978) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * Some Futures [A Step Farther Out] (1977) • essay by Jerry Pournelle .

    To understand the universe in the far future, we must first describe its present state and structure on the grand scale, and how its present properties arose. Dr Islam explains these topics in an accessible way in the first part of the book. From this background he speculates about the future evolution of the universe and predicts the major changes that will occur. The author has largely avoided mathematical formalism and therefore the book is well suited to general readers with a modest background knowledge of physics and astronomy.

    With extensive treatment of the heart of epidemiology-from study designs to descriptive epidemiology to quantitative measures-this reader-friendly text is accessible and interesting to a wide range of beginning students in all health-related disciplines. A unique focus is given to real-world applications of epidemiology and the development of skills that students can apply in subsequent course work and in the field. The text is also accompanied by a complete package of instructor and student resources available through a companion Web site.

    It offers superior coverage of all key areas, including descriptive chemistry, MO theory, bonding, and physical inorganic chemistry. Chapter topics are presented in logical order and include: basic concepts; nuclear properties; an introduction to molecular symmetry; bonding in polyatomic molecules; structures and energetics of metallic and ionic solids; acids, bases, and ions in aqueous solution; reduction and oxidation; non-aqueous media; and hydrogen. Four special topic chapters, chosen for their currency and interest, conclude the book. For researchers seeking the latest information in the field of inorganic chemistry.

    With pedagogical use of second color, it covers devices in one place so that circuit characteristics are developed early.

    The Apollo 11 mission that carried him and his two fellow astronauts on their epic journey marked the successful culmination of a quest that, ironically, had begun in Nazi Germany thirty years before. This is the story of the Apollo 11 mission and the 'space hardware' that made it all possible. Author Chris Riley looks at the evolution and design of the mighty Saturn V rocket, the Command and Service Modules, and the Lunar Module. He also describes the space suits worn by the crew, with their special life support systems. Launch procedures are described, 'flying' the Saturn V, navigation, course correction 'burns', orbital rendezvous techniques, flying the LEM, moon landing, moon walk, take-off from the moon, and earth re-entry procedure. Includes performance data, fuels, biographies of Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, Gene Kranz and Werner von Braun. Detailed appendices cover all of the Apollo missions, with full details of crews, spacecraft names and logos, mission priorities, moon landing sites, and the Lunar Rover.

    For even as she sets out to determine how big “really big” may be, Levin gives us an intimate look at the day-to-day life of a globe-trotting physicist, complete with jet lag and romantic disturbances.Nimbly synthesizing geometry, topology, chaos and string theories, Levin shows how the pattern of hot and cold spots left over from the big bang may one day reveal the size and shape of the cosmos. She does so with such originality, lucidity—and even poetry—that How the Universe Got Its Spots becomes a thrilling and deeply personal communication between a scientist and the lay reader.

    Few episodes in the development of scientific theory show so clearly how the solution to a highly technical problem can alter our basic thought processes and attitudes. Understanding the processes which underlay the Revolution gives us a perspective, in this scientific age, from which to evaluate our own beliefs more intelligently. With a constant keen awareness of the inseparable mixture of its technical, philosophical, and humanistic elements, Thomas S. Kuhn displays the full scope of the Copernican Revolution as simultaneously an episode in the internal development of astronomy, a critical turning point in the evolution of scientific thought, and a crisis in Western man's concept of his relation to the universe and to God.The book begins with a description of the first scientific cosmology developed by the Greeks. Mr. Kuhn thus prepares the way for a continuing analysis of the relation between theory and observation and belief. He describes the many functions--astronomical, scientific, and nonscientific--of the Greek concept of the universe, concentrating especially on the religious implications. He then treats the intellectual, social, and economic developments which nurtured Copernicus' break with traditional astronomy. Although many of these developments, including scholastic criticism of Aristotle's theory of motion and the Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism, lie entirely outside of astronomy, they increased the flexibility of the astronomer's imagination. That new flexibility is apparent in the work of Copernicus, whose De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is discussed in detail both for its own significance and as a representative scientific innovation.With a final analysis of Copernicus' life work--its reception and its contribution to a new scientific concept of the universe--Mr. Kuhn illuminates both the researches that finally made the heliocentric arrangement work, and the achievements in physics and metaphysics that made the planetary earth an integral part of Newtonian science. These are the developments that once again provided man with a coherent and self-consistent conception of the universe and of his own place in it.This is a book for any reader interested in the evolution of ideas and, in particular, in the curious interplay of hypothesis and experiment which is the essence of modern science. Says James Bryant Conant in his Foreword: "Professor Kuhn's handling of the subject merits attention, for...he points the way to the road which must be followed if science is to be assimilated into the culture of our times."

    Around the world, telegraph systems crashed, machines burst into flames, and electric shocks rendered operators unconscious. Compasses and other sensitive instruments reeled as if struck by a massive magnetic fist. For the first time, people began to suspect that the Earth was not isolated from the rest of the universe. However, nobody knew what could have released such strange forces upon the Earth--nobody, that is, except the amateur English astronomer Richard Carrington.In this riveting account, Stuart Clark tells for the first time the full story behind Carrington's observations of a mysterious explosion on the surface of the Sun and how his brilliant insight--that the Sun's magnetism directly influences the Earth--helped to usher in the modern era of astronomy. Clark vividly brings to life the scientists who roundly rejected the significance of Carrington's discovery of solar flares, as well as those who took up his struggle to prove the notion that the Earth could be touched by influences from space. Clark also reveals new details about the sordid scandal that destroyed Carrington's reputation and led him from the highest echelons of science to the very lowest reaches of love, villainy, and revenge. The Sun Kings transports us back to Victorian England, into the very heart of the great nineteenth-century scientific controversy about the Sun's hidden influence over our planet.

    But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history.Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary and perplexing questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how we are using the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments to re-create the conditions of the Big Bang and test promising theories for how and why our universe came to contain so much matter and so little antimatter. We may be poised to finally discover how dark matter was formed during our universe's first moments, and, with new telescopes, we are also lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation, which led to the creation of our world as we know it.Wrestling with the mysteries surrounding the initial moments that followed the Big Bang, At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its origin.

    Ever since physics first penetrated the atom, early in this century, what it found there has stood as a radical and unanswered challenge to many of our most cherished conceptions of nature. It has literally been called into question since then whether or not there are always objective matters of fact about the whereabouts of subatomic particles, or about the locations of tables and chairs, or even about the very contents of our thoughts. A new kind of uncertainty has become a principle of science.This book is an original and provocative investigation of that challenge, as well as a novel attempt at writing about science in a style that is simultaneously elementary and deep. It is a lucid and self-contained introduction to the foundations of quantum mechanics, accessible to anyone with a high school mathematics education, and at the same time a rigorous discussion of the most important recent advances in our understanding of that subject, some of which are due to the author himself.

    The future is here: Civilians are launching into orbit. How to Build Your Own Spaceship takes readers on a fun and quirky trip to the forefront of commercial space travel-the latest technology, the major business players, and the personal and financial benefits that are ripe for the picking. Science-writer Piers Bizony's breadth of knowledge, quick wit, and no-nonsense explanations of the hard science in this emerging arena will satisfy even the most dedicated space fanatics. With practical advice (from picking the best jet fuel to funding your own fleet of space crafts), unbelievable space facts, and fascinating photos, Bizony's user-friendly guide to blasting off is a must-have ticket to the final frontier.

    Turing Mathematician Alan Turing invented an imaginary computer known as the Turing Machine; in an age before computers, he explored the concept of what it meant to be "computable," creating the field of computability theory in the process, a foundation of present-day computer programming.The book expands Turing's original 36-page paper with additional background chapters and extensive annotations; the author elaborates on and clarifies many of Turing's statements, making the original difficult-to-read document accessible to present day programmers, computer science majors, math geeks, and others.Interwoven into the narrative are the highlights of Turing's own life: his years at Cambridge and Princeton, his secret work in cryptanalysis during World War II, his involvement in seminal computer projects, his speculations about artificial intelligence, his arrest and prosecution for the crime of "gross indecency," and his early death by apparent suicide at the age of 41.