Magee does a great job of balancing the various aspects of the history of philosophy that may be of interest to different readers. Each philosopher is covered in a section of a few pages outlining the thinker's major ideas, but also containing sidebars with famous quotes, major works, related topics and historical notes. The book is organized chronologically and philosophers are grouped into intellectual movements, introduced and expanded by insets. This format allows the book to be used as a point reference on a single thinker or school of thought, but also reads well from cover to cover as the "story of thought". If you are looking for a good introduction to philosophy, it would be hard to find a more complete, accessible, and universally appealing resource.

     After a period as a fighter pilot in World War Two and then some time at university studying aeronautical engineering Crossfield joined NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. He quickly showed his talents as a research pilot and before long was training in a variety of aircraft, including the X-1, X-4, X-5, XF-92, D-558-I and D-558-II. Yet, Crossfield’s greatest flight came on November 20, 1953, when he was towed to a height of 72,000 feet by a Boeing P2B Superfortress before diving 62,000 feet and reaching a speed of 1,320 miles per hour. This meant that he was the first person in history to travel at more than twice the speed of sound. A number of years later Crossfield became both a test pilot and design consultant for the X-15 rocket-powered plane. Always Another Dawn provides brilliant insight into the development of this plane, and Crossfield’s impact upon it, which would eventually travel at six times the speed of sound. "Scott Crossfield was a pioneer and a legend in the world of test flight and space flight," said Mike Coats, Johnson Space Center Director. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the development of aviation after the Second World War as well as the how men like Crossfield risked their lives the early years of the space race in order to further our attempts to reach the stars. Albert Scott Crossfield was an American naval officer and test pilot. He was instrumental in the development aeronautics and space flight through the 1950s. He co-authored Always Another Dawn, a story of a rocket test pilot, with Clay Blair Jr., which was published in 1960. He died in a place crash in 2006. Clay Blair Jr. had passed away in 1998.

    Other chapters look at comet strikes as a source of species extinction; near-death experience; apocalyptic prophecies; information theory; and the origin of laughter.

    But are there limits to what we can discover about our physical universe?In this very personal journey to the edges of knowledge, Marcus du Sautoy investigates how leading experts in fields from quantum physics and cosmology, to sensory perception and neuroscience, have articulated the current lie of the land. In doing so, he travels to the very boundaries of understanding, questioning contradictory stories and consulting cutting edge data.Is it possible that we will one day know everything? Or are there fields of research that will always lie beyond the bounds of human comprehension? And if so, how do we cope with living in a universe where there are things that will forever transcend our understanding?In What We Cannot Know, Marcus du Sautoy leads us on a thought-provoking expedition to the furthest reaches of modern science. Prepare to be taken to the edge of knowledge to find out if there’s anything we truly cannot know.

    Theories that contain time as a simple quantity form the basis of our understanding of many scientific disciplines, yet the debate rages on: why does there seem to be a direction to time, an arrow of time pointing from past to future?In The Arrow of Time, a major bestseller in England, Dr. Peter Coveney, a research scientist, and award-winning journalist Dr. Roger Highfield, demonstrate that the commonsense view of time agrees with the most advanced scientific theory. Time does in fact move like an arrow, shooting forward into what is genuinely unknown, leaving the past immutably behind. The authors make their case by exploring three centuries of science, offering bold reinterpretations of Newton's mechanics, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and advancing the insights of James Gleick's Chaos.

    Unique in basing relativity on the Principle of Equivalence of Gravitation and Inertia over Riemannian geometry, this book explores relativity experiments and observational cosmology to provide a sound foundation upon which analyses can be made. Covering special and general relativity, tensor analysis, gravitation, curvature, and more, this book provides an engaging, insightful introduction to the forces that shape the universe.

    In the quantum realm, objects can be in two places at once. It's a place where time travel is not only possible, but necessary. It's a place where cause and effect can happen in reverse and observing something changes its state. From parallel universes to antimatter, quantum mechanics has revealed that when you get right down to it, the laws of nature are insane. The scientist J. B. S. Haldane once said, 'Reality is not only stranger than we imagine . . . it's stranger than we can imagine.' Never is this more true than with quantum mechanics; our best, most recent attempt to make sense of the fundamental laws of nature.Fundamental is a comprehensive beginner's guide to quantum mechanics, explaining not only the weirdness of the subject but the experiments that proved it to be true. Using a humorous and light-hearted approach, Fundamental tells the story of how the most brilliant minds in science grappled with seemingly impossible ideas and gave us everything from microchips to particle accelerators. Fundamental gives clear explanations of all the quantum phenomena known to modern science, without requiring an understanding of complex mathematics; tells the eccentric stories of the scientists who made these shattering discoveries and what they used them for; explains how quantum field theory (a topic not covered in detail by any other popular-science book) gave rise to particle physics and why the Higgs boson isn't the end of the story.

     Astronomer Paul Murdin's inside guide will help you learn all about the solar system and its planets and satellites. It looks at the universe from a longer perspective and reveals how Saturn's moon, Titan, boasts lakes which contain liquid methane surrounded by soaring hills and valleys (exactly as the earth did before life evolved); Mercury is the shyest planet; and that the biggest volcano on Mars is 10 times the depth of the Grand Canyon.

    She entered Ah-gwah-ching State Sanatorium at Walker, Minnesota, for what she thought would be a short stay. In January, her tuberculosis spread, and she nearly died. Her recovery required many months of bed rest and medical care.Marilyn loved to write, and the story of her three-year residency at the sanatorium is preserved in hundreds of letters that she mailed back home to her parents, who could visit her only occasionally and whom she missed terribly. The letters functioned as a diary in which Marilyn articulately and candidly recorded her reactions to roommates, medical treatments, Native American nurses, and boredom. She also offers readers the singular perspective of a bed-bound teenager, gossiping about boys, requesting pretty new pajamas, and enjoying Friday evening popcorn parties with other patients.Selections from this cache of letters are woven into an informative narrative that explores the practices and culture of a midcentury tuberculosis sanatorium and fills in long-forgotten details gleaned from recent conversations with Marilyn, who "graduated" from the sanatorium and went on to lead a full, productive life.

    A playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics, it's already a major bestseller in Italy and the United Kingdom. Carlo Rovelli offers surprising—and surprisingly easy to grasp—explanations of general relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, gravity, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, and the role humans play in this weird and wonderful world. He takes us to the frontiers of our knowledge: to the most minute reaches of the fabric of space, back to the origins of the cosmos, and into the workings of our minds. “Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world,” Rovelli writes. “And it’s breathtaking.”

    So what comes next? Growth will resume. But economic uncertainty will worsen, making what comes next not just a boom but a nerve-shattering SONIC BOOM. Gregg Easterbrook - who "writes nothing that is not brilliant" ("Chicago Tribune") - is a fount of unconventional wisdom, and over time, he is almost always proven right. Throughout 2008 and 2009, as the global economy was contracting and the experts were panicking, Easterbrook worked on a book saying prosperity is about to make its next big leap. Will he be right again? SONIC BOOM: Globalization at Mach Speed presents three basic insights. First, if you don't like globalization, brace yourself, because globalization has barely started. Easterbrook contends the world is about to become "far "more globally linked. Second, the next wave of global change will be primarily positive: economic prosperity, knowledge and freedom will increase more in the next 50 years than in all of human history to this point. But before you celebrate, Easterbrook further warns that the next phase of global change is going to drive us crazy. Most things will be good for most people - but nothing will seem certain for anyone. Each SONIC BOOM chapter is based on examples of cities around the world - in the United States, Europe, Russia, China, South America - that represent a significant Sonic Boom trend. With a terrific sense of humor, pitch-perfect reporting and clear, elegant prose, Easterbrook explains why economic recovery is on the horizon but why the next phase of global change will also give everyone one hell of a headache. "Forbes" calls Easterbrook "the best writer on complex topics in the United States" and SONIC BOOM will show you why.

    "A masterpiece of science."—Werner von Braun.

    In this pocket version of his bestselling Life Without Diabetes, Professor Roy Taylor offers a brilliantly concise explanation of what happens to us when we get type 2 and how we can escape it.Taylor's research has demonstrated that type 2 is caused by just one factor - too much internal fat in the liver and pancreas - and that to reverse it you need to strip this harmful internal fat out with rapid weight loss.In simple, accessible language, Taylor takes you through the three steps of his clinically proven Newcastle weight loss plan and shows how to incorporate the programme into your life.Complete with FAQs and inspirational tips from his trial participants, this is an essential read for anyone who has been given a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes and wants to understand their condition and transform their outcomes.

    /BEST VALUE ON THIS MUST READ BOOK FOR THE STUDENT/FAST SHIPPING/OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER

    No other telescope combines instant name recognition with the production of consistently spectacular images. Yet few people outside of the astronomy community realize that Hubble is now at the apex of its imaging capabilities. A collection of stunningly detailed pictures, made possible by the new Wide Field Camera 3, has yet to be incorporated into a popular-level book. Until now. Hubble's Universe will be the premier venue for the Hubble Telescope's most recent visual splendors. Bestselling astronomy writer Terence Dickinson showcases extraordinary late-breaking pictures, many of which have yet to receive wide distribution as news stories or in publications outside scientific papers, and presents a breathtaking portfolio drawn from an archive of over 500,000 existing Hubble images.The accompanying text balances accuracy with accessibility, Dickinson's hallmark. And thanks to the author's familiarity with Hubble's history and discoveries and his access to top Hubble scientists for insight and accuracy, the text includes facts and tidbits not found in any other book. Combined with hundreds of brilliant images, the clear, succinct and illuminating narrative brings to life the fascinating forces at work in the universe.