But what most people don't know is that the more thoroughly researchers investigate the history of our planet, the more astonishing the story of our existence becomes. The number and complexity of the astronomical, geological, chemical, and biological features recognized as essential to human existence have expanded explosively within the past decade. An understanding of what is required to make possible a large human population and advanced civilizations has raised profound questions about life, our purpose, and our destiny. Are we really just the result of innumerable coincidences? Or is there a more reasonable explanation?This fascinating book helps nonscientists understand the countless miracles that undergird the exquisitely fine-tuned planet we call home--as if Someone had us in mind all along.

    It is a one-ton robot with two brains, seventeen cameras, six wheels, nuclear power, and a laser beam on its head. No one human understands how all of its systems and instruments work. This essential reference to the Curiosity mission explains the engineering behind every system on the rover, from its rocket-powered jetpack to its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to its fiendishly complex sample handling system. Its lavishly illustrated text explains how all the instruments work -- its cameras, spectrometers, sample-cooking oven, and weather station -- and describes the instruments' abilities and limitations. It tells you how the systems have functioned on Mars, and how scientists and engineers have worked around problems developed on a faraway planet: holey wheels and broken focus lasers. And it explains the grueling mission operations schedule that keeps the rover working day in and day out.

    While describing awe-inspiring technical achievements, the authors go beyond the missions and the competition of the space race to focus on the people who made it all possible. Their book explores the inspirations, ambitions, personalities, and experiences of the select few whose driving ambition was to fly to the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure. From the Gemini flights to the Soyuz space program to the earliest Apollo missions, including the legendary first moon landing, their book draws a richly detailed picture of the space race as an endeavor equally endowed with personal meaning and political significance.

    Divided into 365 concise, illustrated essays, it focuses on the aesthetic as well as the scientific aspects of stargazing. It offers the most up-to-date information available, with hundreds of charts, drawings, and maps-that take you beyond the visible canopy of stars and constellations into the unseen realm of nebulae and galaxies.This simple yet substantial text is full of critical information and helpful hints on how to observe the stars; describe their position; calculate their age, brightness, and distance; and much more. Whether you observe the sky with a telescope or the naked eye, 365 Starry Nights makes the infinite intimate and brings the heavens within your grasp. Keep this invaluable, informative guide close at hand, and you'll find that the sky is the limit 365 nights a year.

    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.

    Objects are introduced early, right after control structures and before arrays and pointers. The STL string class is used throughout. As with all Gaddis books, there is a strong emphasis on problem solving and program design, a careful step-by-step introduction of each new topic, clear and easy to read code listings, concise and practical real world examples, and an abundance of exercises in each chapter.

    All that mattered to Neil as he searched for a safe spot to land was that boulders littered the surface below. "Thirty seconds," called mission control. In truth, the flight controllers were now no more than spectators, just like everybody else. No more needed to be said.It was down to Armstrong.'Simultaneously connected and separated by television, millions of people around the world held their breath as a human being looked back at them from the surface of the Moon. Yet who were these men capable of such an achievement? How did the passionate Buzz Aldrin, inscrutable Michael Collins and enigmatic Neil Armstrong learn to depend on one another as they endured the most intense period of their lives?From the personal tragedies and triumphs they encountered along the way to the terrifying climax of a mission that redefined humanity, Moonshot - now also a major TV factual-drama - draws on interviews with many of the leading participants and hundreds of hours of archive material to tell the compelling true story of an event that captured the imagination of generations, then and now.

    A total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses the United States. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow will begin in the northern Pacific and cross the USA from west to east from Oregon to South Carolina. The Moon's penumbral shadow will produce a partial eclipse visible from most of North America. In fact, the 2017 full eclipse is such an important sky event that sky watchers in Europe are already planning trips to view it. 2017 Guide to the Night Sky provides all of the information needed to view this exciting eclipse and track its path. The time zones and transit of the eclipse will be noted inside the book's jacket for quick and easy reference.The night sky makes for exciting viewing any time of the year, and 2017 Guide to the Night Sky is the ideal guide to help amateur astronomers find their way for the entire 12 months. With monthly charts and other diagrams set for a latitude of 40 degrees North, it shows how the visible stars change from month to month and includes the many sky events that occur throughout the year. It is highly practical for beginning sky gazers because the objects and events may be observed with the naked eye, or nothing more complicated than a pair of binoculars.The month-by-month guides include sky activity charts and moon calendars; meteors (with dates of showers, including hourly rate of radiants); the Planets; ecliptic charts; diagrams of interesting events; plus sky and constellation maps throughout.An appendix includes a full glossary; the Greek Alphabet; the constellation genitives, abbreviations and English names; a table of common asterisms; further information; recommended astronomy journals, societies, institutions and organizations; software, and internet sources.Especially useful for beginning sky watchers, this guide will be fully updated to 2017. Its small and light format makes it the ideal portable reference for backyard astronomers.

    joins Ford Motor Co. in 1948, he has no idea the part he'll play in automotive history. Morsey's arrival comes as Henry Ford II and other titans in the industry are about to kill the vaunted V-8 engine. He sees it as his sole mission to talk them out of it. In The Man Who Saved the V-8, he shares the never-before-told story of how his crusade saved the engine that would go on to power iconic cars like the Ford Thunderbird and Mustang. "To this day, I have no idea how a young, newly hired manager like myself...had the nerve to challenge the most powerful men inside Ford Motor Company and tell them they were wrong," Morsey says. "But that is exactly what I did." The twenty-nine-year-old executive embarks on massive market research. He works with manufacturing experts to find ways to produce the V-8 engine more efficiently. After finding success, he goes on to continue playing a central role in some of the most pivotal decisions that would ensure Ford remains one of the powerhouses in the automotive industry. The Man Who Saved the V-8 tells the story of his successes and lessons learned.

    From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule, Mary Roach takes us on the surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.

    The volume also includes two contemporary and conflicting reviews by Roger Hughes and Pauline Kael, a detailed glossary of nadsat and reproductions of stills from the film.

      In the “wilderness” years after Winston S. Churchill unflinchingly guided his country through World War II, he turned his masterful hand to an exhaustive history of the country he loved above all else. And the world discovered that this brilliant military strategist was an equally brilliant storyteller. In 1953, the great man was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for “his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.”   This second of four volumes exploring the history of this great nation explores the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the power struggles of the Tudor and Stuart families, the growth of the monarchy, the Protestant Reformation, England’s Civil War, and the discovery of the Americas. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples remains one of the most compelling and vivid works of history ever written.   “This history will endure; not only because Sir Winston has written it, but also because of its own inherent virtues―its narrative power, its fine judgment of war and politics, of soldiers and statesmen, and even more because it reflects a tradition of what Englishmen in the hey-day of their empire thought and felt about their country’s past.” —The Daily Telegraph

    From the Kansas City Star, "A wonderful story, wonderfully told, a history that delivers all the suspense and heartache of a novel, and is as difficult to put down"

    What is the meaning of life? What was Hitler's religion? What's the deal with the Flying Spaghetti Monster? And what was Mother Teresa's dark secret? This book is highly recommended for everyone curious about America's most misunderstood minority, as well as for those who wish to better understand their atheist friends, neighbors or coworkers.

    From Gary to Greatness. In his first book in 14 years, the living pop-icon gives an exclusive insight into his private photo archive. My World contains lots of never before seen photographs of Jackson, from 1980 to 2006. Jackson also opens up the doors to his work as the world's most brillant artist (2002 American Music Awards: Artist of the Century) by publishing his hand-written lyrics to his world-famous smash hits Billie Jean, Bad, Black or White, and Smooth Criminal. Moreover the book features personal thoughts and rarely seen lyrics by Jackson along with the high quality pictures of Jackson's dance, stage shows, private life, and public appearances that show the true genius and achievements of music's biggest icon: Michael Jackson.