Basic Books: 1466 books
The Unfinished Game
Pascal, Fermat, and the Seventeenth-Century Letter that Made the World Modern
Language: English
Release Date: October 20, 2008
In the early seventeenth century, the outcome of something as simple as a dice roll was consigned to the realm of unknowable chance. Mathematicians largely agreed that it was impossible to predict the probability of an occurrence. Then, in 1654, Blaise Pascal wrote to Pierre de Fermat explaining that...
Acquiring Genomes
A Theory Of The Origin Of Species
Language: English
Release Date: August 1, 2008
How do new species evolve? Although Darwin identified inherited variation as the creative force in evolution, he never formally speculated where it comes from. His successors thought that new species arise from the gradual accumulation of random mutations of DNA. But despite its acceptance in every...
Not Even Wrong
The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2007
When does physics depart the realm of testable hypothesis and come to resemble theology? Peter Woit argues that string theory isn't just going in the wrong direction, it's not even science. Not Even Wrong shows that what many physicists call superstring theory” is not a theory at all. It makes...
Pox
Genius, Madness, And The Mysteries Of Syphilis
Language: English
Release Date: August 4, 2008
From Beethoven to Oscar Wilde, from Van Gogh to Hitler, Deborah Hayden throws new light on the effects of syphilis on the lives and works of seminal figures from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries.Writing with remarkable insight and narrative flair, Hayden argues that biographers and historians...
As Time Goes By
Boomerang Marriages, Serial Spouses, Throwback Couples, and Other Romantic Adventures in an Age of L
Language: English
Release Date: January 12, 2010
In this inspiring book, best-selling author Abigail Trafford describes how people over fifty are rewriting the script of love and in the process redefining the institution of marriage for future generations. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of men and women, married and single, gay and straight,...
A Brilliant Darkness
The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Ettore Majorana, the Troubled Genius of the N
Language: English
Release Date: November 24, 2009
On the night of March 26, 1938, nuclear physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a ship, cash and passport in hand. He was never seen again. In A Brilliant Darkness, theoretical physicist João Magueijo tells the story of Majorana and his research group, the Via Panisperna Boys,” who discovered atomic...
Nazi Science
Myth, Truth, And The German Atomic Bomb
Language: English
Release Date: January 6, 2008
In this book, Mark Walker - a historical scholar of Nazi science - brings to light the overwhelming impact of Hitler's regime on science and, ultimately, on the pursuit of the German atomic bomb. Walker meticulously draws on hundreds of original documents to examine the role of German scientists in...
Trial and Error
The Education of a Courtroom Lawyer
Language: English
Release Date: March 25, 2009
Trial and Error offers an unexpurgated examination of the past half-century of American jurisprudence through the life of one of America's most celebrated and accomplished lawyers. Here is John C. Tucker, a man who twice argued before the Supreme Court and won, challenged the nefarious and discriminatory...
The Mind's New Science
A History Of The Cognitive Revolution
Language: English
Release Date: August 5, 2008
The first full-scale history of cognitive science, this work addresses a central issue: What is the nature of knowledge?
The Animals Among Us
How Pets Make Us Human
Language: English
Release Date: October 31, 2017
The bestselling author of Dog Sense and Cat Sense explains why living with animals has always been a fundamental aspect of being human
Pets have never been more popular. Over half of American households share their home with either a cat or a dog, and many contain both. This is a huge change...
Two Weeks of Life
A Memoir of Love, Death, and Politics
Language: English
Release Date: February 24, 2009
While Eleanor Clift cared for her husband, journalist Tom Brazaitis, through the last two weeks of his life, the nation watched a very different death play out as Terri Schiavo entered her final days. In the commonalities and contradictions between these events, Clift probes the underlying questions:...
The Very First Light
The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe
Language: English
Release Date: October 20, 2008
In the early 1990s, a NASA-led team of scientists changed the way we view the universe. With the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) project, they showed that the microwave radiation that fills the universe must have come from the Big Bang-effectively proving the Big Bang theory beyond any doubt. It...
The Mommy Brain
How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter
Language: English
Release Date: April 11, 2006
In The Mommy Brain, Katherine Ellison reveals the ways that women get smarter after having kids. Motherhood makes women more perceptive, efficient, resilient, motivated, and emotionally intelligent -- all of which adds up to tremendous mental enrichment and effectiveness.
by Sally Satel
Language: English
Release Date: January 7, 2008
Language: English
Release Date: January 7, 2008
Drawing on a wealth of information PC, M.D. documents for the first time what happens when the tenets of political correctness-including victimology, multiculturalism, rejection of fixed truths and individual autonomy-are allowed to enter the fortress of medicine.