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Math & Science

BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science & Sex

BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science & Sex

By: Roach, Mary
$15.95
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In ?Bonk, ?the best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and insight on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Why doesn't Viagra help women-or, for that matter, pandas? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Mary Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm-two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth-can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place
BONOBO AND THE ATHEIST: IN SEARCH OF HUMANISM AMONG THE PRIMATES

BONOBO AND THE ATHEIST: IN SEARCH OF HUMANISM AMONG THE PRIMATES

By: de Waal, Frans
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For many years, de Waal has observed chimpanzees soothe distressed neighbors and bonobos share their food. Now he delivers fascinating fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies that further cements the case for the biological origins of human fairness. Interweaving vivid tales from the animal kingdom with thoughtful philosophical analysis, de Waal seeks a bottom-up explanation of morality that emphasizes our connection with animals. In doing so, de Waal explores for the first time the implications of his work for our understanding of modern religion. Whatever the role of religious moral imperatives, he sees it as a "Johnny-come-lately" role that emerged only as an addition to our natural instincts for cooperation and empathy.

But unlike the dogmatic neo-atheist of his book's title, de Waal does not scorn religion per se. Instead, he draws on the long tradition of humanism exemplified by the painter Hieronymus Bosch and asks reflective readers to consider these issues from a positive perspective: What role, if any, does religion play for a well-functioning society today? And where can believers and nonbelievers alike find the inspiration to lead a good life?

Rich with cultural references and anecdotes of primate behavior, The Bonobo and the Atheist engagingly builds a unique argument grounded in evolutionary biology and moral philosophy. Ever a pioneering thinker, de Waal delivers a heartening and inclusive new perspective on human nature and our struggle to find purpose in our lives.

BOOK OF NOTHING: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas About the Origins of the Universe

BOOK OF NOTHING: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas About the Origins of the Universe

By: Barrow, John D
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What conceptual blind spot kept the ancient Greeks (unlike the Indians and Maya) from developing a concept of zero? Why did St. Augustine equate nothingness with the Devil? What tortuous means did 17th-century scientists employ in their attempts to create a vacuum? And why do contemporary quantum physicists believe that the void is actually seething with subatomic activity? You'll find the answers in this dizzyingly erudite and elegantly explained book by the English cosmologist John D. Barrow.

Ranging through mathematics, theology, philosophy, literature, particle physics, and cosmology, The Book of Nothing explores the enduring hold that vacuity has exercised on the human imagination. Combining high-wire speculation with a wealth of reference that takes in Freddy Mercury and Shakespeare alongside Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, the result is a fascinating excursion to the vanishing point of our knowledge.

BOTANY OF DESIRE

BOTANY OF DESIRE

By: Pollan, Michael
$18.00
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"Pollan shines a light on our own nature as well as on our implication in the natural world." --The New York Times

"A wry, informed pastoral." --The New Yorker

The book that helped make Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of How to Change Your Mind, Cooked and The Omnivore's Dilemma, one of the most trusted food experts in America

Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers' genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires--sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control--with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind's most basic yearnings. And just as we've benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

BOUNDARIES OF HUMAN NATURE: THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANIMAL FROM PLATO TO HARAWAY

BOUNDARIES OF HUMAN NATURE: THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANIMAL FROM PLATO TO HARAWAY

By: Calarco, Matthew
$30.00
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Are animals capable of wonder? Can they be said to possess language and reason? What can animals teach us about how to live well? How can they help us to see the limitations of human civilization? Is it possible to draw firm distinctions between humans and animals? And how might asking and answering questions like these lead us to rethink human-animal relations in an age of catastrophic ecological destruction?

In this accessible and engaging book, Matthew Calarco explores key issues in the philosophy of animals and their significance for our contemporary world. He leads readers on a spirited tour of historical and contemporary philosophy, ranging from Plato to Donna Haraway and from the Cynics to the Jains. Calarco unearths surprising insights about animals from a number of philosophers while also underscoring ways in which the philosophical tradition has failed to challenge the dogma of human-centeredness. Along the way, he indicates how mainstream Western philosophy is both complemented and challenged by non-Western traditions and noncanonical theories about animals. Throughout, Calarco uses examples from contemporary culture to illustrate how philosophical theories about animals are deeply relevant to our lives today. The Boundaries of Human Nature shows readers why philosophy can help transform not just the way we think about animals but also how we interact with them.

BOUNDARIES OF HUMANITY

BOUNDARIES OF HUMANITY

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To the age-old debate over what it means to be human, the relatively new fields of sociobiology and artificial intelligence bring new, if not necessarily compatible, insights. What have these two fields in common? Have they affected the way we define humanity? These and other timely questions are addressed with colorful individuality by the authors of The Boundaries of Humanity.

Leading researchers in both sociobiology and artificial intelligence combine their reflections with those of philosophers, historians, and social scientists, while the editors explore the historical and contemporary contexts of the debate in their introductions. The implications of their individual arguments, and the often heated controversies generated by biological determinism or by mechanical models of mind, go to the heart of contemporary scientific, philosophical, and humanistic studies.

BOUNDARIES OF THE MIND

By: Wilson, Robert A
$24.99
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Where does the mind begin and end? Robert Wilson establishes the foundations for the view that the mind extends beyond the boundary of the individual. He blends traditional philosophical analysis, cognitive science, and the history of psychology and the human sciences. Wilson then develops novel accounts of mental representation and consciousness, discussing a range of other issues, such as nativism and the idea of group minds. Boundaries of the Mind re-evaluates the place of the individual in the cognitive, biological and social sciences (what Wilson calls the fragile sciences) with an emphasis on cognition. The book will appeal to a broad range of professionals and students in philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, and the history of the behavioral and human sciences. Robert A. Wilson is professor of philosophy at the University of Alberta. He is author or editor of five other books, including the award-winning The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (MIT Press, 1999).
BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE TEACHINGS OF PLANTS

BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: INDIGENOUS WISDOM, SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND THE TEACHINGS OF PLANTS

By: Kimmerer, Robin Wall
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A New York Times Bestseller
A Washington Post Bestseller
Named a Best Essay Collection of the Decade by Literary Hub

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings--asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass--offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

BRAIN & CULTURE: NEUROBIOLOGY, IDEOLOGY & SOCIAL CHANGE

BRAIN & CULTURE: NEUROBIOLOGY, IDEOLOGY & SOCIAL CHANGE

By: Wexler, Bruce E
$20.00
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Research shows that between birth and early adulthood the brain requires sensory stimulation to develop physically. The nature of the stimulation shapes the connections among neurons that create the neuronal networks necessary for thought and behavior. By changing the cultural environment, each generation shapes the brains of the next. By early adulthood, the neuroplasticity of the brain is greatly reduced, and this leads to a fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the environment: during the first part of life, the brain and mind shape themselves to the major recurring features of their environment; by early adulthood, the individual attempts to make the environment conform to the established internal structures of the brain and mind. In Brain and Culture, Bruce Wexler explores the social implications of the close and changing neurobiological relationship between the individual and the environment, with particular attention to the difficulties individuals face in adulthood when the environment changes beyond their ability to maintain the fit between existing internal structure and external reality. These difficulties are evident in bereavement, the meeting of different cultures, the experience of immigrants (in which children of immigrant families are more successful than their parents at the necessary internal transformations), and the phenomenon of interethnic violence. Integrating recent neurobiological research with major experimental findings in cognitive and developmental psychology--with illuminating references to psychoanalysis, literature, anthropology, history, and politics--Wexler presents a wealth of detail to support his arguments. The groundbreaking connections he makes allow for reconceptualization of the effect of cultural change on the brain and provide a new biological base from which to consider such social issues as culture wars and ethnic violence.
BRAIN AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

BRAIN AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

By: Thagard, Paul
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How brain science answers the most intriguing questions about the meaning of life

Why is life worth living? What makes actions right or wrong? What is reality and how do we know it? The Brain and the Meaning of Life draws on research in philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience to answer some of the most pressing questions about life's nature and value. Paul Thagard argues that evidence requires the abandonment of many traditional ideas about the soul, free will, and immortality, and shows how brain science matters for fundamental issues about reality, morality, and the meaning of life. The ongoing Brain Revolution reveals how love, work, and play provide good reasons for living.

Defending the superiority of evidence-based reasoning over religious faith and philosophical thought experiments, Thagard argues that minds are brains and that reality is what science can discover. Brains come to know reality through a combination of perception and reasoning. Just as important, our brains evaluate aspects of reality through emotions that can produce both good and bad decisions. Our cognitive and emotional abilities allow us to understand reality, decide effectively, act morally, and pursue the vital needs of love, work, and play. Wisdom consists of knowing what matters, why it matters, and how to achieve it.

The Brain and the Meaning of Life shows how brain science helps to answer questions about the nature of mind and reality, while alleviating anxiety about the difficulty of life in a vast universe. The book integrates decades of multidisciplinary research, but its clear explanations and humor make it accessible to the general reader.

BRAIN BUILDING GAMES

BRAIN BUILDING GAMES

By: Gamon, David
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A crossword puzzle devotee's bonanza: a personal three-month mind-training program, with 182 performance tips and puzzles to increase memory, math, and language dexterity.

BRAIN CHANGER: HOW HARNESSING YOUR BRAIN'S POWER TO ADAPT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

BRAIN CHANGER: HOW HARNESSING YOUR BRAIN'S POWER TO ADAPT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

By: DiSalvo, David
$16.95
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The author of the bestselling What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite delivers 30 science-based actions to enrich your life.

Science writer and bestselling author David DiSalvo returns with Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life. Drawing on the latest research in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, and communications, DiSalvo replaces self-help with "science-help," giving readers practical steps to change their thinking and their lives.

Known for his accessibility and applicable findings, DiSalvo explains that the human mind operates via a series of "feedback loops" generated in the brain. By identifying how these systems work, DiSalvo shows we can actually redirect our thinking through metacognition, a tool for thinking about thinking, to influence the brain's response.

Using relatable examples and tackling major aspects of our lives including relationships, careers, physical health, and personal development, DiSalvo demonstrates how the brain's enormous capacity to adapt is the most crucial factor influencing how we feel and act--a powerful tool we can control to change our lives.

BRAIN MYSTERY LIGHT & DARK

BRAIN MYSTERY LIGHT & DARK

By: Don Keyes, Charles
$22.99
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Brain Mystery Light and Dark examines scientific models of how the brain becomes conscious and argues that the spiritual dimension of life is compatible with the main scientific theories. Keyes shows us that the belief in the unity of mind and brain does not necessarily undermine aesthetic, religious, and ethical beliefs.

BRAIN VISION MEMORY

BRAIN VISION MEMORY

By: Gross, Charles G
$16.50
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In these engaging tales describing the growth of knowledge about the brain--from the early Egyptians and Greeks to the Dark Ages and the Renaissance to the present time--Gross attempts to answer the question of how the discipline of neuroscience evolved into its modern incarnation through the twists and turns of history.

Charles G. Gross is an experimental neuroscientist who specializes in brain mechanisms in vision. He is also fascinated by the history of his field. In these tales describing the growth of knowledge about the brain from the early Egyptians and Greeks to the present time, he attempts to answer the question of how the discipline of neuroscience evolved into its modern incarnation through the twists and turns of history.

The first essay tells the story of the visual cortex, from the first written mention of the brain by the Egyptians, to the philosophical and physiological studies by the Greeks, to the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, and finally, to the modern work of Hubel and Wiesel. The second essay focuses on Leonardo da Vinci's beautiful anatomical work on the brain and the eye: was Leonardo drawing the body observed, the body remembered, the body read about, or his own dissections? The third essay derives from the question of whether there can be a solely theoretical biology or biologist; it highlights the work of Emanuel Swedenborg, the eighteenth-century Swedish mystic who was two hundred years ahead of his time. The fourth essay entails a mystery: how did the largely ignored brain structure called the hippocampus minor come to be, and why was it so important in the controversies that swirled about Darwin's theories? The final essay describes the discovery of the visual functions of the temporal and parietal lobes. The author traces both developments to nineteenth-century observations of the effect of temporal and parietal lesions in monkeys--observations that were forgotten and subsequently rediscovered.

BRAIN'S WAY OF HEALING: REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES AND RECOVERIES FROM THE FRONTIERS OF NEUROPLASTICITY

BRAIN'S WAY OF HEALING: REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES AND RECOVERIES FROM THE FRONTIERS OF NEUROPLASTICITY

By: Doidge, Norman
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The New York Times-bestselling author of The Brain That Changes Itself presents astounding advances in the treatment of brain injury and illness. Now in an updated and expanded paperback edition.

Winner of the 2015 Gold Nautilus Book Award in Science & Cosmology


In his groundbreaking work The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge introduced readers to neuroplasticity--the brain's ability to change its own structure and function in response to activity and mental experience. Now his revolutionary new book shows how the amazing process of neuroplastic healing really works. The Brain's Way of Healing describes natural, noninvasive avenues into the brain provided by the energy around us--in light, sound, vibration, and movement--that can awaken the brain's own healing capacities without producing unpleasant side effects. Doidge explores cases where patients alleviated chronic pain; recovered from debilitating strokes, brain injuries, and learning disorders; overcame attention deficit and learning disorders; and found relief from symptoms of autism, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and cerebral palsy. And we learn how to vastly reduce the risk of dementia, with simple approaches anyone can use.

For centuries it was believed that the brain's complexity prevented recovery from damage or disease. The Brain's Way of Healing shows that this very sophistication is the source of a unique kind of healing. As he did so lucidly in The Brain That Changes Itself, Doidge uses stories to present cutting-edge science with practical real-world applications, and principles that everyone can apply to improve their brain's performance and health.

BRAIN: BIG BANGS, BEHAVIORS, AND BELIEFS

BRAIN: BIG BANGS, BEHAVIORS, AND BELIEFS

By: Tattersall, Ian
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What evolutionary process could have resulted in the unique and amazing human brain? New research by neuroscientists, paleontologists, and others reveals startling answers.

After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system.

Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss the development and uniqueness of human consciousness, how human and nonhuman brains work, the roles of different nerve cells, the importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more. Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history--an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags--that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.

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BRAINSTORMS: PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS ON MIND AND PSYCHOLOGY

By: Dennett, Daniel C
$34.95
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An anniversary edition of a classic in cognitive science, with a new introduction by the author.

When Brainstorms was published in 1978, the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science was just emerging. Daniel Dennett was a young scholar who wanted to get philosophers out of their armchairs--and into conversations with psychologists, linguists, computer scientists. This collection of seventeen essays by Dennett offers a comprehensive theory of mind, encompassing traditional issues of consciousness and free will. Using careful arguments and ingenious thought experiments, the author exposes familiar preconceptions and hobbling intuitions. The essays are grouped into four sections: "Intentional Explanation and Attributions of Mentality"; "The Nature of Theory in Psychology"; "Objects of Consciousness and the Nature of Experience"; and "Free Will and Personhood."

This anniversary edition includes a new introduction by Dennett, "Reflections on Brainstorms after Forty Years," in which he recalls the book's original publication by Harry and Betty Stanton of Bradford Books and considers the influence and afterlife of some of the essays. For example, "Mechanism and Responsibility" was Dennett's first articulation of his concept of the intentional stance; "Are Dreams Experiences?" anticipates the major ideas in his 1991 book Consciousness Explained; and "Where Am I?" has been variously represented in a BBC documentary, a student's Javanese shadow puppet play, and a feature-length film made in the Netherlands, Victim of the Brain.

BRAINTRUST: WHAT NEUROSCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT MORALITY

BRAINTRUST: WHAT NEUROSCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT MORALITY

By: Churchland, Patricia S
$17.95
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What is morality? Where does it come from? And why do most of us heed its call most of the time? In Braintrust, neurophilosophy pioneer Patricia Churchland argues that morality originates in the biology of the brain. She describes the neurobiological platform of bonding that, modified by evolutionary pressures and cultural values, has led to human styles of moral behavior. The result is a provocative genealogy of morals that asks us to reevaluate the priority given to religion, absolute rules, and pure reason in accounting for the basis of morality.


Moral values, Churchland argues, are rooted in a behavior common to all mammals--the caring for offspring. The evolved structure, processes, and chemistry of the brain incline humans to strive not only for self-preservation but for the well-being of allied selves--first offspring, then mates, kin, and so on, in wider and wider caring circles. Separation and exclusion cause pain, and the company of loved ones causes pleasure; responding to feelings of social pain and pleasure, brains adjust their circuitry to local customs. In this way, caring is apportioned, conscience molded, and moral intuitions instilled. A key part of the story is oxytocin, an ancient body-and-brain molecule that, by decreasing the stress response, allows humans to develop the trust in one another necessary for the development of close-knit ties, social institutions, and morality.


A major new account of what really makes us moral, Braintrust challenges us to reconsider the origins of some of our most cherished values.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MIND

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MIND

By: Calvin, William H
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This book looks back at the simpler versions of mental life in apes, Neanderthals, and our ancestors, back before our burst of creativity started 50,000 years ago. When you can't think about the future in much detail, you are trapped in a here-and-now existence with no What if? and Why
me? William H. Calvin takes stock of what we have now and then explains why we are nearing a crossroads, where mind shifts gears again.
The mind's big bang came long after our brain size stopped enlarging. Calvin suggests that the development of long sentences--what modern children do in their third year--was the most likely trigger. To keep a half-dozen concepts from blending together like a summer drink, you need some
mental structuring. In saying I think I saw him leave to go home, you are nesting three sentences inside a fourth. We also structure plans, play games with rules, create structured music and chains of logic, and have a fascination with discovering how things hang together. Our long train of
connected thoughts is why our consciousness is so different from what came before.
Where does mind go from here, its powers extended by science-enhanced education but with its slowly evolving gut instincts still firmly anchored in the ice ages? We will likely shift gears again, juggling more concepts and making decisions even faster, imagining courses of action in greater
depth. Ethics are possible only because of a human level of ability to speculate, judge quality, and modify our possible actions accordingly. Though science increasingly serves as our headlights, we are out-driving them, going faster than we can react effectively.
BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL HANDBOOK 2: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar Sphere

BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL HANDBOOK 2: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar Sphere

By: Burnham, Robert
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While there are many books on stars there is only one "Celestial Handbook." Now completely revised through 1977, this unique and necessary reference is available once again to guide amateur and advanced astronomers in their knowledge and enjoyment of the stars.
BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL HANDBOOK 3: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar Sphere

BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL HANDBOOK 3: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar Sphere

By: Burnham, Robert
$13.95
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While there are many books on stars there is only one "Celestial Handbook." Now completely revised through 1977, this unique and necessary reference is available once again to guide amateur and advanced astronomers in their knowledge and enjoyment of the stars.
CALCULUS OF FRIENDSHIP: What a Teacher and a Student Learned about Life While Corresponding about Math

CALCULUS OF FRIENDSHIP: What a Teacher and a Student Learned about Life While Corresponding about Math

By: Strogatz, Steven
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The Calculus of Friendship is the story of an extraordinary connection between a teacher and a student, as chronicled through more than thirty years of letters between them. What makes their relationship unique is that it is based almost entirely on a shared love of calculus. For them, calculus is more than a branch of mathematics; it is a game they love playing together, a constant when all else is in flux. The teacher goes from the prime of his career to retirement, competes in whitewater kayaking at the international level, and loses a son. The student matures from high school math whiz to Ivy League professor, suffers the sudden death of a parent, and blunders into a marriage destined to fail. Yet through it all they take refuge in the haven of calculus--until a day comes when calculus is no longer enough.

Like calculus itself, The Calculus of Friendship is an exploration of change. It's about the transformation that takes place in a student's heart, as he and his teacher reverse roles, as they age, as they are buffeted by life itself. Written by a renowned teacher and communicator of mathematics, The Calculus of Friendship is warm, intimate, and deeply moving. The most inspiring ideas of calculus, differential equations, and chaos theory are explained through metaphors, images, and anecdotes in a way that all readers will find beautiful, and even poignant. Math enthusiasts, from high school students to professionals, will delight in the offbeat problems and lucid explanations in the letters.

For anyone whose life has been changed by a mentor, The Calculus of Friendship will be an unforgettable journey.

CALCULUS SIMPLIFIED

CALCULUS SIMPLIFIED

By: Fernandez, Oscar
$19.95
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An accessible, streamlined, and user-friendly approach to calculus

Calculus is a beautiful subject that most of us learn from professors, textbooks, or supplementary texts. Each of these resources has strengths but also weaknesses. In Calculus Simplified, Oscar Fernandez combines the strengths and omits the weaknesses, resulting in a "Goldilocks approach" to learning calculus: just the right level of detail, the right depth of insights, and the flexibility to customize your calculus adventure.

Fernandez begins by offering an intuitive introduction to the three key ideas in calculus--limits, derivatives, and integrals. The mathematical details of each of these pillars of calculus are then covered in subsequent chapters, which are organized into mini-lessons on topics found in a college-level calculus course. Each mini-lesson focuses first on developing the intuition behind calculus and then on conceptual and computational mastery. Nearly 200 solved examples and more than 300 exercises allow for ample opportunities to practice calculus. And additional resources--including video tutorials and interactive graphs--are available on the book's website.

Calculus Simplified also gives you the option of personalizing your calculus journey. For example, you can learn all of calculus with zero knowledge of exponential, logarithmic, and trigonometric functions--these are discussed at the end of each mini-lesson. You can also opt for a more in-depth understanding of topics--chapter appendices provide additional insights and detail. Finally, an additional appendix explores more in-depth real-world applications of calculus.

Learning calculus should be an exciting voyage, not a daunting task. Calculus Simplified gives you the freedom to choose your calculus experience, and the right support to help you conquer the subject with confidence.

- An accessible, intuitive introduction to first-semester calculus

- Nearly 200 solved problems and more than 300 exercises (all with answers)

- No prior knowledge of exponential, logarithmic, or trigonometric functions required

- Additional online resources--video tutorials and supplementary exercises--provided

CALL OF THE PRIMES: SURPRISING PATTERNS, PECULIAR PUZZLES, AND OTHER MARVELS OF MATHEMATICS

CALL OF THE PRIMES: SURPRISING PATTERNS, PECULIAR PUZZLES, AND OTHER MARVELS OF MATHEMATICS

By: O'Shea, Owen
$19.00
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This sampler of entertaining mathematical diversions reveals the elegance and extraordinary usefulness of mathematics for readers who think they have no aptitude for the subject. If you like any kind of game at all, you'll enjoy the amazing mathematical puzzles and patterns presented here in straightforward terms that any layperson can understand. From magic squares and the mysterious qualities of prime numbers to Pythagorean triples, probability theory, the Fibonacci sequence, and more, the author shows that math can be fun while having some profound implications.

Such ubiquitous mathematical entities as pi and the Fibonacci numbers are found throughout the natural world and are also the foundation of our technological civilization. By exploring the intriguing games presented here, you'll come away with a greater appreciation for the beauty and importance of these and many more math concepts.

This is the perfect book for people who were turned off by math in school but now as adults wonder what they may have missed.

CANYONEERING

CANYONEERING

By: Van Tilburg, Christopher
$18.95
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A complete how-to guide on the art and techniques of canyoneering, written for every skill-level.
CARTOON INTRODUCTION TO CALCULUS

CARTOON INTRODUCTION TO CALCULUS

By: Bauman, Yoram
$18.95
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The internationally bestselling authors of The Cartoon Introduction to Economics return to make calculus fun

The award-winning illustrator Grady Klein has teamed up once again with the world's only stand-up economist, Yoram Bauman, Ph.D., to take on the daunting subject of calculus. A supplement to traditional textbooks, The Cartoon Introduction to Calculus focuses on the big ideas rather than all the formulas you have to memorize.

With Klein and Bauman as our guides, we scale the dual peaks of Mount Derivative and Mount Integral, and from their summits, we see how calculus relates to the rest of mathematics. Beginning with the problems of speed and area, Klein and Bauman show how the discipline is unified by a fundamental theorem. We meet geniuses like Archimedes, Liu Hui, and Bonaventura Cavalieri, who survived the slopes on intuition but prepared us for the avalanche-like dangers posed by mathematical rigor. Then we trek onward and scramble through limits and extreme values, optimization and integration, and learn how calculus can be applied to economics, physics, and so much more. We discover that calculus isn't the pinnacle of mathematics after all, but its tools are foundational to everything that follows. Klein and Bauman round out the book with a handy glossary of symbols and terms, so you don't have to worry about mixing up constants and constraints. With a witty and engaging narrative full of jokes and insights, The Cartoon Introduction to Calculus is an essential primer for students or for anyone who is curious about math.

CAUGHT IN FADING LIGHT

CAUGHT IN FADING LIGHT

By: Thorp, Gary
$13.00
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A personal exploration of wildness, territory, and the elusive nature of our lives

In this concise, richly contemplative book, Gary Thorp records his singularquest to see a mountain lion, or cougar--the "cat of one color"-- in the wild hills and mountains of northern California, where he lives. Using the traditional form of Japanese writing known as nikki bungaku (literary diary), Thorp recounts his meditations and adventures, from taking a one-day class on tracking animals, to visiting a mountain lion in the zoo, to his numerous forays into the hills during the day and night. The pursuit of one thing invariably leads him to discover many others: The tracks of a solitary mountain lion, for example, evoke a marvelous world of photographic imagery, literary events, dancing foxes, ocean voyages, and blind poets, all gathered together just beyond the limits of human vision. Thorp explores what it means to seek something you might not find and ponders the difference between seeing only darkness and being blind, offering as well bright glimpses into the Zen tradition. Combining an elusive and challenging pursuit with a centuries-old way of uncovering life's ultimate answers, Caught in Fading Light will give readers a new way of seeing, and will captivate nature lovers and Zen practitioners alike.

CHANGES OF MIND: A Holonomic Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness

CHANGES OF MIND: A Holonomic Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness

By: Wade, Jenny
$19.95
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Changes of Mind unites literature from the new physics, brain research, developmental psychology, and mysticism to produce the first comprehensive theory of individual human consciousness. Assuming a new paradigm reality, the author opens and extends the field of developmental psychology in ways that structure, destructure, and then restructure the subjective experience of time, space, subject, and object.

Wade's theory concerns the development of consciousness per se--not merely its derivatives, such as cognition, social development, and affect--and its neurological bases, something no other developmental theory has taken into account. Using data from a wide range of empirical studies and neurological research, Wade shows that awareness considerably predates birth--probably even conception--and lasts after death, supporting the idea that the self exists outside the boundaries of linear time and a physical body. This book represents a major leap forward in psychological theory and a groundbreaking approach to human perception and being in the world.

CHAOS BOUND: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science

CHAOS BOUND: Orderly Disorder in Contemporary Literature and Science

By: Hayles, N Katherine
$14.95
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N. Katherine Hayles here investigates parallels between contemporary literature and critical theory and the science of chaos. She finds in both scientific and literary discourse new interpretations of chaos, which is seen no longer as disorder but as a locus of maximum information and complexity. She examines structures and themes of disorder in The Education of Henry Adams, Doris Lessing's Golden Notebook, and works by Stanislaw Lem. Hayles shows how the writings of poststructuralist theorists including Barthes, Lyotard, Derrida, Serres, and de Man incorporate central features of chaos theory.

CHAOS: Making A New Science

CHAOS: Making A New Science

By: Gleick, James
$20.00
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The million-copy bestseller by National Book Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist James Gleick--the author of Time Travel: A History--that reveals the science behind chaos theory

A work of popular science in the tradition of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, this 20th-anniversary edition of James Gleick's groundbreaking bestseller Chaos introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory, one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time. From Edward Lorenz's discovery of the Butterfly Effect, to Mitchell Feigenbaum's calculation of a universal constant, to Benoit Mandelbrot's concept of fractals, which created a new geometry of nature, Gleick's engaging narrative focuses on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science. In Chaos, Gleick makes the story of chaos theory not only fascinating but also accessible to beginners, and opens our eyes to a surprising new view of the universe.