Category Archives: Poetry

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe – Neil de Grasse Tyson

by Myrna Posted on February 10, 2018

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

A Skywatcher’s Guide to Everything from Mars and Quasars to Comets, Planets,Blue Moons, and Werewolves

Neil de Grasse Tyson

Genre: Science & Nature

Price: $2.99

Publish Date: July 14, 1997

Publisher: Crown/Archetype

Seller: Penguin Random House LLC

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry comes a fascinating guide to the most popular questions about the universe. In Neil de Grasse Tyson's delightful tour of the galaxies, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular astronomy questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has been friends with many of the most important scientific figures of the past, including da Vinci, Magellan, Doppler, Einstein, and Hubble—and he often recounts his conversations with these historical figures in his explanations. Merlin's illuminating answers feature a unique combination of wit and poetry along with serious science explained in refreshingly clear, reader-friendly language. Dear Merlin: Can a person cross our galaxy in a spaceship during one human lifespan? Merlin: In 1905, Merlin's good friend Albert Einstein introduced the "Special Theory of Relativity," which predicts that time will tick slower and slower the faster you travel. Were you to embark on such an adventure you could conceivably age as little as you wish, depending of course, on your exact speed. The problem arises when you return to Earth, which will have moved several hundred thousand years into the future and everyone will have forgotten about you. A timeless book for lovers of the universe by one of its greatest lights.

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe – Neil de Grasse Tyson

Posted in alo, Anchor, Crown, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, ONA, Poetry, PUR, Ultima, Uncategorized | Tagged crown, earth, fictional, grasse, house, Ona, people, planet, poetry | Comments Off

Algorithms to Live By – Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths

by Myrna Posted on January 3, 2018

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

Algorithms to Live By

The Computer Science of Human Decisions

Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths

Genre: Science & Nature

Price: $9.99

Publish Date: April 19, 2016

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Seller: Macmillan / Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

A fascinating exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such problems for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us. In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian (who holds degrees in computer science, philosophy, and poetry, and works at the intersection of all three) and Tom Griffiths (a UC Berkeley professor of cognitive science and psychology) show how the simple, precise algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of human memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.

Source article:

Algorithms to Live By – Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Poetry, PUR, Uncategorized | Tagged algorithms, alo, face-the-same, griffiths-genre, holtzbrinck, human, ms-, nature, Ona, professor, science & nature, workings | Comments Off

Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science – Robert Kunzig

by Myrna Posted on October 14, 2017

READ GREEN WITH E-BOOKS

Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science

Robert Kunzig

Genre: Nature

Price: $1.99

Publish Date: October 17, 2000

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Seller: W. W. Norton

A vivid, up-to-date tour of the Earth's last frontier, a remote and mysterious realm that nonetheless lies close to the heart of even the most land-locked reader. The sea covers seven-tenths of the Earth, but we have mapped only a small percentage of it. The sea contains millions of species of animals and plants, but we have identified only a few thousand of them. The sea controls our planet's climate, but we do not really understand how. The sea is still the frontier, and yet it seems so familiar that we sometimes forget how little we know about it. Just as we are poised on the verge of exploiting the sea on an unprecedented scale—mining it, fertilizing it, fishing it out—this book reminds us of how much we have yet to learn. More than that, it chronicles the knowledge explosion that has transformed our view of the sea in just the past few decades, and made it a far more interesting and accessible place. From the Big Bang to that far-off future time, two billion years from now, when our planet will be a waterless rock; from the lush crowds of life at seafloor hot springs to the invisible, jewel-like plants that float at the sea surface; from the restless shifting of the tectonic plates to the majestic sweep of the ocean currents, Kunzig's clear and lyrical prose transports us to the ends of the Earth. Originally published in hardcover as The Restless Sea. "Robert Kunzig is a creator of what oceanographer Harry Hess once referred to as 'geopoetry.' He covers vast tracts of time and space and makes his subjects electrifying."—Richard Ellis, The Times [London] "The Restless Sea immediately surfaces at the top of the list of journalistic treatments of oceanography. . . .The book opened my eyes to numerous wonders."—Richard Strickland, American Scientist  "When you head for the coast this summer, leave that trashy beach novel at home. Instead, pack Robert Kunzig's book. Because just beyond your rental cottage lies the restless sea, where three-mile-tall mountain ranges criss-cross the ocean floor, and deep trenches harbor mysterious creatures. . . . The book is easy to read, and will bring you up to date on the startling discoveries oceanographers have made during the past few decades."—Phillip Manning, The News and Observer [Raleigh, North Carolina] ] "Anyone who loves the sea should read this book."—Sebastian Junger

Originally posted here:

Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science – Robert Kunzig