Other books that might interest you

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  Sua Sponte - The Forging of a...

  Dick Couch

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  The 75th Ranger Regiment is a unique and distinct culture among the American military establishment. They stand alone, even among our other Special Operations forces, as the most active brigade-sized force in the current Global War on Terrorism. Since 9/11, the Regiment has been the only continuously engaged unit in the Army, and has had 40 percent of its number deployed in harm's way for the last decade. Their mission is unique. Rangers do not patrol, they don't train allied forces, nor do they engage in routine counterinsurgency duties. They have a single-mission focus: they seek out the enemy and they capture or kill them. This sets Rangers apart as pure, direct-action warriors. 
  Army Rangers are not born; they are made. The modern 75th Ranger Regiment represents the culmination of 250 years of American soldiering. As the nation's oldest standing military unit, the Regiment traces its origins to Richard Rogers' Rangers during the pre-Revolutionary French and Indian War, through the likes of Francis Marion and John Mosby, to the five active Ranger battalions of the Second World War, and finally, to the four battalions of the current Ranger regiment engaged in modern combat. Over that period, a standard of professional excellence and the forging of that excellence is distilled in the selection, assessment, and training of today's Rangers. 
  Granted unprecedented access to the training of this highly restricted component of America's Special Operations Forces in a time of war, retired Navy Captain Dick Couch tells the personal story of the young men who begin this difficult and dangerous journey to become a Ranger. Many will try but only a select few will survive to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment. Sua Sponte follows a group of these aspiring young warriors through the crucible that is ranger training and their preparation for direct-action missions in Afghanistan against the Taliban.

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  Strange Trips - Science Culture...

  Lucas Richert

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  Changing marijuana laws in the US and Canada, the opioid crisis, and the rising costs of pharmaceuticals have sharpened the public's awareness of drugs and their regulation. Government, industry, and the medical profession, however, have a mixed record when it comes to framing policies and generating knowledge to address drug use and misuse. In Strange Trips, Lucas Richert investigates the myths, meanings, and boundaries of recreational drugs, palliative care drugs, and pharmaceuticals as well as struggles over product innovation, consumer protection, and freedom of choice in the medical marketplace. 
   
  Scrutinizing how we have conceptualized and regulated drugs amid the pressing and competing interests of state regulatory bodies, pharmaceutical and for-profit companies, scientific researchers, and medical professionals, Richert asks how perceptions of a product shift - from dangerous substance to medical breakthrough or vice versa. 
   
  Through close examination of archival materials, accounts, and records, he brings substances into conversation with each other and demonstrates the contentious relationship between scientific knowledge, cultural assumptions, and social concerns. Weaving together stories of consumer resistance and government control, Strange Trips offers timely recommendations for the future of drug regulation.

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  Augmented - Life in The Smart Lane

  Brett King, Andy Lark, Alex...

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  The Internet and smartphone are just the latest in a 250-year-long cycle of disruption that has continuously changed the way we live, the way we work, and the way we interact. The coming Augmented Age, however, promises a level of disruption, behavioral shifts, and changes that are unparalleled. While consumers today are camping outside of an Apple store waiting to be one of the first to score a new Apple Watch or iPhone, the next generation of wearables will be able to predict if we're likely to have a heart attack and recommend a course of action. We watch news of Google's self-driving cars, but don't likely realize this means progressive cities will have to ban human drives in the next decade because us humans are too risky.Following on from the Industrial or Machine Age, the Space Age and the Digital Age, the Augmented Age will be based on four key disruptive themes—Artificial Intelligence, Experience Design, Smart Infrastructure, and HealthTech. Historically the previous "ages" bought significant disruption and changes, but on a net basis jobs were created, wealth was enhanced, and the health and security of society improved. What will the Augmented Age bring? Will robots take our jobs, and AI's subsume us as inferior intelligences, or will this usher in a new age of abundance?Augmented is a book on future history, but more than that, it is a story about how you will live your life in a world that will change more in the next twenty years than it has in the last 250 years. Are you ready to adapt? Because if history proves anything, you don't have much of a choice.

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  Death in a Small Package - A...

  Susan D. Jones

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  A look at the historical development of the lethal disease and its relationship with humanity. 
   
  A disease of soil, animals, and people, anthrax has threatened lives for at least two thousand years. Farmers have long recognized its lasting virulence, but in our time, anthrax has been associated with terrorism and warfare. What accounts for this frightening transformation? Death in a Small Package recounts how this ubiquitous agricultural disease came to be one of the deadliest and most feared biological weapons in the world. 
   
  Bacillus anthracis is lethal. Animals killed by the disease are buried deep underground, where anthrax spores remain viable for decades or even centuries and, if accidentally disturbed, can cause new infections. But anthrax can be deliberately aerosolized and used to kill—as it was in the United States in 2001. 
   
  Historian and veterinarian Susan D. Jones recounts the life story of anthrax through the biology of the bacillus; the political, economic, geographic, and scientific factors that affect anthrax prevalence; and the cultural beliefs about the disease that have shaped human responses to it. She explains how Bacillus anthracis became domesticated, discusses what researchers have learned from numerous outbreaks, and analyzes how the bacillus came to be weaponized and what this development means for the modern world. 
   
  Jones compellingly narrates the biography of this frightfully hardy disease from the ancient world through the present day. 
   
  “Death in a Small Package is interesting, well written, and accessible, presenting a worthwhile addition to the history of modern medicine and bacteriological science.” —Karen Brown, Isis

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  Debugging - The 9 Indispensable...

  David J. Agans

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  When the pressure is on to resolve an elusive software or hardware glitch, what’s needed is a cool head courtesy of a set of rules guaranteed to work on any system, in any circumstance.Written in a frank but engaging style, this book provides simple, foolproof principles guaranteed to help find any bug quickly. Recognized tech expert and author David Agans changes the way you think about debugging, making those pesky problems suddenly much easier to find and fix.Agans identifies nine simple, practical rules that are applicable to any software application or hardware system, which can help detect any bug, no matter how tricky or obscure. Illustrating the rules with real-life bug-detection war stories, Debugging shows you how to:Understand the system: how perceiving the ""roadmap"" can hasten your journeyQuit thinking and look: when hands-on investigation can’t be avoidedIsolate critical factors: why changing one element at a time can be an essential toolKeep an audit trail: how keeping a record of the debugging process can win the dayWhether the system or program you’re working on has been designed wrong, built wrong, or used wrong, Debugging helps you think correctly about bugs, so the problems virtually reveal themselves.

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  Macat Analysis of Mathis...

  Luca Marazzi

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  First published in 1996, Our Ecological Footprint sets out a powerful model for visualizing and measuring humanity’s impact on the Earth—the ecological footprint—with the aim of reducing the harm we are causing the planet before it is too late. Although numerous organizations, governments, and individuals worldwide have now adopted the concept of ecological footprinting, the idea has also proved to be controversial. The authors sound a clear warning that our planet’s limited resources simply can’t support an economic system based on unlimited growth. This provides serious food for thought to thinkers and policymakers who believe we can find a middle ground between environmental conservation and economic development, and to others who place their faith in future technological discoveries to solve the problem. What is clear, though, is that Our Ecological Footprint offers a valuable tool to help us create a more just, sustainable planet and to safeguard our natural resources for generations to come.

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