Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

• 

  Charles Babbage and Ada...

  Charles River Editors

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  While many are familiar with those facts, and a recent movie revived interest in Alan Turing’s achievements with computing during World War II, it was Charles Babbage who was the first to conceive the notion of a programmable and automatic universal computer, which, on top of its ability to calculate any mathematical equation at an unmatched speed, could also be used for a seemingly infinite number of other applications. In other words, he envisioned the precursor to the modern computer.   
  At first blush, Babbage hardly seemed the type, because in many ways, Babbage was the antithesis of the debonair, silver-tongued, and effortlessly charismatic CEOs of present-day tech giants. Babbage was a quirky individual to say the least. He was highly observant, but was in the same breath a habitual daydreamer, often caught in a trance of deep thought.  Indeed, his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and his brilliant mind were unparalleled, but this was paired with his restless, addictive, and extreme nature, as well as his obsession with precision and factual accuracy.  
  	Working with Babbage was certainly an unusual path for any woman, but Ada Lovelace managed to do so before an incredibly premature death. Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, died in 1852 at the age of 36, but during her short and tumultuous life, she was one of the first to recognize that computers could do far more than complex calculations. This was all the more surprising given that, during her life, no computers existed, and her ideas were based on an implicit understanding of the theoretical work of Charles Babbage, who himself is today recognized as the “Father of the Computer.” What makes her work truly startling is that she did this more than 100 years before the first computer had even been created. But Ada Lovelace was a woman, and in Victorian England, her work was generally either ignored or disparaged.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Heartbeat of a Survivor - From...

  Nita Tin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  I glanced behind me and saw my husband being detained. The guards interrogated him and took his photo as the flashbulbs illuminated his face. The moment felt like an eternity as they searched Pe's body from head to toe. And then, he was forced to sign yet another confession. Looking on, I held my breath in anticipation as my 5-year-old son asked, "Are they going to let us go?" 
  Nita Tin, born in Rangoon, Burma, and descended from nobility, was raised in an opulent lifestyle. But as her country came under the control of a ruthless military dictator, her whole life changed. She lived through a brutal massacre of university students shot down by the government, the imprisonment of family members, struggle, oppression, and poverty. As newlyweds, she and her husband survived life in an impoverished village riddled with life-threatening illnesses in a region where there was no electricity or drinking water, and very few medical supplies, as he cared for 100,000 patients as a solo physician in cramped and unhygienic quarters. Then, in 1973, she fled her home of Golden Pagodas with her husband and two children to enter the Land of Liberty, where her soul was set free in a greater way than she could have ever dreamed possible. 
  She is passionate about sharing this story because she was the person who was set free from bondage, fear, and tyranny to a life overflowing with freedom, hope, victory, and joy. Through the valleys and difficult trials in her life, she discovered that no matter the circumstance, the pain, the heartache, the loss, or the sorrow, God can break the chains that hold us, leading us to a life that is abundant and meaningful. 
  Her story is a faith journey of unending marital romance rooted in a never-ending spiritual hunger and an ever-growing experience of God's love.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Great Southern Land - one man...

  Mark DK Berry

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In this captivating memoir, Mark, in the throes of a mid-life crisis, embarks on a solo cycling odyssey across Australia’s vast and unforgiving outback. Newly emigrated from the UK, he sets out to discover where this new life should begin. 
  Navigating barren landscapes, he confronts the harsh realities of the Australian wilderness while reflecting on life and the challenges of adapting to the environment. His journey unveils a profound appreciation of Aboriginal Australian culture and the struggles of early European settlers. 
  Through on-the-road philosophising, Mark contemplates the life he has left behind in England with the daunting task of starting anew in an unknown land. Music becomes his emotional anchor, providing solace during the most demanding stretches. 
  As he battles extreme heat, sleep deprivation, aloneness, and countless other dangers, his journey develops into a spiritual pilgrimage. Grappling with the monotony of modern life, the allure of the open road, and the elusive concept of freedom, Mark seeks direction and healing from his mid-life crisis. 
  As his funds dwindle, the journey culminates in hard-won insights, until Mark must make a final decision on where and how to begin his new life in Australia.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Sai Saileshwara

  Marina Chand

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Born into a poor family in Fiji, Saileshwara set out on a quest seeking a cure from a life-threatening condition. Through an extraordinary journey that took him half-way around the world to India, New Zealand, and then Australia, he not only survived, but he transcended his physical and mental limitations, triggering the yogie path to self-realisation. Despite the challenges of having a physical disability, Saileshwara's mind-blowing and uplifting story reveals some of the superhuman achievements possible on this inward path.

  Mostra libro

• 

  Wild West’s Most Influential...

  Editors Charles River

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the “Wild West”, which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind. 
  	Almost absent in the perceptions of modern America is the comprehension of African Americans participating so prolifically in the building of the nation. Print fiction idealizing the cowboy life to Eastern readers would not depict what had ignited the war for which so many had an utter revulsion. The black man of the post-war years did not inspire the white spirit so essential for reveling in the old system. The 20th century’s television and cinematic offerings operated on the same drive, and the existence of black cattle workers was all but blotted out. Indeed, many of the modern age are barely aware that an African-American ever “stepped foot on the West bank of the Mississippi River.” No one saw the black cowboy on screen or in print, the two information industries that shaped our perception of America’s westward expansion. Therefore, a collective assumption that they must never have existed at all was nationally internalized. 
  	However, as UCLA professors Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones, authors of The Negro Cowboys, reminded readers, about 25% of cowboys working in the West were African-American. They further noted that former slaves emigrating from the South entered virtually every viable profession in the plains, mountain ranges, and on to the Pacific. Their contribution ranged from the military to mining, exploration, farming, and in the construction of the West’s first towns.

  Mostra libro

• 

  I Have Iraq in My Shoe -...

  Gretchen Berg

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "I am not moving to Iraq to teach." 
  But the recession came hard for Gretchen Berg. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt, her only option was to uproot her life and move to the Middle East for work. She was prepared to make some good money, pay off some bad debt, take some photos of camels, and suffer through expected misogyny typical of the Middle East. She was unprepared for the drama and chaos that erupted within the well-intended, burgeoning university program, and the comical carnival of personalities she’d encounter, along with unexpected misogyny coming from inside the building. 
  How far out of your comfort zone do you have to go to find yourself? 
  Hilarious and irreverent, I Have Iraq in My Shoe takes a single, broke, fashion-obsessed American female who prefers fashion shows to news shows and launches her into Iraq where her patience, assumptions, resolve, and sense of self will be put to the test. 
  It’s a different kind of desert storm.

  Mostra libro