Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Cabaret of Plants - Forty...

  Richard Mabey

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  A rich, sweeping, and compelling work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Richard Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death.Mabey takes listeners from the Himalayas to Madagascar to the Amazon to our own backyards. He ranges through the work of writers, artists, and scientists and across nearly 40,000 years of human history: Ice Age images of plant life in ancient cave art and the earliest representations of the Garden of Eden; Newton's apple and gravity, Priestley's sprig of mint and photosynthesis, and Wordsworth's daffodils; the history of cultivated plants such as maize, ginseng, and cotton; and the ways the sturdy oak became the symbol of British nationhood and the giant sequoia came to epitomize the spirit of America.

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  Among Typhoons And Pirate Craft

  Lindsay Anderson

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  Anderson served as third officer aboard the Eamont. Eamont was an opium clipper built in Cowes. Eamont was involved in the opening of Japan to foreigners in 1858, serving as a dispatch boat between Nagasaki and Shanghai, and was one of the first vessels to open up a trade with Formosa. The Eamont was employed in the negotiations for the first commercial treaty with Japan. On this occasion she ran into Nagasaki and quietly dropped anchor, in spite of the fact that opposition to the proposed commercial treaty was very strong at the time. On the following morning 150 boat-loads of Japanese attempted to tow her to sea, being evidently ignorant of an anchor's raison d'etre. But though they attempted several similar methods to get rid of her they refrained from any armed attack, and, eventually, her mission was completely successful. This was in 1858, and the Eamont's crew saw many wonderful sights in that tierra incognita. The September Typhoon of 1858 destroyed several well-known opium clippers at Double Island, including the Anonyma, Gazelle, Pantaloon, and Mazeppa. Eamont was anchored off Double Island, with "150 fathoms of chain out and a second anchor backed on it at 60 fathoms." The waves in the anchorage were estimated to be as large as 40 feet, and the Eamont’s crew had to cut away her masts. Eamont was one of only two ships in that anchorage to survive the night, the other being the Hazard. (See Wikipedia article on Eamont (schooner)) ( wikipedia and david wales)

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  Necessary Scars - A Doctor's...

  Philip Berry

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  Whether you are a doctor, nurse, student, or otherwise interested listener, the stories here will help you to understand how medicine works and how medical error can happen. The lifelong process of learning that is a medical career requires healthcare workers to find a way to live through these setbacks without either becoming too adept at putting them 'down to experience' and forgetting their social significance, or 'burning out' and leaving medicine.The stories and discussions here present detailed narratives, analyses, and reflections on medical errors through actions, omissions, and misunderstandings. They offer a uniquely honest perspective on the social implications of medical error and will enable healthcare workers at all levels to analyze and learn from it without losing sight of its impact.

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  Overkill - When Modern Medicine...

  M.D. Paul A. Offit

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  An acclaimed medical expert and patient advocate offers an eye-opening look at many common and widely used medical interventions that have been shown to be far more harmful than helpful. Yet, surprisingly, despite clear evidence to the contrary, most doctors continue to recommend them. 
  Modern medicine has significantly advanced in the last few decades as more informed practices, thorough research, and incredible breakthroughs have made it possible to successfully treat and even eradicate many serious ailments. Illnesses that once were a death sentence, such as HIV and certain forms of cancer, can now be managed, allowing those affected to live longer, healthier lives. Because of these advances, we now live 30 years longer than we did 100 years ago. 
  But while we have learned much in the preceding decades that has changed our outlook and practices, we still rely on medical interventions that are vastly out of date and can adversely affect our health. We all know that finishing the course of antibiotics prevents the recurrence of illness, that sunscreens block harmful UV rays that cause skin cancer, and that all cancer-screening programs save lives. But do scientific studies really back this up?  
  In this game-changing book, Dr. Paul A. Offit debunks fifteen common medical interventions that have long been considered gospel despite mounting evidence of their adverse effects, from vitamins, sunscreen, fever-reducing medicines, and eyedrops for pink eye to more serious procedures like heart stents and knee surgery. Analyzing how these practices came to be, the biology of what makes them so ineffective and harmful, and the medical culture that continues to promote them, Overkill informs patients to help them advocate for their health. By educating ourselves, we can ask better questions about some of the drugs and surgeries that are all too readily available—and all too heavily promoted.

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  How To Lie With Statistics

  Darrell Huff

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  Now available in audio for the first time! Darrell Huff's celebrated classic "How to Lie With Statistics" is a straight-forward and engaging guide to understanding the manipulation and misrepresentation of information that could be lurking behind every graph, chart, and infographic. Originally published in 1954, it remains as relevant and necessary as ever in our digital world where information is king—and as easy to distort and manipulate as it is to access.     A pre-cursor to modern popular science books like Steven D. Levitt's "Freakonomics" and Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers", Huff runs the gamut of every popularly used type of statistic, probes such things as the sample study, the tabulation method, the interview technique, or the way the results are derived from the figures, and points up the countless number of dodges which are used to full rather than to inform. Critically acclaimed by media outlets like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and recommended by Bill Gates as a perfect beach read, "How to Lie With Statistics" stands as the go-to book for understanding the use of statistics by teachers and leaders everywhere. "A hilarious exploration of mathematical mendacity…. Every time you pick it up, what happens? Bang goes another illusion!" — The New York Times"In one short take after another, Huff picks apart the ways in which marketers use statistics, charts, graphics and other ways of presenting numbers to baffle and trick the public. The chapter “How to Talk Back to a Statistic” is a brilliant step-by-step guide to figuring out how someone is trying to deceive you with data." — Wall Street Journal"A great introduction to the use of statistics, and a great refresher for anyone who's already well versed in it." — Bill Gates"Mr. Huff's lively, human-interest treatment of the dry-as-bones subject of statistics is a timely tonic…This book needed to be written, and makes its points in an entertaining, highly readable manner."— Management Review"Illustrator and author pool their considerable talents to provide light lively reading and cartoon far which will entertain, really inform, and take the wind out of many an overblown statistical sail." — Library Journal"A pleasantly subversive little book, guaranteed to undermine your faith in the almighty statistic." — Atlantic

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  Never Cry Wolf

  Farley Mowat

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  More than half a century ago, the naturalist Farley Mowat accepted an assignment to investigate why wolves were killing Arctic caribou. Mowat’s account of the summer he lived in the frozen tundra alone – studying the wolf population and developing a deep affection for these wild creatures (who were no threat to caribou or man) – is today celebrated as a classic of nature writing, at once a tale of remarkable adventure and an indelible record of the myths and magic of wolves.

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