Other books that might interest you

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  Space 2069 - After Apollo: Back...

  David Whitehouse

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  Half a century after Apollo 11 we have still not returned to the Moon, but that is about to change. The thirteenth person to walk on the Moon could soon be part of a crew establishing a base on the lip of a crater at the lunar south pole. The discovery of ice in the eternal shadows of the polar regions transforms our ability to live on the Moon. From bases on the Moon we can make the long, lonely and dangerous voyage to Mars, where there is also ice. The obstacles are many, not least the fragilities of the human body. And what type of world would the first Mars explorers find? Science journalist David Whitehouse presents a mind-expanding tour of humanity's future in space over the next 50 years, up to the 100th anniversary of the moon landing.

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  Introduction to the Universe An...

  Guy Consolmagno

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  Let the beauty of astronomy inspire your contemplation of creation.
  
  An Introduction to the Universe: The Big Ideas of Astronomy will give you a deeper appreciation of the sky and our ever-growing understanding of astronomy. Your guide for this journey through the cosmos is Dr. Guy Consolmagno (Ph.D., University of Arizona), a renowned astronomer and director of the Vatican's astronomical observatory. In his engaging lectures, you'll deepen your sense of joy as you gaze at the stars and planets.
  
  Astronomy is something everyone can do: it takes no special equipment or specialized education to look at the sky. But you first need to know what to look for. With this in mind, Dr. Consolmagno teaches you how to examine the sky yourself, recognizing its rhythms and regularities.
  
  You'll then explore how professional astronomers and religious texts have understood the stars. As you navigate our solar system and other galaxies, you will explore the meaning of dark energy, dark matter, and the dark skies themselves.
  
  Dr. Consolmagno's talks are not a mere recitation of facts but rather a reminder that, like the stars above, you too are a brilliant and living part of this remarkable universe.

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  Boiling Point - Government...

  Maude Barlow

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  Passionate and cogent, this could be the most important book of the year for Canadians 
  We are complacent. We bask in the idea that Canada holds 20% of the world’s fresh water—water crises face other countries, but not ours. We could not be more wrong. In Boiling Point, bestselling author and activist Maude Barlow lays bare the issues facing Canada’s water reserves, including long-outdated water laws, unmapped and unprotected groundwater reserves, agricultural pollution, industrial-waste dumping, boil-water advisories, and the effects of deforestation and climate change. This will be the defining issue of the coming decade, and most of us have no idea that it is on our very own doorstep. 
  Barlow is one of the world’s foremost water activists and she has been on the front lines of the world’s water crises for the past 20 years. She has seen first-hand the scale of the water problems facing much of the world, but also many of the solutions that are being applied. In Boiling Point, she brings this wealth of experience and expertise home to craft a compelling blueprint for Canada’s water security.

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  Invention And Discovery: Curious...

  Unknown

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  In this little volume are brought together a number of sketches and memoranda, illustrating the history of discovery, and the lives and labours of inventors and explorers, not of our own country alone, but of others, for knowledge is of no country, but of all. The object of the collector has been rather to present the popular than the strictly scientific side of his subject, to furnish materials of interest and amusement, as well as instruction; and if now and then he has been tempted to stray into bye-paths of anecdote and gossip, excuse may readily be found in the fact that the private life of our men of science, often singularly noble and full of character, is apt to be altogether obscured by the brilliancy of the results of their secret and silent toil. This volume will have served its purpose, if it excites an appetite for fuller and deeper inquisition into the sources of British greatness and of modern civilization.Since there are no chapter or other divisions of these anecdotes, the reader has chosen to read entries for about thirty minutes per section.  There is an index of topics in the printed book available on projectgutenberg.org.  (From Book Introductory Note and David Wales)

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  Wanting - The Power of Mimetic...

  Luke Burgis

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  A groundbreaking exploration of why we want what we want, and a toolkit for freeing ourselves from chasing unfulfilling desires.Gravity affects every aspect of our physical being, but there’s a psychological force just as powerful—yet almost nobody has heard of it. It’s responsible for bringing groups of people together and pulling them apart, making certain goals attractive to some and not to others, and fueling cycles of anxiety and conflict. In Wanting, Luke Burgis draws on the work of French polymath René Girard to bring this hidden force to light and reveals how it shapes our lives and societies.  According to Girard, humans don’t desire anything independently. Human desire is mimetic—we imitate what other people want. This affects the way we choose partners, friends, careers, clothes, and vacation destinations. Mimetic desire is responsible for the formation of our very identities. It explains the enduring relevancy of Shakespeare’s plays, why Peter Thiel decided to be the first investor in Facebook, and why our world is growing more divided as it becomes more connected.Wanting also shows that conflict does not arise because of our differences—it comes from our sameness. Because we learn to want what other people want, we often end up competing for the same things. Ignoring our large similarities, we cling to our perceived differences.Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur, teacher, and student of classical philosophy and theology, Burgis shares tactics that help turn blind wanting into intentional wanting--not by trying to rid ourselves of desire, but by desiring differently. It’s possible to be more in control of the things we want, to achieve more independence from trends and bubbles, and to find more meaning in our work and lives.The future will be shaped by our desires. Wanting shows us how to desire a better one.A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press"This book makes a startling case that many of our goals are merely reflections of what we think others want. It’s a spellbinding read, and it will leave you rethinking your own motivations for months and maybe even years later.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and Originals, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife"Luke Burgis’ Wanting is a brilliant exploration of the hidden and powerful dynamics of desire operating in our age of social media memes, commercial rivalry, and rising partisan scapegoating and violence...It’s a call to discernment and a deeper fulfillment that lights a path beyond the darkness of our current world." --Stephen Hanselman, New York Times bestselling co-author of Lives of the Stoics and The Daily Stoic

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  The Origin of Species

  Charles Darwin

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  The Origin of Species (or, more completely, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life), published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. The book presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had collected on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology. Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to other animals. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation was not accepted by the scientific mainstream.The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its publication. As Darwin was an eminent scientist, his findings were taken seriously and the evidence he presented generated scientific, philosophical, and religious discussion. The debate over the book contributed to the campaign by T. H. Huxley and his fellow members of the X Club to secularise science by promoting scientific naturalism. Within two decades there was widespread scientific agreement that evolution, with a branching pattern of common descent, had occurred, but scientists were slow to give natural selection the significance that Darwin thought appropriate. During the eclipse of Darwinism from the 1880s to the 1930s, various other mechanisms of evolution were given more credit. With the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s, Darwin's concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection became central to modern evolutionary theory, and it has now become the unifying concept of the life sciences.

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