Other books that might interest you

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  Curiosity - How Science Became...

  Philip Ball

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  With the recent landing of the Mars rover Curiosity, it seems safe to assume that the idea of being curious is alive and well in modern science—that it’s not merely encouraged but is seen as an essential component of the scientific mission. Yet there was a time when curiosity was condemned. Neither Pandora nor Eve could resist the dangerous allure of unanswered questions, and all knowledge wasn’t equal—for millennia it was believed that there were some things we should not try to know. In the late sixteenth century this attitude began to change dramatically, and in Curiosity:How Science Became Interested in Everything, Philip Ball investigates how curiosity first became sanctioned—when it changed from a vice to a virtue and how it became permissible to ask any and every question about the world. Looking closely at the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, Ball vividly brings to life the age when modern science began, a time that spans the lives of Galileo and Isaac Newton. In this entertaining and illuminating account of the rise of science as we know it, Ball tells of scientists both legendary and lesser known, from Copernicus and Kepler to Robert Boyle, as well as the inventions and technologies that were inspired by curiosity itself, such as the telescope and the microscope. The so-called Scientific Revolution is often told as a story of great geniuses illuminating the world with flashes of inspiration. But Curiosity reveals a more complex story, in which the liberation—and subsequent taming—of curiosity was linked to magic, religion, literature, travel, trade, and empire. Ball also asks what has become of curiosity today: how it functions in science, how it is spun and packaged for consumption, how well it is being sustained, and how the changing shape of science influences the kinds of questions it may continue to ask. Though proverbial wisdom tell us that it was through curiosity that our innocence was lost, that has not deterred us. Instead, it has been completely the contrary: today we spend vast sums trying to reconstruct the first instants of creation in particle accelerators, out of a pure desire to know. Ball refuses to let us take this desire for granted, and this book is a perfect homage to such an inquisitive attitude.

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  White-breasted Nuthatch and...

  Greg Cetus

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  The White-breasted Nuthatch is a diminutive passerine bird, widely distributed across the United States, Canada, and parts of Mexico. The White-breasted Nuthatch may spend much of its time industriously carrying seeds away to hide them in crevices. Its nasal calls are typical and familiar sounds of winter mornings in deciduous woods over much of North America. This binaural audio recording features the White-breasted Nuthatch birdsong recorded in its natural habitat in Iowa’s Yellow River State Forest near a delicate babbling river stream together with other birds, insects, and ground creatures. Other birdsongs include: Yellow Warbler, Song Sparrow, Eastern Phoebe with Blue Jay, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drumming in background.

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  The Frontier Below

  Jeff Maynard

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  Triumphs and disasters in the deep sea 
  This is a journey through time and water, to the bottom of the ocean and the future of our planet. 
  We do not see the ocean when we look at the water that blankets more than two thirds of our planet. We only see the entrance to it. Beyond that entrance is a world hostile to humans, yet critical to our survival. The first divers to enter that world held their breath and splashed beneath the surface, often clutching rocks to pull them down. Over centuries, they invented wooden diving bells, clumsy diving suits, and unwieldy contraptions in attempts to go deeper and stay longer. But each advance was fraught with danger, as the intruders had to survive the crushing weight of water, or the deadly physiological effects of breathing compressed air. The vertical odyssey continued when explorers squeezed into heavy steel balls dangling on cables, or slung beneath floats filled with flammable gasoline. Plunging into the narrow trenches between the tectonic plates of the Earth’s crust, they eventually reached the bottom of the ocean in the same decade that men first walked on the moon. 
  Today, as nations scramble to exploit the resources of the ocean floor, The Frontier Below recalls a story of human endeavour that took 2,000 years to travel seven miles, then investigates how we will explore the ocean in the future. 
  Meticulously researched and drawing extensively on unpublished sources and personal interviews, The Frontier Below is the untold story of the pioneers who had the right stuff, but were forgotten because they went in the wrong direction. 
  The Frontier Below by Jeff Maynard is a captivating journey through the history of maritime expeditions, the science of physiology, and the economics of resource extraction. It is a testament to human endeavour and the indomitable spirit of exploration, offering a glimpse into the future of our oceans. 
  For fans of Julian Sancton (Madhouse at the End of the Earth), Buddy Levy (Empire of Ice and Stone), Rachel Lance (In the Waves), James Bradley (Ghost Species), and Helen Czerski (Blue Machine). 
  HarperCollins 2023

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  The National Road - Dispatches...

  Tom Zoellner

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  This collection of "eloquent essays that examine the relationship between the American landscape and the national character" serves to remind us that despite our differences we all belong to the same land (Publishers Weekly). 
   
   
   
  What does it mean when a nation accustomed to moving begins to settle down, when political discord threatens unity, and when technology disrupts traditional ways of building communities? Is a shared soil enough to reinvigorate a national spirit? 
   
   
   
  From the embaattled newsrooms of small town newspapers to the pornography film sets of the Los Angeles basin, from the check–out lanes of Dollar General to the holy sites of Mormonism, from the nation's highest peaks to the razed remains of a cherished home, like a latter–day Woody Guthrie, Tom Zoellner takes to the highways and byways of a vast land in search of the soul of its people. 
   
   
   
  By turns nostalgic and probing, incisive and enraged, Zoellner's reflections reveal a nation divided by faith, politics, and shifting economies, but—more importantly—one united by a shared sense of ownership in the common land.

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  Psychedelics For Everyone - A...

  Matt Zemon MSc

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  In Psychedelics for Everyone, a #1 Amazon Best Seller in 19 categories,Matt Zemon provides readers with an inspiring foundation for understanding the profound transformational power of psychedelics. As psychiatric methods and medicines have advanced over the past fifty years, there is an entire group of possible treatment methodologies that the United States—and much of the Western world—has chosen to ignore and demonize. Despite this, there is a wide breadth of medical practitioners and indigenous healers who recognize the benefits of psychedelic treatment. In Psychedelics for Everyone, Matt Zemon shares personal stories of his use of psychedelics, as well as presents curated, medically reviewed information from experts in the clinical use of psychedelics that is certain to make anyone reevaluate all they’ve been taught about drugs.In this book, you’ll learn:How to microdoseWhere and how you can take psychedelics legallyTechniques for psychedelic preparation and integrationAnd much, much more….

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  The Unity of Science - Exploring...

  Irwin Shapiro

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  A journey guided by science that explores the universe, the earth, and the story of life 
   
   
    
  For Irwin Shapiro, science starts with questions. This book provides a broad and entertaining survey of major scientific discoveries that have changed our views of nature and, in turn, spawned further questions. 
   
   
    
  Shapiro, an award-winning scientist and beloved teacher, separates his inquiry into three parts: looking up at the universe; looking down at the earth and its fossils; and looking in at the story of life. His framework encourages listeners to view science as a detective story—to observe and question nature and natural phenomena, and to base all conclusions on scientific evidence. 
   
   
    
  With his knowledgeable yet conversational approach, Shapiro offers an enjoyable way for the curious to learn about the foundations of a range of scientific topics: the motions of bodies in the cosmos, the history and structure of the earth, the evolution of organisms, and the search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence.

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