A comprehensive history of more than a century of sex research by a scholar who has been deeply involved in the field and who has known personally most of the players since Kinsey.
“A refreshing collection of superb mathematical essays . . . from choosing up sides to choosing names, the topics are intriguingly nonstandard . . . First-rate.” —John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracy A science and technology journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in multiple anthologies, Brian Hayes now presents a selection of his most memorable pieces—including the National Magazine Award–winning “Clock of Ages”—in this enjoyable volume. In addition, Hayes embellishes the collection with an overall scene-setting preface, reconfigured illustrations, and a refreshingly self-critical “Afterthoughts” section appended to each essay. “You don’t have to be a geek to appreciate Hayes’s lively, self-effacing style . . . The first essay explains how clockmakers developed the gears and linkages that enabled fabled medieval clocks to reach remarkable accuracy, as well as predict the day Easter would fall on. Other essays celebrate the notion of random numbers and why they are so hard to achieve. Numerical analysis also plays a role in economic models based on the kinetic theory of gases or simplified markets involving iterations of buying and selling. Hayes goes on to explain how statistics have been applied to compute which quarrels—from interpersonal to world wars—are the deadliest (surprising results here) . . . Challenging but rewarding for anyone intrigued by numbers.” —Kirkus Reviews “As much as any book I can name, Group Theory in the Bedroom conveys to a general audience the playfulness involved in doing mathematics: how questions arise as a form of play, how our first attempts at answering questions usually seem naive in hindsight but are crucial for finding eventual solutions, and how a good solution just feels right.” —David Austin, Notices of the AMS
An erudite and highly enjoyable exploration of the most intriguing of personal spaces, from Greek and Roman antiquity through today The winner of France’s prestigious Prix Femina Essai (2009), this imaginative and captivating book explores the many dimensions of the room in which we spend so much of our lives—the bedroom. Eminent cultural historian Michelle Perrot traces the evolution of the bedroom from the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans to today, examining its myriad forms and functions, from royal king’s chamber to child’s sleeping quarters to lovers’ trysting place to monk’s cell. The history of women, so eager for a room of their own, and that of prisons, where the principal cause of suffering is the lack of privacy, is interwoven with a reflection on secrecy, walls, the night and its mysteries. Drawing from a wide range of sources, including architectural and design treatises, private journals, novels, memoirs, and correspondences, Perrot’s engaging book follows the many roads that lead to the bedroom—birth, sex, illness, death—in its endeavor to expose the most intimate, nocturnal side of human history.
Science Magic is a series of four paperbacks for children, that make science fun! Find out about everyday science, while performing as a magician, and dazzle your friends and family. Each book uses objects to be found in a different room in the house, to explain some basic scientific principles through magic tricks, or experiments. The easy, accessible text is complemented with cartoon illustrations throughout. Richard Robinson has created numerous popular science shows for television, including The Big Bang (CITV), and The Riddlers (YTV). He also helped set up and perform in the first series of Spitting Image.
Presents nine science experiments to be performed in the house, demonstrating such scientific properties as static electricity, light reflections, and magnetism.
Jake McBride is a self-made millionaire, brilliant at business, talented in bed--and cynical about women. Emily Taylor is his personal assistant, terrific in the office...and an innocent when it comes to the opposite sex! But when Jake teaches Emily how to transform herself from shy secretary into sexy siren, he loses his grip on his legendary cool. If she's going to lose her virginity, it has to be to him!
Bed bugs are thriving across the globe--from North and South America, to Africa, Asia and Europe. For some time, bed bugs were naively seen as a problem unique to developing countries, but their love of high thread content sheets has set them up in five-star residences in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other parts of Europe as well. Bed Bugs were first noticed in society by Americans in the early 1700 s. Many believe sailboats returning from Europe unknowingly carried the bugs as cargo, as sailors complained of being attacked as they slept in their cabins. With the introduction of DDT in the 1950s, bed bugs nearly disappeared. But when DDT was banned in the 1970 s, a wave of super bed bugs rejoiced. Now, up to 25% of residents in some cities have reported problems with the pests, bordering on epidemic levels. In fact, history has never seen such widespread and intense bed bug infestations. Our propensity for travel has left bed bugs with enviable frequent flyer status too. Following the Sydney Olympics, for example, and the thousands of visitors to Australia, it was estimated that the bed bug occupancy rate in Sydney hotels was 95%. In "Sleep Tight, "Brooke Borel introduces readers to the biology of these amazingly adaptive insects which can travel over 100 foot distances at night--and the myriad ways in which humans respond to them. She travels to meet with scientists who are rearing bed bug colonies on their own blood-- to the BedBug University, to swank apartments on the upper East Side of Manhattan. She explores the history of bed bugs, and their near extinction, charting how current infestations are in direct response to human chemical use. She also introduces us to the economics of bed bug infestations, and the industry that has arisen to combat that. This is the first history and natural history of bed bugs, and it leaves few exoskeletons unturned."
LI>As the partner of an incest survivor, do you feel like a neglected victim even though your life has been drastically affected by the aftermath of sexual abuse? Do you fee left out in the cold as you watch them go through recovery? Do you feel isolated or rejected, and think that no one else will understand your problems? Although the impact of incest or sexual abuse can destroy relationships and test long-standing commitments, the information in this book may be the key to holding your relationship together through the journey to recovery. Ghosts in the Bedroom provides comfort and guidance for partners in the process of recovery. Graber draws from personal experience to show how partners can accept responsibility for their own issues, support the recovery of the incest or sexual abuse survivor and work toward solving relationship problems together.
BIRTH CONTROL, CONTRACEPTION, FAMILY PLANNING. Heralded as the catalyst of the sexual revolution and the solution to global overpopulation, the contraceptive pill was one of the twentieth century's most important inventions. It has not only transformed the lives of millions of women but has also pushed the limits of drug monitoring and regulation across the world. This deeply-researched new history of the oral contraceptive shows how its development and use have raised crucial questions about the relationship between science, medicine, technology, and society. Lara Marks explores the reasons why the pill took so long to be developed and explains why it did not prove to be the social panacea envisioned by its inventors. Unacceptable to the Catholic Church, rejected by countries such as India and Japan, too expensive for women in poor countries, it has, more recently, been linked to cardiovascular problems.