“A great read… Goldberg is an excellent guide.”—Mario Livio, bestselling author of The Golden Ratio Physicist Dave Goldberg speeds across space, time and everything in between showing that our elegant universe—from the Higgs boson to antimatter to the most massive group of galaxies—is shaped by hidden symmetries that have driven all our recent discoveries about the universe and all the ones to come. Why is the sky dark at night? If there is anti-matter, can there be anti-people? Why are past, present, and future our only options? Saluting the brilliant but unsung female mathematician Emmy Noether as well as other giants of physics, Goldberg answers these questions and more, exuberantly demonstrating that symmetry is the big idea—and the key to what lies ahead.
A theoretical astrophysicist explores the ideas that transformed our knowledge of the universe over the past century. The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, propelled by dark energy and structured by dark matter. Priyamvada Natarajan, our guide to these ideas, is someone at the forefront of the research—an astrophysicist who literally creates maps of invisible matter in the universe. She not only explains for a wide audience the science behind these essential ideas but also provides an understanding of how radical scientific theories gain acceptance. The formation and growth of black holes, dark matter halos, the accelerating expansion of the universe, the echo of the big bang, the discovery of exoplanets, and the possibility of other universes—these are some of the puzzling cosmological topics of the early twenty-first century. Natarajan discusses why the acceptance of new ideas about the universe and our place in it has never been linear and always contested even within the scientific community. And she affirms that, shifting and incomplete as science always must be, it offers the best path we have toward making sense of our wondrous, mysterious universe. “Part history, part science, all illuminating. If you want to understand the greatest ideas that shaped our current cosmic cartography, read this book.”—Adam G. Riess, Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2011 “A highly readable, insider’s view of recent discoveries in astronomy with unusual attention to the instruments used and the human drama of the scientists.”—Alan Lightman, author of The Accidental Universe and Einstein's Dream
Follow three Dutch library employees on a coast-to-coast U.S. road trip to discover how American libraries are engaging their communities and preparing for the future.
“I love to kill people. I love watching them die.” So said Richard Ramirez, the notorious Los Angeles “Night Stalker.” Can we say that he, and others like him, are pure evil? Or, is that just a matter of personal opinion? This book is about morality. It’s about proving good and evil are real; that they’re not just an opinion; that they are based on a measurable standard; that the measurable standard comes not from religion, not from philosophy, but from science. What is that scientific standard? Symmetry. It’s how things work in physics, in aesthetics, and even in ethics. The same symmetry that governs the interaction among subatomic particles, that forms the wings of a butterfly, that determines the genius of a snowflake, also has fashioned you and me as moral beings, and has given us the choice between what’s evil and what’s good. That’s what I explain.
EXPANDED 4th EDITION: Largely unnoticed by the general public, three intellectual giants of the 20th century, Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag, mathematical physicist Albert Einstein, mathematician Emmy Noether and the pioneering value investor Benjamin Graham, revealed the central role of symmetry in what we call reality. The most symmetric form is the Circle. Nature largely builds its diversity and abundance on circular motions and cycles. Yet, our linear economic model does not respect the central role of symmetry (balance, harmony, unity), and consequently disregards the holistic benefits of Nature’s positive circular motions. The book details how Nature, the cosmos, universally communicates in the super simple language of symmetry. It examines how Rav Ashlag, Einstein, Noether and Graham along with other scholars from around the globe, unveiled that symmetry is the creative principle which can build a prosperous future for Man, Artificial Intelligence and Nature together, via a symmetric, positive, eco-intelligent and climate-smart Circular Economy.
Both brilliant and funny, John Sherman has a loyal following Features the best of Climbing magazine's Verm's World Insightful and often irreverent profiles of some of North America's best climbers Outrageous, talented, and a force to be reckoned with, John Sherman is always willing to spout an opinion that's sure to raise eyebrows. This rowdy collection of biting satire, parody profiles, barely restrained rants, and genuine reflections on climbing's unsung heroes is no different. Blending his juiciest Verm's World columns from Climbing magazine with previously unpublished (or, perhaps, unpublishable?) stories, Sherman pulls no punches, even on himself. From his college exploits in buildering on the Berkeley campus, to his quest for the Fab 50, to his years as a nomadic boulderer, Sherman shares the best, and the worst, he has found in the people and places he encountered along the way. Climbers will discover valuable excuse-making techniques in The Dog Ate My Belay Plate; they will aspire to the very un-PC All Vermin Team; and they will challenge themselves with The Verm's World History Aptitude Test. Who could ask for more?
Operation First Novel 2013 contest winner, Prime of Life was released in Kindle edition only and has garnered in excess of 175 positive reviews with over 6,000 paid downloads.
The heroine of this gripping tale is a member of the largely forgotten class, whose small voices go mostly unheeded when they protest their fate. She is the child of an abuser, born into desperate conditions; she lives in a nightmare until finally as a teen she escapes under the cover of darkness, but the abuse she suffered has written an indelible message on her psyche and it colors her life. She becomes a news anchor, that's why so many people think they know Faye Lawrence ... but none do! Keeping secrets is not a choice for her it's a compulsion, it stems from the crushing abuse she suffered during the first fourteen years of her life. Her self loathing is a remnant of that abuse as well; it drives her incessantly to achieve respectability, and normalcy. She loves Kenneth Murphy with an insatiable yearning; he's her first lover ever! He returns her love, but there's a catch ... he already has a love. Can she win him? She struggles to find her ultimate destiny, and it's all complicated by her childhood tormentor when he comes looking for revenge! Will she ever escape his blood lust?
Chicago’s only professional wizard is about to have a very bad day in the latest novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files... As Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry Dresden never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful. Mab has traded Harry’s skills to pay off a debt. And now he must help a group of villains led by Harry’s most despised enemy, Nicodemus Archleone, to break into a high-security vault so that they can then access a vault in the Nevernever. Problem is, the vault belongs to Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld. And Dresden is dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess...
A 2024 Sydney Taylor Honor Book! Two vampire brothers must set aside their differences to solve a series of murders in this humorous and delightfully spooky novel for young readers. For fans of Too Bright to See. Adam and Victor are brothers who have the usual fights over the remote, which movie to watch and whether or not it's morally acceptable to eat people. Well, not so much eat . . . just drink a little blood. They're vampires, hiding in plain sight with their eclectic yet loving family. Ten-year-old Adam knows he has a better purpose in his life (well, immortal life) than just drinking blood, but fourteen-year-old Victor wants to accept his own self-image of vampirism. Everything changes when bodies start to appear all over town, and it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for the family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it’s too late?
