Catalog Search Results
Author
Language
English
Description
"Brilliant and fascinating. No one is better at making the recondite accessible and exciting." —Bill Bryson
This enhanced eBook edition takes readers even deeper into The Great Unknown with exclusive video and audio clips. Watch du Sautoy demonstrate chaos theory with his wooden pendulum, stumble to find logic in a paradoxical notecard, search his own iPhone for signs of consciousness, and show off the portable pot of uranium...
This enhanced eBook edition takes readers even deeper into The Great Unknown with exclusive video and audio clips. Watch du Sautoy demonstrate chaos theory with his wooden pendulum, stumble to find logic in a paradoxical notecard, search his own iPhone for signs of consciousness, and show off the portable pot of uranium...
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"The bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your beliefs and to know what you don't know, which can position you for success at work and happiness at home. The difficulty of rethinking our assumptions is surprisingly common--maybe even fundamentally human. Our ways of thinking become habits that we don't bother to question, and mental laziness leads us to prefer the ease of old...
Author
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Pub. Date
1992
Language
English
Description
At long last, Truth and Existence allows us to read Jean-Paul Sartre's analysis of knowing and truth. This brilliant epistemological sequel to Being and Nothingness was found among Sartre's unpublished manuscripts by his adoptive daughter and executor, Arlette Elkaim-Sartre. Posthumously published in France in 1989, the work dates to 1948, shortly after Sartre's controversial call for the writer's political commitment and his celebrated public lecture...
Author
Publisher
Hay House, Inc
Pub. Date
c2013.
Language
English
Description
Just about everything today comes with an operating manual -- from your computer to your car, from your cell phone to your iPad. Is it possible that Life comes with an operating manual, as well? That's the simple, but powerful premise of Tom Shadyac's inspiring and provocative first book. Written as a series of essays and dialogues, we are invited into a conversation that is both challenging and empowering. The question now is, can we discern what...
Author
Publisher
Basic Books
Pub. Date
c2010
Language
English
Description
Just as Marxism, existentialism, and feminism shaped the last century, so fundamentalism, globalization, and bioethics are transforming our world now. Grayling provides a personal dictionary of the ideas that will shape our world in the decades to come, ranging across the gamut of essential theories, movements, and philosophies--from animal rights to neurophilosophy to war crimes.
Author
Publisher
Liveright Publishing Corporation
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
We used to say "seeing is believing"; now googling is believing. With 24/7 access to nearly all of the world's information at our fingertips, we no longer trek to the library or the encyclopedia shelf in search of answers. We just open our browsers, type in a few keywords and wait for the information to come to us. Indeed, the Internet has revolutionized the way we learn and know, as well as how we interact with each other. And yet this explosion...
Author
Publisher
Times Books
Pub. Date
c2011
Language
English
Description
Shermer demonstrates how our brains selectively assess data in an attempt to confirm the conclusions (beliefs) we've already reached. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, he considers not only supernatural beliefs but political and economic ones as well.
Author
Publisher
Atlantic Books
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Why does one smoker die of lung cancer but another live to 100? The answer is 'The Hidden Half' - those random, unknowable variables that mess up our attempts to comprehend the world. We humans are very clever creatures - but we're idiots about how clever we really are. In this entertaining and ingenious book, Blastland reveals how in our quest to make the world more understandable, we lose sight of how unexplainable it often is. The result - from...
12) Memory theater
Author
Publisher
Other Press
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
A French philosopher dies during a savage summer heat wave. Boxes carrying his unpublished papers mysteriously appear in Simon Critchley's office. Rooting through them, Critchley discovers a brilliant text on the ancient art of memory and a cache of astrological charts predicting the deaths of various philosophers. Among them is a chart for Critchley himself, laying out in great detail the course of his life and eventual demise. While waiting for...
Author
Publisher
Yale University Press
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
From Leonardo Da Vinci to John Dee and Comenius, from George Eliot to Oliver Sacks and Susan Sontag, polymaths have moved the frontiers of knowledge in countless ways. But history can be unkind to scholars with such encyclopaedic interests. All too often these individuals are remembered for just one part of their valuable achievements. In this account, renowned cultural historian Peter Burke argues for a more rounded view. Identifying 500 western...
Author
Publisher
Pear Press
Pub. Date
[2014]
Language
English
Description
In Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain rule -- what scientists know for sure about how our brains work -- and then offers transformative ideas for our daily lives. You'll learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You'll peer over a surgeon's shoulder as he proves that...
Author
Publisher
W.W. Norton & Company
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Description
"The complete story of the universe and absolutely everything in it (minus the boring parts). Despite our clever linguistic abilities, humans are spectacularly ill-equipped to comprehend what's happening in the universe. Our senses and intuition routinely mislead us. The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged) tells the story of how we came to suppress our monkey minds and perceive the true nature of reality. Written with wit and humor,...
Author
Publisher
Liveright Publishing Corporation
Pub. Date
[2020]
Language
English
Description
"A paradigm-shifting work that revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science. Captivatingly written, interwoven with tantalizing illustrations and historical vignettes ranging from Newton's alchemy to quantum mechanics to the storm surge of Hurricane Sandy, Michael Strevens's wholly original investigation of science asks two fundamental questions: Why is science so powerful? And why did it take so long, two thousand years...
Author
Publisher
Pantheon Books
Pub. Date
2013.
Language
English
Description
Meditates on scientific findings that are changing the understanding of the cosmos, exploring such topics as the debate between science and religion, the conflict between the desire for permanence and nature's impermanence, and the ways technology has changed physical experiences.
19) Unflattening
Author
Publisher
Harvard University Press
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
The primacy of words over images has deep roots in Western culture. But what if the two are inextricably linked, equal partners in meaning-making? Written and drawn entirely as comics, Unflattening is an experiment in visual thinking. Nick Sousanis defies conventional forms of scholarly discourse to offer readers both a stunning work of graphic art and a serious inquiry into the ways humans construct knowledge.
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