Ordinary Geniuses PDF Download

Author: Gino Segre
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143121308
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
A fascinating tribute to the forefathers of two of today’s most exciting scientific fields Thanks to Max Delbruck and George Gamow, today we have mapped the human genome and understand the ramifications of the Big Bang. In his characteristically inviting and elegant style, Gino Segre brings to life the story of these two great scientists and their long friendship and offers an accessible inside look the people behind the scenes of science—the collaboration and competition, the quirks and failures, the role of intuition and luck, and the sense of wonder and curiosity that keeps these extraordinary minds going.

Author: Thomas Fox Averill
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 080321068X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
A collection of short fiction by an O. Henry Award-winning author explores the transcendent and magical qualities that transform even the most mundane life in Midwestern Kansas, capturing the unique and extraordinary world of a young boy hunting for a runaway hourse, a couple ostracized in their small town, a grieving high school basketball star, and other colorful characters.

Author: Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
Publisher: First Avenue Editions
ISBN: 1575050676
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Recounts the life of the scientist whose theories of relativity revolutionized the way we look at space and time.

Author: Richard Phillips Feynman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393313932
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
A portrait of the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist recounts his early enthusiasm for science, work on the atom bomb, and inquiry into the Challenger explosion.

Author: Roberta Ness
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199976597
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Shows how the most creative minds in science used tools that can help us improve our creative abilities. Geniuses are not omnipotent. They are just very skilled at employing the creativity toolbox highlighted in this book, including finding the right question, observation, analogy, changing point of view, dissection, reorganization, the power of groups, and frame shifting.

Author: Eric Weiner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451691688
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Tag along on this New York Times bestselling “witty, entertaining romp” (The New York Times Book Review) as Eric Weiner travels the world, from Athens to Silicon Valley—and back through history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times. In this “intellectual odyssey, traveler’s diary, and comic novel all rolled into one” (Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness), acclaimed travel writer Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. A “superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, and self-deprecating” (The Washington Post), he explores the history of places like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. With his trademark insightful humor, this “big-hearted humanist” (The Wall Street Journal) walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, “What was in the air, and can we bottle it?” “Fun and thought provoking” (The Miami Herald), The Geography of Genius reevaluates the importance of culture in nurturing creativity and “offers a practical map for how we can all become a bit more inventive” (Adam Grant, author of Originals).

Author: Darrin M. McMahon
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465069916
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Genius. With hints of madness and mystery, moral license and visionary force, the word suggests an almost otherworldly power: the power to create, to divine the secrets of the universe, even to destroy. Yet the notion of genius has been diluted in recent times. Today, rock stars, football coaches, and entrepreneurs are labeled 'geniuses,' and the word is applied so widely that it has obscured the sense of special election and superhuman authority that long accompanied it. As acclaimed historian Darrin M. McMahon explains, the concept of genius has roots in antiquity, when men of prodigious insight were thought to possess -- or to be possessed by -- demons and gods. Adapted in the centuries that followed and applied to a variety of religious figures, including prophets, apostles, sorcerers, and saints, abiding notions of transcendent human power were invoked at the time of the Renaissance to explain the miraculous creativity of men like Leonardo and Michelangelo. Yet it was only in the eighteenth century that the genius was truly born, idolized as a new model of the highest human type. Assuming prominence in figures as varied as Newton and Napoleon, the modern genius emerged in tension with a growing belief in human equality. Contesting the notion that all are created equal, geniuses served to dramatize the exception of extraordinary individuals not governed by ordinary laws. The phenomenon of genius drew scientific scrutiny and extensive public commentary into the 20th century, but it also drew religious and political longings that could be abused. In the genius cult of the Nazis and the outpouring of reverence for the redemptive figure of Einstein, genius achieved both its apotheosis and its Armageddon. The first comprehensive history of this elusive concept, Divine Fury follows the fortunes of genius and geniuses through the ages down to the present day, showing how -- despite its many permutations and recent democratization -- genius remains a potent force in our lives, reflecting modern needs, hopes, and fears.

Author: Richard Due
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780983886792
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Idiot Genius: Willa Snap and the Clockwerk Boy is the first book in a new sci-fi polypunk series by Richard Due, author of the award-winning Moon Realm series. What¿s it about? Here¿s Willa (she's eleven):Ever wonder why some crazy scientist hasn¿t blown up the world? I used to wonder about it all the time. Actually, I was pretty sure my mom would be the one to do it.But now I know better. It turns out there¿s a force working hard to keep the world from going KABLOOEY.Who are these people? Wait for it:Idiots. Yep, you heard me right.How do I know? Well, apparently, I¿m an Idiot. At least, according to the Geniuses I am. Confused? I¿m not surprised. You¿re probably an Idiot too. It all began on a Thursday at precisely 8 a.m. I was standing in the family room of our lovely two-story house, directly across the street from Squirrel Brand Park in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The same family room that, in a few minutes, I would never ever, ever see again¿ever.

Author: Neil W. Flanzraich
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1491849541
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
A very small number of people with IQs of over 1,000 secretly live among us, concealing their extraordinary intelligence and mental powers. They call themselves Geniuses, and have - for millennia - influenced our world. Over the centuries evil Geniuses have tried to control ordinary people, who they refer to as Ordinaries, and dominate the world. Good Geniuses have opposed them defending the rights of Ordinaries to control their own destinies and live in freedom. A major confrontation between good and evil Geniuses is about to begin. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Author: Jeffrey Orens
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1643137158
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A prismatic look at the meeting of Marie Curie and Albert Einstein and the impact these two pillars of science had on the world of physics, which was in turmoil. In 1911, some of the greatest minds in science convened at the First Solvay Conference in Physics, a meeting like no other. Almost half of the attendees had won or would go on to win the Nobel Prize. Over the course of those few days, these minds began to realize that classical physics was about to give way to quantum theory, a seismic shift in our history and how we understand not just our world, but the universe. At the center of this meeting were Marie Curie and a young Albert Einstein. In the years preceding, Curie had faced the death of her husband and soul mate, Pierre. She was on the cusp of being awarded her second Nobel Prize, but scandal erupted all around her when the French press revealed that she was having an affair with a fellow scientist, Paul Langevin. The subject of vicious misogynist and xenophobic attacks in the French press, Curie found herself in a storm that threatened her scientific legacy. Albert Einstein proved an supporter in her travails. They had an instant connection at Solvay. He was young and already showing flourishes of his enormous genius. Curie had been responsible for one of the greatest discoveries in modern science (radioactivity) but still faced resistance and scorn. Einstein recognized this grave injustice, and their mutual admiration and respect, borne out of this, their first meeting, would go on to serve them in their paths forward to making history. Curie and Einstein come alive as the complex people they were in the pages of The Soul of Genius. Utilizing never before seen correspondance and notes, Jeffrey Orens reveals the human side of these brilliant scientists, one who pushed boundaries and demanded equality in a man’s world, no matter the cost, and the other, who was destined to become synonymous with genius.