Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 125005785X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
An exciting new book about real-life technology derived from science fiction and its impact on the world.
Ten Billion Tomorrows
Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 125005785X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
An exciting new book about real-life technology derived from science fiction and its impact on the world.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 125005785X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
An exciting new book about real-life technology derived from science fiction and its impact on the world.
Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World
Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785787489
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
The breakthroughs that have had the most transformative practical impacts, from thermodynamics to the Internet. Physics informs our understanding of how the world works – but more than that, key breakthroughs in physics have transformed everyday life. We journey back to ten separate days in history to understand how particular breakthroughs were achieved, meet the individuals responsible and see how each breakthrough has influenced our lives. It is a unique selection. Focusing on practical impact means there is no room for Stephen Hawking's work on black holes, or the discovery of the Higgs boson. Instead we have the relatively little-known Rudolf Clausius (thermodynamics) and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (superconductivity), while Albert Einstein is included not for his theories of relativity but for the short paper that gave us E=mc2 (nuclear fission). Later chapters feature transistors, LEDs and the Internet.
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785787489
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
The breakthroughs that have had the most transformative practical impacts, from thermodynamics to the Internet. Physics informs our understanding of how the world works – but more than that, key breakthroughs in physics have transformed everyday life. We journey back to ten separate days in history to understand how particular breakthroughs were achieved, meet the individuals responsible and see how each breakthrough has influenced our lives. It is a unique selection. Focusing on practical impact means there is no room for Stephen Hawking's work on black holes, or the discovery of the Higgs boson. Instead we have the relatively little-known Rudolf Clausius (thermodynamics) and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (superconductivity), while Albert Einstein is included not for his theories of relativity but for the short paper that gave us E=mc2 (nuclear fission). Later chapters feature transistors, LEDs and the Internet.
Everyday Chaos
Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262539691
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Chaos and complexity explained, with illuminating examples ranging from unpredictable pendulums to London's wobbly Millennium Bridge. The math we are taught in school is precise and only deals with simple situations. Reality is far more complex. Trying to understand a system with multiple interacting components—the weather, for example, or the human body, or the stock market—means dealing with two factors: chaos and complexity. If we don't understand these two essential subjects, we can't understand the real world. In Everyday Chaos, Brian Clegg explains chaos and complexity for the general reader, with an accessible, engaging text and striking full-color illustrations. By chaos, Clegg means a system where complex interactions make predicting long-term outcomes nearly impossible; complexity means complex interacting systems that have new emergent properties that make them more than the sum of their parts. Clegg illustrates these phenomena with discussions of predictable randomness, the power of probability, and the behavior of pendulums. He describes what Newton got wrong about gravity; how feedback kept steam engines from exploding; and why weather produces chaos. He considers the stock market, politics, bestseller lists, big data, and London's wobbling Millennium Bridge as examples of chaotic systems, and he explains how a better understanding of chaos helps scientists predict more accurately the risk of catastrophic Earth-asteroid collisions. We learn that our brains are complex, self-organizing systems; that the structure of snowflakes exemplifies emergence; and that life itself has been shown to be an emergent property of a complex system.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262539691
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Chaos and complexity explained, with illuminating examples ranging from unpredictable pendulums to London's wobbly Millennium Bridge. The math we are taught in school is precise and only deals with simple situations. Reality is far more complex. Trying to understand a system with multiple interacting components—the weather, for example, or the human body, or the stock market—means dealing with two factors: chaos and complexity. If we don't understand these two essential subjects, we can't understand the real world. In Everyday Chaos, Brian Clegg explains chaos and complexity for the general reader, with an accessible, engaging text and striking full-color illustrations. By chaos, Clegg means a system where complex interactions make predicting long-term outcomes nearly impossible; complexity means complex interacting systems that have new emergent properties that make them more than the sum of their parts. Clegg illustrates these phenomena with discussions of predictable randomness, the power of probability, and the behavior of pendulums. He describes what Newton got wrong about gravity; how feedback kept steam engines from exploding; and why weather produces chaos. He considers the stock market, politics, bestseller lists, big data, and London's wobbling Millennium Bridge as examples of chaotic systems, and he explains how a better understanding of chaos helps scientists predict more accurately the risk of catastrophic Earth-asteroid collisions. We learn that our brains are complex, self-organizing systems; that the structure of snowflakes exemplifies emergence; and that life itself has been shown to be an emergent property of a complex system.
Are Numbers Real?
Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250081041
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
Presents an accessible, in-depth look at the history of numbers and their applications in life and science, from math's surreal presence in the virtual world to the debates about the role of math in science.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250081041
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
Presents an accessible, in-depth look at the history of numbers and their applications in life and science, from math's surreal presence in the virtual world to the debates about the role of math in science.
Big Data
Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785782495
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Is the Brexit vote successful big data politics or the end of democracy? Why do airlines overbook, and why do banks get it wrong so often? How does big data enable Netflix to forecast a hit, CERN to find the Higgs boson and medics to discover if red wine really is good for you? And how are companies using big data to benefit from smart meters, use advertising that spies on you and develop the gig economy, where workers are managed by the whim of an algorithm? The volumes of data we now access can give unparalleled abilities to make predictions, respond to customer demand and solve problems. But Big Brother's shadow hovers over it. Though big data can set us free and enhance our lives, it has the potential to create an underclass and a totalitarian state. With big data ever-present, you can't afford to ignore it. Acclaimed science writer Brian Clegg - a habitual early adopter of new technology (and the owner of the second-ever copy of Windows in the UK) - brings big data to life.
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785782495
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Is the Brexit vote successful big data politics or the end of democracy? Why do airlines overbook, and why do banks get it wrong so often? How does big data enable Netflix to forecast a hit, CERN to find the Higgs boson and medics to discover if red wine really is good for you? And how are companies using big data to benefit from smart meters, use advertising that spies on you and develop the gig economy, where workers are managed by the whim of an algorithm? The volumes of data we now access can give unparalleled abilities to make predictions, respond to customer demand and solve problems. But Big Brother's shadow hovers over it. Though big data can set us free and enhance our lives, it has the potential to create an underclass and a totalitarian state. With big data ever-present, you can't afford to ignore it. Acclaimed science writer Brian Clegg - a habitual early adopter of new technology (and the owner of the second-ever copy of Windows in the UK) - brings big data to life.
Population 10 Billion
Author: Danny Dorling
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 1780338783
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Before May 2011 the top demographics experts of the United Nations had suggested that world population would peak at 9.1 billion in 2100, and then fall to 8.5 billion people by 2150. In contrast, the 2011 revision suggested that 9.1 billion would be achieved much earlier, maybe by 2050 or before, and by 2100 there would be 10.1 billion of us. What's more, they implied that global human population might still be slightly rising in our total numbers a century from now. So what shall we do? Are there too many people on the planet? Is this the end of life as we know it? Distinguished geographer Professor Danny Dorling thinks we should not worry so much and that, whatever impending doom may be around the corner, we will deal with it when it comes. In a series of fascinating chapters he charts the rise of the human race from its origins to its end-point of population 10 billion. Thus he shows that while it took until about 1988 to reach 5 billion we reached 6 billion by 2000, 7 billion eleven years later and will reach 8 billion by 2025. By recording how we got here, Dorling is able to show us the key issues that we face in the coming decades: how we will deal with scarcity of resources; how our cities will grow and become more female; why the change that we should really prepare for is the population decline that will occur after 10 billion. Population 10 Billion is a major work by one of the world's leading geographers and will change the way you think about the future. Packed full of counter-intuitive ideas and observations, this book is a tool kit to prepare for the future and to help us ask the right questions
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 1780338783
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
Before May 2011 the top demographics experts of the United Nations had suggested that world population would peak at 9.1 billion in 2100, and then fall to 8.5 billion people by 2150. In contrast, the 2011 revision suggested that 9.1 billion would be achieved much earlier, maybe by 2050 or before, and by 2100 there would be 10.1 billion of us. What's more, they implied that global human population might still be slightly rising in our total numbers a century from now. So what shall we do? Are there too many people on the planet? Is this the end of life as we know it? Distinguished geographer Professor Danny Dorling thinks we should not worry so much and that, whatever impending doom may be around the corner, we will deal with it when it comes. In a series of fascinating chapters he charts the rise of the human race from its origins to its end-point of population 10 billion. Thus he shows that while it took until about 1988 to reach 5 billion we reached 6 billion by 2000, 7 billion eleven years later and will reach 8 billion by 2025. By recording how we got here, Dorling is able to show us the key issues that we face in the coming decades: how we will deal with scarcity of resources; how our cities will grow and become more female; why the change that we should really prepare for is the population decline that will occur after 10 billion. Population 10 Billion is a major work by one of the world's leading geographers and will change the way you think about the future. Packed full of counter-intuitive ideas and observations, this book is a tool kit to prepare for the future and to help us ask the right questions
How it All Works
Author: Adam Dant
Publisher: Ivy Press
ISBN: 0711256799
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
In this beautiful and unique combination of art and science, this stunningly detailed book examines how the rules of science govern the the world around us, from the rooms in our houses to the planet, the solar system and the universe itself! The Universe is inconceivably complex. Its component parts though follow a set of unbreakable laws that have somehow been coded into their very fabric since the beginning of time. These laws play out in different ways at different scales, giving rise to the familiar phenomena of everyday life – as well as the unfamiliar abstract goings-on outside our experience and awareness. Understanding these laws may seem a daunting task, until now. How it All Works illustrates simply how the most interesting and complex named scientific laws and phenomena affect everyone’s daily lives. Using hyper-detailed scene illustrations from the incredible award-winning artist Adam Dant, we start small, with the illustrated science inside your kitchen, before expanding outwards to encompass your garden, street, city, continent, planet, solar system, galaxy and eventually the whole universe. With tiny details pulled out from visually stunning and intricate scene, learn how: Kirchhoff’s Law affects how you charge your phone, Newton’s Law of Cooling helps you make your coffee just the right temperature to drink, How the rules of antimatter are used in hospitals for medical imaging, How Cassie's law keeps ducks dry, How glaciation shapes the ladscapes around us, How thermohaline circulation dictates our weather, and How quantum tunnelling influences the nuclear fusion in our sun, and Wien’s Law determines its colour. This book will astound and inform in equal measure, with each principle drawn into the scene and explained with clarity by leading science writer Brian Clegg. With a reference section at the back as well as profiles of the key figures who have helped shape our understanding of these key principles, from Lynn Margulis and Richard Feynman to Marie Curie, Michael Faraday,Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, this beautiful and unique visual examination of the rules of science is an must-have book for anyone who wants to understand the physics, chemistry and biology of the world around us!
Publisher: Ivy Press
ISBN: 0711256799
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
In this beautiful and unique combination of art and science, this stunningly detailed book examines how the rules of science govern the the world around us, from the rooms in our houses to the planet, the solar system and the universe itself! The Universe is inconceivably complex. Its component parts though follow a set of unbreakable laws that have somehow been coded into their very fabric since the beginning of time. These laws play out in different ways at different scales, giving rise to the familiar phenomena of everyday life – as well as the unfamiliar abstract goings-on outside our experience and awareness. Understanding these laws may seem a daunting task, until now. How it All Works illustrates simply how the most interesting and complex named scientific laws and phenomena affect everyone’s daily lives. Using hyper-detailed scene illustrations from the incredible award-winning artist Adam Dant, we start small, with the illustrated science inside your kitchen, before expanding outwards to encompass your garden, street, city, continent, planet, solar system, galaxy and eventually the whole universe. With tiny details pulled out from visually stunning and intricate scene, learn how: Kirchhoff’s Law affects how you charge your phone, Newton’s Law of Cooling helps you make your coffee just the right temperature to drink, How the rules of antimatter are used in hospitals for medical imaging, How Cassie's law keeps ducks dry, How glaciation shapes the ladscapes around us, How thermohaline circulation dictates our weather, and How quantum tunnelling influences the nuclear fusion in our sun, and Wien’s Law determines its colour. This book will astound and inform in equal measure, with each principle drawn into the scene and explained with clarity by leading science writer Brian Clegg. With a reference section at the back as well as profiles of the key figures who have helped shape our understanding of these key principles, from Lynn Margulis and Richard Feynman to Marie Curie, Michael Faraday,Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, this beautiful and unique visual examination of the rules of science is an must-have book for anyone who wants to understand the physics, chemistry and biology of the world around us!
Tomorrow's World
Author: Duncan McLaren
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134044828
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
This title uses the concept of environmental space to resolve many of the issues facing us in the future and applies the lessons specifically to the UK. Believing that we occupy more environmental space than the world can afford, this book seeks to explain what we can do to live comfortably within what we actually have through efficiency and sufficiency. In addition, it aims to present the sustainable levels of consumption for Britain as targets for government, industry and households, as well as an idea of how to achieve them.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134044828
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 403
Book Description
This title uses the concept of environmental space to resolve many of the issues facing us in the future and applies the lessons specifically to the UK. Believing that we occupy more environmental space than the world can afford, this book seeks to explain what we can do to live comfortably within what we actually have through efficiency and sufficiency. In addition, it aims to present the sustainable levels of consumption for Britain as targets for government, industry and households, as well as an idea of how to achieve them.
Tomorrow's Table
Author: Pamela C. Ronald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199342083
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
"Tomorrow's Table is for anyone who wishes to know more about how the food they eat is grown. It is for every shopper, policy decision maker, farmer, or anyone who has a tone time or another wondered what labels such as "organic" or GMO" truly mean for the heath of the population and the future of our planet.--Back cover.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199342083
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
"Tomorrow's Table is for anyone who wishes to know more about how the food they eat is grown. It is for every shopper, policy decision maker, farmer, or anyone who has a tone time or another wondered what labels such as "organic" or GMO" truly mean for the heath of the population and the future of our planet.--Back cover.
Ten Billion
Author: Stephen Emmott
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0345806468
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Deforestation. Desertification. Species extinction. Global warming. Growing threats to food and water. The driving issues of our times are the result of one huge problem: Us. As the population continues to grow, our problems will increase. And this means that every way we look at it, a planet of ten billion people is likely to be a nightmare. Stephen Emmott, a scientist whose lab is at the forefront of research into complex natural systems, sounds the alarm. TEN BILLION is a snapshot of our planet, and our species, approaching a crisis, and a stark analysis of where this leaves us. TEN BILLION is not another climate book. TEN BILLION is a book about us.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0345806468
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
Deforestation. Desertification. Species extinction. Global warming. Growing threats to food and water. The driving issues of our times are the result of one huge problem: Us. As the population continues to grow, our problems will increase. And this means that every way we look at it, a planet of ten billion people is likely to be a nightmare. Stephen Emmott, a scientist whose lab is at the forefront of research into complex natural systems, sounds the alarm. TEN BILLION is a snapshot of our planet, and our species, approaching a crisis, and a stark analysis of where this leaves us. TEN BILLION is not another climate book. TEN BILLION is a book about us.