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Author: Lee Billings Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 069813768X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 270
Book Description
“A definitive guide to astronomy’s hottest field.” —The Economist Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. But over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of “exoplanets,” including some that could be similar to our own world, and the pace of discovery is accelerating. In a fascinating account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with the world’s top experts in the search for life beyond earth. He reveals how the search for exoplanets is not only a scientific challenge, but also a reflection of our culture’s timeless hopes, dreams, and fears.
Author: Lee Billings Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 069813768X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 270
Book Description
“A definitive guide to astronomy’s hottest field.” —The Economist Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. But over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of “exoplanets,” including some that could be similar to our own world, and the pace of discovery is accelerating. In a fascinating account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with the world’s top experts in the search for life beyond earth. He reveals how the search for exoplanets is not only a scientific challenge, but also a reflection of our culture’s timeless hopes, dreams, and fears.
Author: Lee Billings Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1617230162 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 305
Book Description
“A definitive guide to astronomy’s hottest field.” —The Economist Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. But over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of “exoplanets,” including some that could be similar to our own world, and the pace of discovery is accelerating. In a fascinating account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with the world’s top experts in the search for life beyond earth. He reveals how the search for exoplanets is not only a scientific challenge, but also a reflection of our culture’s timeless hopes, dreams, and fears.
Author: Richard Fortey Publisher: Vintage ISBN: 0307761185 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 567
Book Description
By one of Britain's most gifted scientists: a magnificently daring and compulsively readable account of life on Earth (from the "big bang" to the advent of man), based entirely on the most original of all sources--the evidence of fossils. With excitement and driving intelligence, Richard Fortey guides us from the barren globe spinning in space, through the very earliest signs of life in the sulphurous hot springs and volcanic vents of the young planet, the appearance of cells, the slow creation of an atmosphere and the evolution of myriad forms of plants and animals that could then be sustained, including the magnificent era of the dinosaurs, and on to the last moment before the debut of Homo sapiens. Ranging across multiple scientific disciplines, explicating in wonderfully clear and refreshing prose their findings and arguments--about the origins of life, the causes of species extinctions and the first appearance of man--Fortey weaves this history out of the most delicate traceries left in rock, stone and earth. He also explains how, on each aspect of nature and life, scientists have reached the understanding we have today, who made the key discoveries, who their opponents were and why certain ideas won. Brimful of wit, fascinating personal experience and high scholarship, this book may well be our best introduction yet to the complex history of life on Earth. A Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection With 32 pages of photographs
Author: Sara Seager Publisher: Crown ISBN: 0525576274 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 336
Book Description
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER • An MIT astrophysicist reinvents herself in the wake of tragedy and discovers the power of connection on this planet, even as she searches our galaxy for another Earth, in this “bewitching” (Anthony Doerr, The New York Times Book Review) memoir. “Sara Seager’s exploration of outer and inner space makes for a stunningly original memoir.”—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone Sara Seager has always been in love with the stars: so many lights in the sky, so much possibility. Now a pioneering planetary scientist, she searches for exoplanets—especially that distant, elusive world that sustains life. But with the unexpected death of Seager’s husband, the purpose of her own life becomes hard for her to see. Suddenly, at forty, she is a widow and the single mother of two young boys. For the first time, she feels alone in the universe. As she struggles to navigate her life after loss, Seager takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets and the technical challenges of exploration. At the same time, she discovers earthbound connections that feel every bit as wondrous, when strangers and loved ones alike reach out to her across the space of her grief. Among them are the Widows of Concord, a group of women offering advice on everything from home maintenance to dating, and her beloved sons, Max and Alex. Most unexpected of all, there is another kind of one-in-a-billion match, not in the stars but here at home. Probing and invigoratingly honest, The Smallest Lights in the Universe is its own kind of light in the dark.
Author: Robert M. Hazen Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0143123645 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
Hailed by The New York Times for writing “with wonderful clarity about science . . . that effortlessly teaches as it zips along,” nationally bestselling author Robert M. Hazen offers a radical new approach to Earth history in this intertwined tale of the planet’s living and nonliving spheres. With an astrobiologist’s imagination, a historian’s perspective, and a naturalist’s eye, Hazen calls upon twenty-first-century discoveries that have revolutionized geology and enabled scientists to envision Earth’s many iterations in vivid detail—from the mile-high lava tides of its infancy to the early organisms responsible for more than two-thirds of the mineral varieties beneath our feet. Lucid, controversial, and on the cutting edge of its field, The Story of Earth is popular science of the highest order. "A sweeping rip-roaring yarn of immense scope, from the birth of the elements in the stars to meditations on the future habitability of our world." -Science "A fascinating story." -Bill McKibben
Author: Donald L. Zygutis Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser ISBN: 1632659433 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Mainstream SETI scientists and ancient alien theorists don’t agree on much, but one opinion they share is that the undisputed authority on the possibility of alien existence was the late Carl Sagan (1934—1996), whose voluminous writings on the subject have had a profound influence on ETI research.But how many Carl Sagan fans know that while the renowned scientist was at Stanford University, he produced a controversial paper, funded by a NASA research grant, that concludes ancient alien intervention may have sparked human civilization? Author Donald Zygutis lays out a compelling case that points to a cover-up by the Pentagon and NASA, who may have buried it soon after it was written. How significant is the Stanford Paper? The answer may lie in another question: How would a science-backed theory and search strategy to guide the discovery of alien artifacts among our own ancient civilizations impact the worldwide institutions of government, religion, and culture?Recently rediscovered by the author, Sagan’s lost Stanford paper is the central theme of The Sagan Conspiracy. Groundbreaking research and paradigm-changing material challenges conventional thinking about the People’s Scientist—and maybe even the origins of human society. Sagan even conceived of the likelihood that the ancient Sumerian civilization had been visited and influenced by beings from other worlds as evidenced by ancient manuscripts, among other artifacts.As we celebrate the 20-year anniversary of Carl’s death, The Sagan Conspiracy is sure to fundamentally alter how the world thinks about extraterrestrials.
Author: Anthony Aguirre Publisher: Springer ISBN: 3319207172 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
The fourteen award-winning essays in this volume discuss a range of novel ideas and controversial topics that could decisively influence the course of human life on Earth. Their authors address, in accessible language, issues as diverse as: enabling our social systems to learn; research in biological engineering and artificial intelligence; mending and enhancing minds; improving the way we do, and teach, science; living in the here and now; and the value of play. The essays are enhanced versions of the prize-winning entries submitted to the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) essay competition in 2014. FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.
Author: Ann Druyan Publisher: National Geographic ISBN: 1426219083 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 388
Book Description
"Cosmos: Possible Worlds travels through more than 14 billion years of cosmic evolution and into an astonishing future where probes travel by light beams to distant stars, helping us solve enduring mysteries of our origins and dream toward an unimaginable time ahead."--
Author: Dale Rominger Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 1663219044 Category : Poetry Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
Dale Rominger has lived a full life, rich with experiences garnered from his international travels. In a collection of essays, reflections, and meditations, Rominger captures memories from his childhood and a career that took him around the world and places them alongside musings on his favorite books, films, and television shows. In his writings, Rominger begins with three short essays that reveal his diverse thoughts about memories, and then shares chronological reflections that contemplate the meaning of poverty; rant about guns and fame; pay homage to the influence of scientists, philosophers, screenwriters, and storytellers; collect thoughts about human worth, life, and death; and document his travels as history and politics unfolded from adventures across the world stage. Throughout his ponderances, Rominger views the troubles of the world with clarity while reminding us that we are more alike than different, no matter where we live or what we believe. Midnight Memories Inside the Back Road Café shares musings on memory, language, love, and meaning that reflect on a lifetime of treasured relationships and experiences.
Author: Eli Maor Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691175888 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 206
Book Description
An exquisite visual celebration of the 2,500-year history of geometry If you've ever thought that mathematics and art don't mix, this stunning visual history of geometry will change your mind. As much a work of art as a book about mathematics, Beautiful Geometry presents more than sixty exquisite color plates illustrating a wide range of geometric patterns and theorems, accompanied by brief accounts of the fascinating history and people behind each. With artwork by Swiss artist Eugen Jost and text by math historian Eli Maor, this unique celebration of geometry covers numerous subjects, from straightedge-and-compass constructions to intriguing configurations involving infinity. The result is a delightful and informative illustrated tour through the 2,500-year-old history of one of the most important branches of mathematics.
Author: Lee Billings
Author: Lee Billings
Author: Lee Billings
Author: Richard Fortey
Author: Sara Seager
Author: Robert M. Hazen
Author: Donald L. Zygutis
Author: Anthony Aguirre
Author: Ann Druyan
Author: Dale Rominger
Author: Eli Maor