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Smart Swarm: Using Animal Behaviour to Organise Our World
￥72.30
How Understanding Flocks, Schools and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making and Getting Things Done. The modern world may be obsessed with speed and productivity, but twenty-first century humans actually have much to learn from the ancient instincts of swarms. A fascinating new take on the concept of collective intelligence and its colourful manifestations in some of our most complex problems, Smart Swarm introduces a compelling new understanding of the real experts on solving our own complex problems relating to such topics as business, politics, and technology. Based on extensive globe-trotting research, this lively tour from National Geographic reporter Peter Miller introduces thriving throngs of ant colonies, which have inspired computer programs for streamlining factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes; termites, used in recent studies for climate-control solutions; schools of fish, on which the U.S. military modelled a team of robots; and many other examples of the wisdom to be gleaned about the behaviour of crowds-among critters and corporations alike. In the tradition of James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds and the innovative works of Malcolm Gladwell, Smart Swarm is an entertaining yet enlightening look at small-scale phenomena with big implications for us all.
Trouble in Paradise: Uncovering the Dark Secrets of Britain’s Most Remote Island
￥72.40
A shocking exposé of the terrible secrets at the heart of the Pitcairn Island community – a tale of systematic child abuse and rape which stretches back over 40 years. Pitcairn Island – home to the descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty – has long been thought of as a tropical paradise. Wild and remote, it is Britain’s most isolated outpost and a fantasy destination for many. But in 1999, British police, alerted by unsettling reports of a rape, descended on the island. Their investigation developed into a major enquiry which revealed that Pitcairn was the site of widespread and horrific sexual abuse instigated by the island men on girls as young as twelve. Scarcely a man on the island was untainted by the allegations, and almost none of the women had escaped, though most residents feigned ignorance, even when their own daughters were abused. Abusers included the magistrates and police officers as well as brothers and uncles. Few of the victims were able to leave the island; those who did never went back. Kathy Marks was one of only six journalists permitted to live on the island while she reported on the ensuing trial and witnessed Pitcairn's domestic workings first-hand. In this riveting account she documents a society gone badly astray, leaving lives shattered, codes broken and a paradise truly lost.
The Gecko’s Foot: How Scientists are Taking a Leaf from Nature's Book
￥72.40
A cutting-edge science book in the style of ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ and ‘Chaos’ from an exciting and accessible new voice in popular science writing. Bio-inspiration is a form of engineering but not in the conventional sense. Extending beyond our established and preconceived notions, scientists, architects and engineers are looking at imitating nature by manufacturing 'wet' materials such as spider silk or the surface of the gecko's foot. The amazing power of the gecko's foot has long been known – it can climb a vertical glass wall and even walk upside down on the ceiling – but no ideas could be harnessed from it because its mechanism could not be seen with the power of optical microscopes. Recently however the secret was solved by a team of scientists in Oregon who established that the mechanism really is dry, and that it does not involve suction, capillary action or anything else the lay person might imagine. Each foot has half a million bristles and each bristle ramifies into hundreds of finer spatula-shaped projections. The fine scale of the gecko's foot is beyond the capacity of conventional microengineering, but a team of nanotechnologists have already made a good initial approximation. The gecko's foot is just one of many examples of this new 'smart' science. We also discover, amongst other things, how George de Mestral's brush with the spiny fruits of the cocklebur inspired him to invent Velcro; how the shape of leaves opening from a bud has inspired the design of solar-powered satellites; and the parallels between cantilever bridges and the spines of large mammals such as the bison. The new 'smart' science of Bio-inspiration is going to produce a plethora of products over the next decades that will transform our lives, and force us to look at the world in a completely new way. It is science we will be reading about in our papers very soon; it is the science of tomorrow's world.
Life in the Fast Lane: The Johnson Guide to Cars
￥72.99
He comes, he sees, he plays with the gadgets… Boris Johnson has been behind the wheel of some of the world’s fastest, most luxurious cars. He’s taken the Jaguar XKR-R for a spin around a posh public school; roared through Islington in the AC Cobra V8; and spent a weekend tearing through the lanes of Sussex in the splendour of the Mercedes S55 AMG. Now he’s going to reveal exactly what it was like. Pondering the fundamental questions – What does it feel like to be overtaken by a female driver when you’re behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo? Can a car really precipitate a mid-life crisis? – Boris Johnson’s hilarious dispatches from life in the fast lane will appeal to anyone who’s found themselves behind the wheel of one of modern motoring’s finer specimens. But it’s not all glamour and gadgets. Because when he’s not baiting his Holloway neighbours with the Rolls Royce Corniche, we see Boris trying, and failing, to get to grips with the Smart car, and attempting to flee Kosovo in a Fiat Uno. Published together for the first time as a Paperback Original, these hilarious vignettes are vintage Boris: witty, candid and unique.
What Really Works：The Insider’s Guide to Complementary Health
￥72.99
Consumer guide to what’s best in complementary health, from products to therapies. Susan Clark is the UK’s most trusted consumer watchdog. For all those people who are forever cutting out snippets from newspapers and magazines and for those who are confused by just how much information on supplements and therapies is thrown at them in the media, this book will be a godsend. This wide ranging guide covers What Really Works across the entire mind, body, spirit area: ? Part 1 contains 5 chapters which are the building blocks for optimum health 1) Food: what to eat and when to eat it 2) Air: how to breathe and effects of pollution 3) Water: how much we need and why what comes out of our taps could be harmful 4) Sunlight – its benefits 5) Exercise ? Part 2: is a top to toe look at natural remedies for 80 everyday complaints ? Part 3: called Hands-on, lists 30 of the best complementary therapies ? Part 4: called Soulworks looks at spiritual-based therapies and practices – from shamanism to meditation ? Part 5 is a Time Out guide to spas, retreats, therapists – everything from yoga holidays to flotation tanks ? The biggest resources section of any book on the market today makes this book invaluable to the public In each case the book is thoroughly referenced to show you where to go, what brand to choose, which practitioner is best internationally.
The Quest for Mars: NASA scientists and Their Search for Life Beyond Earth (Text
￥72.99
This edition does not include illustrations. Is there life on Mars? And if not, why not? These questions have gripped mankind throughout the twentieth century. In the shadow of the new millennium, The Quest for Mars seeks the definitive answers from the dedicated NASA scientists participating in the race to discover life on the Red Planet. ‘Ever since I was a small child, I’ve believed there was life out there. When I look at the magnitude of the universe, with its billions of stars, I believe that if life developed here on Earth, it must have developed elsewhere. We simply can’t be unique. I really don’t think we’re the most intelligent life forms in the universe, but that’s just my gut feeling’, Dr Claire Parkinson, NASA scientist. Of all the planets, Mars has exerted the most powerful allure over the human intellect and imagination. Generations of astronomers have expected to find clues to the origin and destiny of Earth and its inhabitants concealed amid the red storms sweeping across the surface of Mars. Today, the mystique of Mars is even greater. Public interest in the Mars mission is sky-high; the exploits of the tiny Mars Rover ‘Sojourner’ in the summer of 1997 excited the greatest curiosity in a space mission in a generation. In The Quest for Mars Laurence Bergreen has unrestricted access to a team of NASA employees – engineers, geologists and other scientists – who are consumed by the search for proof of life on Mars. As one formidable obstacle after another attempts to scupper their quest for a deeper understanding of life on Mars and throughout the Solar System, the narrative takes us step by step through the exhilaration and the despondency of their extraordinary adventure. Nothing is off limits in this unique, behind-the-scenes story of space exploration.
Exploring Emotions
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This practical book from Ros Bayley is designed to enable every practitioner to help children manage their emotions. This title looks at the whole range of emotions that children feel and enable any practitioner to help children recognise these emotions and talk about them. Brimming with ideas for using puppets, toys, pictures, games and stories this is a must-have book for any practitioner looking to manage the emotions of children in their care.
Mechanisms in World and Mind
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The topic of the reduction of mental processes to biophysical mechanisms touches at the core of the mind-body problem, a puzzle in the philosophy of mind since the days of Descartes. This book is about philosophical aspects of neuroscience, centred on perspective dualism. The topic unfolds in the discussion of mechanisms in world and mind. Neuronal mechanisms of differing complexity are described in a general way. It is shown how models of such mechanisms may be classified and assigned to levels of systems theory. Reduction strategies are applied to processes of life, mind, and consciousness. The aim is physicalistic, to explore if and how the mental may be understood in terms of biophysics and its mechanisms.
Other Side of Truth
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In The Other Side of Truth, filmmaker Paul Kimball crosses the Rubicon of the imagination to explore the idea that what we call the 'paranormal' is actually a form of artistic expression created by an advanced non-human intelligence to inspire us to think about who we are, where we have been, and where we are going. Using his own journey of discovery as the starting point, Kimball presents the 'other side of truth' - the world not as we have been told it is, but as we are being encouraged to imagine that it could become.
Bridges to Success
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When you know something works you have to teach others. Learn how to transform learning difficulties into successful learning differences, enabling youngsters and adults alike to succeed. Bridges to Success offers visually talented yet challenged individuals a completely new perspective, empowering them to change themselves and the system around them. The focus is on positives and how people can be their very best. Threads of research, a wealth of experience and a variety of evidence have been pieced together to offer simple skills that anyone can learn to start making changes for the whole family and for any educational practice.
Amputated Souls
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Amputated Souls explores the subject of psychiatry and psychiatric practices and the assault upon human rights and human freedom constituted by these practices, tracing the history of lobotomy, ECT and antipsychotic drugs, and their use, from 1935 to the present day.
Spix’s Macaw: The Race to Save the World’s Rarest Bird (Text Only)
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Tony Juniper is the Executive Director of Friends of the Earth and co-author of the award-winning PARROTS. He lives in Cambridge, and campaigns in the UK and worldwide on a broad range of environmental issues.
Ebola ’76
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Louis Nawa left the hospital, still wearing his inpatient's gown, which covered only the top half of his body, leaving the bottom half naked but for a thick coat of body hair, a few mosquito bites and a wealth of lesions left by Ebola, which were now beginning to heal over. The streets were dusty, baking in the midday August sun... Ebola's tragic victims were evident all around. With no one left to carry them, they crawled alone to the main square in the hope of finding help. Louis, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to his bare feet, already blistering as they pounded the baking road. Any feeling including that of a guilty conscience had been entirely deadened by the bottle of wine he had guzzled. By acclaimed Sudanese author Amir Tag Elsir, Ebola '76 follows the story of Louis, a?simple blue-collar worker who unwittingly transports a deadly disease back to his home?country, with disastrous consequences for his family, friends and colleagues alike. In?a series of bizarre and comical human encounters, the disease takes a firm hold of?the city of Anzara. Blind guitar players, comely barbers, tyrannical factory owners and?spurned wives all soon find themselves desperately fighting for their lives in the "Time?of Ebola". Among the novel's most unusual characters is Ebola itself, a strikingly dark and sinister?presence that haunts the pages of this fast-paced, tragicomic satire. Cackling with?glee, hovering in drops of spittle, and gliding slyly from body to body, Ebola represents?one of the evilest and unpredictable of villains.
Manager contra curentului. Ce fac marii manageri altfel dec?t ceilal?i
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Acest suport de curs este destinat elevilor ?colilor postliceale sanitare c?t ?i personalului mediu din sistemul sanitar., respect?nd programa de preg?tire. Este structurat ?n ?ase capitole: (1) Simptomatologia afec?iunilor ortopedico-traumatice; (2). Afec?iuni congenitale; (3) Infec?ii osoase; (4).Osteoporoza; (5) Tumori osoase; (6) Traumatologie.Pentru a detecta corect problemele reale ?i a decide care este cea mai bun? metod? de ?ngrijire, personalul medical cu preg?tire medie trebuie s? ?tie s? abordeze principalele afec?iuni ortopedico-traumatice. Cei care ??i ?nsu?esc principiile ?i normele expuse ?n acest volum vor fi capabili s? identifice ?i s? ?ncadreze corect semnele ?i simptomele, vor cunoa?te principalele investiga?ii recomandate, precum ?i m?surile de prevenire ?i tratamentul necesar pentru recuperarea bolnavilor care sufer? de aceste afec?iuni.
Cosmoza. Iubirea cosmic?
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O investiga?ie ?tiin?ific? pentru ?n?elegerea ?i ?mbun?t??irea capacit??ii min?iiViitorul min?ii umane aduce un subiect rezervat c?ndva exclusiv domeniului science-fiction ?ntr-o realitate nou? ?i surprinz?toare. Acest tur de for?? ?tiin?ific dezv?luie cercet?rile uimi?toare care se efectueaz? ?n laboratoa?rele de top din lumea ?ntreag? – toate baz?ndu-se pe ultimele descoperiri din neuro?tiin?? ?i fizic? – incluz?nd expe?rimente recente ?n telepatie, controlul min?ii, telechinezie ?i ?nregistrarea amintirilor ?i a visurilor.Lectura acestei c?r?i este o aventur? uimitoare nu doar pentru fanii SF, ci ?i pentru pasiona?ii de fizic?, medicin?, neuro?tiin??, care vor descoperi aici vastele posibilit??i ale creierului uman.?Kaku are darul de a explica idei incredibil de complexe ?ntr-un limbaj pe care-l poate ?n?elege ?i un cititor neavizat." - San Francisco Chronicle
The Wood for the Trees: The Long View of Nature from a Small Wood
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From one of our greatest science writers, this biography of a beech-and-bluebell wood through diverse moods and changing seasons combines stunning natural history with the ancient history of the countryside to tell the full story of the British landscape. ‘The woods are the great beauty of this country… A fine forest-like beech wood far more beautiful than anything else which we have seen in its vicinity’ is how John Stuart Mill described a small patch of beech-and bluebell woodland, buried deeply in the Chiltern Hills and now owned by Richard Fortey. Drawing upon a lifetime of scientific expertise and abiding love of nature, Fortey uses his small wood to tell a wider story of the ever-changing British landscape, human influence on the countryside over many centuries and the vital interactions between flora, fauna and fungi. The trees provide a majestic stage for woodland animals and plants to reveal their own stories. Fortey presents his wood as an interwoven collection of different habitats rich in species. His attention ranges from the beech and cherry trees that dominate the wood to the flints underfoot; the red kites and woodpeckers that soar overhead; the lichens, mosses and liverworts decorating the branches as well as the myriad species of spiders, moths, beetles and crane-flies. The 300 species of fungi identified in the wood capture his attention as much as familiar deer, shrews and dormice. Fortey is a naturalist who believes that all organisms are as interesting as human beings – and certainly more important than the observer. So this book is a close examination of nature and human history. He proves that poetic writing is compatible with scientific precision. The book is filled with details of living animals and plants, charting the passage of the seasons, visits by fellow enthusiasts; the play of light between branches; the influence of geology; and how woodland influences history, architecture and industry. On every page he shows how an intimate study of one small wood can reveal so much about the natural world and demonstrates his relish for the incomparable pleasures of discovery.
Fermat’s Last Theorem
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I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.' It was with these words, written in the 1630s, that Pierre de Fermat intrigued and infuriated the mathematics community. For over 350 years, proving Fermat's Last Theorem was the most notorious unsolved mathematical problem, a puzzle whose basics most children could grasp but whose solution eluded the greatest minds in the world. In 1993, after years of secret toil, Englishman Andrew Wiles announced to an astounded audience that he had cracked Fermat's Last Theorem. He had no idea of the nightmare that lay ahead. In 'Fermat's Last Theorem' Simon Singh has crafted a remarkable tale of intellectual endeavour spanning three centuries, and a moving testament to the obsession, sacrifice and extraordinary determination of Andrew Wiles: one man against all the odds.
The Planets
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After the huge national and international success of ‘Longitude’ and ‘Gallileo’s Daughter’, Dava Sobel tells the human story of the nine planets of our solar system. This groundbreaking work traces the ‘lives’ of each member of our solar family, from myth and history, astrology and science fiction, to the latest data from the modern era's robotic space probes. Whether revealing what hides behind Venus's cocoon of acid clouds, describing Neptune's complex beauty, or capturing first-hand the excitement at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when the first pictures from Cassini at Saturn were recently beamed to earth, Dava Sobel's unique tour of the solar system is filled with fascination and beauty. In lyrical prose interspersed with poems by Tennyson, Blake and others, ‘The Planets’ gives a breathtaking, intimate view of those heavenly bodies that have captured the imagination since humanity’s first glimpse of the glittering night skies. Timely and timeless, ‘The Planets’ will engage and delight as it unravels the mysteries of the cosmos. It is of infinite relevance to this age in which new planets are being discovered elsewhere in our galaxy. Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
Time Travel
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JAMES GLEICK (around.com) is our leading chronicler of science and technology, the best-selling author of Chaos: Making a New Science, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, and The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. His books have been translated into thirty languages.
Fossils, Finches and Fuegians: Charles Darwin’s Adventures and Discoveries on th
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Professor Richard Keynes is the great-grandson of Charles Darwin. A Fellow of the Royal Society since 1959 and a former Professor of Physiology at Cambridge University, Richard Keynes has edited a number of Darwin publications – including The Beagle Record and Charles Darwin’s Beagle Diary. He lives in Cambridge.
Inside Story: Politics, Intrigue and Treachery from Thatcher to Brexit
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Philip Webster was Political Editor of The Times from 1993 to 2010 having previously been Chief Political Correspondent. Later, As Assistant Editor (Politics), he was in charge of The Times Red Box political website and was the first editor of the ground-breaking Red Box daily briefing email. He became a Lobby correspondent in 1981 after working as a reporter and subeditor on the paper for the previous eight years. He began his career on the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich. He is a lifelong and passionate supporter of Norwich City FC.
