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The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: “On Robustness and Fragility”

November 26, 2012

The Black Swan

Author:
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Publisher:
Random House Trade Paperbacks (2010)

A black swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. In this groundbreaking and prophetic book, Taleb shows in a playful way that Black Swan events explain almost everything about our world, and yet we—especially the experts—are blind to them. In this second edition, Taleb has added a new essay, On Robustness and Fragility, which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black… read more

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

November 25, 2012

The Blank Slate

Author:
Steven Pinker
Publisher:
Penguin Books (2003)

In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world’s leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems… read more

The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Power Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest

October 26, 2012

The Blue Zones Second Edition

Author:
Dan Buettner
Publisher:
National Geographic (2012)

Since publishing his bestselling The Blue Zones, longevity expert and National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner has discovered a new Blue Zone and launched a major public health initiative to transform cities based on principles from this book. The Blue Zones, Second Edition is completely updated and expands his bestselling classic on longevity, drawing on his research from extraordinarily long-lived communities–Blue Zones–around the globe to highlight the lifestyle, diet, outlook, and stress-coping practices… read more

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest

October 26, 2012

The Blue Zones

Author:
Dan Buettner
Publisher:
National Geographic (2010)

In this expanded paperback edition of his New York Times bestseller, longevity expert Dan Buettner draws on his research from extraordinarily long-lived communities—Blue Zones—around the globe to highlight the lifestyle, diet, outlook, and stress-coping practices that will add years to your life and life to your years.

A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right… read more

The Bond: Connecting Through the Space Between Us

July 14, 2011

The Bond book cover

Author:
Lynne McTaggart
Publisher:
Free Press (2011)

Amazon | For centuries, Western science and many Western cultures have taught us to think of ourselves as individuals. But today, a revolutionary new understanding is emerging from the laboratories of the most cutting-edge physicists, biologists, and psychologists: What matters is not the isolated entity, but the space between things, the relationship of things. The Bond.

By international bestselling author Lynne McTaggart, The Bond is the culmination of… read more

The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life

July 6, 2011

The Book of Secrets cover

Author:
Deepak Chopra
Publisher:
Three Rivers Press (2005)

Amazon | Every life is a book of secrets, ready to be opened. The secret of perfect love is found there, along with the secrets of healing, compassion, faith, and the most elusive one of all: who we really are. We are still mysteries to ourselves, despite the proximity of these answers, and what we most long to know remains lodged deep inside.

We all want… read more

The Book of Universes: Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos

July 6, 2011

Book of Universes cover

Author:
John D. Barrow
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company (2011)

Amazon | Einstein’s theory of general relativity opens the door to other universes, and weird universes at that: universes that allow time travel, universes where you can see the back of your head, universes that spin and bounce or multiply without limit. The Book of Universes gives us a stunning tour of these potential universes, introducing us along the way to the brilliant physicists and mathematicians who first revealed… read more

The Brain Supremacy: Notes from the Frontiers of Neuroscience

November 1, 2012

The Brain Supremacy

Author:
Kathleen Taylor
Publisher:
Oxford University Press, USA (2012)

Advances in physics, chemistry and other natural sciences have given us extraordinary control over our world. But today the balance of power in the sciences is changing, as research on the brain and mind has produced important breakthroughs in our understanding of ourselves and of our environment. As a result, funding and researchers are pouring into the field of neuroscience.

The Brain Supremacy is a lucid and rational guide… read more

The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must

March 15, 2013

The Case for Mars

Author:
Robert Zubrin, Richard Wagner
Publisher:
Free Press (2011)

Since the beginning of human history, Mars has been an alluring dream—the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it has still been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit. But all that changed when leading space exploration authority Robert Zubrin crafted a daring new blueprint, Mars Direct. When it was first published in 1996, The Case for Mars became an instant classic, lauded widely… read more

The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World since 1700

May 2, 2011

The Changing Body

Author:
Roderick Floud, Robert W. Fogel, Bernard Harris
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press (2011)

Amazon | Humans have become much taller and heavier, and experience healthier and longer lives than ever before in human history. However it is only recently that historians, economists, human biologists and demographers have linked the changing size, shape and capability of the human body to economic and demographic change. This fascinating and groundbreaking book presents an accessible introduction to the field of anthropometric history, surveying the… read more

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

July 14, 2010

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right

Author:
Atul Gawande
Publisher:
Metropolitan Books (2009)

Amazon | That humblest of quality-control devices, the checklist, is the key to taming a high-tech economy, argues this stimulating manifesto. Harvard Medical School prof and New Yorker scribe Gawande (Complications) notes that the high-pressure complexities of modern professional occupations overwhelm even their best-trained practitioners; he argues that a disciplined adherence to essential procedures—by ticking them off a list—can prevent potentially fatal mistakes and corner cutting. He examines checklists… read more

The Children of the Sky

March 28, 2011

Children of the Sky book cover

Author:
Vernor Vinge
Publisher:
Tor Books (2011)

RisingShadow.net | At last, the direct sequel to the Hugo Award–winning bestseller A Fire Upon the Deep! Ten years have passed on Tines World, where Ravna Bergnsdot and a number of human children ended up after a disaster that nearly obliterated humankind throughout the galaxy. Ravna and the pack animals for which the planet is named have survived a war, and Ravna has saved more than one hundred… read more

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

April 9, 2009

In his first book since the bestselling Fermat’s Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet… read more

The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good

July 19, 2011

The Compass of Pleasure book cover

Author:
David J. Linden
Publisher:
Viking Adult (2011)

Amazon | A leading brain scientist’s look at the neurobiology of pleasure-and how pleasures can become addictions.

Whether eating, taking drugs, engaging in sex, or doing good deeds, the pursuit of pleasure is a central drive of the human animal. In The Compass of Pleasure Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David J. Linden explains how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level: in our brain.

As he… read more

The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care

February 24, 2012

creativedestructionofmedicine

Author:
Eric Topol, M.D.
Publisher:
Basic Books (2012)

What if your cell phone could detect cancer cells circulating in your blood or warn you of an imminent heart attack? Mobile wireless digital devices, including smartphones and tablets with seemingly limitless functionality, have brought about radical changes in our lives, providing hyper-connectivity to social networks and cloud computing. But the digital world has hardly pierced the medical cocoon.

Until now. Beyond reading email and surfing… read more

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