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Books > Fiction > True stories > Discovery / historical / scientific
Who were the pioneers in science education, and what motivated them
to do what they did?" This book is the second volume of an attempt
to capture and record some of the answers to these questions-either
from the pioneers themselves or from those persons who worked most
closely with them. As with the first volume, we have attempted to
include as many pioneers as possible, but we know that there are
still many that are not included in this or the previous volume. As
we have posed questions, rummaged through files and oft?neglected
books, and probed the memories of many individuals, we have come to
realize our list of true pioneers is ever growing. As we consider
our list of pioneers, we know that there are names on the list that
most of us readily recognize. We also fully realize that there are
names of whom few of us have heard-yet who were significant in
their roles as mentors or idea development and teaching. We
continue to be impressed with our science education "family tree"
ever branching out to more individuals and connections. The stories
in this volume continue to demonstrate how vital this network was
in supporting the individual pioneers during their journey in
difficult times and continues to be for those of us today in our
own enterprise.
The Cleveland Street scandal, involving a homosexual brothel
reputedly visited by the Queen's grandson, shocked Victorian
Britain in 1889. This is the second edition, including much new
information, of the full-length account of one of its key players,
Jack Saul, an Irish Catholic rent boy who worked his way into the
upper echelons of the aristocracy, and wrote the notorious
pornographic memoir The Sins of the Cities of the Plain. Glenn
Chandler, creator of Taggart, explores his colourful but tragic
life and reveals for the first time the true story about what
really went on behind the velvet curtains of 19 Cleveland Street.
The epic, page-turning history of how a group of physicists toppled
the Newtonian universe in the early decades of the twentieth
century. Marie Curie, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg,
Erwin Schroedinger, and Albert Einstein didn't only revolutionise
physics; they redefined our world and the reality we live in. In
The Age of Uncertainty, Tobias Hurter brings to life the golden age
of physics and its dazzling, flawed, and unforgettable heroes and
heroines. The work of the twentieth century's most important
physicists produced scientific breakthroughs that led to an
entirely new view of physics - and a view of the universe that is
still not fully understood today, even as evidence for its accuracy
is all around us. The men and women who made these discoveries were
intellectual adventurers, renegades, dandies, and nerds, some bound
together by deep friendship; others, by bitter enmity. But the age
of relativity theory and quantum mechanics was also the age of wars
and revolutions. The discovery of radioactivity transformed
science, but also led to the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Throughout The Age of Uncertainty, Hurter reminds us about the
entanglement of science and world events, for we cannot observe the
world without changing it.
Who were the pioneers in science education, and what motivated them
to do what they did?" This book is the second volume of an attempt
to capture and record some of the answers to these questions-either
from the pioneers themselves or from those persons who worked most
closely with them. As with the first volume, we have attempted to
include as many pioneers as possible, but we know that there are
still many that are not included in this or the previous volume. As
we have posed questions, rummaged through files and oft?neglected
books, and probed the memories of many individuals, we have come to
realize our list of true pioneers is ever growing. As we consider
our list of pioneers, we know that there are names on the list that
most of us readily recognize. We also fully realize that there are
names of whom few of us have heard-yet who were significant in
their roles as mentors or idea development and teaching. We
continue to be impressed with our science education "family tree"
ever branching out to more individuals and connections. The stories
in this volume continue to demonstrate how vital this network was
in supporting the individual pioneers during their journey in
difficult times and continues to be for those of us today in our
own enterprise.
On the morning of May 9, 1980, during sudden violent weather, a
600-foot freighter struck a support pier of the fifteen-mile
Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The main span splintered and collapsed 150
feet into Tampa Bay. Seven cars and a Greyhound bus fell over the
broken edge and into the churning water below. Thirty-five people
died. Skyway tells the entire story of this horrific event. Through
personal interviews and extensive research, Bill DeYoung pieces
together the harrowing moments of the collision, including the
first-person accounts of witnesses and survivors. The result is a
gripping retelling of the worst ship-bridge collision in U.S.
history.
While many excellent books have been published about the nineteenth
century county asylums in England, comparatively little has been
written about the tens of thousands of real people, mostly 'pauper
lunatics', who passed through their doors. Social historians
starved of material providing a deep insight into the lives of
patients have many questions to answer. Why were they in an asylum?
What was their life really like? How were they treated? What
happened to them? What was the impact on their families? Proper
People shines a powerful light on the lives of just some of the
patients admitted to the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in
Wakefield, Yorkshire between 1818 and 1869. Using transcribed
extracts from the surviving patients' case notes, other original
asylum records and contemporary newspaper reports a picture of
early asylum life is painted using the actual words of the asylum
physicians, attendants, poor law officials, magistrates, asylum
visitors, press reporters, patients' families and, on occasions,
the patients themselves. Readers will be able to imagine being a
fly on the Asylum wall.
The memoir of a young girls experiences in the Antarctic whaling
community of South Georgia. It is a story of love and fear, the
light and dark side of such a harsh environment and the impact it
had on her and on her family. A The six year-old girl arrives at
King Edward Point, a settlement of eight houses huddled at the foot
of a mountain on the Antarctic island of South Georgia. Around the
bay is Grytviken, the most successful Whaling Station in the world
at that time. This is the story of the four years she spent without
going to school and largely with only herself for company. It is
also the story of the Whaling industry and of the people whose
livelihoods depended upon it.
In 1816 the author's great-great grandfather, Thomas Kearey,
arrived in England to seek his fortune. He was the latest - but by
no means the last - in a line of strong and resourceful men. This
book is the story of the Keareys, and of their place in history
through the centuries. It relates how the Ciardha ('Ciar's people')
in the Ireland of the Dark Ages evolved into the modern Keareys,
how holders of that name laboured, loved and fought through the
centuries, and how in more recent times they were proud to fight
with honour for their adopted country of Britain in two world wars.
Terence Kearey has woven the carefully-researched story of what
happened to his family over the centuries into the economic and
social history of these islands, explaining how his ancestors coped
with, and in some cases helped to change, the vicissitudes of
poverty, war and economic and social change. The result is a
detailed and vivid picture of a past that is quickly fading from
memory.
The story of a classic motorcycle racer who was fortunate enough to
be able to ride many of the best machines from the period, at the
highest level, and on many of the most famous road racing courses
in the world. There are tales of success, friendships, and the loss
of racing pals. Machine preparation and mechanical failures feature
heavily, and the story recounts the author's frustrations and joys.
Andy Reynolds maintained and built many of the bikes he raced, and
ultimately retired from riding to become both a machine scrutineer
and a sponsor. All aspects of motorcycle racing are covered in the
author's easy-to-read and entertaining narrative, and it is a
fascinating read for any motorcycle enthusiast. Come into the world
of Classic Racing Motorcycles - but bring your cheque book and
medical insurance!
While childbirth is a normal part of most women's lives and a
process which usually proceeds without any real risk, for the
world's poorest women this is often not the case. Poverty,
malnutrition, female genital mutilation, child marriage and AIDS
put these women in a high risk bracket from Day 1 of their
pregnancies. To make matters worse, when things go wrong they often
have no easy access to healthcare, when they get to a clinic or
hospital skilled staff may not be available or, if they are, the
drugs and equipment they need may well not be at their disposal.
War, natural disasters and a lack of infrastructure, not to mention
corruption and entrenched cultural attitudes which are not
sympathetic towards the challenges women face present yet more
problems. In this book the author, an obstetrician gynaecologist
with extensive experience of working in developing countries,
provides an insight into these and other problems by telling
individual women's stories. Each account highlights a different
problem. For this special study edition university lecturer and
teacher Sylvie Donna has written questions to go with each account
to help facilitate reflection and discussion; the questions can
either be used for personal study or by tutors in seminars; the
book's index will help students complete assignments, think through
issues and develop potential solutions. Work which is already being
carried out to help vulnerable populations is also outlined by the
author, Dr Jean Chamberlain Froese, who founded the Canadian
charity Save the Mothers, and by her husband, freelance journalist
Thomas Froese. Where relevant, statistics are also provided so as
to give readers a clearer picture of the real situation facing
women and healthcare providers in some of the world's poorest
countries.
Big Brother - Big Banker reveals how a few of the world's richest
men conceived and formulated a plan to absorb and control the
wealth and resources of the world - including everyone and
everything in it. These men made a pact to secretly pool their
money and resources to influence all nations on the planet,
establishing what they have termed a New World Order. 'They' are
deadly serious, implementing covert plans that will ultimately
control the entire human race.
The recorded history of the diving industry has been fundamentally
corrupted over the past 150 years. The result is a complete
misunderstanding of how it all began. Who invented the diving
helmet? Refer to any encyclopaedia or history book and the answer
you will find will almost certainly be wrong. The First Treasure
Divers reveals the true and fascinating story. It blows away the
myths and deliberate misinformation that have crept into the
historical record. Thanks to the painstaking research the author
has carried out over the past 25 years, the falsehoods are peeled
away to unveil the true, definitive account. It follows the lives
of two brothers as they struggle to turn their newly-invented
diving helmet to advantage and how they wrestle with apathetic and
even hostile authorities for recognition of their invention. It
thunders through sunken treasure adventures to the heroism and
horrors of the Crimean War. The impact of the invention of the
diving helmet is immense. In the 180 years since the Deane brothers
carried out the first ever commercial helmet dive off the Isle of
Wight on the south coast of England, the diving business has
expanded to a global industry with an annual turnover in excess of
$3,000,000,000. From another point of view, the life-support
technology developed in the diving industry provided the knowledge
for keeping the pioneering, high altitude pilots alive, which in
turn evolved into the life-support systems of the astronauts who
walked on the moon.
Science teaches evolution. Genesis describes creation. Christianity, Judaism, and Sufism teach resurrection. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism teach reincarnation. The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion resolves these paradoxes.
Chester and Lydia meet in a debate. One wins. One loses. Neither are ever the same.
Lydia discovers a secret from her past that destroyed her family. She tries to ignore it, but her nightmares won’t let her. Chester’s greed for gold and revenge lead him to ancient knowledge which the powers of darkness fight to suppress.
When the information last came to light, thousands died. Somehow, Chester must safely reveal it to the world.
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The Travels
(Paperback)
Marco Polo; Translated by Nigel Cliff
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A sparkling new translation of one of the greatest travel books
ever written: Marco Polo's seminal account of his journeys in the
east. Marco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His
voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served
the Kublai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to
the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa,
with whom he collaborated on this book. His account of his travels
offers a fascinating glimpse of what he encountered abroad:
unfamiliar religions, customs and societies; the spices and silks
of the East; the precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts
of faraway lands. Evoking a remote and long-vanished world with
colour and immediacy, Marco's book revolutionized western ideas
about the then unknown East and is still one of the greatest travel
accounts of all time. For this edition - the first completely new
English translation of the Travels in over fifty years - Nigel
Cliff has gone back to the original manuscript sources to produce a
fresh, authoritative new version. The volume also contains
invaluable editorial materials, including an introduction
describing the world as it stood on the eve of Polo's departure,
and examining the fantastical notions the West had developed of the
East.
"GRIPPING. ... One of the greatest polar rescue efforts ever
mounted." -Wall Street Journal The riveting true story of the
largest polar rescue mission in history: the desperate race to find
the survivors of the glamorous Arctic airship Italia, which crashed
near the North Pole in 1928. Triumphantly returning from the North
Pole on May 24, 1928, the world-famous exploring airship
Italia-code-named N-4-was struck by a terrible storm and crashed
somewhere over the Arctic ice, triggering the largest polar rescue
mission in history. Helping lead the search was Roald Amundsen, the
poles' greatest explorer, who himself soon went missing in the
frozen wastes. Amundsen's body has never been found, the last
victim of one of the Arctic's most enduring mysteries . . . During
the Roaring Twenties, zeppelin travel embodied the exuberant spirit
of the age. Germany's luxurious Graf Zeppelin would run passenger
service from Germany to Brazil; Britain's Imperial Airship was
launched to connect an empire; in America, the iconic spire of the
rising Empire State Building was designed as a docking tower for
airships. But the novel mode of transport offered something else,
too: a new frontier of exploration. Whereas previous Arctic and
Antarctic explorers had subjected themselves to horrific-often
deadly-conditions in their attempts to reach uncharted lands,
airships held out the possibility of speedily soaring over the
hazards. In 1926, the famed Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen-the
first man to reach the South Pole-partnered with the Italian
airship designer General Umberto Nobile to pioneer flight over the
North Pole. As Mark Piesing uncovers in this masterful account,
while that mission was thought of as a great success, it was in
fact riddled with near disasters and political pitfalls. In May
1928, his relationship with Amundsen corroded beyond the point of
collaboration, Nobile, his dog, and a crew of fourteen Italians,
one Swede, and one Czech, set off on their own in the airship
Italia to discover new lands in the Arctic Circle and to become the
first airship to land men on the pole. But near the North Pole they
hit a terrible storm and crashed onto the ice. Six crew members
were never seen again; the injured (including Nobile) took refuge
on ice flows,unprepared for the wretched conditions and with little
hope for survival. Coincidentally, in Oslo a gathering of famous
Arctic explorers had assembled for a celebration of the first
successful flight from Alaska to Norway. Hearing of the accident,
Amundsen set off on his own desperate attempt to find Nobile and
his men. As the weeks passed and the largest international polar
rescue expedition mobilized, the survivors engaged in a last-ditch
struggle against weather, polar bears, and despair. When they were
spotted at last, the search plane landed-but the pilot announced
that there was room for only one passenger. . . . Braiding together
the gripping accounts of the survivors and their heroic rescuers,
N-4 Down tells the unforgettable true story of what happened when
the glamour and restless daring of the zeppelin age collided with
the harsh reality of earth's extremes.
'I went for a walk around the garden. A great tit warbled above a
patch of coltsfoot. I felt a thousand discoveries awaited...' Notes
from a Summer Cottage by Nina Burton is a beautifully written
nature memoir about the time spent renovating a cottage in the
Swedish countryside, and all the species that she encountered her
during her stay. Did you know that there are more ants altogether
than the number of seconds that have passed since the Big Bang? And
that in relation to their size, their anthill cities can be larger
than London and New York? Or, that a bird's migratory instinct is
so strong that an injured stork once escaped captivity and was
found six weeks later having walked 150 kilometres, following the
migratory path of his flock on foot? What begins with a renovation
of a an old summer cottage swiftly turns into an exploration of
nature, life and philosophy, in which Nina Burton reveals the inner
lives and hitherto unknown habits of the animals with which she
shares. Within the walls, the ceiling and the floor of the cottage
and its surrounding garden, she encounters a host of animals-ants,
honey bees, foxes, squirrels, blackbirds, badgers, pigeons, deer
and many more-all of whom have made her house and garden their
home, and all of whom cause Nina to reflect on their role within
our world.
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