In this "heartrending, passionate, and surprisingly humorous account of the conjunction between art and death" (Andrew Solomon, New York Times bestselling author), acclaimed opera singer Charity Tillemann-Dick recounts her remarkable journey from struggling to draw a single breath to singing at the most prestigious venues in the world after receiving not one but two double lung transplants. Charity Tillemann-Dick was a vivacious young American soprano studying at the celebrated Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest when she received devastating news: her lungs were failing, her heart was three and a half sizes too big, and she would die within five years. Medical experts advised Charity to abandon her musical dreams, but if her time was running out, she wanted to spend it doing what she loved. In just three years, she endured two double lung transplants and had to slowly learn to breathe, walk, talk, eat, and sing again. With new lungs and fierce determination, she eventually fell in love, rebuilt her career, and reclaimed her life. More than a decade after her diagnosis, she has a chart-topping album, performs around the globe, and is a leading voice for organ donation. Weaving Charity's extraordinary tale of triumph with those of opera's greatest heroines, The Encore illuminates the indomitable human spirit and is "an uplifting story of overcoming significant odds to fulfill a dream" (Kirkus Reviews).

Imagining the Elephant is a biography of Allan MacLeod Cormack, a physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1979 for his pioneering contributions to the development of the computer-assisted tomography (CAT) scanner, an honor he shared with Godfrey Hounsfield. A modest genius who was also a dedicated family man, the book is a celebration of Cormack's life and work. It begins with his ancestral roots in the far north of Scotland, and then chronicles his birth and early years in South Africa, his education at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Cambridge University, and his subsequent academic appointments at UCT and Tufts University in Boston, USA. It details his discovery of the problem at Cape Town in 1956, traces his scientific footsteps all the way to Stockholm in December 1979, and then extends the odyssey to his pursuits beyond the Nobel Prize.

It Started in a Cupboard begins with a discussion of happiness and what it means to the author. This is followed by sections on Calman's career in Clinical Medicine and Public health, then his life after medicine. There then follows a section on wider interests including the Arts and Health, Knowledge Libraries and Universities, People Pets and Places, God Faith and religion and My Scotland. There is then a final chapter on Conclusions on my own Happiness.

Such Silver Currents is the first biography of a mathematical genius and his literary wife, their wide circle of well-known intellectual and artistic friends, and through them of the age in which they lived. William Clifford is now recognised not only for his innovative and lasting mathematics, but also for his philosophy, which embraced the fundamentals of scientific thought, the nature of the physical universe, Darwinian theory, the nature of consciousness, personal morality and law, and the whole mystery of being. Clifford algebra is seen as the basis for Dirac's theory of the electron, fundamental to modern physics, and Clifford also anticipated Einstein's idea that space is curved. The book includes a personal reflection on William Clifford's mathematics by the Nobel Prize winner Sir Roger Penrose O.M. The year after his election to the Royal Society, Clifford married Lucy Lane, the journalist and novelist. During their four years of marriage they held Sunday salons attended by many well-known scientific, literary and artistic personalities. Following William's early death, Lucy became a close friend and confidante of Henry James. Her wide circle of friends included Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Leslie Stephen, Thomas Huxley, Sir Frederick Macmillan and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Jesse Ramsden was one of the most prominent manufacturers of scientific instruments in the latter half of the eighteenth century. To own a Ramsden instrument, be it one of his great theodolites or one of the many sextants and barometers produced at his London workshop, was to own not only an instrument of incredible accuracy and great practical use, but also a thing of beauty. In this, the first biography of Jesse Ramsden, Dr Anita McConnell reconstructs his life and career and presents us with a detailed account of the instrument trade in this period. By studying the life of one prominent instrument maker, the entire practice of the trade is illuminated, from the initial commission, the intricate planning and design, through the practicalities of production, delivery and, crucially, payment for the work. The book will naturally be of immeasurable interest to historians of science and scientific instruments but, as it also sheds light on the increasing commercialisation of the scientific trade on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution, should also interest social and economic historians of the eighteenth century.

A gripping tale of exploration, the pursuit of ice-age records, scientific invention and controversy, and revelations about the great Amazon forest In this vivid memoir of a life in science, ecologist Paul Colinvaux takes his readers from the Alaskan tundra to steamy Amazon jungles, from the Galapagos Islands (before tourists had arrived) to the high Andes and the Darien Gap in Panama. He recounts an adventurous tale of exploration in the days before GPS and satellite mapping, and a tale no less exhilarating of his battle to disprove a hypothesis endorsed by most of the scientific community. Colinvaux's grand endeavor, begun in the 1960s, was to find fossil evidence of the ice-age climate and vegetation of the entire American equator, from Pacific to Atlantic. The accomplishment of the task by the author and his colleagues involved finding unknown ancient lakes, lugging drilling equipment through uncharted Amazon jungle, operating hand drills from rubber boats in water 40 meters deep, and inventing a pollen analysis for a land with 80,000 species of plants. Colinvaux's years of arduous travel and research ultimately disproved a hotly defended hypothesis explaining bird distribution peculiarities in the Amazon forest. The story of how he arrived at a new understanding of the Amazon is at once an adventurous saga, an account of science as it is conducted in the field, and a cautionary tale about the temptation to treat a favored hypothesis with a reverence that subverts unbiased research.

Stephen Hawking is arguably the most famous physicist since Albert Einstein. His decades-long struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), combined with his singular brilliance as a cosmologist, has fascinated both the public and his colleagues in science. In this engagingly written biography, Kristine Larsen, a physicist and astronomer herself, presents a candid and insightful portrait of Hawking's personal and professional life. Avoiding the hero-worship sometimes found in popular works on Hawking, Larsen emphasises that Hawking is first and foremost a scientist whose work has made significant contributions to our understanding of the nature and origins of the universe.Writing in non-technical language for the lay reader, Larsen clearly explains Hawking's complex scientific accomplishments, while telling the story of his challenging life. The topics include Hawking's early lack of focus as a college student; the impact of ALS on his career and personal life; his groundbreaking work on radiating black holes; his later cutting-edge theories of black holes, cosmology, and the anthropic principle; the amazing publishing success of "A Brief History of Time"; and his status as a pop icon and spokesperson for the interplay of science and society. Larsen situates Hawking's sometimes-controversial work within the broader context of scientific peer review and public debate, and discusses his personal life with compassion, respect, and honesty.

In this absorbing memoir, well-known eco-philosopher, Buddhist scholar, and deep ecology activist/teacher Joanna Macy recounts her adventures of mind and spirit in the key social movements of our era. From involvement with the CIA and the Cold War, through experiences in Africa, India and Tibet, to her encounter with the Dalai Lama and Buddhism which led to her life-long embrace of the religion and a deep commitment to the peace and environmental movements, Macy's autobiography reads like a novel as she reflects on how her marriage and family life enriched her service to the world. Widening Circles reveals the unique synthesis of spirituality and activism that define Macy's contribution to the world.

This famous book, the inspiration behind Kate Bush's 1985 hit song 'Cloudbusting', is the extraordinary account of life as friend, confidant and child of the brilliant but persecuted psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Peter, his son, shared with his father the revolutionary concept of a world where dream and reality are virtually indistinguishable, and the sense of mission which set him and his followers apart from the rest of the human race. Here, Peter Reich writes vividly and movingly of the mysterious experiences he shared with his father: of flying saucers; the 'cloudbuster' rain-makers and the FDA narks; and of the final tragic realization of his father's death, which woke him up to the necessity of living out his life in an alien world. Already regarded as a modern classic, A Book of Dreams is not only a beautifully written narrative of a remarkable friendship and collaboration, but a loving son's heartfelt tribute to a loving father.

'A monumental achievement - one of the great scientific biographies.' Michael Frayn The Strangest Man is the Costa Biography Award-winning account of Paul Dirac, the famous physicist sometimes called the British Einstein. He was one of the leading pioneers of the greatest revolution in twentieth-century science: quantum mechanics. The youngest theoretician ever to win the Nobel Prize for Physics, he was also pathologically reticent, strangely literal-minded and legendarily unable to communicate or empathize. Through his greatest period of productivity, his postcards home contained only remarks about the weather. Based on a previously undiscovered archive of family papers, Graham Farmelo celebrates Dirac's massive scientific achievement while drawing a compassionate portrait of his life and work. Farmelo shows a man who, while hopelessly socially inept, could manage to love and sustain close friendship. The Strangest Man is an extraordinary and moving human story, as well as a study of one of the most exciting times in scientific history. 'A wonderful book . . . Moving, sometimes comic, sometimes infinitely sad, and goes to the roots of what we mean by truth in science.' Lord Waldegrave, Daily Telegraph

Student and protege of Sigmund Freud, Helene Deutsch was one of the most influential psychoanalysts of her time. An early woman analyst, Deutsch was an ardent feminist and a leading proponent of Freud's controversial theories about the psychology of women. Deutsch was also one of the first prominent career women to combine a professional life with motherhood-even though she never resolved her own conflicts over those contradictory demands. At the time of her death in 1982 at the age of 97, Helene Deutsch was the last survivior of Freud's original circle from Vienna. This volume is a definitive account of the life and works of this remarkable-and enigmatic-woman. The author knew Deutsch personally and was given exclusive access to her papers after her death.The private life of Helene Deutsch was as unconventional as her professional life. While Felix Deutsch, a physician who specialized in psychosomatic medicine, was to remain her husband for fifty years and father her son, Martin, their relationship was highly eccentric. Roazen produces evidence that indicates Felix Deutsch may have been homosexual; also that their son was raised primarily by Felix, as Helene was more interested in her career than was Felix in his, and the Deutsches often lived continents apart.With the rise of Nazism, Helene Deutsch departed in 1935 for America She was welcomed in Cambridge, Massachusetts by the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and was made director of the Society's new institute for the training of analysts. Her two-volume The Psychology of Women, published in 1945, remains one of the foundations of modern analysis. Roazen's biography is an authoritative portrait of a pioneer of psychoanalysis, and one of the unique women of her day. It will be of interest to psychoanalysts, cultural historians, and specialists in women's studies.

The incredible true story of the origin of human flight, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough. On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot. Who were these men and how was it that they achieved what they did? David McCullough, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tells the surprising, profoundly human story of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Far more than a couple of unschooled Dayton bicycle mechanics who happened to hit on success, they were men of exceptional courage and determination, and of far-ranging intellectual interests and ceaseless curiosity, much of which they attributed to their upbringing. In this thrilling book, McCullough draws on the immense riches of the Wright Papers, including private diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks and more than a thousand letters from private family correspondence to tell the human side of the Wright Brothers' story, including the little-known contributions of their sister, Katharine, without whom things might well have gone differently for them.

The enthralling Sunday Times-bestselling biography of the shepherd boy who changed the world with his revolutionary engineering and whose genius we still benefit from today

Thomas Telford's name is familiar; his story less so. Born in 1757 in the Scottish Borders, his father died in his infancy, plunging the family into poverty. Telford's life soared to span almost eight decades of gloriously obsessive, prodigiously productive energy. Few people have done more to shape our nation.

A stonemason turned architect turned engineer, Telford invented the modern road, built churches, harbours, canals, docks, the famously vertiginous Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Wales and the dramatic Menai Bridge. His constructions were the greatest in Europe for a thousand years, and - astonishingly - almost everything he ever built remains in use today.

Intimate, expansive and drawing on contemporary accounts, Man of Iron is the first full modern biography of Telford. It is a book of roads and landscapes, waterways and bridges, but above all, of how one man transformed himself into the greatest engineer Britain has ever produced.

It is well known that Einstein founded twentieth-century physics with his work on relativity and quanta, but what do we really know about these ground breaking ideas? How were they discovered? What should we retain today from the conceptual upheavals he initiated? Through a selection of concrete scenes taken from Einstein's life, the author offers a view into the formation of his theories, as well as reminders of the day-to-day applications of his ideas. Simultaneously the reader is lead through a reflection on their philosophical impact: How should we think of time according to the theory of relativity, which removes any meaningful "now" and shows that twins can have different ages? How should we think of reality when quantum theory predicts that spatially separated objects nevertheless remain connected through Einstein's notion of "entanglement," which has recently been verified through scientific observation? This book puts readers in Einstein's place, allowing them to share some of those particular moments when he succeeded in "lifting a corner of the great veil."

The renowned British primatologist continues the "engrossing account" of her time among the chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania (Publishers Weekly). In her classic, In the Shadow of Man, Jane Goodall wrote of her first ten years at Gombe. In Through a Window she continues the story, painting a more complete and vivid portrait of our closest relatives. On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Gombe is a community where the principal residents are chimpanzees. Through Goodall's eyes we watch young Figan's relentless rise to power and old Mike's crushing defeat. We learn how one mother rears her children to succeed and another dooms hers to failure. We witness horrifying murders, touching moments of affection, joyous births, and wrenching deaths. As Goodall compellingly tells the story of this intimately intertwined community, we are shown human emotions stripped to their essence. In the mirror of chimpanzee life, we see ourselves reflected. "A humbling and exalting book . . . Ranks with the great scientific achievements of the twentieth century."--Washington Post "[An] absolutely smashing account . . . Thrilling, affectionate, intelligent--a classic."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

This book strips away the myths surrounding the famed scientist George Washington Carver and portrays him as a brilliant, creative man who nonetheless possessed very human peculiarities and frailties. This insightful work chronicles the life of George Washington Carver, the renowned African American scientist and teacher. George Washington Carver: A Biography begins with a discussion of the political and social circumstances in Missouri where Carver was born into slavery, circa 1864. Readers will follow Carver through his formal education to his decision to accept Booker T. Washington's offer to teach and do research at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The bulk of the volume focuses on Carver's career at Tuskegee, a career that spanned nearly five decades, from 1896 until Carver's death in January 1943.The book highlights Carver's major achievements, including his championing of crop rotation and the hundreds of products he created from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other plants native to the South. In addition to Carver the scientist, students will meet Carver the man, who, for example, loved art and painted throughout his life. A dozen black-and-white photographs that help document the life of George Washington Carver A "Selected Bibliography" of sources most useful in understanding the life of George Washington Carver

At seventeen, Nicole believed her life was just beginning. She was a senior in high school looking forward to college and living on her own. However, all her dreams vanished the moment she became injured. Diagnosed with the neurological and chronic pain disorder, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), mainstream medicine viewed her pain and symptoms as being untreatable and incurable. She was living a nightmare. With no use of her right hand and minimal use of her arm, she depended on massive amounts of narcotics to survive each day. Yet even that could not control her agony. The crippling pain was so paralyzing that she faced periods where she was bed-ridden or wheelchair bound. All she had to hold on to was hope. Hope that her miracle would someday arrive... "No, It is Not in My Head: The Journey of a Chronic Pain Survivor," will spread hope, present answers and allow others to believe in the unimaginable. It is not one young woman's story back to health, but a culmination of "our" stories back to health.

'ASTONISHING AND ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING' - LYNDA LA PLANTE 'Engrossing, emotionally honest and forensically fascinating' - Dr Richard Shepherd, author of Unnatural Causes EVERY BODY LEAVES A MARK In Traces, Professor Patricia Wiltshire will take you on a journey through the fascinating edgeland where nature and crime are intertwined. She'll take you searching for bodies of loved ones - through woodlands and plantations, along hedgerows and field-edges, from ditches to living rooms - solving time since death and how remains were disposed of. She will show you how pollen from a jacket led to a confession and how two pairs of trainers, a car and a garden fork led to the location of a murdered girl. She will give you glimpses of her own history: her loves, her losses, and the narrow little valley in Wales where she first woke up to the wonders of the natural world. From flowers, fungi, tree trunks to walking boots, carpets and corpses' hair, Traces is a fascinating and unique book on life, death, and one's indelible link with nature.

Discover one of the Scottish Enlightenment's brightest stars. Among the giants of the Scottish Enlightenment, the name of James Hutton is overlooked. Yet his Theory of the Earth revolutionised the way we think about how our planet was formed and laid the foundation for the science of geology. He was in his time a doctor, a farmer, a businessman, a chemist yet he described himself as a philosopher - a seeker after truth. A friend of James Watt and of Adam Smith, he was a polymath, publishing papers on subjects as diverse as why it rains and a theory of language. He shunned status and official position, refused to give up his strong Scots accent and vulgar speech, loved jokes and could start a party in an empty room. Yet much of his story remains a mystery. His papers, library and mineral collection all vanished after his death and only a handful of letters survive. He seemed to be a lifelong bachelor, yet had a secret son whom he supported throughout his life. This book uses new sources and original documents to bring Hutton the man to life and places him firmly among the geniuses of his time.

Sir Norman Lockyer left "Nature," the world's leading scientific journal, as his lasting memorial. But his life, and controversial theories, are an important part of science history. His ideas were at the forefront of public debate, and ranged from the brilliant to the perverse. This entertaining book is a fascinating insight into his eventful life.

Silas Burroughs arrived in London from America in 1878 and proved himself an exceptional entrepreneur, taking the pharmaceutical business by storm. He was the brains and energy behind Burroughs Wellcome & Co. With his business partner Henry Wellcome he created an internationally successful firm, the legacy of which can be found in the charity the Wellcome Trust, yet few now remember him and the impact he made in his short lifetime. A consummate salesman, Burroughs was also an astute businessman, with new ideas for marketing, advertising and manufacturing: his writings describe sales trips around the world and the people he met. He was also a visionary employer who supported the eight-hour working day, profit-sharing, and numerous social and radical political movements, including the single tax movement, free travel, Irish Home Rule and world peace. In this first biography of Burroughs, Julia Sheppard explores his American origins, his religion and marriage, and his philanthropic work, as well as re-evaluating the dramatic deterioration of his relationship with his partner Wellcome.

Impressive stories of women using geospatial technology to create sustainable solutions for problems the world faces. The third volume in the Women and GIS series shows how 31 diverse women in various STEAM fields discovered their passion, broke down barriers, and used maps, analysis, imagery, and geographic information systems (GIS) to advance their fields and improve the world. Sharing their experiences from childhood and throughout their careers, each woman reveals her journey in an inspiring recollection of the obstacles she has overcome, the knowledge she has gained along the way, and how tenacity and determination have helped her succeed. Each woman shares tips and words of wisdom that she's gained along the way, including: Priscilla Mbama Abasi: "Think big! Think about going to space, think about building things no one has seen before." Arianna Armelli: "If you are like me and crave the freedom to explore a path of the unknown, aka entrepreneurship, a career in STEM will foster the technical foundation to achieve those goals." Gabi Fleury: "The best advice I was given starting out was 'forge your own path.' Conservation isn't a structured, straight-line career, you can get into it in many ways. This is exciting, but it also can be really challenging, because you have to be flexible, innovative, and always on the lookout for the next opportunity." Healy Hamilton: "Success, to me, is a daily feeling that you are living true to your values, that you are meaningfully contributing to the world you want to create." Katharine Hayhoe: "While it's important to have people you respect and trust give you feedback at key points in your career, when it all comes down to it, you have to make the decisions that feel right for you, not the ones that necessarily look best on paper. You're the one who has to live with them." Featuring strong, persevering women from around the globe, the stories found in Women and GIS, Volume 3: Champions of a Sustainable World will inspire readers who are developing their own life stories to strive for success and achieve amazing accomplishments.