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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Science, technology & engineering
Unicorns - companies that reach a valuation of more than $1 billion - are rare. Uri Levine has built two. And in Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution, he shows you just how he did it. As the cofounder of Waze - the world's leading commuting and navigation app with more than 700 million users to date, and which Google acquired in 2013 for $1.15 billion - Levine is committed to spreading entrepreneurial thinking so that other founders, managers, and employees in the tech space can build their own highly valued companies. Levine offers an inside look at the creation and sale of Waze and his second unicorn, Moovit, revealing the formula that drove those companies to compete with industry veterans and giants alike. He offers tips on: Raising funding Firing and hiring Understanding your users Making up-scale decisions Going global Deciding when to sell Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution offers mentorship in a book from one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and empowers you to build a successful business by identifying your consumers' biggest problems and disrupting the inefficient markets that currently serve them.
"A fiercely eloquent testament to making the most out of every moment we're given." --People Magazine, Book of the Week In 2008, Simon Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. He was given four years to live. In 2010, in a state of lung-function collapse, Simon knew with crystal clarity he was not ready to die. Against all prevailing medical opinion, he chose life. Despite the loss of almost all motor function, thanks to miraculous technology, he continued to work, raise his five children, and write this astonishing memoir. It's Not Yet Dark is a journey into a life that, though brutally compromised, was lived more fully than most, revealing the potent power of love, of art, and of the human spirit. Written using an eye-gaze computer, this is an unforgettable book about relationships and family, about what connects and separates us as people, and, ultimately, about what it means to be alive.
BBC Radio 4's celebrated THE LIFE SCIENTIFIC has featured some of the world's most renowned experts in the field of deadly viruses. The interviews make sobering reading, a reminder of all the deadly viruses that have threatened global health, and why for the scientists working on the front line in the war against viruses, the arrival of Covid-19 came as no surprise. Among the contributors to this all-too-timely book are: Jeremy Farrar, before he became Director of the Wellcome Trust, worked in an Infectious Diseases Hospital in Vietnam. He was on the frontline tackling SARS and nine months later a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu, H5N1. Peter Piot was at the forefront of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. He was the first to identify HIV in Africa. It took him fifteen years to persuade the world that it was also a heterosexual disease. Later as Executive Director of UN AIDS he fought for years to get the UN to take the threat of HIV seriously. Jonathan Ball studies how viruses operate at the molecular level, hoping to find their Achilles' heel and so develop effective vaccines. During the West Africa Ebola epidemic, he studied how the genome of the Ebola virus evolved as it spread from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone. He has shown that as this virus (which more happily lives in bats) infects more humans, it becomes ever more infectious. Wendy Barclay seeks to understand how viruses are able to jump from animals to humans and why some viruses are so much more dangerous to humans than others. Most Londoners had no idea they were infected during the Swine Flu pandemic of 2009. The Bird Flu epidemic in Asia claimed thousands of lives Kate Jones is a bat specialist who works on how ecological changes and human behaviour accelerate the spread of animal viruses into humans. Bats have been infected with coronaviruses for more than 10,000 years.
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965, Richard Feynman was also a man who fell, often jumped, into adventure - as artist, safe-cracker, practical joker and storyteller. This self-portrait has been compiled from taped conversations with his friend Ralph Leighton.
How does a parent make sense of a child's severe mental illness? How does a father meet the daily challenges of caring for his gifted but delusional son, while seeking to overcome the stigma of madness and the limits of psychiatry? W. J. T. Mitchell's memoir tells the story--at once representative and unique--of one family's encounter with mental illness, and bears witness to the life of the talented young man who was his son. Gabriel Mitchell was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of twenty-one and died by suicide eighteen years later. He left behind a remarkable archive of creative work and a father determined to honor his son's attempts to conquer his own illness. Before his death, Gabe had been working on a film that would show madness from inside and out, as media stereotype and spectacle, symptom and stigma, malady and minority status, disability and gateway to insight. He was convinced that madness is an extreme form of subjective experience that we all endure at some point in our lives, whether in moments of ecstasy or melancholy or in the enduring trauma of a broken heart. Gabe's declared ambition was to transform schizophrenia from a death sentence to a learning experience, and madness from a curse to a critical perspective. Through vignettes and memories, by turns difficult, unsettling, and humorous, Mental Traveler shows how Mitchell was drawn into Gabe's quest for enlightenment within madness. Shot through with love and pain, this memoir holds many lessons for anyone struggling to cope with mental illness, and especially for parents and caregivers of those caught in its grasp.
His ideas turned the mathematical world on its head. As a scientist he should be placed on the same level as Newton and Einstein. This account of Euler's life and livings is embedded in the great political developments of his time, particularly in Austria, Prussia and Russia. The comic by Elena Pini (illustrations) and Alice and Andreas K. Heyne (text) follows the life of the genius from Basel, who, born 300 years ago, would set out to change the scientific world. The book is completed by a short biography of Euler and relevant data of the most important politicians and contemporaries.
Now in paperback, a biography of the German scientist who came up with the idea of continental drift, telling of how he ended up journeying to Greenland in the winter of 1930-and died there. How, in 1930, did Alfred Wegener, the son of a minister from Berlin, find himself in the most isolated spot on earth, attempting to survive an unthinkably cold winter in the middle of Greenland? In All the Land, Jo Lendle sets out to chronicle Wegener's extraordinary journey from his childhood in Germany to the most unforgiving corner of the planet. As Lendle shows, Wegener's life was anything but ordinary. Surrounded by children at the orphanage his parents ran, Wegener was driven by his scientific spirit in search not only of answers to big questions but of solitude. Though Wegener's life ended in tragedy during his long winter in Greenland, he left us with a scientific legacy: the theory of continental drift, mocked by his peers and only recognized decades after his death. Lendle gives us the story of this great adventurer, of the experiences that shaped him, resulting in a tale that is both thrilling and tender.
AN UNSUNG HEROINE OF THE SPACE AGE--HER STORY FINALLY
TOLD.
From high heels to welly boots - one woman's misadventures in becoming a farmer, raising a family and making a living from the land. Sally Urwin was living in a tiny flat in the city with a high-pressure job. She was depressed, surviving off rescue remedies and wine, and longing for a different life when she met and married farmer Steve. Returned to the rolling hills of Northumberland, a place she'd adored as a child, Sally imagined herself wafting around High House Farm in floral dresses followed by a bevy of rosy-cheeked children. The reality is quite different... Sally is usually wearing a jumper covered in sheep poo and bellowing at Mavis the collie to stop chasing Gladys the grumpy pony and her kids are moaning about being dragged outside while she is caring for a ewe who has ingested a poisonous plant after wandering into the neighbour's field. But despite the chaos of juggling motherhood with running a farm, financial hardship and dealing with poorly animals, the exhilarating freedom of rural life has helped Sally to heal her own body and mind. Lambing season might be backbreaking, but the utter joy in cradling a new-born lamb is worth all the sweat and tears. With a mix of grit, humour and the love of family, Sally shows us that it's never too late to live the life you've always dreamed of. Fans of The Yorkshire Shepherdess will love this hilarious, heartfelt and honest account that will have you howling with laughter and sobbing into your tissues in equal measure. Read what everyone is saying about What the Flock!: 'I don't know how to tell you how much I loved this book... You just CAN'T go wrong with having the author as narrator.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I don't even know where to begin!... an amazing memoir that reads like fiction... you will find yourself being sucked into stories... you will laugh and cry... I couldn't put this book down until I devoured it from start to finish... 1000/10 would read again and again.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'This book was perfect. I loved the honest and wholesome look at life the author provides. It is at sometimes funny and sometimes sad... like talking to a friend.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I don't know any animal lover that won't enjoy this book... I related to the female farmer talking about her struggles with the corporate world, and I dreamed along with her that I might be capable of farming and loving on animals all day... I cried over the losses that can come with farm life... will keep you entertained, and I'm going to keep rooting for this family to secure their farm's future.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'If Bo Peep met the Durrells, they'd happily live alongside Sally Urwin on her Northumbrian farm. An engaging and very, very funny account of a city girl who became a sheep farmer and traded in everything she thought she knew for a life where the four-legged family members rule.' Freya North 'I loved this... a joy to read... Honest and funny.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'A beautiful memoir and the way she narrates it in this audio book makes it all the more special... I felt as if I was sat at her table having a cuppa as she told me about her life. Stunning book and I will be buying copies for friends.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'I really enjoyed this one... the author is a wonderful storyteller and I enjoyed her humor. I laughed out loud at the stories about Candy, the fat pony.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
Faced with the BRCA mutation--the so-called "breast cancer
gene"--one woman must answer the question: When genetics can
predict how we may die, how then do we decide to live?
This title reveals a shy yet passionate woman more at home in the natural world than in the literary one that embraced her. Souder also writes sensitively of Carson's romantic friendship with Dorothy Freeman, and of her death from cancer in 1964. This biography captures the essence of one of the great reformers of the 20th century.
God of Sperm tells the remarkable story of Dr. Cappy Miles Rothman, the son of notorious gangster Norman "Roughhouse" Rothman, who went on to become a trailblazer in the field of reproductive medicine. Rothman started the California Cryobank, one of the world's largest repositories of reproductive genetic material and cord-blood stem cells. Among other achievements, Rothman also pioneered the use of microsurgery in urological procedures, postmortem sperm retrieval techniques, and was one of the first practitioners of andrology, a specialty dealing with male reproductive biology and medicine. How Cappy Rothman went from Mafia scion and man-about-town during the postwar Miami Beach--Havana era of gangster chic to one of the most consequential figures in modern medicine is an epic, only-in-America tale that is also a fine reminder of the broad horizons and wild possibilities life in the U.S. can offer.
From her home at 9 Adams Road in the university city of Cambridge, Alice Roughton (19001995) demonstrated a strongly altruistic lifestyle, housing young students, the mentally ill, artists, intellectuals, friends, persecuted homosexuals and refugees (German Jews in 1939, Hungarians in 1956 and Chileans in 1973). She practiced psychiatry and general medicine alongside personal activism such as medics against nuclear warfare and opposing the financing of urbanisation the latter related to the destruction of the historical centres of English cities. Alice was a patron of artists and intellectuals, including the Catalan musician Robert Gerhard and the German dancer Kurt Jooss. She befriended the economists J. M. Keynes and Joan Robinson, the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, the molecular biologist James Watson, as well as the composer Benjamin Britten, who held memorable concerts at her house, as well as many other dignitaries of science and the humanities. The House of Alice Roughton locates her professional medical work and private life activities and relationships within the sociological circumstances within which she lived circumstances that reveal the historical and cultural changes of a century that experienced two world wars, the advance of science and the overturning of lifestyle prejudices. The biography revolves around one location 9 Adams Road. Alice and her familys lived experiences act as a window onto the profound global transformations which took place from the second industrial revolution to the discovery of the structure of DNA From the Edwardian to the Contemporary. Her familys life story moves through tragic events in Switzerland to her husbands war years in America. Her biographers engagement with Alice begins in 1978, on a student holiday trip from his native Catalonia.
In sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham--the brilliant Cambridge scientist, freethinking intellectual, and practicing nudist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China, once the world's most technologically advanced country.
Now available in trade paperback, this is the heart-rending drama of one family's courage, heartbreak, sacrifice, and triumph in confronting an agonizing medical condition, written by two master storytellers. Cory Friedman woke up one morning when he was five years old
with the uncontrollable urge to twitch his neck and his life was
never the same again. From that day forward his life became a hell
of uncontrollable tics, urges, and involuntary utterances.
Eventually he is diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and Obsessive
Compulsive disorder, and Cory embarks on an excruciating journey
from specialist to specialist, enduring countless combinations of
medications in wildly varying doses. Soon it becomes unclear what
tics are symptoms of his disease and what are side effects of the
drugs. The only certainty is that it kept getting worse. Despite
his lack of control, Cory is aware of every embarrassing movement,
and sensitive to every person's reaction to his often aggravating
presence. Simply put: Cory Friedman's life is a living hell.
Bill Gates is one of the most powerful figures of the past four
decades. But the world-famous public image he has so carefully crafted
is not the whole truth. In this explosive new book, Anupreeta Das
(finance editor of the New York Times) takes you behind the façade.
Many people know Edward Teller as the "Father of the H-Bomb." To his supporters he was a hero of the Cold War. To his detractors he was evil personified. Between these extremes was the life of the real man. In this definitive and comprehensive biography, a personal acquaintance of Teller's presents a balanced portrait of the multifaceted and enigmatic scientist against the backdrop of a turbulent period of history. Taking pains to avoid bias and preconceptions, thr author critically examines Teller's personality, family background, and the experiences that guided his actions-correcting many of the myths that others and Teller himself promulgated. Drawing for the first time on hitherto unknown archival material from Hungarian, American, and German sources, the author provides fresh insights that help the reader to understand Teller's motivations, his relationships with friends and foes, and his driven personality. In addition to this research and his own memories of Teller, Hargittai has interviewed such prominent figures as Richard Garwin, Freeman Dyson, George A. Keyworth, and Wendy Teller (Edward Teller's daughter), among others. The author reviews the significant facets of Teller's life: his Jewish-Hungarian origins, forced emigrations, brilliance in science, and devotion to the defense of the United States. He discusses Teller's ruthless Machiavellism in achieving his goals, which included his pivotal role in the creation of the hydrogen bomb and the second weapons laboratory at Livermore, as well as his damaging testimony against physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Teller's peers viewed this testimony as a betrayal and, in effect, sent him into internal exile, which Hargittai describes as more tormenting to him than his previous emigrations. The author notes that Teller was sometimes called "a monomaniac with many manias," such as his fierce opposition to nuclear test bans during the Cold War and, toward the end of his life, his role as propagandist for the Strategic Defense Initiative. Yet, his very excesses may have in fact contributed to the demise of the Soviet Union. Who was Edward Teller-the real "Dr. Strangelove," the driven crusader for the H-Bomb, the villain who destroyed Oppenheimer, or the devoted husband, loyal friend, patriot, and strongly idealistic scientist? This monumental work will reveal the contradictory nature of this complex man in all his strengths, flaws, and brilliance.
The author Lawrence Weschler began spending time with Oliver Sacks in the early 1980s, when he set out to profile the neurologist for his own new employer, The New Yorker. Almost a decade earlier, Dr. Sacks had published his masterpiece Awakenings - the account of his long-dormant patients miraculous but troubling return to life in a Bronx hospital ward. But the book had hardly been an immediate success, and the rumpled clinician was still largely unknown. Over the ensuing four years, the two men worked closely together until, for wracking personal reasons, Sacks asked Weschler to abandon the profile, a request to which Weschler acceded. The two remained close friends, however, across the next thirty years and then, just as Sacks was dying, he urged Weschler to take up the project once again. This book is the result of that entreaty. Weschler sets Sacks's brilliant table talk and extravagant personality in vivid relief, casting himself as a beanpole Sancho to Sacks's capacious Quixote. We see Sacks rowing and ranting and caring deeply; composing the essays that would form The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat; recalling his turbulent drug-fueled younger days; helping his patients and exhausting his friends; and waging intellectual war against a medical and scientific establishment that failed to address his greatest concern: the spontaneous specificity of the individual human soul. And all the while he is pouring out a stream of glorious, ribald, hilarious, and often profound conversation that establishes him as one of the great talkers of the age. Here is the definitive portrait of Sacks as our preeminent romantic scientist, a self-described "clinical ontologist" whose entire practice revolved around the single fundamental question he effectively asked each of his patients: How are you? Which is to say, How do you be? A question which Weschler, with this book, turns back on the good doctor himself.
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.
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