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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Science, technology & engineering
Told by a unique voice in American medicine, this epic story
recounts life-changing experiences in the career of a distinguished
physician, and is described by "The" "New York Times "as "a true
service to history]. Dr. Reilly deserves a resounding bravo for
telling it like it is." Malcolm Gladwell agrees: "Brendan Reilly
has written a beautiful book about a forgotten subject--what it
means for a physician to truly care for a patient."
Every review of "One Doctor" noted its beautiful writing and
compelling story, the riveting tension and suspense. "Remarkable
with heart-pounding pace and drama" ("Publishers Weekly");" ""a
gripping, moving memoir" (Abraham Verghese); "a terrific read"
("The Boston Globe");" ""an astonishingly moving and incredibly
personal account of a modern doctor" ("The Lancet").
In compelling first-person prose, Dr. Brendan Reilly takes readers
to the front lines of medicine today. Whipsawed by daily crises and
frustra-tions, Reilly must deal with several daunting challenges
simultaneously. As Reilly's patients and their families survive
close calls, struggle with heartrending decisions, and confront the
limits of medicine's power to cure, "One Doctor "lays bare a
fragmented, depersonalized, business-driven health care system
where real caring is hard to find. Every day, Reilly sees patients
who fall through the cracks and suffer harm because they lack one
doctor who knows them well and relentlessly advocates for their
best interests. Filled with fascinating characters in New York City
and rural New England--people with dark secrets, mysterious
illnesses, impossible dreams, and limitless courage--"One Doctor"
tells their stories with sensitivity and empathy, reminding us of
professional values once held dear by all physicians.
In 2006, Kwan Kew Lai left her full-time position as a professor in
the United States to provide medical humanitarian aid to the remote
villages and the war-torn areas of Africa. This memoir follows her
experiences from 2006 to 2013 as she provided care during the
HIV/AIDs epidemics, after natural disasters, and as a relief doctor
in refugee camps in Kenya, Libya, Uganda and in South Sudan, where
civil war virtually wiped out all existing healthcare facilities.
Throughout her memoir, Lai recounts intimate encounters with
refugees and internally displaced people in camps and in hospitals
with limited resources, telling tales of their resilience,
unflinching courage, and survival through extreme hardship. Her
writing provides insight into communities and transports readers to
heart-achingly beautiful parts of Africa not frequented by the
usual travelers. This is a deeply personal account of the huge
disparities in the healthcare system of our "global village" and is
a call to action for readers to understand the interconnectedness
of the modern world, the needs of less developed neighbors, and the
shortcomings of their healthcare systems.
A beautifully written and compelling memoir of a largely unexplored
area of medicine: transplant surgery. Leading transplant surgeon Dr
Joshua Mezrich creates life from loss, moving organs from one body
to another. In this intimate, profoundly moving work, he examines
more than one hundred years of remarkable medical breakthroughs,
connecting this fascinating history with the stories of his own
patients. Gripping and evocative, How Death Becomes Life takes us
inside the operating room and presents the stark dilemmas that
transplant surgeons must face daily: How much risk should a healthy
person be allowed to take to save someone she loves? Should a
patient suffering from alcoholism receive a healthy liver? The
human story behind the most exceptional medicine of our time,
Mezrich's riveting book is a poignant reminder that a life lost can
also offer the hope of a new beginning.
Originally published in 1990, Nobel Laureates in Medicine or
Physiology is a biographical reference work about the recipients of
Nobel Prizes in Medicine or Physiology from 1901-1989. Each article
is written by an accomplished historian of medicine or science. The
book is designed to be accessible to students and general readers
as well as to specialists in medical science and history. Each
article combines personal and scientific biography, and each has an
extensive biography to guide further reading and research.
Discover the exhilarating true story of Ernest Shackleton's
legendary Antarctic expedition Told through the words of the
world's greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes - one of the
only men to understand his experience first-hand . . . 'For anyone
with a passion for polar exploration, this is a must read' NEW YORK
TIMES 'THE definitive book on Shackleton and no one could have done
it better . . . an authentic account by one of the few men who
truly knows what it's like to challenge Antarctica' LORRAINE KELLY
_________ In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to be the first
to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance,
became trapped in ice. He and his crew should have died. Instead,
through a long, dark winter, Shackleton fought back: enduring
sub-zero temperatures, a perilous lifeboat journey across icy seas,
and a murderous march over glaciers to seek help. Shackleton's epic
trek is one of history's most enthralling adventures. But who was
he? How did previous Antarctic expeditions and his rivalry with
Captain Scott forge him? And what happened afterwards to the man
many believed was invincible? In this astonishing account, Fiennes
brings the story vividly to life in a book that is part
celebration, part vindication and all adventure. _________ 'Fiennes
makes a fine guide on voyage into Shackleton's world . . . What
makes this book so engaging is the author's own storytelling
skills' Irish Independent 'Fiennes relates these tales of
exploration and survival, adding insight to Shackleton's journeys
unlike any other biographer' Radio Times Praise for Sir Ranulph
Fiennes: 'The World's Greatest Living Explorer' Guinness Book of
Records 'Full of awe-inspiring details of hardship, resolve and
weather that defies belief, told by someone of unique authority. No
one is more tailor-made to tell [this] story than Sir Ranulph
Fiennes' Newsday 'Fiennes' own experiences certainly allow him to
write vividly and with empathy of the hell that the men went
through' Sunday Times 'Fiennes brings the promised perspective of
one who has been there, illuminating Shackleton's actions by
comparing them with his own. Beginners to the Heroic Age will enjoy
this volume, as will serious polar adventurers seeking advice. For
all readers, it's a tremendous story' Sara Wheeler, The Wall Street
Journal
'Delightfully insightful and intensely readable [...] There is an
energy and drama to Rory's writing which nonetheless leaves space
for us, the reader, to make up our minds' - Stephen Fry We live at
a time when billions have access to unbelievably powerful
technology. The most extraordinary tool that has been invented in
the last century, the smartphone, is forcing radical changes in the
way we live and work - and unlike previous technologies it is in
the hands of just about everyone. Coupled with the rise of social
media, this has ushered in a new era of deeply personal technology,
where individuals now have the ability to work, create and
communicate on their own terms, rather than wait for permission
from giant corporations or governments. At least that is the
optimistic view. This book takes readers on an entertaining ride
through this turbulent era, as related by an author with a ringside
seat to the key moments of the technology revolution. We remember
the excitement and wonder that came with the arrival of Apple's
iPhone with all the promise it offered. We see tech empires rise
and fall as these devices send shockwaves through every industry
and leave the corporate titans of the analogue era floundering in
their wake. We see that early utopianism about the potential of the
mobile social revolution to transform society for the better fade,
as criminals, bullies and predators poison the well of social
media. And we hear from those at the forefront of the tech
revolution, including Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Tim Berners-Lee,
Martha Lane-Fox and Jimmy Wales, to gain their unique insights and
predictions for what may be to come. Always On immerses the reader
in the most important story of our times - the dramatic impact of
hyperconnectivity, the smartphone and social media on everything
from our democracy to our employment and our health. The final
section of the book draws on the author's own personal experience
with technology and medicine, considering how COVID-19 made us look
again to computing in our battle to confront the greatest challenge
of modern times.
We think of the Stephensons and Brunel as the fathers of the
railways, and their Liverpool and Manchester and Great Western
Railways as the prototypes of the modern systems. But who were the
railways' grandfathers and great-grandfathers? The rapid evolution
of the railways after 1830 depended on the juggernauts of steam
locomotion being able to draw upon centuries of experience in using
and developing railways, and of harnessing the power of steam.
Giants the Stephensons and others may have been, but they stood
upon the foundations built by many other considerable - if
lesser-known - talents. This is the story of those early pioneers
of steam.
At the dawn of the permissive age Diana is a medical student in
swinging London. Revel in the fascinating characters that she
meets, the medical students, doctors and patients and see what made
the little girl into the woman she is now. Funny and moving and
based on a true story.
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovatorsis
Walter Isaacson's story of the people who created the computer and
the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the
digital revolution and a guide to how innovation really works. What
talents allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their
disruptive ideas into realities? What led to their creative leaps?
Why did some succeed and others fail? In his exciting saga,
Isaacson begins with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter, who
pioneered computer programming in the 1840s. He then explores the
fascinating personalities that created our current digital
revolution, such as Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John von Neumann,
J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Steve
Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Tim Berners-Lee and Larry Page. This is the
story of how their minds worked and what made them so creative.
It's also a narrative of how their ability to collaborate and
master the art of teamwork made them even more creative. For an era
that seeks to foster innovation, creativity and teamwork, this book
shows how they actually happen.
What does an environmentalist do when she realizes she will inherit
mineral rights and royalties on fracked oil wells in North Dakota?
How does she decide between financial security and living as a
committed conservationist who wants to leave her grandchildren a
healthy world? After her father's death, Lisa Westberg Peters
investigates the stories behind the leases her mother now holds.
She learns how her grandfather's land purchases near Williston in
the 1940s reflect four generations of creative risk-taking in her
father's Swedish immigrant family. She explores the ties between
frac sand mining on the St. Croix River and the halting, difficult
development of North Dakota's oil, locked in shale two miles down
and pursued since the 1920s. And then there are the surprising and
immediate connections between the development of North Dakota oil
and Peters's own life in Minneapolis. Catapulted into a world of
complicated legal jargon, spectacular feats of engineering, and
rich history, Peters travels to the oil patch and sees both the
wealth and the challenges brought by the boom. She interviews
workers and farmers, geologists and lawyers, those who welcome and
those who reject the development, and she finds herself able to see
shades of gray in what had previously seemed black and white.
Lisa Westberg Peters is the author of many children's books,
including several geology-related titles. Trained as a journalist,
she now works as an academic writing tutor at Metropolitan State
University in St. Paul.
Gilded Age Americans lived cheek-by-jowl with free range animals.
Cities and towns teemed with milk cows in dark tenement alleys,
pigs rooting through garbage in the streets, geese and chickens
harried by the packs of stray dogs that roamed the 19th century
city. For all of American history, animals had been a ubiquitous
and seemingly inevitable part of urban life, essential to
sustaining a dense human population. As that population became
ever-denser, though, city dwellers were forced to consider new ways
to share space with their fellow creatures-and began to fit urban
animals into one of two categories: the pets they loved or the
pests they exterminated. Into the fracas of the urban landscape
stepped Henry Bergh, who launched a then-shocking campaign to bring
rights to animals. Bergh's movement was considered wildly radical
for suggesting that animals might feel pain, that they might have
rights. He and his cadre of activists put abusers on trial,
sometimes literally calling the animal victims as witnesses in
court. But despite all the showmanship, at its core the movement
was guided by a fierce sense of its devotees' morality. A Traitor
to His Species is a revelatory social history, bursting with
colorful characters. In addition to the eccentric and
droopily-mustachioed Bergh, the movement and its adversaries
included former Five Points
gang-leader-turned-sports-hall-entrepreneur Kit Burns and his prize
bulldog Belcher, larger-than-life impresario P.T. Barnum, and
pioneering Philadelphia activist Caroline Earle White. There are
greedy robber barons and humanitarian visionaries-all bumping up
against one another as the city underwent a monumental shift. For
better or worse, they all forged our modern relationship to
animals.
In this fascinating biography, author Lisa Baile provides a
detailed portrait of John Clarke, the man who became British
Columbia's most renowned mountaineer by doing it his way. Clarke
had no interest in "trophy climbs" and never did ascend many of
BC's highest peaks. On the other hand, he explored more virgin
territory and racked up more first ascents than any other climber
-- perhaps more than any climber who ever lived. Although he came
to be honoured far and wide and is one of the few mountaineers to
be awarded the Order of Canada, he was a modest man who pursued his
passion without fanfare, frequently embarking on gruelling
expeditions into unknown territory by himself. His reputation
spread and grew to legendary proportions, not just owing to the
prodigious scale of his achievements, but because of the way he
carried them out -- he travelled light and scorned technology,
wearing cotton long Johns and eating home-made granola. He
dedicated his life to exploring the numberless, nameless peaks of
the Coast Range and worked at odd jobs just long enough to pay for
the next season's climbing. He was charismatic and famously
attractive to women, but none were able to compete with his first
love and he didn't marry until he was almost fifty. Always a
popular lecturer, in his later years he devoted his considerable
energies to the cause of environmental education. After he
succumbed to cancer in 2003, the BC government named Mount John
Clarke in his honour -- fitting recognition for the man who had
himself named many BC mountains. This book covers this remarkable
life from beginning to end, examining Clarke through his own words
and pictures as well as through the words of his many friends. All
agree it was an honour to have known him, and readers will find it
equally inspiring to meet him through these pages.
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Newton
(Paperback)
Irena Stepanova
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R506
Discovery Miles 5 060
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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In 1936, following the sale of Newton's unpublished manuscripts at
auction, the scientific world was shocked: it turned out that
Newton's writings in physics and mathematics, often considered the
foundations of modern science, were only a fragment of his
writings, most of which were focused on theology and alchemy. In
this study of Newton's work and thought, Irena stepanova argues for
a Newton who was not the man of cold reason we know, but a
"priest-scientist" with the life-long intention of carrying out an
examination of God himself, as he revealed himself in both the
world and in scriptural writings.
George Stephenson is among the most famous engineers of all time.
His rise from 'rags to riches' is a stirring story of its kind, but
many of the works attributed to him should in fact be credited to
young subordinates, not least his son, Robert. But much of the work
of innovative engineers for his period lay not in the work itself
but in persuading people that such work was desirable and
necessary. It was in this field that George Stephenson excelled,
providing openings in which his young proteges could change the
world. They did not let him down, and we should give him full
credit for being 'The Father of the Railways'. Adrian Jarvis
specialises in the engineering and finance of dock and harbour
construction, on which he has published extensively, but he also
has a strong interest in early railways and in the general history
of technology. Another book for Shire by this author is: The
Victorian Engineer
New perspectives on the iconic physicist's scientific and
philosophical formation At the end of World War II, Albert Einstein
was invited to write his intellectual autobiography for the Library
of Living Philosophers. The resulting book was his uniquely
personal Autobiographical Notes, a classic work in the history of
science that explains the development of his ideas with unmatched
warmth and clarity. Hanoch Gutfreund and Jurgen Renn introduce
Einstein's scientific reflections to today's readers, tracing his
intellectual formation from childhood to old age and offering a
compelling portrait of the making of a philosopher-scientist.
Einstein on Einstein features the full English text of
Autobiographical Notes along with incisive essays that place
Einstein's reflections in the context of the different stages of
his scientific life. Gutfreund and Renn draw on Einstein's
writings, personal correspondence, and critical writings by
Einstein's contemporaries to provide new perspectives on his
greatest discoveries. Also included are Einstein's responses to his
critics, which shed additional light on his scientific and
philosophical worldview. Gutfreund and Renn quote extensively from
Einstein's initial, unpublished attempts to formulate his response,
and also look at another brief autobiographical text by Einstein,
written a few weeks before his death, which is published here for
the first time in English. Complete with evocative drawings by
artist Laurent Taudin, Einstein on Einstein illuminates the iconic
physicist's journey to general relativity while situating his
revolutionary ideas alongside other astonishing scientific
breakthroughs of the twentieth century.
From poverty to immense wealth, from humble beginnings to
international celebrity, George and Robert Stephenson's was an
extraordinary joint career. Together they overshadow all other
engineers, except perhaps Robert's friend Isambard Kingdom Brunel,
for one vital reason: they were winners. For them it was not enough
to follow the progress made by others. They had to be the best.
Colossal in confidence, ability, energy and ambition, George
Stephenson was also a man of huge rages and jealousies, determined
to create his own legend. Brought up from infancy by his father,
Robert was a very different person. Driven by the need to be the
super-successful son his father wanted, he struggled with
self-distrust and morbid depression. More than once his career and
reputation teetered on the edge of disaster. But, by being flawed,
he emerges as a far more interesting and sympathetic figure than
the conventional picture of the 'eminent engineer.' David Ross's
biography of George and Robert Stephenson sheds much new light on
this remarkable father and son. Authoritative and containing many
new discoveries, it is a highly readable account of how these two
men set the modern industrial world in motion.
The official book behind the Academy Award-winning film The
Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley
Alan Turing was the mathematician whose cipher-cracking transformed
the Second World War. Taken on by British Intelligence in 1938, as
a shy young Cambridge don, he combined brilliant logic with a flair
for engineering. In 1940 his machines were breaking the
Enigma-enciphered messages of Nazi Germany's air force. He then
headed the penetration of the super-secure U-boat communications.
But his vision went far beyond this achievement. Before the war he
had invented the concept of the universal machine, and in 1945 he
turned this into the first design for a digital computer. Turing's
far-sighted plans for the digital era forged ahead into a vision
for Artificial Intelligence. However, in 1952 his homosexuality
rendered him a criminal and he was subjected to humiliating
treatment. In 1954, aged 41, Alan Turing took his own life.
The perfect gift for fans of All Creatures Great and Small, this is
a charming collection of classic stories from James Herriot's
much-loved books with insights into his life and work from his
children Rosie and Jim. With astute observations and boundless
humour, country vet Herriot captures the spirit of the Yorkshire
Dales and of rural communities on the cusp of change, before
tractors and machines had taken over and modern medicines and
antibiotics transformed veterinary work. Along the way a beloved
cast of characters emerges, from the squabbling brothers Tristan
and Siegfried to Herriot's hapless courtship and eventual family
life with Helen Anderson. But it's the animals which are at the
heart of Herriot's stories. Whether he's dodging a raging bull on a
risky artificial insemination assignment, becoming pen pals with
Tricki Woo the spoilt Pikingese or the inevitable trials and
tribulations of lambing season, there's never a dull moment in
Herriot's company. At times moving and often laugh-out-loud funny,
The Wonderful World of James Herriot will delight fans old and new.
Modesty, humor, compassion, and wisdom are the traits most
evident in this illuminating selection of personal papers from the
Albert Einstein Archives. The illustrious physicist wrote as
thoughtfully to an Ohio fifth-grader, distressed by her discovery
that scientists classify humans as animals, as to a Colorado banker
who asked whether Einstein believed in a personal God. Witty
rhymes, an exchange with Queen Elizabeth of Belgium about fine
music, and expressions of his devotion to Zionism are but some of
the highlights found in this warm and enriching book.
William Burns is best known as `America's Sherlock Holmes' and was
director of the FBI, shortly before J. Edgar Hoover. But before he
became director, Burns had a long, highly publicized career as a
detective for the Secret Service, then led the famed Burns
International Detective Agency, which competed with his rival, the
Pinkerton Detective Agency.
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