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Books > Biography > Science, technology & engineering
For all who have found the Bible difficult to read and science hard
to understand, this author did too Wouldn't it be wonderful if
someone would take the time to study things such as difficult
verses? Also, would it be helpful if somebody wrote it in a book?
NOW A MAJOR SERIES 'GENIUS' ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PRODUCED BY RON HOWARD AND STARRING GEOFFREY RUSH Einstein is the great icon of our age: the kindly refugee from oppression whose wild halo of hair, twinkling eyes, engaging humanity and extraordinary brilliance made his face a symbol and his name a synonym for genius. He was a rebel and nonconformist from boyhood days. His character, creativity and imagination were related, and they drove both his life and his science. In this marvellously clear and accessible narrative, Walter Isaacson explains how his mind worked and the mysteries of the universe that he discovered. Einstein's success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marvelling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a worldview based on respect for free spirits and free individuals. All of which helped make Einstein into a rebel but with a reverence for the harmony of nature, one with just the right blend of imagination and wisdom to transform our understanding of the universe. This new biography, the first since all of Einstein's papers have become available, is the fullest picture yet of one of the key figures of the twentieth century. This is the first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available -- a fully realised portrait of this extraordinary human being, and great genius. Praise for EINSTEIN by Walter Isaacson:- 'YOU REALLY MUST READ THIS.' Sunday Times 'As pithy as Einstein himself.' New Scientist '[A] brilliant biography, rich with newly available archival material.' Literary Review 'Beautifully written, it renders the physics understandable.' Sunday Telegraph 'Isaacson is excellent at explaining the science. ' Daily Express
By addressing the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of uncommon personalities. Istvan and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that led to five different waves of emigration of scientists from the early twentieth century to the present. Although these exodes were driven by a broad variety of personal motivations, the attraction of an open society with inclusiveness, tolerance, and - needless to say - better circumstances for working and living, was the chief force drawing them abroad. While emigration from East to West is a general phenomenon, this book explains why and how the emigration of Hungarian scientists is distinctive. The high number of Nobel Prizes among this group is only one indicator. Multicultural tolerance, a quickly emerging, considerably Jewish, urban middle class, and a very effective secondary school system were positive legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Multiple generations, shaped by these conditions, suffered from the increasingly exclusionist, intolerant, antisemitic, and economically stagnating environment, and chose to go elsewhere. "I would rather have roots than wings, but if I cannot have roots, I shall use wings," explained Leo Szilard, one of the fathers of the Atom Bomb.
Sophie Moen suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and was in a wheelchair for ten years. Desperately seeking a solution, she called upon Dr. Ernie Pellegrino, who suggested joint replacement. After several surgeries, Sophie was able to walk again. This is just one of the medical success stories that author Ernie Pellegrino experienced in more than three decades of medical service. Narrated in a memoir format, "A Doctor's Path" includes emotionally touching examples of the selfless dedication a number of physicians demonstrate to patients. It marvels at patients who have endured incredible disabilities and their willingness to take the risks needed to improve their lives. Not all medical stories, however, have happy endings. Pellegrino gives rare insight into the people and events in his profession. His frank approach exposes some of the shameful individuals and activities that take place in patient care. He's not afraid to confront those he believes have violated the Hippocratic Oath-to practice medicine to the best of their ability and do no harm. Providing fourteen lessons, "A Doctor's Path" helps us understand the limitations of doctors and the medical practice, and demonstrates the will of doctors to nurture and serve humanity.
Who would ever believe that absentminded Nobel laureate professor Albert Einstein was a Soviet spy?Albert Einstein's political and humanitarian commitment was almost completely obscured from his popular image by the media since they portrayed him as a weird mathematical genius. J. Edgar Hoover obsessively accumulated 'derogatory information" on Albert Einstein since January 1933, the date of his arrival in California. But it was not until the beginning of the fifties that he set his international trap to 'get Einstein." Dr. Giampiero Favato delves into this chilling story with his controversial historical narrative, "Einstein@Berlin." He attempts to answer numerous questions, including the following:
What's the number one nightmare for every loving parent? Most would say "to outlive my child." One spring break, a middle-aged dad and mom suddenly face a 50/50 chance of survival prognosis for their twenty-two-year-old daughter. They quickly realize their intense parental desire to protect their child is thwarted. Their thoughts are full of penetrating questions they were too busy to consider earlier. How do believers get through a terrifying crisis with their faith intact? It's something God immediately began to teach an entire family. Our Ever-Present Help confidently boasts in God's magnificent assistance to those who decide to trust Him even in the worst of times. Discover how to... understand God's ways to speak, teach, and lavishly provide during a crisis; cry out to God and pray big; trust God fully-more than people or human abilities; gain assurance that God is working to accomplish His purposes even during suffering. This memoir highlights parents pondering the unconditional surrender of their child's life back to God, their transforming Christian marriage, God's timing, how to overcome a season of ravaging fear, and much more.
From the acclaimed biographer of Buckminster Fuller, a riveting biography of the Nobel Prize–winning physicist who became the greatest scientific detective of the twentieth century. To his admirers, Luis W. Alvarez was the most accomplished, inventive, and versatile experimental physicist of his generation. During World War II, he achieved major breakthroughs in radar, played a key role in the Manhattan Project, and served as the lead scientific observer at the bombing of Hiroshima. In the decades that followed, he revolutionized particle physics with the hydrogen bubble chamber, developed an innovative X-ray method to search for hidden chambers in the Pyramid of Chephren, and shot melons at a rifle range to test his controversial theory about the Kennedy assassination. At the very end of his life, he collaborated with his son to demonstrate that an asteroid impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, igniting a furious debate that raged for years after his death. Alvarez was also a combative and relentlessly ambitious figure―widely feared by his students and associates―who testified as a government witness at the security hearing that destroyed the public career of his friend and colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer. In the first comprehensive biography of Alvarez, Alec Nevala-Lee vividly recounts one of the most compelling untold stories in modern science, a narrative overflowing with ideas, lessons, and anecdotes that will fascinate anyone with an interest in how genius and creativity collide with the problems of an increasingly challenging world.
The personal diaries of one of America's best-loved naturalists, revealing his difficult and inspiring path to finding his voice and becoming a writer Few writers are as renowned for their eloquence about the natural world, its power and fragility, as Sigurd F. Olson (1899-1982). Before he could give expression to The Singing Wilderness, however, he had to find his own voice. It is this struggle, the painstaking and often simply painful process of becoming the writer and conservationist now familiar to us, that Olson documented in the journal entries gathered here. Written mostly during the years from 1930 to 1941, Olson's journals describe the dreams and frustrations of an aspiring writer honing his skills, pursuing recognition, and facing doubt while following the academic career that allowed him to live and work even as it consumed so much of his time. But even as he speaks with immediacy and intensity about the conditions of his apprenticeship, Olson can be seen developing the singular way of observing and depicting the natural world that would bring him fame-and also, more significantly, alert others to the urgent need to understand and protect that world. Author of Olson's definitive biography, editor David Backes brings a deep knowledge of the writer to these journals, providing critical context, commentary, and insights along the way. When Olson wrote, in the spring of 1941, "What I am afraid of now is that the world will blow up just as I am getting it organized to suit me," he could hardly have known how right he would prove to be. It is propitious that at our present moment, when the world seems once more balanced on the precipice, we have the words of Sigurd F. Olson to remind us of what matters-and of the hard work and the wonder that such a reckoning requires.
What would you do with a second life? That's the question that Channing S. Jun, a young medical student from Kanggye, North Korea, found himself asking after a series of unlikely events spared him from certain death at the hands of communist agents during the fall of Seoul, South Korea. Tragically separated from his home and family by the Korean War, Jun embarks on a remarkable journey that brings him from the battlefields of Korea to the United States of the 1950's. With only his mother's teaching to guide him, the penniless medical student overcomes countless obstacles to become a successful American surgeon. From Korea to New Orleans, New York to Texas then North Dakota and finally Georgia, "A Tiger's Hide" takes us along Dr. Jun's exciting journey toward his ultimate American success story. You'll find his recollections delightful and inspiring as he challenges us to savor life and leave behind our own legacy of service and devotion.
Gene Kranz was present at the creation of America's manned space program and was a key player in it for three decades. As a flight director in NASA's Mission Control, Kranz witnessed firsthand the making of history. He participated in the space program from the early days of the Mercury program to the last Apollo mission, and beyond. He endured the disastrous first years when rockets blew up and the United States seemed to fall further behind the Soviet Union in the space race. He helped to launch Alan Shepard and John Glenn, then assumed the flight director's role in the Gemini program, which he guided to fruition. With his teammates, he accepted the challenge to carry out President John F. Kennedy's commitment to land a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film "Apollo 13, " Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.) In "Failure Is Not an Option, " Gene Kranz recounts these thrilling historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the Moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates. Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids -- still in their twenties, only a few years out of college -- who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success. Finally, Kranz reflects on what has happened to the space program and offers his own bold suggestions about what we ought to be doing in space now. This is a fascinating firsthand account written by a veteran mission controller of one of America's greatest achievements.
Cal King had it all: charm, affability, a body chiseled by rigorous workouts, and a successful career as a financial service executive. But that all changed dramatically during the first week of August in 2000. On a business trip to Chicago, he contracted Legionnaire's Disease. Within a few dreadful days of contracting the disease, he narrowly escaped death, lost the ability to speak, and saw his rising star plummet. "Never Better" narrates the story of his efforts to overcome the devastating effects of this disease, including speech impairment, a weakened body, and depression that threatened to consume his life. It is the story of his single-minded determination to talk, resume his career as a successful call center executive, and rise above the hurtful looks from people who believed he was mentally-challenged in the wake of Legionnaire's Disease. "Never Better" demonstrates the importance of faith, perseverance, and bravery. It reveals the inner spirit of a man destined to overcome nearly insurmountable odds to find new meaning in his life.
There is no necessary relationship between fame and power, and great influence is often wielded in willful obscurity. So it was with the irascible, indomitable Eugene Fubini. A physics prodigy who fled Italy when the fascists came to power, his searing intelligence and relentless determination lifted him from obscurity to the highest levels of the Pentagon. Indifferent to anything but results, Fubini worked behind the scenes to shape the strategy and substance of his adopted country's post-World War II defense. Along the way he exerted enormous influence over the development of radar, the rise of the military-industrial complex, the Space Race, and many of the other signature events and movements of mid-twentieth-century American geopolitics. But even as his unbending determination to do things his way earned him the admiration of his colleagues, it left him feared and isolated within his own family. "Let Me Explain" is a portrait of a man whose unwillingness and inability to compromise paid enormous rewards, and extracted a heavy emotional price. David G. Fubini is a director of McKinsey & Company, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts. For more than a decade he was the managing director of the Boston office, and led the firm's activities in New England. Prior to joining McKinsey, David was an initial member of a small group that became the McNeil Consumer Products Company of Johnson & Johnson. David received a degree in business administration with honors from the University of Massachusetts, and a master's degree in business administration, with distinction, from Harvard University. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with his wife, Bertha Rivera, and their four children.
Even now, nineteen years after my son's injury, I feel my praying for a miracle was answered. Dan's faith in believing has been astounding. The insight of his spiritual belief, I realize, was based from his youth. Dan was a happy child. He sets goals early on; his bravery has been so inspiring, for he had many crosses to bear when his life was changed dramatically. Instead of his family assuring him, it was him who assured us that God had a purpose. He transformed what he believed by proving his confidence in doing and by a living faith. It easily could have been farewell to farming, but he proved to himself and to others he could fulfill his long-time dream of farming. He looked to the bright side with "I can" instead of "I can't," by staying true to his vision and keeping focus on tomorrow and moving toward larger visions. I, myself, had to learn all over to what one would say, letting go. There was not an hour in twenty-four I didn't worry. By mere osmosis, I absorb the craft of letting Dan have an open road just as I did in his young youth. He proved paralysis is a choice and that what ifs are a waste of time.
If there's one thing author Paul Sybert knows well, it's the act of living life in the face of adversity. In "The Kindness of Strangers," Sybert shares his life story and shows how he has confronted his fears and troubles and placed his trust in Jesus Christ. This memoir shares some of the most important moments in his life, as well as the tribulations that have tested him. "The Kindness of Strangers" recalls some of the most important events of Sybert's life-being baptized at age twelve, earning a bachelor's degree in engineering, experiencing divorce and the loss of love, struggling with an alcohol addiction, appreciating the gift of a spiritual mother, and surviving a stroke. But most of all, Sybert shares how God has worked in his life. Through anecdotes and illustrations, he communicates the importance of maintaining a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. "The Kindness of Strangers" offers insight into the life of a man who faced his fear and persevered.
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