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On a scorching July afternoon in 1878, at the dawn of the
Gilded Age, the moon’s shadow descended on the American West,
darkening skies from Montana Territory to Texas. This rare
celestial event—a total solar eclipse—offered a priceless
opportunity to solve some of the solar system’s most enduring
riddles, and it prompted a clutch of enterprising scientists to
brave the wild frontier in a grueling race to the Rocky Mountains.
Acclaimed science journalist David Baron, long fascinated by
eclipses, re-creates this epic tale of ambition, failure, and glory
in a narrative that reveals as much about the historical trajectory
of a striving young nation as it does about those scant three
minutes when the blue sky blackened and stars appeared in
mid-afternoon. In vibrant historical detail, American Eclipse
animates the fierce jockeying that came to dominate late
nineteenth-century American astronomy, bringing to life the
challenges faced by three of the most determined eclipse chasers
who participated in this adventure. James Craig Watson, virtually
forgotten in the twenty-first century, was in his day a renowned
asteroid hunter who fantasized about becoming a Gilded Age Galileo.
Hauling a telescope, a star chart, and his long-suffering wife out
west, Watson believed that he would discover Vulcan, a hypothesized
"intra-Mercurial" planet hidden in the sun’s brilliance. No less
determined was Vassar astronomer Maria Mitchell, who—in an era
when women’s education came under fierce attack—fought to
demonstrate that science and higher learning were not anathema to
femininity. Despite obstacles erected by the male-dominated
astronomical community, an indifferent government, and careless
porters, Mitchell courageously charged west with a contingent of
female students intent on observing the transcendent phenomenon for
themselves. Finally, Thomas Edison—a young inventor and
irrepressible showman—braved the wilderness to prove himself to
the scientific community. Armed with his newest invention, the
tasimeter, and pursued at each stop by throngs of reporters, Edison
sought to leverage the eclipse to cement his place in history. What
he learned on the frontier, in fact, would help him illuminate the
world. With memorable accounts of train robberies and Indian
skirmishes, David Baron’s page-turning drama refracts
nineteenth-century science through the mythologized age of the Wild
West, revealing a history no less fierce and fantastical.
On a scorching July afternoon in 1878, at the dawn of the Gilded
Age, the moon's shadow descended on the American West, darkening
skies from Montana Territory to Texas. This rare celestial event-a
total solar eclipse-offered a priceless opportunity to solve some
of the solar system's most enduring riddles, and it prompted a
clutch of enterprising scientists to brave the wild frontier in a
grueling race to the Rocky Mountains. Acclaimed science journalist
David Baron, long fascinated by eclipses, re-creates this epic tale
of ambition, failure, and glory in a narrative that reveals as much
about the historical trajectory of a striving young nation as it
does about those scant three minutes when the blue sky blackened
and stars appeared in mid-afternoon. Lauded as a "sweeping,
compelling" (Wall Street Journal) work of science history, American
Eclipse tells the story of the three tenacious and brilliant
scientists who raced to Wyoming and Colorado to observe the rare
event. Dedicating years of "exhaustive research to reconstruct a
remarkable chapter of U.S. history" (Scientific American),
award-winning writer David Baron brings to three-dimensional life
these competitors-the planet-hunter James Craig Watson, pioneering
astronomer Maria Mitchell, and the ambitious young inventor Thomas
Edison-to thrillingly re-create the fierce jockeying of
nineteenth-century American astronomy. With spellbinding accounts
of train robberies and Indian skirmishes, the mythologized age of
the Wild West comes alive as never before. An "enthralling" (Daniel
Kevles) and magnificent portrayal of America's dawn as a scientific
superpower, American Eclipse depicts a young nation that looked to
the skies to reveal its towering ambition and expose its latent
genius.
In the summer of 1878 three ruthless and brilliant scientists raced
to Wyoming and Colorado to observe a total solar eclipse. One
sought to discover a new planet. Another fought to prove that
science was not an anathema to femininity. And a young,
megalomaniacal inventor sought to test his bona fides and light the
world through his revelations. David Baron brings to life these
three competitors-James Craig Watson, Maria Mitchell and Thomas
Edison-re-creating the jockeying of nineteenth-century astronomy.
With accounts of train robberies and Indian skirmishes, the last
days of the Wild West come alive. A magnificent portrayal of
America's dawn as a superpower, American Eclipse depicts a nation
looking to the skies to reveal its ambition and expose its genius.
Recent advances in clinical psychiatry are presented by David Baron
and Lawrence Gross in this issue of Psychiatric Clinics.
Psychiatrists will find here disorders they deal with daily in
patients and topics include Advances in: Addictive disorders;
Geriatric and healthy aging; Trauma and violence; PTSD;
Schizophrenia; Intellectual disabilities; Neuropsychiatry,
Psychopharmacology; Integrated care - psychiatry and primary care;
Global and cultural psychiatry; Mood disorders. Also presented are
the Future role of psychotherapy in psychiatry; Public mental
health in the Affordable Care Act era; Genetics; and Diagnostic
classification (DSM criteria) how they are transitioning in future
- DSM V and beyond.
Solve your programming woes in Unity with practical design
propositions Key Features Gain a comprehensive overview of Unity
engine architecture and coding model Build a complete racing game
using software design patterns and understand how to implement them
in Unity Download the source code of the complete prototype
demonstrating each of the software patterns used Book
DescriptionThis book is written for every game developer ready to
tackle the bigger picture and start working with advanced
programming techniques and design patterns in Unity. Game
Development Patterns with Unity 2021 is an introduction to the core
principles of reusable software patterns and how to employ them to
build components efficiently. In this second edition, you'll tackle
design patterns with the help of a practical example; a playable
racing game prototype where you'll get to apply all your newfound
knowledge. Notable updates also include a game design document
(GDD), a Unity programming primer, and the downloadable source code
of a complete prototype. Your journey will start by learning about
overall design of the core game mechanics and systems. You'll
discover tried-and-tested software patterns to code essential
components of a game in a structured manner, and start using
classic design patterns to utilize Unity's unique API features. As
you progress, you'll also identify the negative impacts of bad
architectural decisions and understand how to overcome them with
simple but effective practices. By the end of this Unity book, the
way you develop Unity games will change - you'll adapt a more
structured, scalable, and optimized process that will help you take
the next step in your career. What you will learn Structure
professional Unity code using industry-standard development
patterns Identify the right patterns for implementing specific game
mechanics or features Develop configurable core game mechanics and
ingredients that can be modified without writing a single line of
code Review practical object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques
and learn how they're used in the context of a Unity project Build
unique game development systems such as a level editor Explore ways
to adapt traditional design patterns for use with the Unity API Who
this book is forThis book is for Unity game developers who want to
learn industry standards for building Unity games. Knowledge of the
Unity game engine and programming in the C# language is a must, so
if you're a beginner, try our Learning C# by Developing Games with
Unity 2021 handbook instead.
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