Plains Indian biographic rock art can be “read” by those knowledgeable in its lexicon. Presented is a lexicon of imagery, conventions, and symbols used by Plains Indians to communicate their warfare and social narratives. The reader is introduced to Plains Indian “warrior” art in all media, biographic art as picture writing is explained, and the lexicon is described, providing a pictographic “dictionary,” and explains conventions and connotations. Finally, it illustrates four key examples of how these narratives are read by the observer. Familiarity with the lexicon will enable interested scholars and laypersons to understand what are otherwise enigmatic rock art drawings found from Calgary, Alberta through ten U.S. states, and into the Mexican state of Coahuila.

Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to "shut up and calculate" and helped to rejuvenate modern physics. For physicists, the 1970s were a time of stagnation. Jobs became scarce, and conformity was encouraged, sometimes stifling exploration of the mysteries of the physical world. Dissatisfied, underemployed, and eternally curious, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to throw off the constraints of the physics mainstream and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the "Fundamental Fysiks Group," they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics. They studied quantum entanglement and Bell's Theorem through the lens of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind-reading, discussing the latest research while lounging in hot tubs. Some even dabbled with LSD to enhance their creativity. Unlikely as it may seem, these iconoclasts spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.

In the mid-1960s, when pro football eclipsed baseball as America's leading spectator sport, the NFL had the most exciting season in its history. The Eastern Conference Cleveland Browns were the champions in 1965 yet most of the action was in the Western Conference, where the reigning Baltimore Colts contended with the formidable Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. All three teams played two games apiece against the Detroit Lions, a power earlier in the decade, and the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams, who were becoming dominant in the league. In those days the NFL played a wide-open game-long touchdown passes, fumbles and interceptions kept fans on the edges of their seats through seven games each weekend. The league's deep bench included such players as Johnny Unitas, Tom Matte, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and Dave Robinson, rookies Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus and Jim Brown, and key coaches Don Shula, Vince Lombardi and George Halas. A fantastic final weekend led to a one-game playoff for the right to face the Browns for the championship. Drawing on interviews with surviving players and executives, this book recounts the thrilling drama of the '65 season and places it in the broader context of NFL history.

Sidney Coleman (1937-2007) was a renowned theoretical physicist, who taught for more than forty years at Harvard University. He contributed critical work on quantum field theory, high-energy particle physics, and cosmology. He was also a remarkably effective teacher who introduced generations of physicists to quantum field theory, mentoring several leading members in the field. His sense of humor and wit became legendary. This selection of his previously unpublished correspondence illuminates changes in theoretical physics and in academic life over the course of Coleman's illustrious career.The letters show the depth of Coleman's activities and interests, including science fiction, space travel, and the US counter culture.The volume also includes Coleman's legendary lecture 'Quantum Mechanics in Your Face.'

Sidney Coleman (1937-2007) was a renowned theoretical physicist, who taught for more than forty years at Harvard University. He contributed critical work on quantum field theory, high-energy particle physics, and cosmology. He was also a remarkably effective teacher who introduced generations of physicists to quantum field theory, mentoring several leading members in the field. His sense of humor and wit became legendary. This selection of his previously unpublished correspondence illuminates changes in theoretical physics and in academic life over the course of Coleman's illustrious career.The letters show the depth of Coleman's activities and interests, including science fiction, space travel, and the US counter culture.The volume also includes Coleman's legendary lecture 'Quantum Mechanics in Your Face.'

A series of engaging essays that explore iconic moments of discovery and debate in physicists' ongoing quest to understand the quantum world. The ideas at the root of quantum theory remain stubbornly, famously bizarre: a solid world reduced to puffs of probability; particles that tunnel through walls; cats suspended in zombielike states, neither alive nor dead; and twinned particles that share entangled fates. For more than a century, physicists have grappled with these conceptual uncertainties while enmeshed in the larger uncertainties of the social and political worlds around them, a time pocked by the rise of fascism, cataclysmic world wars, and a new nuclear age. In Quantum Legacies, David Kaiser introduces readers to iconic episodes in physicists' still-unfolding quest to understand space, time, and matter at their most fundamental. In a series of vibrant essays, Kaiser takes us inside moments of discovery and debate among the great minds of the era--Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Stephen Hawking, and many more who have indelibly shaped our understanding of nature--as they have tried to make sense of a messy world. Ranging across space and time, the episodes span the heady 1920s, the dark days of the 1930s, the turbulence of the Cold War, and the peculiar political realities that followed. In those eras as in our own, researchers' ambition has often been to transcend the vagaries of here and now, to contribute lasting insights into how the world works that might reach beyond a given researcher's limited view. In Quantum Legacies, Kaiser unveils the difficult and unsteady work required to forge some shared understanding between individuals and across generations, and in doing so, he illuminates the deep ties between scientific exploration and the human condition.

Recent advances in sabermetrics have made it possible to assess the exact contribution of each player to the success of failure of his team. Using the simple metric Wins Above Average-the number of wins that the 2016 Red Sox, for example, added to their total because they had Mookie Betters in right field instead of an average player (5)-David Kaiser leads us on a fascinating tour through the history of major league baseball from 1901 through 2016, analyzing all the greatest players and teams of the past and showing exactly why they enjoyed the success that they did. Along the way, he identifies the 15 or 20 greatest players of every generation, using simple metrics that allow him to compare the impact of players from Ty Cobb through Ted Williams to Willie Mays, Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds, and pitchers from Christy Mathewson to Roger Clemens. The book also says a great deal about short- and long-term strategies for organizational success. Along the way, Kaiser takes on a good many tenets of diamond faith.. The importance of pitching, he argues, has been vastly exaggerated since the beginning of baseball time, and great pitching has almost never been the key to a dynasty. Many Hall of Fame pitchers and some hitters as well, he finds, have reached Cooperstown almost entirely on the backs of their teammates. Accurate metrics also reveal that a few over-qualified players are still awaiting selection to Cooperstown. Last but hardly least, Kaiser shows that baseball is threatened by an unprecedented shortage of great players, and challenges MLB to do something about it.

A series of engaging essays that explore iconic moments of discovery and debate in physicists' ongoing quest to understand the quantum world. The ideas at the root of quantum theory remain stubbornly, famously bizarre: a solid world reduced to puffs of probability; particles that tunnel through walls; cats suspended in zombielike states, neither alive nor dead; and twinned particles that share entangled fates. For more than a century, physicists have grappled with these conceptual uncertainties while enmeshed in the larger uncertainties of the social and political worlds around them, a time pocked by the rise of fascism, cataclysmic world wars, and a new nuclear age. In Quantum Legacies, David Kaiser introduces readers to iconic episodes in physicists' still-unfolding quest to understand space, time, and matter at their most fundamental. In a series of vibrant essays, Kaiser takes us inside moments of discovery and debate among the great minds of the era-Albert Einstein, Erwin Schroedinger, Stephen Hawking, and many more who have indelibly shaped our understanding of nature-as they have tried to make sense of a messy world. Ranging across space and time, the episodes span the heady 1920s, the dark days of the 1930s, the turbulence of the Cold War, and the peculiar political realities that followed. In those eras as in our own, researchers' ambition has often been to transcend the vagaries of here and now, to contribute lasting insights into how the world works that might reach beyond a given researcher's limited view. In Quantum Legacies, Kaiser unveils the difficult and unsteady work required to forge some shared understanding between individuals and across generations, and in doing so, he illuminates the deep ties between scientific exploration and the human condition.

In his 1969 book The Making of a Counterculture, Theodore Roszak described the youth of the late 1960s as fleeing science "as if from a place inhabited by plague," and even seeking "subversion of the scientific worldview" itself. Roszak's view has come to be our own: when we think of the youth movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, we think of a movement that was explicitly anti-scientific in its embrace of alternative spiritualities and communal living. Such a view is far too simple, ignoring the diverse ways in which the era's countercultures expressed enthusiasm for and involved themselves in science--of a certain type. Rejecting hulking, militarized technical projects like Cold War missiles and mainframes, Boomers and hippies sought a science that was both small-scale and big-picture, as exemplified by the annual workshops on quantum physics at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, or Timothy Leary's championing of space exploration as the ultimate "high." Groovy Science explores the experimentation and eclecticism that marked countercultural science and technology during one of the most colorful periods of American history.

Winner of the 2007 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the twentieth century. Introduced by the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) soon after World War II as a means of simplifying lengthy calculations in quantum electrodynamics, they soon gained adherents in many branches of the discipline. Yet as new physicists adopted the tiny line drawings, they also adapted the diagrams and introduced their own interpretations. "Drawing Theories Apart" traces how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams--and how both the diagrams and their users were molded in the process.
Drawing on rich archival materials, interviews, and more than five hundred scientific articles from the period, "Drawing Theories Apart" uses the Feynman diagrams as a means to explore the development of American postwar physics. By focusing on the ways young physicists learned new calculational skills, David Kaiser frames his story around the crafting and stabilizing of the basic tools in the physicist's kit--thus offering the first book to follow the diagrams once they left Feynman's hands and entered the physics vernacular.

The evolution of MIT, as seen in a series of crucial decisions over the years. How did MIT become MIT? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology marks the 150th anniversary of its founding in 2011. Over the years, MIT has lived by its motto, "Mens et Manus" ("Mind and Hand"), dedicating itself to the pursuit of knowledge and its application to real-world problems. MIT has produced leading scholars in fields ranging from aeronautics to economics, invented entire academic disciplines, and transformed ideas into market-ready devices. This book examines a series of turning points, crucial decisions that helped define MIT. Many of these issues have relevance today: the moral implications of defense contracts, the optimal balance between government funding and private investment, and the right combination of basic science, engineering, and humanistic scholarship in the curriculum. Chapters describe the educational vison and fund-raising acumen of founder William Barton Rogers (MIT was among the earliest recipients of land grant funding); MIT's relationship with Harvard-its rival, doppelganger, and, for a brief moment, degree-conferring partner; the battle between pure science and industrial sponsorship in the early twentieth century; MIT's rapid expansion during World War II because of defense work and military training courses; the conflict between Cold War gadgetry and the humanities; protests over defense contracts at the height of the Vietnam War; the uproar in the local community over the perceived riskiness of recombinant DNA research; and the measures taken to reverse years of institutionalized discrimination against women scientists.

David Kaiser looks at four hundred years of modern European history to find the political causes of general war in four distinct periods (1559-1659, 1661-1713, 1792-1815, and 1914-1945). He shows how war became a natural function of politics, a logical consequence of contemporary political behavior. Rather than fighting simply to expand, states in each war fought for specific political and economic reasons. The book illustrates the extraordinary power of politics and war in modern Western civilization, if not in history as a whole.

In a provocative and original new preface and chapter, Kaiser shows which aspects of four past areas of conflict do, and do not, seem relevant to the immediate future, and he sketches out some new possibilities for Europe.