Explore the latest scientific research, philosophical thinking, and expressions of human creativity. Some of the world's most esteemed experts-Nobel laureates, best-selling authors, and renowned scholars-engage in spontaneous and intimate conversations that combine hard facts with an inspiring, and breathtaking, look into our future. Based on the public television program of the same name, Closer To Truth features distinguished specialists who forcefully debate provocative subjects that have broad ramifications for the population at large: Who gets to validate alternative medicine? How does basic science support national security? Can we believe in both religion and science? At the heart is the question: how will scientific advances and the philosophical issues they create affect the individual as well as humanity as a whole? Closer To Truth: Science, Meaning, and the Future explores the latest scientific research, philosophical thinking, and expressions of human creativity. Some of the world's most esteemed experts-Nobel laureates, best-selling authors, and renowned scholars-engage in spontaneous and intimate conversations that combine hard facts with an inspiring-and breathtaking-look into our future. Based on the public television program of the same name, Closer To Truth features distinguished specialists who forcefully debate provocative subjects that have broad ramifications for the population at large: Who gets to validate alternative medicine? How does basic science support national security? Can we believe in both religion and science? At the heart is the question: how will scientific advances and the philosophical issues they create affect the individual as well as humanity as a whole? Whether the subject is the meaning of human consciousness, the ethics of testing experimental drugs on sick people, scientific thinking versus religious beliefs, or how music may help mental development, Closer To Truth uncovers exciting new lines of inquiry and offers fresh perspectives. Participants include Nobel laureates Murray Gell-Mann and David Baltimore; authors Michael Crichton, Octavia Butler, and David Brin; astrophysicists Alan Guth and Neil deGrasse Tyson; planetary scientist Bruce Murray; physicist Steven Koonin; quantum theorist Seth Lloyd; molecular biologist Lucy Shapiro; neuroscientists Nancy Andreasen, Terry Sejnowski, and Christof Koch; psychiatrist Leslie Brothers; Psychology Today's Robert Epstein; musicologists Jeanne Bamberger and Robert Freeman; ethicist Alexander Capron; skeptic Michael Shermer; theologian Nancey Murphy; and Islamic scientist Muzaffar Iqbal.

Creative and innovative management has come to be seen as essential in a world buffeted by rapid and dramatic change. Initially seen as characteristic of dynamic, entrepreneurial organizations, creative and innovative management is now seen as critical to the survival of large bureaucracies, whether they are part of the public or the private sectors.

This volume draws together major management scholars and strategists who examine the forces and factors that enhance or inhibit creative and innovative activities in large organizations. Examples are drawn from the United States and Japan as well as Eastern Europe and China. This volume is essential reading for academics and researchers, as well as practioners, charting the future of large corporations and government bureaucracies in a world of turbulent change.

Medical information sciences are emerging as a vital field of study and practice. The subsequent explosion of data-- in administration, research, diagnosis, and treatment--along with the associated costs of maintenance, have become overwhelming. The volume brings together scholars and practitioners from disciplines concerned with the acquisition, analysis, accessibility, and application of information in medical practice and health care. The book is divided into five sections: the first part provides an overview of the field in general; the second deals with the problem of retrieval; the third part examines the control of health costs; the fourth focuses on medical decision support; and the final part considers the future of medical information sciences.

This is a book not simply to be read, but to be savored. It poses for the reflective practioner the question of relationship between religion and economic creativity and productivity. It gives practical suggestions to any leader on the achievement of that critical motivational force--the linkage between personal inner needs and corporate mission.--C. Roland Christensen, Harvard Business School

This highly specialized volume examines the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) for the first time, with critical emphasis on the impact SDI will have on technologically based industries. It reviews the policies and structures in the government, academia, and industry necessary to take full advantage of the commercial potential of the benefits-to-come from the SDI research program.