Critical Acclaim for
PLANETARY DREAMS
The Quest To Discover Life Beyond Earth

"The stunning insights provided in Planetary Dreams make it a book for everyone who has the slightest curiosity about our role in the cosmos."——Hugh Downs, ABC News, 20/20

"The broadest and, in a philosophical sense, the deepest book to examine the question of the origins of life in the universe. . . . A wise, kindly, and beautifully written book, Planetary Dreams sets forth a vision of a truly human and humane future and a hope for a richly inhabited universe."——Ben Bova, six-time Hugo Award winner and past president of the National Space Society

"If you are interested in the search for extraterrestrial life. . .then Planetary Dreams is a must read. Delightfully written."——Louis D. Friedman, Executive Director, The Planetary Society

"Combining many narrative elements, including a description of his fanciful institution, the Museum of the Cosmos, Shapiro’s imaginative, multifaceted work should meet the yearnings of space enthusiasts and of the wider public, as Carl Sagan’s books did."——Booklist

The Quest To Discover Life Beyond Earth.

"The 'dreams' that I write of are not the usual ones, the images that come up in our minds involuntarily during certain stages of sleep, but rather the hopes and expectations that we have lavished upon other worlds around us."—from the Preface.

The surprisingly long history of debate over extraterrestrial life is full of marvelous visions of what life "out there" might be like, as well as remarkable stories of alleged sightings and heated disputes about the probability that life might actually have arisen more than once. In Planetary Dreams, acclaimed author Robert Shapiro explores this rich history of dreams and debates in search of the best current answers to the most elusive and compelling of all questions: Are we alone?

In his pursuit, he presents three contrasting views regarding how life might have started: through Divine Creation, by a highly unlikely stroke of luck, or by the inevitable process of a natural law that he terms the Life Principle. We are treated to a lively fictional dinner debate among the leading proponents of these schools of thought—with the last named group arguing that life has almost surely formed in many places throughout the universe, and the others that life may well be entirely unique to our own blue planet. To set the stage for a deep exploration of the question, the author then leads us on a fantastic journey through the museum of the cosmos, an imagined building that holds models of the universe at different degrees of magnification. We then journey deep into inner space to view the astonishingly intricate life of a single cell, and learn why the origin of such a complex object from simple chemical mixtures poses one of the most profound enigmas known to science.

Writing in a wonderfully entertaining style, Shapiro then reviews the competing theories about the start of life on Earth, and suggests the debate may best be settled by finding signs of life on the other worlds of our solar system. He takes us on a guided tour of the most likely sites, from the underground hot springs of Mars to the ice-covered oceans of Jupiter's airless moons.

Along the way, he shares a wealth of fascinating stories about the ways in which our views of the heavens have changed, from the theories of ancient philosphers, who argued that the Moon was inhabited, to the current Origins and Astrobiology initiatives of NASA. He describes the probes that will be sent out in the near future in pursuit of the first compelling physical evidence of life beyond Earth, and concludes with a radical suggestion about how this quest might be supported through the next millennium. As we launch into an exciting new era of space exploration, Planetary Dreams offers a thoughtful and entertaining exploration of both the history of our hopes and expectations and a vision of a possible future in which the discovery of life elsewhere will provide a new view of our place in the universe.

The name of Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) commonly brings to mind the intriguing group of French composers referred to in the 1920s as iconoclasts, and known as Les Six (with Poulenc, Auric, Durey, Milhaud, and Honegger). To envision her solely in this most brief of lights, however, does not bring a sense of justice to her legacy, for Tailleferre leaves behind a large and diverse body of musical work that spans 70 years, writing for more than a half-century after the precarious summit of Les Six. Although she was well acquainted with many influential 20th-century artists, from Picasso to Stravinsky to Charlie Chaplin, she remains a curiously mysterious, if not absent, figure in biographical studies and in studies of the times of which she was an integral part.

In this expansive overview, Zoosh explains, "You are the Explorer Race. Learn about your journey before coming to this Earth, your evolution here and what lies ahead". Topics range from ETs and UFOs to relationships.

Intelligent BPM Systems: Impact and Opportunity
iBPMS
"The need for Intelligent Business Operations (IBO) supported by intelligent processes is driving the need for a new convergence of process technologies lead by the iBPMS. The iBPMS changes the way processes help organizations keep up with business change," notes Gartner Emeritus Jim Sinur in his Foreword.
Co-authors include industry experts Keith Swenson, Nathaniel Palmer, Robert Shapiro, Setrag Khoshafian, Charles Webster, James Taylor, Pieter van Schalkwyk, Steinar Carlsen "et al"
Contents
* Thriving on Adaptability: How Smart Companies Win in a Data-Driven World.
* Avoiding Fragility in Innovative Learning Organizations
* Adaptive Case Management for Railway Freight Operations
* Creating an Integrated Platform for Enterprise-wide Process Intelligence
* Process of Everything
* The iBPM Ecosystem: More Human than System
* Marketing Intelligent BPM to Healthcare Intelligently
* How to Make Mobile BPM Robust and Intelligent
* Decision Support For Intelligent BPM
* Emerging Standards in Decision Modeling-an Introduction to Decision Model & Notation
* A Reliable Methodology for BPM Project Implementation
* Composing Services in the Future Internet: Choreography-Based Approach
* Making SOA work-a Practice-Oriented Overview
* Smart Tools and Visual Analytics
An intelligent BPM suite provides the functionality needed to support more intelligent business operations, including real-time analytics, extensive complex event processing (CEP) and business activity monitoring (BAM) technologies and enhanced mobile, social and collaborative capabilities.
The co-authors of this important book describe various aspects and approaches with regard to impact and opportunity.
By reading this book, you'll learn how successful organizations keep up with business change. You'll be able to create and run an adaptive, intelligent enterprise, easily able to navigate changes.

Zoosh and others blast the cover off past events and hidden forces at work on this planet and reveal opportunities for immense growth and power. This is a pivotal time as the secrets and mysteries that have long bewildered humanity are at last illuminated by the light of truth.

Does public opinion matter in international conflict resolution? Does national foreign policy remain independent of public opinion and the media? International Public Opinion and the Bosnia Crisis examines, through U.S., Canadian, and European case studies, how public reaction impacted democratic governments' response to the ethnic and religious conflict in Bosnia during the period from 1991-1997. Each case study offers an overview of the national media coverage and public reaction to the war in the former Yugoslavia and examines the links between public opinion and political and military intervention in Bosnia. The result is a comprehensive evaluation of the complex relationship between public opinion, media coverage, and foreign policy decision-making.

Does public opinion matter in international conflict resolution? Does national foreign policy remain independent of public opinion and the media? International Public Opinion and the Bosnia Crisis examines, through U.S., Canadian, and European case studies, how public reaction impacted democratic governments' response to the ethnic and religious conflict in Bosnia during the period from 1991-1997. Each case study offers an overview of the national media coverage and public reaction to the war in the former Yugoslavia and examines the links between public opinion and political and military intervention in Bosnia. The result is a comprehensive evaluation of the complex relationship between public opinion, media coverage, and foreign policy decision-making.