| Megafire: The Race to Extinguish a Deadly Epidemic of Flame by Michael KodasAnyone who follows the news can't help but be aware of the wildfires that periodically ravage the western United States, claiming lives and causing widespread destruction. In this sobering book, journalist and firefighter Michael Kodas draws on interviews and on-site reporting to investigate why such "megafires" occur -- and how our response to them may be doing more harm than good. |
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| Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max TegmarkAre you ready for the AI revolution? If not, you're hardly alone. Although the issues surrounding artificial intelligence comprise "the most important conversation of our time," according to MIT professor Max Tegmark, we as a society have not devoted much attention to the political, economic, and social consequences of AI. Whether you're worried about automation eliminating your job (it probably will) or robot overlords destroying all humans (they probably won't), you'll want to read this book. |
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An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
by Al Gore
Vice President Gore, one of our environmental heroes and a leading expert in climate change, brings together cutting-edge research from top scientists around the world; approximately 200 photographs and illustrations to visually articulate the subject matter; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness (and with humor, too) that the fact of global climate change is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be assuredly disastrous if left unchecked.
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The River of Consciousness
by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks, a scientist and a storyteller, is beloved by readers for the extraordinary neurological case histories (Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mars) in which he introduced and explored many now familiar disorders--autism, Tourette's syndrome, face blindness, savant syndrome. He was also a memoirist who wrote with honesty and humor about the remarkable and strange encounters and experiences that shaped him (Uncle Tungsten, On the Move, Gratitude). Sacks, an Oxford-educated polymath, had a deep familiarity not only with literature and medicine but with botany, animal anatomy, chemistry, the history of science, philosophy, and psychology. The River of Consciousness is one of two books Sacks was working on up to his death, and it reveals his ability to make unexpected connections, his sheer joy in knowledge, and his unceasing, timeless project to understand what makes us human.
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Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery
by Scott Kelly
The veteran of four spaceflights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have. Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly hostile to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both life-threatening and mundane: the devastating effects on the body; the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth; the catastrophic risks of colliding with space junk; and the still more haunting threat of being unable to help should tragedy strike at home--an agonizing situation Kelly faced when, on a previous mission, his twin brother's wife, American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space.
Kelly's humanity, compassion, humor, and determination resonate throughout, as he recalls his rough-and-tumble New Jersey childhood and the youthful inspiration that sparked his astounding career, and as he makes clear his belief that Mars will be the next, ultimately challenging, step in spaceflight.
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The Little Book of Black Holes
by Steven S. Gubser and Frans Pretorius
After introducing the basics of the special and general theories of relativity, this book describes black holes both as astrophysical objects and theoretical “laboratories” in which physicists can test their understanding of gravitational, quantum, and thermal physics. From Schwarzschild black holes to rotating and colliding black holes, and from gravitational radiation to Hawking radiation and information loss, Steven Gubser and Frans Pretorius use creative thought experiments and analogies to explain their subject accessibly.
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