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The Mystery of the Aleph
by Amir D. AczelThe history of infinity emphasizing the people who were interested in the concept. Stresses philosophical and religious importance of mathematical ideas throughout history. Fascinating even if math is not your strong suit.
Mission Jupiter: The Spectacular Journey of the Galileo Spacecraft
by Daniel FischerThe Galileo project is one of the most spectacular undertakings in the history of unmanned space flight.. This book details the planning of the Galileo mission to Jupiter, its arrival and release the Atmospheric Probe, summarizes 400 years of Jupiter research and its findings about the giant planet and its moons. A lot of attention is paid to the exciting discovery of an ocean of water on the Galilean moon Europa.
The Human Condition
by Hannah ArendtA work of striking originality bursting with unexpected insights, "The Human Condition" is in many respects more relevant now than when it first appeared in 1958. In her study of the state of modern humanity, Hannah Arendt considers humankind from the perspective of the actions of which it is capable. The problems Arendt identified then --- diminishing human agency and political freedom, the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our actions --- continue to confront us today.
The Universe and Dr. Einstein
by Lincoln BarnettAcclaimed by Einstein himself, this is among the clearest, most readable expositions of relativity theory. It explains the problems Einstein faced, the experiments that led to his theories, and what his findings reveal about the forces that govern the universe.
Pasteur and Modern Science
by Rene DubosThis is a fresh account of the extraordinary life of Louis Pasteur, and the monumental impact he had on biochemistry, microbiology, bacteriology and immunology.
Learning Wireless Java
by Qusay MahmoudLearning Wireless Java is for Java developers who want to create applications for the Micro Edition audience using the Connected, Limited Device Configuration and the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP). These APIs specifically for devices such as mobile phones and pagers, allowing programmers to create MIDlet applications. This book offers a solid introduction to J2ME and MIDP, including the javax.microedition classes, as well as classes surrounding the features of the various platforms that the J2ME
Java Message Service
by Dave Chappell Richard Monson-HaefelThis book is a thorough introduction to Java Message Service (JMS) from Sun Microsystems. It shows how to build applications using the point-to-point and publish-and-subscribe models; use features like transactions and durable subscriptions to make applications reliable; and use messaging within Enterprise JavaBeans. It also introduces a new EJB type, the MessageDrivenBean, that is part of EJB 2.0, and discusses integration of messaging into J2EE.
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (Mushroom Planet #1)
by Eleanor CameronChuck and David pay a visit to the Mushroom Planet.
New Tech, New Ties
by Rich LingThe message of this book is simple: the mobile phone strengthens social bonds among family and friends. With a traditional land-line telephone, we place calls to a location and ask hopefully if someone is "there"; with a mobile phone, we have instant and perpetual access to friends and family regardless of where they are. But when we are engaged in these intimate conversations with absent friends, what happens to our relationship with the people who are actually in the same room with us? In New Tech, New Ties,Rich Ling examines how the mobile telephone affects both kinds of interactions--those mediated by mobile communication and those that are face to face. Ling finds that through the use of various social rituals the mobile telephone strengthens social ties within the circle of friends and family--sometimes at the expense of interaction with those who are physically present--and creates what he calls "bounded solidarity." Ling argues that mobile communication helps to engender and develop social cohesion within the family and the peer group. Drawing on the work of Emile Durkheim, Erving Goffman, and Randall Collins, Ling shows that ritual interaction is a catalyst for the development of social bonding. From this perspective, he examines how mobile communication affects face-to-face ritual situations and how ritual is used in interaction mediated by mobile communication. He looks at the evidence, including interviews and observations from around the world, that documents the effect of mobile communication on social bonding and also examines some of the other possibly problematic issues raised by tighter social cohesion in small groups.
Simulation and Its Discontents
by Sherry TurkleOver the past twenty years, the technologies of simulation and visualization have changed our ways of looking at the world. In Simulation and Its Discontents,Sherry Turkle examines the now dominant medium of our working lives and finds that simulation has become its own sensibility. We hear it in Turkle's description of architecture students who no longer design with a pencil, of science and engineering students who admit that computer models seem more "real" than experiments in physical laboratories. Echoing architect Louis Kahn's famous question, "What does a brick want?", Turkle asks, "What does simulation want?" Simulations want, even demand, immersion, and the benefits are clear. Architects create buildings unimaginable before virtual design; scientists determine the structure of molecules by manipulating them in virtual space; physicians practice anatomy on digitized humans. But immersed in simulation, we are vulnerable. There are losses as well as gains. Older scientists describe a younger generation as "drunk with code." Young scientists, engineers, and designers, full citizens of the virtual, scramble to capture their mentors' tacit knowledge of buildings and bodies. From both sides of a generational divide, there is anxiety that in simulation, something important is slipping away. Turkle's examination of simulation over the past twenty years is followed by four in-depth investigations of contemporary simulation culture: space exploration, oceanography, architecture, and biology. Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life, edited by John Maeda
Generation Digital
by Kathryn C. MontgomeryChildren and teens today have integrated digital culture seamlessly into their lives. For most, using the Internet, playing videogames, downloading music onto an iPod, or multitasking with a cell phone is no more complicated than setting the toaster oven to "bake" or turning on the TV. In Generation Digital,media expert and activist Kathryn C. Montgomery examines the ways in which the new media landscape is changing the nature of childhood and adolescence and analyzes recent political debates that have shaped both policy and practice in digital culture. The media have pictured the so-called "digital generation" in contradictory ways: as bold trailblazers and innocent victims, as active creators of digital culture and passive targets of digital marketing. This, says Montgomery, reflects our ambivalent attitude toward both youth and technology. She charts a confluence of historical trends that made children and teens a particularly valuable target market during the early commercialization of the Internet and describes the consumer-group advocacy campaign that led to a law to protect children's privacy on the Internet. Montgomery recounts--as a participant and as a media scholar--the highly publicized battles over indecency and pornography on the Internet. She shows how digital marketing taps into teenagers' developmental needs and how three public service campaigns--about sexuality, smoking, and political involvement--borrowed their techniques from commercial digital marketers. Not all of today's techno-savvy youth are politically disaffected; Generation Digitalchronicles the ways that many have used the Internet as a political tool, mobilizing young voters in 2004 and waging battles with the music and media industries over control of cultural expression online. Montgomery's unique perspective as both advocate and analyst will help parents, politicians, and corporations take the necessary steps to create an open, diverse, equitable, and safe digital media culture for young people.
Technology Matters: Questions to Live With
by David E. NyeTechnology matters, writes David Nye, because it is inseparable from being human. We have used tools for more than 100,000 years, and their central purpose has not always been to provide necessities. People excel at using old tools to solve new problems and at inventing new tools for more elegant solutions to old tasks. Perhaps this is because we are intimate with devices and machines from an early age--as children, we play with technological toys: trucks, cars, stoves, telephones, model railroads, Playstations. Through these machines we imagine ourselves into a creative relationship with the world. As adults, we retain this technological playfulness with gadgets and appliances--Blackberries, cell phones, GPS navigation systems in our cars. We use technology to shape our world, yet we think little about the choices we are making. In "Technology Matters," Nye tackles ten central questions about our relationship to technology, integrating a half-century of ideas about technology into ten cogent and concise chapters, with wide-ranging historical examples from many societies. He asks: Can we define technology? Does technology shape us, or do we shape it? Is technology inevitable or unpredictable? (Why do experts often fail to get it right?) How do historians understand it? Are we using modern technology to create cultural uniformity, or diversity? To create abundance, or an ecological crisis? To destroy jobs or create new opportunities? Should "the market" choose our technologies? Do advanced technologies make us more secure, or escalate dangers? Does ubiquitous technology expand our mental horizons, or encapsulate us in artifice? These large questions may have no final answers yet, but weneed to wrestle with them--to live them, so that we may, as Rilke puts it, "live along some distant day into the answers."
Moonwalk: The First Trip to the Moon
by Judy DonnellyNarrates the preparations and activities which culminated in man's first landing on the moon in July 1969.
Adaptive Technology for the Internet: Making Electronic Resources Accessible to All
by Barbara T. MatesIs your site accessible? Can helen keller access your site? With all the new technology and our societies reliance on technology the demand for assistive technology increases. Read about different pieces of equipment that can make surfing the net more enjoyable for those with disabilities.
Einstein in 90 Minutes
by John Gribbin Mary GribbinBrief biography and description of Einstein's contributions.
Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers
by Ralph MoodyRalph Moody was eight years old in 1906 when his family moved from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Through his eyes we experience the pleasures and perils of ranching there early in the twentieth century. Auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes and wind storms give authentic color to Little Britches. So do adventures, wonderfully told, that equip Ralph to take his father's place when it becomes necessary. Little Britches was the literary debut of Ralph Moody, who wrote about the adventures of his family in eight glorious books, all available as Bison Books.
Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity
by Lawrence LessigDiscusses the ramifications of copyright law for culture. The author of this book donated a digital copy of this book. Join us in thanking Lawrence Lessig for providing his accessible digital book to this community.