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Newhouse: All the Glitter, Power, and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It
by Thomas MaierThis book explores the history of the Newhouse family-a family that went from near poverty to amassing a media fortune of 13 billion. The Newhouse media empire includes influential magazines, book publishing houses, newspapers, and cable oulets. The book chronicles the Newhouse family story in a facinating must read style.
Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing
by Ted ConoverTed Conover, the intrepid author of Coyotes, about the world of illegal Mexican immigrants, spent a year as a prison guard at Sing Sing. Newjack, his account of that experience, is a milestone in American journalism: a book that casts new and unexpected light on this nation's prison crisis and sets a new standard for courageous, in-depth reporting. At the infamous Sing Sing, once a model prison but now New York State's most troubled maximum-security facility, Conover goes to work as a gallery officer, working shifts in which he alone must supervise scores of violent inner-city felons. He soon learns the impossibility of doing his job by the book. What should he do when he feels the hair-raising tingle that tells him a fight is about to break out? When he loses a key in a tussle? When a prisoner punches him in the head? Little by little, he learns to walk the fine line between leniency and tyranny that distinguishes a good guard. Along the way, we meet a cast of characters that includes a tough but appealing supervisor named Mama Cradle; a range of mentally ill prisoners, or "bugs"; some of the jail's more flamboyant transvestites; and a philosophical, charismatic inmate who points out to Conover that the United States is building new prisons for future felons who are now only four and five years old. Conover also gives us a history of Sing Sing (it was built by inmates, and for decades was the nation's capital of capital punishment) in a chapter that serves as a brilliant short course in America's penal system. With empathy and insight,Newjacktells the story of a harsh, hidden world and dramatizes the conflict between the necessity to isolate criminals and the dehumanization--of guards as well as inmates--that almost inevitably takes place behind bars.
The Newly Tattooed's Guide to Aftercare
by Aliza Dube Rebecca DimyanI'm shaking my head at the little girl who thought she could control the story. She doesn't understand that you can't control the story, the story controls you.At twenty, Liza still sleeps with the lights on. In this alcohol fueled narrative, filled with tattoos, family lore and short biographies, Dube shares her raw and graphic coming of age tale. This is a story about ink, on the page and on skin. The Newly Tattooed's Guide to Aftercare is the love story you never saw coming and only now realize you need.
News Division: When more became less: my experience in the 24-hour news world (News Memoir)
by Tim OrtmanWhat constitutes unbiased information vs. opinion disguised as facts? Why and how has what we watch become diluted, dramatized, and polarized? How have we arrived at this point? What was lost? What was gained? Through personal anecdotes, and a touch of humor, rooted in over 35 years of experience and laser-focused analysis, the author demonstrates how the television news landscape has changed and what this means for news gathering and reporting as well as for those watching at home. While the fringes on the left and the right expand, the unwavering center still delivers straightforward unbiased news, albeit packaged differently. The responsibility of discerning what we are taking in relies on us, the consumers: this book helps guide us to understand what we are being fed every day.
The News from Paraguay: A Novel
by Lily Tuck“Brimming with rich descriptions of a beautiful country….The News From Paraguay evolves from a quirky, elegant tale of an unconventional love affair into a sweeping epic.” — Fort Worth Star-TelegramLily Tuck’s impressive novel offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of 19th century Paraguay, a largely untouched wilderness where European and American figures mix with the Spanish aristocracy of the capital and the indigenous peoples from the surrounding areas. The year is l854. In Paris, Francisco Solano—the future dictator of Paraguay—begins his courtship of the young, beautiful Irish courtesan Ella Lynch with a poncho, a Paraguayan band, and a horse named Mathilde. Ella follows Franco to Asunción and reigns there as his mistress. Isolated and estranged in this new world, she embraces her lover's ill-fated imperial dream—one fueled by a heedless arrogance that will devastate all of Paraguay.With the urgency of the narrative, rich and intimate detail, and a wealth of skillfully layered characters, The News from Paraguay recalls the epic novels of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.
News from The Village: Aegean Friends
by David MasonA memoir of friendship, history, and longing in a Greek village that &“introduces us to a rich cast of writers and ex-pats, shepherds and urbanites&” (A.E. Stallings, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry finalist). In his twenties, an American manual laborer and poet found himself living with his beautiful wife in a village in southern Greece. Their first encounter with that country would prove an unrecoverable dream of intimate magic, but through decades of steadfast affection, David Mason grew to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a citizen of one&’s own country and a citizen of the world. From a writer praised for his &“often intoxicating language&” (Kirkus Reviews), News from the Village is a lyrical memoir of Aegean friends, including such figures as Orhan Pamuk, Bruce Chatwin, Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke, Yiorgos Chouliaras, and Patrick Leigh Fermor, each of whom comes fully alive, along with a brilliant cast of lesser-known characters. Fearing he has lost Greece and everything it has meant in his life, Mason goes back again and again to the country he knew as a young man. He encounters Turkey and Greece together in the shadow of 9/11; follows the lives of his friends, whose trials sometimes surpass his own; and brings them all together in the circle of this generous narrative. Ultimately, Mason&’s memoir is about what we can hold and what slips away, what sustains us all through our griefs and disappointments. &“Mason realizes he must confront shifting politics, village tensions, family tragedy, and history with blood on its hands before he can love Greece as she is rather than as he would have her be. Along the way, he introduces us to a rich cast of writers and ex-pats, shepherds and urbanites—and travels that stretch from the Rockies to the Bosphorus—the journey of a lifetime.&”—A.E. Stallings, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Like
News Junkie
by Jason LeopoldIn News Junkie, the cutthroat worlds of journalism, politics, and high finance are laid bare by Jason Leopold, whose addictive tendencies led him from a life of drug abuse and petty crime to become an award-winning investigative journalist who exposed some of the biggest corporate and political scandals in recent American history. Leopold broke key stories about the California energy crisis and Enron Corporation's infamous phony trading floor as a reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires. While he exposed high-rolling hucksters and double-dealing politicians, Leopold hid the secrets of his own felonious past, terrified that he would be discovered. When the news junkie closed in on his biggest story - one that implicated a Bush administration member - he found himself pilloried by angry colleagues and the president's press secretary, all attempting to destroy his career. Introducing an unforgettable array of characters - from weepy editors and love-starved politicos to steroid-pumped mobsters who intimidate the author into selling drugs and stolen goods - News Junkie shows how a man once fueled by raging fear and self-hatred transforms his life, regenerated by love, sobriety, and a new, harmonious career with the independent media.
News of a Kidnapping
by Gabriel García Márquez Edith GrossmanAVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN eBOOK!In 1990, fearing extradition to the United States, Pablo Escobar - head of the Medellín drug cartel - kidnapped ten notable Colombians to use as bargaining chips. With the eye of a poet, García Márquez describes the survivors' perilous ordeal and the bizarre drama of the negotiations for their release. He also depicts the keening ache of Colombia after nearly forty years of rebel uprisings, right-wing death squads, currency collapse and narco-democracy. With cinematic intensity, breathtaking language and journalistic rigor, García Márquez evokes the sickness that inflicts his beloved country and how it penetrates every strata of society, from the lowliest peasant to the President himself.
The News Sorority
by Sheila Weller"Weller rivetingly recounts these gutsy ladies' time on the front lines... an inspiration for future generations of journalists." --Vanity FairFor decades, women battered the walls of the male fortress of television journalism. After fierce struggles, three women--Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour--broke into the newsroom's once impenetrable "boys' club." These women were not simply pathbreakers, but wildly gifted journalists whose unique talents enabled them to climb to the top of the corporate ladder and transform the way Americans received their news.Drawing on exclusive interviews with their colleagues and intimates from childhood on, The News Sorority crafts a lively and exhilarating narrative that reveals the hard struggles and inner strengths that shaped these women and powered their success. Life outside the newsroom--love, loss, child rearing--would mark them all, complicating their lives even as it deepened their convictions and instincts. Life inside the newsroom would include many nervy decisions and back room power plays previously uncaptured in any media account. Taken together, Sawyer's, Couric's, and Amanpour's lives as women are here revealed not as impediments but as keys to their success.Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Diane Sawyer was a young woman steering her own unique political course in a time of societal upheaval. Her fierce intellect, almost insuperable work ethic, and sophisticated emotional intelligence would catapult Sawyer from being the first female on-air correspondent for 60 Minutes, to presenting anchoring the network flagship ABC World News. From her first breaks as a reporter all the way through her departure in 2014, Sawyer's charisma and drive would carry her through countless personal and professional changes.Katie Couric, always conveniently underestimated because of her "girl-next-door" demeanor, brazened her way through a succession of regional TV news jobs until she finally hit it big. In 1991, Couric became the cohost of Today, where, over the next fifteen years, she transformed the "female" slot from secondary to preeminent while shouldering devastating personal loss. Couric's greatest triumph--and most bedeviling challenge--was at CBS Evening News, as the first woman to solo-anchor a nighttime network news program. Her contradictions--seriously feminist while proudly sorority-girlish--made her beyond easy typecasting, and as original as she is relatable.A glamorous, unorthodox cosmopolite--raised in pre-revolution Iran amid royalty and educated in England--Christiane Amanpour would never have been picked out of a lineup as a future war reporter, until her character flourished on catastrophic soil: her family's exile during the Iranian Revolution. Once she knew her calling, Amanpour shrewdly made a virtue of her outsider status, joining the fledgling CNN on the bottom rung and then becoming its "face," catalyzing its rise to global prominence. Amanpour's fearlessness in war zones would make her the world's witness to some of its most acute crises and television's chief advocate for international justice.Revealing the tremendous combination of ambition, empathy, and skill that empowered Sawyer, Couric, and Amanpour to reach stardom, The News Sorority is a detailed story of three very particular lives and a testament to the extraordinary character of women everywhere.From the Trade Paperback edition.a thing that may be a dying, rapidly changing art form, but it's definitely still going to need voices and faces and intelligence giving out the news no matter how much our socially gadget-manipulated changing world changes. There will always be stars and TV has had them in spades... This is a terrific book. I marked mine so many times, it is virtually unreadable. Believe me, if you like history and gossip and believe, like I do, that gossip IS history -- you will love reading about the big three." New York Daily News "This immensely readable book made headlines before publication for its irresistible gossip. It is dishy, but it's also a close up and very perso...
The News Sorority
by Sheila Weller"Weller rivetingly recounts these gutsy ladies' time on the front lines... an inspiration for future generations of journalists." --Vanity Fair For decades, women battered the walls of the male fortress of television journalism. After fierce struggles, three women--Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Amanpour--broke into the newsroom's once impenetrable "boys' club." These extraordinary women were not simply pathbreakers, but wildly gifted journalists whose unique talents--courage and empathy, competitive drive and strategic poise--enabled them to climb to the top of the corporate ladder and transform the way Americans received their news. Drawing on exclusive interviews with their colleagues and intimates from childhood on, The News Sorority crafts a lively and exhilarating narrative that reveals the hard struggles and inner strengths that shaped these women and powered their success. Life outside the newsroom--love, loss, child rearing--would mark them all, complicating their lives even as it deepened their convictions and instincts. Life inside the newsroom would include many nervy decisions and back room power plays previously uncaptured in any media account. Taken together, Sawyer's, Couric's, and Amanpour's lives as women are here revealed not as impediments but as keys to their success. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Diane Sawyer was a young woman steering her own unique political course in a time of societal upheaval. Her fierce intellect, almost insuperable work ethic, and sophisticated emotional intelligence would catapult Sawyer from being the first female on-air correspondent for 60 Minutes, to early on interviewing the likes of Boris Yeltsin and Michael Jackson, to presenting heartbreaking specials on child poverty in America while anchoring the network flagship ABC World News. From her first breaks as a reporter all the way through her departure in 2014, Sawyer's charisma and drive would carry her through countless personal and professional changes. Katie Couric, always conveniently underestimated because of her "girl-next-door" demeanor, brazened her way through a succession of regional TV news jobs until she finally hit it big. In 1991, Couric became the tremen-dously popular cohost of Today, where, over the next fifteen years, she transformed the "female" slot from secondary to preeminent while shouldering devastating personal loss and launching an audacious and lifesaving public health campaign. Couric's greatest triumph--and most bedeviling challenge--was inheriting the mantle of Walter Cronkite at CBS Evening News, as the first woman to solo-anchor a prestigious nighttime network news program. Through it all, her contradictions--she's wry and sarcastic yet sensitive; seriously feminist while proudly sorority-girlish--made her beyond easy typecasting, and as original as she is relatable. A glamorous, unorthodox cosmopolite--the daughter of a British Catholic mother and an Iranian Muslim father, raised in pre-revolution Iran amid royalty and educated in England--Christiane Amanpour was an elite, wily, charis¬matic convent-school girl who would never have been picked out of a lineup as a future war reporter, until her character flourished on catastrophic soil: her family's exile during the Iranian Revolution. Once she knew her calling, Amanpour shrewdly made a virtue of her outsider status, joining the fledgling CNN on the bottom rung and then becoming its "face," catalyzing its rise to global prominence. Amanpour's fearlessness in war zones, and before presidents and despots, would make her the world's witness to some of its most acute crises and television's chief advocate for international justice. Revealing the tremendous combination of ambition, empathy, and skill that empowered Sawyer, Couric, and Amanpour to reach stardom, The News Sorority is at once a detailed story of three very particular lives and a testament to the extraordinary character of women everywhere.
The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler
by Kathryn S. OlmstedHow six conservative media moguls hindered America and Britain from entering World War II &“A landmark in the political history of journalism.&”—Michael Kazin, author of What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party As World War II approached, the six most powerful media moguls in America and Britain tried to pressure their countries to ignore the fascist threat. The media empires of Robert McCormick, Joseph and Eleanor Patterson, and William Randolph Hearst spanned the United States, reaching tens of millions of Americans in print and over the airwaves with their isolationist views. Meanwhile in England, Lord Rothermere&’s Daily Mail extolled Hitler&’s leadership and Lord Beaverbrook&’s Daily Express insisted that Britain had no interest in defending Hitler&’s victims on the continent. Kathryn S. Olmsted shows how these media titans worked in concert—including sharing editorial pieces and coordinating their responses to events—to influence public opinion in a right-wing populist direction, how they echoed fascist and anti‑Semitic propaganda, and how they weakened and delayed both Britain&’s and America&’s response to Nazi aggression.
Newspaper Days: 1899-1906 (H.L. Mencken's Autobiography)
by H. L. MenckenOriginally published: New York: Knopf, 1941.
Newspaper Titan: The Infamous Life and Monumental Times of Cissy Patterson
by Amanda SmithThe galvanizing story of Eleanor Medill (Cissy) Patterson, celebrated debutante and socialte, scion of the Chicago Tribune empire, and the twentieth century's first woman editor in chief and publisher of a major metropolitan daily newspaper, the Washington Times-Herald. She was called the most powerful woman in America, surpassing Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Clare Boothe Luce, and Dorothy Schiff.Cissy Patterson was from old Republican stock. Her grandfather was Joseph Medill, firebrand abolitionist, mayor of Chicago, editor in chief and principal owner of the Chicago Tribune, and one of the founders of the Republican Party who delivered the crucial Ohio delegation to Abraham Lincoln at the convention of 1860.Cissy Patterson's brother, Joe Medill Patterson, started the New York Daily News.Her pedigree notwithstanding, Cissy Patterson came to publishing shortly before her forty-ninth birthday, in 1930, with almost no practical journalistic or editorial experience and a life out of the pages of Edith Wharton (or more likely the other way around: shades of Cissy are everywhere in the Countess Olenska). Amanda Smith writes that in the summer of 1930, Cissy Patterson, educated at the turn of the century at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, for a vocation of marriage and motherhood and a place in society, took over William Randolph Hearst's foundering Washington Herald and began to learn what others believed she could never grasp--how to run and build up a newspaper. She vividly lived out the Medill family's editorial motto (at least in spirit): "When you grandmother gets raped, put it on the front page."Patterson soon bought from Hearst the Herald's evening sister paper, the Washington Times, merged the two, and became editor, publisher, and sole proprietor of a big-city newspaper, a position almost unprecedented in American history. The effect of the merger was "electric"...By 1945, the Washington Times-Herald, with ten daily editions, was clearing an annual profit of more than $1 million.Amanda Smith, in this huge, fascinating biography gives us the (infamous) life and monumental times of Cissy Patterson, scourge of liberals, advocate of appeasing Hitler, lover of poodles, and hater of FDR.Here is her twentieth-century Washington: its politics and society, scandals and feuds, and at the center--the fierce newspaper wars that consumed and drove the country's press titans, as Patterson took the Washington Times-Herald from a chronic tail-ender in circulation and advertising, ranked fifth in the town, and made it into the most widely read round-the-clock daily in the national's capital, deemed by many to be "the damndest newspaper to ever hit the streets."
Newspapermen: Hugh Cudlipp, Cecil Harmsworth King and the Glory Days of Fleet Street
by Ruth Dudley EdwardsThey were 'Cudlipp' and 'Mr King' when they met in 1935. At 21, gregarious, extrovert and irreverent Hugh Cudlipp had many years of journalistic experience: at 34, shy, introspective and solemn Cecil Harmsworth King, haunted by the ghost of Uncle Alfred, Lord Northcliffe, the great press magnate, and bitter towards Uncle Harold, Lord Rothermere of the Daily Mail, was fighting his way up in the family business. Opposites in most respects, they were complementary in talents and had in common a deep concern for the underdog. Cudlipp, the journalistic genius, and King, the formidable intellect, were to become, in Cudlipp's words, 'the Barnum and Bailey' of Fleet Street. Together, on the foundation of the populist Daily Mirror, they created the biggest publishing empire in the world. Yet their relationship foundered sensationally in 1968, when - as King tried to topple the Prime Minister - Cudlipp toppled King. Through the story of two extraordinary men, Ruth Dudley Edwards gives us a riveting portrait of Fleet Street in its heyday.
Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life
by Margaret Sullivan"Sullivan remains the critic American journalism requires, a veteran practitioner with street cred, still in touch with the ‘unaccountable joy’ of reporting and writing that continues to draw talented young people to the field.” —Steve Coll, The New York Times Book ReviewSullivan began her career at the Buffalo News, where she rose from summer intern to editor in chief. In Newsroom Confidential she chronicles her years in the trenches battling sexism and throwing elbows in a highly competitive newsroom. In 2012, Sullivan was appointed the public editor of The New York Times, the first woman to hold that important role. She was in the unique position of acting on behalf of readers to weigh the actions and reporting of the paper's staff, parsing potential lapses in judgment, unethical practices, and thorny journalistic issues. Sullivan recounts how she navigated the paper’s controversies, from Hillary Clinton's emails to Elon Musk's accusations of unfairness to the need for greater diversity in the newsroom. In 2016, having served the longest tenure of any public editor, Sullivan left for the Washington Post, where she had a front-row seat to the rise of Donald Trump in American media and politics.With her celebrated mixture of charm, sharp-eyed observation, and nuanced criticism, Sullivan takes us behind the scenes of the nation's most influential news outlets to explore how Americans lost trust in the news and what it will take to regain it.
Newton
by Peter AckroydThe third short biography in Peter Ackroyd’s brilliantBrief Livesseries, Newton is a companion volume to Chaucer and Turner. Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is said to have made his greatest contributions to science in 1665-66 while at his parents’ home in Lincolnshire escaping the Great Plague (which had closed the universities). It was at this fruitful time that he formulated calculus, hit upon the idea of gravity and performed experiments which showed that white light was made up of different coloured rays. Newton wrote Principia, one of the most important books in the history of science, in which he proved the “laws of motion. ” He was also interested in the movements of the planets and designed his own telescope, and was as passionate about astrology as he was about astronomy. Newton dabbled in alchemy, and used the Bible to work out that the date of the earth’s creation was 3,500 B. C. Newton is a wonderful subject for a writer with Peter Ackroyd’s imagination and flair: the alchemist, the magician, the thinker light years ahead of his time. Einstein wrote of Newton: “In one person, he combined the experimenter, the theorist, the mechanic and, not least, the artist in exposition. ”
Newton: A Very Short Introduction
by Robert IliffeNewton's reputation was the subject of intense debate long before his death in 1727. While alive, numerous opponents sought to topple his theories, and his views on religion were considered by many to be unorthodox. For the vast majority of scholars, however, his groundbreaking approach to science overrode all else. This book makes use of previously unpublished private writings and manuscript sources to present a concise exploration of the internal springs of Newton's complex character. Robert Iliffe describes Newton's studies in fields ranging from alchemy, physics, and mathematics, as well as his controversial religious beliefs, and concludes with a consideration of the legacy left after his demise. Newton will gratify readers who are interested in the real history behind one of the world's most legendary scientists.
Newton and Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace
by Jody HedlundAmazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found...Now remembered as the author of the world's most famous hymn, in the mid-eighteenth century as England and France stand on the brink of war, John Newton is a young sailor wandering aimlessly through life. His only duty is to report to his ship and avoid disgracing his father--until the night he hears Polly Catlett's enchanting voice, caroling. He's immediately smitten and determined to win her affection.An intense connection quickly forms between the two, but John's reckless spirit and disregard for the Christian life are concerns for the responsible, devout Polly. When an ill-fated stop at a tavern leaves John imprisoned and bound, Polly must choose to either stand by his side or walk out of his life forever. Will she forfeit her future for the man she loves?Step back through the pages of history, to uncover the true love story behind a song that continues to stir the hearts and ignite the faith of millions around the globe.
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist
by Thomas LevensonA &“thoroughly surprising&” chapter in the life of Isaac Newton, with a &“vivid re-creation of 17th-century London and its fascinating criminal haunts&” (Providence Journal). When renowned scientist Isaac Newton takes up the post of Warden of His Majesty&’s Mint in London, another kind of genius—a preternaturally gifted counterfeiter named William Chaloner—has already taken up residence in the city, rising quickly in an unruly, competitive underworld. In the courts and streets of London, and amid the tremors of a world being transformed by ideas Newton himself set in motion, Chaloner crosses paths with the formidable new warden. An epic game of cat and mouse ensues in Newton and the Counterfeiter, revealing for the first time the &“remarkable and true tale of the only criminal investigator who was far, far brainier than even Sherlock Holmes: Sir Isaac Newton during his tenure as Warden of the Royal Mint . . . A fascinating saga&” (Walter Isaacson). &“I absolutely loved Newton and the Counterfeiter. Deft, witty and exhaustively researched.&” —Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao &“A delicious read, featuring brilliant detective work and a captivating story . . . A virtuoso performance.&” —Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind &“Through a page-turning narrative, we witness Isaac Newton&’s genius grappling with the darker sides of human nature, an all too human journey reflecting his deepest beliefs about the cosmic order.&” —Brian Greene, author of The Fabric of the Cosmos &“Levenson transforms inflation and metallurgy into a suspenseful detective story bolstered by an eloquent summary of Newtonian physics and stomach-turning descriptions of prison life in the Tower of London. . . . [The book] humanizes a legend, transforming him into a Sherlock Holmes in pursuit of his own private Moriarty.&” —The Washington Post
The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French Enlightenment
by J. B. ShankNothing is considered more natural than the connection between Isaac Newton's science and the modernity that came into being during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. Terms like "Newtonianism" are routinely taken as synonyms for "Enlightenment" and "modern" thought, yet the particular conjunction of these terms has a history full of accidents and contingencies. Modern physics, for example, was not the determined result of the rational unfolding of Newton's scientific work in the eighteenth century, nor was the Enlightenment the natural and inevitable consequence of Newton's eighteenth-century reception. Each of these outcomes, in fact, was a contingent event produced by the particular historical developments of the early eighteenth century. A comprehensive study of public culture,The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French Enlightenmentdigsbelow the surface of the commonplace narratives that link Newton with Enlightenment thought to examine the actual historical changes that brought them together in eighteenth-century time and space. Drawing on the full range of early modern scientific sources, from studied scientific treatises and academic papers to book reviews, commentaries, and private correspondence, J. B. Shank challenges the widely accepted claim that Isaac Newton's solitary genius is the reason for his iconic status as the father of modern physics and the philosophemovement.
Newton's Clock: Chaos in the Solar System
by Ivars PetersonWith his critically acclaimed best-sellers The Mathematical Toursist and Islands of Truth, Ivars Peterson took readers to the frontiers of modern mathematics. His new book provides an up-to-date look at one of science's greatest detective stories: the search for order in the workings of the solar system.In the late 1600s, Sir Isaac Newton provided what astronomers had long sought: a seemingly reliable way of calculating planetary orbits and positions. Newton's laws of motion and his coherent, mathematical view of the universe dominated scientific discourse for centuries. At the same time, observers recorded subtle, unexpected movements of the planets and other bodies, suggesting that the solar system is not as placid and predictable as its venerable clockwork image suggests.Today, scientists can go beyond the hand calculations, mathematical tables, and massive observational logs that limited the explorations of Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, and others. Using supercomputers to simulate the dynamics of the solar system, modern astronomers are learning more about the motions they observe and uncovering some astonishing examples of chaotic behavior in the heavens. Nonetheless, the long-term stability of the solar system remains a perplexing, unsolved issue, with each step toward its resolution exposing additional uncertainties and deeper mysteries.To show how our view of the solar system has changed from clocklike precision to chaos and complexity, Newton's Clock describes the development of celestial mechanics through the ages--from the star charts of ancient navigators to the seminal discoveries of the 17th centure; from the crucial work of Poincaré to the startling, sometimes controversial findings and theories made possible by modern mathematics and computer simulations. The result makes for entertaining and provocative reading, equal parts science, history, and intellectual adventure.
Newton's Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist
by Kathryn LaskyThis book tells the story of young Isaac—always reading, questioning, observing, and inventing—and how he eventually made his way to Cambridge University, where he studied the work of earlier scientists and began building on their accomplishments. The book celebrates Newton's discoveries that illuminated the mysteries of gravity, motion, and even rainbows, discoveries that gave mankind a new understanding of the natural world, discoveries that changed science forever.
Next
by Gordon Pinsent George AnthonyIn this enchanting autobiography celebrated actor Gordon Pinsent revisits stellar highlights of his 60-year career and the high and low points along the way, including his work with fellow artists Judi Dench, Shirley Douglas, Olympia Dukakis, Norman Jewison, Christopher Plummer, Sarah Polley, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, and Julie Christie, among others. Throughout Pinsent offers his advice to young actors, writers, and directors on how to succeed in film and theatre. Engaging, entertaining, and light-hearted, Next is a must-read account of a fascinating life spent in show business.
The Next 15 Minutes
by Kim KircherKim Kircher's husband's illness wasn't something she could blow up as she had done countless times on the ski slopes during avalanche control. Instead, Kim faced the biggest double black diamond ski run of her life as she listened to the doctors put her husband on the transplant list while he fought bile duct cancer.The Next 15 Minutes is Kim's high octane story of how she drew strength from her life among the ski slopes and of the daring world that showed her how to survive and fight back.Kim Kircher has been an EMT with avalanche control at Crystal Mountain, Washington, for twenty years.
The Next Big Story
by Soledad O'Brien Rose Marie ArceFrom top CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien comes a highly personal look at her biggest reporting moments from Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the devastating Haiti earthquake, and to the historic 2008 U.S. elections and high profile interviews with everyday Americans. Drawing on her own unique background as well as her experiences at the front lines of the most provocative issues in today's society, and from her work on the acclaimed documentaries Black in America and Latino in America, O'Brien offers her candid, clear-eyed take on where we are as a country and where we're going.What emerges is both an inspiring message of hope and a glimpse into the heart and soul of one of America's most straight-talking reporters.