The Half-Life of Facts

The Half-Life of Facts PDF Author: Samuel Arbesman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 159184651X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
New insights from the science of science Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing. Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives. He takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries.

The Half-Life of Facts

The Half-Life of Facts PDF Author: Samuel Arbesman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 159184651X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book

Book Description
New insights from the science of science Facts change all the time. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. In short, what we know about the world is constantly changing. Samuel Arbesman shows us how knowledge in most fields evolves systematically and predictably, and how this evolution unfolds in a fascinating way that can have a powerful impact on our lives. He takes us through a wide variety of fields, including those that change quickly, over the course of a few years, or over the span of centuries.

Now I Know

Now I Know PDF Author: Dan Lewis
Publisher: Adams Media
ISBN: 1440563624
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Praise for the Webby Award-winning newsletter: "I eagerly read 'Now I Know' every day. It's always fresh, always a surprise, and always interesting!" --Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and Wikia Did you know that there are actually 27 letters in the alphabet, or that the U.S. had a plan to invade Canada? And what actually happened to the flags left on the moon? Even if you think you have a handle on all things trivia, you're guaranteed a big surprise with Now I Know. From uncovering what happens to lost luggage to New York City's plan to crack down on crime by banning pinball, this book will challenge your knowledge of the fascinating stories behind the world's greatest facts. Covering 100 outrageous topics, Now I Know is the ultimate challenge for any know-it-all who thinks they have nothing left to learn.

Presimetrics

Presimetrics PDF Author: Michael E. Kanell
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1603762175
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The authors cut through party bias to present the quantifiable facts about how modern presidents have performed on critical national issues Politicians and the media spend a lot of time telling Americans how the presidents and their administrations are performing, but this analysis always skews along party lines. In Presimetrics, Kimel and Kanell take a fresh look at modern politics by gathering data from numerous government sources in order to compare and rank presidential performance on critical issues, from employment and health care to taxes and family values. The results frequently defy expectations: Reagan, godfather of neoconservatives, increased the federal workforce more than any president since LBJ Clinton, a hero to Democrats, cut funding for the NEA by a larger percentage than any other president Nixon/Ford outperformed all administrations on Democratic issues like Federal spending on social programs The lively text clearly explains how various policies of each administration affect the data, and fascinating information graphics lend even greater depth to the discussion, showing at a glance how multiple administrations stack up.

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About(TM): Circumcision

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About(TM): Circumcision PDF Author: Paul M. Fleiss
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 9780759527515
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
This guide aims to explode the myths and misinformation about circumcision in an accessible, easy-to-read format. After describing the anatomy of the penis, the book explains the procedure, describes the risks associated and debunks the six most common reasons doctors will give when recommending it.

Do your History textbooks tell you these Facts?

Do your History textbooks tell you these Facts? PDF Author: Maanoj Rakhit
Publisher: Maanoj Rakhit मानोज रखित
ISBN: 8189746073
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description


Inconvenient Facts: The Science That Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know

Inconvenient Facts: The Science That Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know PDF Author: Gregory Wrightstone
Publisher: Wrightstone, Gregory
ISBN: 9781545614105
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
You have been inundated with reports from media, governments, think tanks and "experts" saying that our climate is changing for the worse and it is our fault. Increases in draughts, heat waves, tornadoes and poison ivy-to name a few-are all blamed on our "sins of emission" from burning fossil fuels and increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Yet, you don't quite buy into this human-caused climate apocalypse. You aren't sure about the details because you don't have all the facts and likely aren't a scientist. Inconvenient Facts was specifically created for you. Writing in plain English and providing easily understood charts and figures, Gregory Wrightstone presents the science to assess the basis of the threatened Thermageddon. The book's 60 "inconvenient facts" come from government sources, peer-reviewed literature or scholarly works, set forth in a way that is lucid and entertaining. The information likely will challenge your current understanding of many apocalyptic predictions about our ever dynamic climate. You will learn that the planet is improving, not in spite of increasing CO2 and rising temperature, but because of it. The very framework of the climate-catastrophe argument will be confronted with scientific fact. Book jacket.

Little Known Facts

Little Known Facts PDF Author: Christine Sneed
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1608199681
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The people who orbit around Renn Ivins, an actor of Harrison Ford-like stature--his girlfriends, his children, his ex-wives, those on the periphery--long to experience the glow of his flame. Anna and Will are Renn's grown children, struggling to be authentic versions of themselves in a world where they are seen as less important extensions of their father. They are both drawn to and repelled by the man who overshadows every part of them. Most of us can imagine the perks of celebrity, but Little Known Facts offers a clear-eyed story of its effects--the fallout of fame and fortune on family members and others who can neither fully embrace nor ignore the superstar in their midst. With Little Known Facts, Christine Sneed emerges as one of the most insightful chroniclers of our celebrity-obsessed age, telling a story of influence and affluence, of forging identity and happiness and a moral compass; the question being, if we could have anything on earth, would we choose correctly?

Did You Know?

Did You Know? PDF Author: Marjorie Charlot
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491776897
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Did You Know?—Over One Hundred Facts about Haiti and Her Children looks in detail at a land and its people, uncovering the history, culture, challenges, and achievements of a country often stereotyped as deeply impoverished and bereft of any nobility of purpose. Tapping into her expertise in research and her familiarity with the wealth of resources residing in libraries, Marjorie Charlot, a supervisor and instructor at academic libraries, has gathered, curated, and prepared a topically organized collection of vignettes depicting Haiti and her children. Did You Know? presents these vignettes in chapters organized according to themes, including such topics as the Africans, art and culture, civil rights, great families, inventors, the military, pilots, religion, and science. Did You Know?—Over One Hundred Facts about Haiti and Her Children offers its guidance to an abundance of information about the Haitian people and their homeland. If you claim a place for Haiti in your own history, if you find yourself intrigued by the history of Haiti, or if you simply are one of those people with a deep hunger to learn more about the world, then Did You Know? will provide you with an approachable and informative introduction to Haiti and her children.

Too Big to Know

Too Big to Know PDF Author: David Weinberger
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0465038727
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"If anyone knows anything about the web, where it's been and where it's going, it's David Weinberger. . . . Too Big To Know is an optimistic, if not somewhat cautionary tale, of the information explosion." -- Steven Rosenbaum, Forbes With the advent of the Internet and the limitless information it contains, we're less sure about what we know, who knows what, or even what it means to know at all. And yet, human knowledge has recently grown in previously unimaginable ways and in inconceivable directions. In Too Big to Know, David Weinberger explains that, rather than a systemic collapse, the Internet era represents a fundamental change in the methods we have for understanding the world around us. With examples from history, politics, business, philosophy, and science, Too Big to Know describes how the very foundations of knowledge have been overturned, and what this revolution means for our future.

The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data

The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data PDF Author: Michael P. Lynch
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1631491865
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
"An intelligent book that struggles honestly with important questions: Is the net turning us into passive knowers? Is it degrading our ability to reason? What can we do about this?" —David Weinberger, Los Angeles Review of Books We used to say "seeing is believing"; now, googling is believing. With 24/7 access to nearly all of the world’s information at our fingertips, we no longer trek to the library or the encyclopedia shelf in search of answers. We just open our browsers, type in a few keywords and wait for the information to come to us. Now firmly established as a pioneering work of modern philosophy, The Internet of Us has helped revolutionize our understanding of what it means to be human in the digital age. Indeed, demonstrating that knowledge based on reason plays an essential role in society and that there is more to “knowing” than just acquiring information, leading philosopher Michael P. Lynch shows how our digital way of life makes us value some ways of processing information over others, and thus risks distorting the greatest traits of mankind. Charting a path from Plato’s cave to Google Glass, the result is a necessary guide on how to navigate the philosophical quagmire that is the "Internet of Things."