Escaping the Bonds of Earth

Escaping the Bonds of Earth PDF Author: Ben Evans
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387790942
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
To commemorate the momentous 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering journey into space on 12th April 2011, a series of five books – to be published annually – will explore this half century, decade by decade, to discover how humanity’s knowledge of flying, working and living in space has changed. Each volume will focus not only upon the individual missions within ‘its’ decade, but also upon the key challenges facing human space exploration at specific points within those 50 years: from the simple problems of breathing and eating in space to the challenges of venturing outside in a pressurised spacesuit and locomotion on the Moon. The first volume of this series will focus upon the 1960s, exploring each mission from April 1961 to April 1971 in depth: from the pioneering Vostok flights to the establishment of the first Salyut space station and from Alan Shepard’s modest sub-orbital ‘hop’ into space to his triumphant arrival at the Moon’s Fra Mauro foothills almost a decade later.

Escaping the Bonds of Earth

Escaping the Bonds of Earth PDF Author: Ben Evans
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387790942
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 504

Get Book Here

Book Description
To commemorate the momentous 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering journey into space on 12th April 2011, a series of five books – to be published annually – will explore this half century, decade by decade, to discover how humanity’s knowledge of flying, working and living in space has changed. Each volume will focus not only upon the individual missions within ‘its’ decade, but also upon the key challenges facing human space exploration at specific points within those 50 years: from the simple problems of breathing and eating in space to the challenges of venturing outside in a pressurised spacesuit and locomotion on the Moon. The first volume of this series will focus upon the 1960s, exploring each mission from April 1961 to April 1971 in depth: from the pioneering Vostok flights to the establishment of the first Salyut space station and from Alan Shepard’s modest sub-orbital ‘hop’ into space to his triumphant arrival at the Moon’s Fra Mauro foothills almost a decade later.

Means of Escape

Means of Escape PDF Author: Philip Caputo
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429921846
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
“A riveting memoir of years of living dangerously” by the journalist and New York Times–bestselling author of A Rumor of War (Kirkus Reviews). As a journalist, Philip Caputo has covered many of the world’s troubles, and in Means of Escape, he reveals in moving and clear-eyed prose how he made himself into a writer, traveler, and observer with the nerve to put himself at the center of conflict. As a young reporter he investigated the Mafia in Chicago, earning acclaim as well as threats against his safety. Later, he rode camels through the desert and enjoyed Bedouin hospitality; was kidnapped and held captive by Islamic extremists; and was targeted and hit by sniper fire in Beirut; with memories of Vietnam never far from the surface. And after it all, he went into Afghanistan. Caputo’s goal has always been to bear witness to the crimes, ambitions, fears, ferocities, and hopes of humanity. With Means of Escape, he has done so. This powerful recounting of his life and adventures is now updated with a foreword that assesses the state of the world and the journalist’s art. “An episodic, impressionistic, and dead-honest narrative that affords memorable as well as consequential insights into a chaotic era’s noteworthy conflicts.” —Kirkus Reviews “This is, make no mistake about it, a startlingly honest and brutal book. . . . The writing is suberb. Highly recommended for all.” —Library Journal “One of the few absolutely essential writers at work today.” —Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Mr. Spaceman

A Most Incomprehensible Thing

A Most Incomprehensible Thing PDF Author: Peter Collier
Publisher: Incomprehensible Books
ISBN: 0957389469
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
A straightforward, enjoyable guide to the mathematics of Einstein's relativity To really understand Einstein's theory of relativity – one of the cornerstones of modern physics – you have to get to grips with the underlying mathematics. This self-study guide is aimed at the general reader who is motivated to tackle that not insignificant challenge. With a user-friendly style, clear step-by-step mathematical derivations, many fully solved problems and numerous diagrams, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to a fascinating but complex subject. For those with minimal mathematical background, the first chapter gives a crash course in foundation mathematics. The reader is then taken gently by the hand and guided through a wide range of fundamental topics, including Newtonian mechanics; the Lorentz transformations; tensor calculus; the Einstein field equations; the Schwarzschild solution (which gives a good approximation of the spacetime of our Solar System); simple black holes, relativistic cosmology and gravitational waves. Special relativity helps explain a huge range of non-gravitational physical phenomena and has some strangely counter-intuitive consequences. These include time dilation, length contraction, the relativity of simultaneity, mass-energy equivalence and an absolute speed limit. General relativity, the leading theory of gravity, is at the heart of our understanding of cosmology and black holes. "I must observe that the theory of relativity resembles a building consisting of two separate stories, the special theory and the general theory. The special theory, on which the general theory rests, applies to all physical phenomena with the exception of gravitation; the general theory provides the law of gravitation and its relations tothe other forces of nature." – Albert Einstein, 1919 Understand even the basics of Einstein's amazing theory and the world will never seem the same again. Contents: Preface Introduction 1 Foundation mathematics 2 Newtonian mechanics 3 Special relativity 4 Introducing the manifold 5 Scalars, vectors, one-forms and tensors 6 More on curvature 7 General relativity 8 The Newtonian limit 9 The Schwarzschild metric 10 Schwarzschild black holes 11 Cosmology 12 Gravitational waves Appendix: The Riemann curvature tensor Bibliography Acknowledgements January 2019. This third edition has been revised to make the material even more accessible to the enthusiastic general reader who seeks to understand the mathematics of relativity.

Life in the Air

Life in the Air PDF Author: Mark Gottdiener
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742500297
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
This book is not just about air travel. It is about the emergent social world of flying. It concerns air space and behavior in the air the way someone else might look at cities and street behavior. Economic, political, and cultural aspects are all considered. . . . Airports have now become specific places in their own right that, in a certain sense, now. . . are very much like cities. Frequent flying also has produced its very own culture. Rules of behavior are subscribed to in the air. Unique behaviors at terminals and in the passenger cabin have emerged that contrast with life on the ground. In chapters below I explore these interesting aspects of etiquette, eroticism, and bi-coastalism, a human activity that is only possible because of our present society's evolution. . . . Only now have we begun to appreciate our emergent global culture. The world is shrinking just as the opportunities for travel expand. -from the Introduction

The Parabolist

The Parabolist PDF Author: Nicholas Ruddock
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
ISBN: 0385668740
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Parabolist: noun (1) one who speaks in parables. (2) a member of a splinter group of disaffected young poets in Mexico City c. 1975. (3) a practitioner of the art of concentrating multiple sources of energy into a single focus, illuminating or, if left unchecked, destroying everything in its path. Part comedy, part mystery, The Parabolist is a novel about murder, sex, the medical establishment, poetry and vigilante justice on the streets of Toronto in 1975. Told through interlacing narratives, the story funnels towards the eye of an unsolved crime: on a rainy summer night, a woman is raped and very nearly murdered, but for the intervention of two drunken vigilantes who kill her attacker before fleeing the scene. The only clue the police have about their identities is a slab of Crisco shortening found on the victim. The unforgettable cast of characters includes a charismatic Mexican poet, a libido-driven first-year medical student, a runaway teen turned prostitute, a raven-haired beauty, a sinister psychiatrist, and a donated corpse that is dissected - from skin to muscle to bone - as layer by layer, the inscrutable mysteries of anatomy, love, literature and life are poignantly revealed. This is a funny, satirical, searing, dangerous and tender story of earnest youth and their ardent desire for love, acceptance and fulfillment.

The Universal Timekeepers

The Universal Timekeepers PDF Author: David J. Helfand
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231558686
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seed—give or take a few billion. And there’s hardly anything to them: atoms are more than 99.9999999999 percent empty space. Yet scientists have learned to count these slivers of near nothingness with precision and to peer into their internal states. In looking so closely, we have learned that atoms, because of their inimitable signatures and imperturbable internal clocks, are little archives holding the secrets of the past. David J. Helfand reconstructs the history of the universe—back to its first microsecond 13.8 billion years ago—with the help of atoms. He shows how, by using detectors and reactors, microscopes and telescopes, we can decode the tales these infinitesimal particles tell, answering questions such as: Is a medieval illustrated prayer book real or forged? How did maize cultivation spread from the highlands of central Mexico to New England? What was Earth’s climate like before humans emerged? Where can we find clues to identify the culprit in the demise of the dinosaurs? When did our planet and solar system form? Can we trace the births of atoms in the cores of massive stars or even glimpse the origins of the universe itself? A lively and inviting introduction to the building blocks of everything we know, The Universal Timekeepers demonstrates the power of science to unveil the mysteries of unreachably remote times and places.

Free Us from Bullying

Free Us from Bullying PDF Author: Paul T. Coughlin
Publisher: ACU Press
ISBN: 1684269806
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Much of what we believe about bullying isn’t true. An estimated twenty million oppressed children need our help today. A critical mission field awaiting Christians is to combat bullying and proclaim liberty to wounded children. To counter bullying, we must first understand some common misconceptions. •It is not necessarily true that bullies have low self-esteem and come from abusive homes. •It is not true that kids who aren’t bullied are indifferent to those who are. •Bullying is not a "school problem," and teachers are not the frontline defense. •Children who are bullied do not become stronger adults. Bullies cannot be stopped merely with more compassion and understanding. In fact, bullying stems from the same roots as racism, sexual harassment, and even genocide, and it requires people to combat it in similar ways that they combat other forms of oppression and injustice. We often think of combating injustice overseas, but we can combat a very real and dangerous injustice in our own neighborhoods. After more than a decade of working with tens of thousands of students, teachers, parents, and pastors, Coughlin knows that bullying represents the worst in human nature, but combating it promotes the best. Kindness and awareness—two buzzwords in today’s anti-bullying movement—will not end bullying on their own. They must be activated by courage, transforming bystanders into righteous, loving protectors of targets. When we join this mission of love and justice, we will become peacemakers who are blessed and called children of God (Matt. 5:9).

Waiting for Sarah

Waiting for Sarah PDF Author: Bruce McBay
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
ISBN: 1554697727
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Mike's parents and sister are dead and his legs are gone. The horrific accident that shattered his life continues to haunt him. When he grudgingly returns to school and a life that he no longer understands, Mike is bitter and unwilling to participate in school life. To avoid one of his classes Mike agrees to put together a 50th Anniversary history of the school. Looking forward to time alone, he is annoyed when a young girl shows up in the archives on a regular basis. Sarah seems too young to be a student in the school, but her resemblance to Mikeís sister and her bubbly personality have him intrigued. She gradually draws him out of his shell and manages to interest him in the archives project, and more importantly, in life itself. As their relationship grows and changes, Mike slowly becomes convinced that Sarah is more than just another student. When he discovers the shocking secret she is carrying, he sets out to give Sarah the peace that she so desperately needs.

Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 1: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves; Thermodynamics

Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 1: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves; Thermodynamics PDF Author: Paul A. Tipler
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780716708094
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 774

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Book Description
This is the standard text for introductory physics courses taken by science and engineering students. This edition has been extensively revised, with new artwork and updated examples.

Bonds of Earth

Bonds of Earth PDF Author: G. N. Chevalier
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781613723272
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
In 1918, Michael McCready returned from the war with one goal: to lose himself in the pursuit of pleasure. Once a promising young medical student, Michael buried his dreams alongside the broken bodies of the men he could not save. After fleeing New York to preserve the one relationship he still values, he takes a position as a gardener on a country estate, but he soon discovers that the house hides secrets and sorrows of its own. While Michael nurses the estate's neglected gardens, his reclusive employer dredges up reminders of the past Michael is desperate to forget. John Seward's body was broken by the war, along with his will to recover until a family crisis to convinces him to pursue treatment. As John's health and outlook improve under Michael's care, animosity yields to understanding. He and John find their battle of wills turning into something stronger, but fear may keep them from finding hope and healing in each other.