Science and the Secrets of Nature

Science and the Secrets of Nature PDF Author: William Eamon
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691214611
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
By explaining how to sire multicolored horses, produce nuts without shells, and create an egg the size of a human head, Giambattista Della Porta's Natural Magic (1559) conveys a fascination with tricks and illusions that makes it a work difficult for historians of science to take seriously. Yet, according to William Eamon, it is in the "how-to" books written by medieval alchemists, magicians, and artisans that modern science has its roots. These compilations of recipes on everything from parlor tricks through medical remedies to wool-dyeing fascinated medieval intellectuals because they promised access to esoteric "secrets of nature." In closely examining this rich but little-known source of literature, Eamon reveals that printing technology and popular culture had as great, if not stronger, an impact on early modern science as did the traditional academic disciplines.

Science and the Secrets of Nature

Science and the Secrets of Nature PDF Author: William Eamon
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691214611
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
By explaining how to sire multicolored horses, produce nuts without shells, and create an egg the size of a human head, Giambattista Della Porta's Natural Magic (1559) conveys a fascination with tricks and illusions that makes it a work difficult for historians of science to take seriously. Yet, according to William Eamon, it is in the "how-to" books written by medieval alchemists, magicians, and artisans that modern science has its roots. These compilations of recipes on everything from parlor tricks through medical remedies to wool-dyeing fascinated medieval intellectuals because they promised access to esoteric "secrets of nature." In closely examining this rich but little-known source of literature, Eamon reveals that printing technology and popular culture had as great, if not stronger, an impact on early modern science as did the traditional academic disciplines.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016 PDF Author: Amy Stewart
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544749642
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
This anthology collects some of the year’s best science and nature writing—from climate change to killer beetles, an exposé of nail salons, and more. As guest editor Amy Stewart says in her introduction, “science writers get into the game with all kinds of noble, high-minded ambitions. We want to educate. To enlighten…But at the end of the day, we’re all writers. We’re just like novelists, memoirists, and poets. We’re entertainers.” The writers in this anthology pull off that wonderful feat of turning hard research into page-turning narrative. From a Pulitzer Prize–winning essay on the earthquake that could decimate the Pacific Northwest to the astonishing work of investigative journalism that transformed the nail salon industry, this is a collection of hard-hitting and beautifully composed writing on the wonders, dangers, and oddities of scientific innovation and our natural world. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2016 includes Kathryn Schulz, Sarah Maslin Nir, Charles C. Mann, Oliver Sacks, Elizabeth Kolbert, Gretel Ehrlich, and others.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015 PDF Author: Rebecca Skloot
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544286758
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
This anthology of essays and articles explores topics ranging from untouched wilderness to scientific ethics—and the nature of curiosity itself. Scientists and writers are both driven by a dogged curiosity, immersing themselves in detailed observations that, over time, uncover larger stories. As Rebecca Skloot says in her introduction, all the stories in this collection are “written by and about people who take the time, and often a substantial amount of risk, to follow curiosity where it may lead, so we can all learn about it.” The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015 includes work from both award-winning writers and up-and-coming voices in the field. From Brooke Jarvis on deep-ocean mining to Elizabeth Kolbert on New Zealand’s unconventional conservation strategies, this is a group that celebrates the growing diversity in science and nature writing alike. Altogether, the writers honored in this volume challenge us to consider the strains facing our planet and its many species, while never losing sight of the wonders we’re working to preserve for generations to come. This anthology includes essays and articles by Sheri Fink, Atul Gawande, Leslie Jamison, Sam Kean, Seth Mnookin, Matthew Power, Michael Specter and others.

A History in Sum

A History in Sum PDF Author: Steve Nadis
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674727894
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In the twentieth century, American mathematicians began to make critical advances in a field previously dominated by Europeans. Harvard’s mathematics department was at the center of these developments. A History in Sum is an inviting account of the pioneers who trailblazed a distinctly American tradition of mathematics—in algebraic geometry and topology, complex analysis, number theory, and a host of esoteric subdisciplines that have rarely been written about outside of journal articles or advanced textbooks. The heady mathematical concepts that emerged, and the men and women who shaped them, are described here in lively, accessible prose. The story begins in 1825, when a precocious sixteen-year-old freshman, Benjamin Peirce, arrived at the College. He would become the first American to produce original mathematics—an ambition frowned upon in an era when professors largely limited themselves to teaching. Peirce’s successors—William Fogg Osgood and Maxime Bôcher—undertook the task of transforming the math department into a world-class research center, attracting to the faculty such luminaries as George David Birkhoff. Birkhoff produced a dazzling body of work, while training a generation of innovators—students like Marston Morse and Hassler Whitney, who forged novel pathways in topology and other areas. Influential figures from around the world soon flocked to Harvard, some overcoming great challenges to pursue their elected calling. A History in Sum elucidates the contributions of these extraordinary minds and makes clear why the history of the Harvard mathematics department is an essential part of the history of mathematics in America and beyond.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2020

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2020 PDF Author: Michio Kaku
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 0358074290
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
Presents an anthology of the best science and nature writing published in the previous year, selected from American periodicals.

Reading the Book of Nature

Reading the Book of Nature PDF Author: Jonathan R. Topham
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226815765
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description
"When Darwin returned to Britain from the Beagle voyage in 1836, the most talked-about scientific books were the Bridgewater Treatises. This series of eight books was funded by a bequest of the last Earl of Bridgewater, and they were authored by leading men of science, appointed by the President of the Royal Society, and intended to explore "the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in the creation." Securing public attention beyond all expectations, the series gave Darwin's generation a range of approaches to one of the great questions of the age: how to incorporate the newly emerging disciplinary sciences into Britain's overwhelmingly Christian culture. Drawing on a wealth of archival and published sources, including many unexplored by historians, Jonathan R. Topham examines how and to what extent the series contributed to a sense of congruence between Christianity and the sciences in the generation before the infamous Victorian "conflict between science and religion." He does so by drawing on the distinctive insights of book history, using close attention to the production, circulation, and use of the books to open up new perspectives not only on aspects of early Victorian science but also on the whole subject of science and religion. Its innovative focus on practices of authorship, publishing, and reading helps us to understand the everyday considerations and activities through which the religious culture of early Victorian science was fashioned. And in doing so, Reading the Book of Nature powerfully reimagines the world in which a young Charles Darwin learned how to think about the implications of his theory"--

Field Notes from a Hidden City

Field Notes from a Hidden City PDF Author: Esther Woolfson
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1619023490
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Field Notes From a Hidden City is set against the background of the austere, grey and beautiful northeast Scottish city of Aberdeen. In it, Esther Woolfson examines the elements—geographic, atmospheric and environmental—which bring diverse life forms to live in close proximity in cities. Using the circumstances of her own life, house, garden and city, she writes of the animals who live among us: the birds—gulls, starlings, pigeons, sparrows and others—the rats and squirrels, the cetaceans, the spiders and the insects. In beautiful, absorbing prose, Woolfson describes the seasons, the streets and the quiet places of her city over the course of a year, which begins with the exceptional cold and snow of 2010. Influenced by her own long experience of corvids, she considers prevailing attitudes towards the natural world, urban and non–urban wildlife, the values we place on the lives of individual species and the ways in which man and creature live together in cities.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021 PDF Author: Jaime Green
Publisher:
ISBN: 0358400066
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Presents an anthology of the best science and nature writing published in the previous year, selected from American periodicals.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma PDF Author: Michael Pollan
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143038583
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
"Outstanding . . . a wide-ranging invitation to think through the moral ramifications of our eating habits." —The New Yorker One of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year and Winner of the James Beard Award Author of This is Your Mind on Plants, How to Change Your Mind and the #1 New York Times Bestseller In Defense of Food and Food Rules What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and, with The Omnivore’s Dilemma, his brilliant and eye-opening exploration of our food choices, demonstrated that how we answer it today may determine not only our health but our survival as a species. In the years since, Pollan’s revolutionary examination has changed the way Americans think about food. Bringing wide attention to the little-known but vitally important dimensions of food and agriculture in America, Pollan launched a national conversation about what we eat and the profound consequences that even the simplest everyday food choices have on both ourselves and the natural world. Ten years later, The Omnivore’s Dilemma continues to transform the way Americans think about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating.

The Nature of Nature

The Nature of Nature PDF Author: Enric Sala
Publisher: Disney Electronic Content
ISBN: 1426221029
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
In this inspiring manifesto, an internationally renowned ecologist makes a clear case for why protecting nature is our best health insurance, and why it makes economic sense.