Publisher: Free Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/27/2011
ISBN-13: 9781439169599
ISBN-10: 1439169594

Mechanical clocks did not have hour hands until the 14th century; the minute hand came along almost 400 years later. Time, it seems, is an evolving idea. In this book, astrophysicist Adam Frank, a contributor to NPR's 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog, examines two distinct yet interconnected concepts of time, "cosmic time" and "human time." Using examples from the history of science, he demonstrates that the more we learn about the nature of the universe, the more our perception of time changes. We then incorporate these perceptions into our culture, which, in turn, influence our understanding of the universe. If you're interested in another book about time, albeit from a geological perspective, you might enjoy the late Stephen Jay Gould's Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle.

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Publisher: Avery
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/27/2011
ISBN-13: 9781583334249
ISBN-10: 1583334246

In 1997, Captain Charles Moore, oceanographer and founder of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, took a shortcut through the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre and discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Intrigued, he began to conduct research and soon learned the extent to which this churning "plastic soup" of debris -- broken down by ultraviolet light and saltwater into confetti-sized particles, then consumed by marine life -- threatens the health of the world's oceans. If you're fascinated by the role that ocean currents play in dispersing trash, check out Donovan Hohn's Moby Duck or Curtis Ebbesmeyer's Flotsametrics and the Floating World. For more about the environmental impacts of plastic, try Susan Freinkel's Plastic: A Toxic Love Story.

Publisher: Basic Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/06/2011
ISBN-13: 9780465021987
ISBN-10: 0465021980

Not only are numbers everywhere, they are essential to our understanding of the universe. Beginning with the gravitational constant, whose notation "G" is as simple to write as its accuracy is difficult to measure, mathematician James Stein describes relatively familiar concepts such as the speed of light and absolute zero, as well as less-known (yet equally important) constants including Avogadro's number, the Schwarzchild Radius, the Chandrasekhar limit, and Omega. Accessible to general readers, though not math-free, Cosmic Numbers "expertly weaves together math, history, and biography into a thoroughly entertaining story" (Publishers Weekly).

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Publisher: Times Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/11/2011
ISBN-13: 9780805091946
ISBN-10: 0805091947

When can we expect the next global pandemic? At any moment, according to virologist Nathan Wolfe, the director of Global Viral Forecasting, an organization that works to identify infectious diseases before they turn into deadly pandemics. Here, Wolfe explains how most viruses with pandemic potential begin in animals and quickly make the jump to humans -- for example, the Influenza A virus and its various subtypes, including headline-making strains of avian flu (H5N1) and swine flu (H1N1). High human population densities, a simultaneous increase in urbanization and industrial livestock production, and efficient transportation networks do the rest, swiftly dispersing microbes across the globe. Once you've had your vaccinations and washed your hands, be sure to pick up this eye-opening book.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 08/02/2011
ISBN-13: 9780151013739
ISBN-10: 015101373X

Although human males may not have exploding genitals (like honeybee drones) and human females, unlike their wasp counterparts, don't tend to incubate their young inside other living creatures, both can learn a lot from bugs -- precisely because insects are so different. Insect anatomy makes it difficult for people to anthropomorphize them, minimizing biased interpretations of their behavior. Insect variety provides insight into evolution, and their lack of parenting and solitary lives allow us to study what role genetics play in behavior. For more eclectic, insect-themed information, try Hugh Raffles' Insectopedia. Or, if you're in the mood for another droll exploration of sex and reproduction in the animal kingdom, check out Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson.

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Publisher: Penguin Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/31/2011
ISBN-13: 9781594202797
ISBN-10: 1594202796

Ever heard of al-Khwarizmi? This Persian mathematician's name gave us the word "algorithm," while his work helped to establish the discipline of algebra. What about Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, the Andalusian physician who invented numerous medical instruments, including the syringe and the forceps? In this enlightening history, British-Iraqi physicist and science commentator Jim al-Khalili describes how Arabic scientists, who enjoyed an intellectual golden age between the ninth and 11th centuries, translated Greek, Sanskrit, and Persian works into Arabic and then went on to make important contributions to fields such as medicine, mathematics, optics, astronomy, and chemistry -- contributions that now receive their long-overdue recognition.

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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/17/2011
ISBN-13: 9780547483160
ISBN-10: 0547483163

During a two-day televised showdown in February 2011, Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter competed against Watson, IBM's information-processing, thought-approximating supercomputer -- and lost. In this fascinating book, journalist Stephen Baker recounts Watson's origins, while illuminating in an accessible manner the machine's capabilities (data mining and betting strategies) and limitations (parsing the quirks of human language). He ends with an account of the Jeopardy! championship itself. For another thought-provoking exploration of artificial intelligence, check out Brian Christian's The Most Human Human, which follows another intense human-versus-machine competition.

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Publisher: Pantheon Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/01/2011
ISBN-13: 9780375423727
ISBN-10: 0375423729

"Information is what our world runs on," claims author James Gleick in this sprawling account of information and all that it entails. Although this book's scope may generate fears of information overload, Gleick grounds a potentially overwhelming topic in biographical sketches of influential individuals in the field of information science (including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and Claude Shannon) while outlining the history of communication technology, from African drums to the Internet. For more on the role of information in both science and culture, you might also be interested in Charles Seife's Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from Our Brains to Black Holes.

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Publisher: Princeton University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/20/2011
ISBN-13: 9780691142548
ISBN-10: 0691142548

Although the existence of planets outside of our solar system -- known as exoplanets or extrasolar planets -- had long been the subject of scientific speculation, it wasn't until the 1990s that their existence was confirmed. Today, more than 700 exoplanets have been discovered, with space observatories such as NASA's Kepler spacecraft identifying an additional 1,000-plus potential candidates. Such discoveries, explains author and astrophysicist Ray Jayawardhana, raise intriguing questions about the possible existence of extraterrestrial life as well as the odds of finding Earth-like planets capable of supporting human habitation.

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Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/29/2011
ISBN-13: 9780307269904
ISBN-10: 0307269906

United by their vision of an agrarian republic, America's founding fathers were passionate about horticulture and sought to create gardens that embodied their political ideals. Having explored the world of 18th-century British botany in The Brother Gardeners, historian Andrea Wulf now turns her attention to the New World, analyzing George Washington's Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, John Adams' estate in Quincy, Massachusetts, and James Madison's Virginia tobacco plantation, Montpelier. Each place, says Wulf, reveals its owner's vision for the new nation, from Washington's focus on native species to Jefferson's vegetable garden, which served as an agricultural laboratory. History buffs with an interest in botany, agriculture, or environmentmental issues will find this book fascinating.

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