Tag: science

Find out who got your windshield

Birds are starting to show up again. Granted some didn’t go away, but as the cold leaves Johnson County, more and more of our feathered friends come out of hiding. Some are beautiful, others boring, all willing to ruin a perfectly washed car.

So whether you’re looking to find out what beautiful creature you saw atop a fence post, or what menacing demon you caught fleeing the scene of the crime, The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds, by (you guessed it!) Richard Crossley, is ready to help you! Over 500 pages of bird-identifying illustrations and information can make you the Bird Expert you may not have known you wanted to be.

Stay positive with these technology-related doomsday scenarios

In another optimistic entry to the Billington Library Book of the Day catalog, The Technology Trap, examines how super-powerful technology, combined with the unreliable human factor, can wipe out civilization.

Complete with helpful tables to tell readers all about who has (or used to have) nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and histories of accidents and terrorism, this is a pretty bleak book. Not only does it discuss the unreliability to a world covered with nuclear weapon silos prone to mechanical failings, but it also takes the time to examine human factors (depression, discontent, incompetence, etc.) to show how the two make an awful combination for our planet’s safety.

So by all means, check out what the author, Lloyd J. Dumas, thinks about the state of the world, maybe do additional research, and see if you agree.

Don’t let your clone get you!!

Today’s book takes a peak into the future of biotechnology, and aims to prepare us all for dealing with the possibilities of cloning. How to Defeat Your Clone by real-life scientists, Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson, takes you on a hypothetical journey through a future where cloning things could become the norm.

It may primarily be a humor book, but the authors don’t deviate beyond the possibilities of science, aiming to make sure readers understand what may or may not be possible. And in the end, it’s best to always be prepared, right?

The Internet melts your brain in today’s book

If you hear someone talk about being too connected on the web, you’re likely to expect a thesis on the dangers of Twitter or why Facebook is going to ruin us all. Not so, in today’s Book of the Day, OVERconnected: The Promise and Threat of the Internet by William H. Davidow. Instead of looking at oversharing personal information, Davidow points out larger issues like financial failings, natural disaster, and other events have become larger in how people feel their impact and how professionals react. Remember that Icelandic volcano that erupted last year? Would you have without the Internet constantly reminding you?

It’s an interesting look at how the connections we’re forced to have because of the Internet overload us into not only acting quick, but also perhaps has us sacrificing some caution. This book is good for those interested in social and interactive media, history, science, economics, and sociology.

Physicists at War

 

Author Jim Baggot explores the creation of the atomic bomb in today’s Book of the Day, The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atomic Bomb, 1939-1949. Instead of looking at how it was done or the wartime events leading up to it, the author is much more curious about how some of the smartest scientists in the world were pulled into working on a tool for destruction.  Looking at the discovery of nuclear fission and the quest for knowledge, readers will see the difficult journey that these physicists were pulled into projects that would eventually lead to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

So you’ve got a corpse. What now?

In one of the more interesting (and probably weirder) books we’ve added to the collection recently, Norman Cantor’s After We Die: The Life and Times of the Human Cadaver explores the trip of dead human bodies from end of life through into the ground. Find out what sort of social practices, legal processes, and other fun things get applied to bodies after their primary function has ceased.

It’s a morbidly interesting trip through our customs, medical, and legal systems to find out the rules for cadavers. Recommended for pre-med, pre-law, or anyone else. It’s actually pretty interesting!

In Space, No One Can Hear You Ponder

Forget the stomach exploding, finger glowing, and shoulder-mounted lasers: this book is interested in a much more daunting task than just wondering if there are aliens somewhere.  Working on the premise that there must be, Life in the Universe: The Abundance of Extraterrestrial Civilizations by James N. Pierce is much more concerned with trying to calculate just how many there could be.  Working on surprisingly not-boring math, the author calculates the possibilities of how many civilizations may be in our galaxy, then takes it to the universe, and differentiates between aliens and alien civilizations.

It’s quite an interesting read, even if you’re just interested in flipping through it for his conclusion.  And, like all books featured, it is available for check out at the Billington Library.

DARPA: Not Quite Skynet

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: it doesn’t exactly bring to mind much more than futuristic military weapons, killer cyborgs, and super soldiers.  However, this Pentagon-ran project has led to everything from driverless vehicles to the Internet to, yes, advanced future weapons.

Department of Mad Scientists is an inside look at DARPA and all of the advancements they’ve brought to military and civilian populations with both good and/or controversial results. Author Michael Belfiore attempts to show readers the entire spectrum of DARPA’s projects: at least the ones that can be known.  Though it may be a secretive organization, I don’t think we have to worry about DARPA building Skynet.

I think.

We’ve Found Life in Twilight!

And by that I mean the Book of the Day is Life in Twilight: The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I saw Twilight this weekend, and my favorite part:  there’s a good Radiohead song during the credits.

Not that I have anything against vampire stories (watch True Blood on HBO and read the Sookie Stackhouse books!), but I have my issues with Edward and company (except Alice!).  What does this have to do with Oppenheimer?  Nothing, except maybe that, like a vampire, if Oppenheimer were to walk outside in daylight during his final years, he’d like burst into flames (which is what real vampires should do).  At least for awhile.  See, McCarthy era politics led to the influential scientist to have his security clearance revoked, and spent about a decade in hearings, disgrace, and disrespect.  It wasn’t until years later that John Kennedy, as president, gave Oppenheimer a medal and an “attaboy” to thank him for his contributions to science.

But its more complicated than all that.  There’s the story of a man and his family struggling through the worst of times locked away underneath the political what-have-you, and this book highlights that.  And, its better than Twilight.

Book of the Day

I had a high school teacher who told me that the moon landing was a hoax.  I cannot blame him for this.  I mean, if you think about it, the Apollo (which is a sun god) Program was supposed to travel to the moon (which is, you are aware, not a sun).  That sounds fishy to me.

Maybe he should read this book, How Apollo flew to the Moon.  It is a user-friendly, non-technical book about one of the most technically challenging events in the last 50 years.  It is well researched and avoids scientific jargon, the same jargon that my high school teacher would argue was put into place to confuse the public with ‘mumbo jumbo’.  This man also gave me a C- on my leaf collection…

Personal vendetta aside, this book is an excellent resource if science, physics, and engineering terms have kept you away from learning about the United States’ missions to the moon.