On December 16, 1947, two physicists at Bell Laboratories, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain, jabbed two electrodes into a sliver of germanium half an inch long. The electrical power coming out of that piece of germanium was 100 times stronger than what went in. In that moment, the transistor was invented and the information age began. Crystal Fire recounts the story of the transistor team at Bell Labs, led by William Shockley, who shared the Nobel Prize with Bardeen and Brattain. While his colleagues went on to other research, Shockley grew increasingly obsessed with the new gadget. He went on to form the first semiconductor company in what would become Silicon Valley. Above all, Crystal Fire is a tale of the human factors in technology: the pride and jealousies coupled with scientific and economic aspirations that led to the creation of modern microelectronics and ignited the greatest technological explosion in history.
If someone asked you to name a major factor in better health, would you think imagination? Probably not. Yet, as Martin Rossman points out, 'The most common use of imagery is worrying,' which shows us there's nothing mysterious about it at all. Visualization and guided imagery have become integral elements in the growing field of mind/body medicine.
At the heart of understanding living systems is the knowledge that everything is interconnected and interrelated. Out of this awareness comes the greatest challenge of our times - creating sustainable communities. Capra describes what he means when he suggests that we must shift from linear thinking to systems thinking.
Cheri Quincy and Joel Alter, two osteopathic physicians, discuss their approach to health and healing, drawing on their extensive experience practicing medicine as well as dramatic experiences of recovery in their own personal lives.
One of the most compelling questions of all time is, do we have a soul? And if we do, what exactly is it? Fred Alan Wolf, well-known resident physicist on Discovery Channel's 'No-Zone' program, gives us an answer and a unique definition. He also discusses spirit, space, time, consciousness and the possible origins of the universe.
Roger Fouts fulfilled humankind's age-old dream of talking to animals by pioneering communication with chimpanzees through sign language. Now, in Next of Kin, Fouts tells the dramatic story of his odyssey from novice researcher to celebrity scientist and caretaker of a family of chimpanzees, to his impassioned awakening as a crusader for the rights of animals.
At the heart of this captivating audiobook is Fouts's magical thirty-year friendship with Washoe, the chimpanzee he met when she jumped into his arms. We follow Washoe as she grows from a mischievous baby chimp fresh out of the NASA space program into the matriarch of a clan of chimpanzees. Living and conversing with these sensitive creatures has given Fouts a profound appreciation of how much we share with our closest biological relatives, and what they can teach us about ourselves.
This stirring tale of friendship, courage, and compassion will change forever the way we view our biological -- and spiritual -- Next of Kin.
The pace of technology and shifting scientific paradigms have shaken the foundations of our planet. Robert Theobald compares the acceleration of change in our lives to riding the rapids: 'We can decide whether we're going to go down the rapids and enjoy ourselves, or go down the rapids and be terrified. But we can't say we're not going to go down them at all.'
You may know that the I Ching, or Book of Changes is one of the world's oldest texts, written four to five thousand years ago and used by emperors and sages of advanced civilizations. What you may not know is that this ancient divination system uses an intricate, numerically based concept of changing dual states that assisted in the development of binary mathematics in the 18th century and the first digital computers in the 1940s.
Something was lost, says Alice Walker, when we took to heart traditional religious stories in which God is separate from nature. And something precious is regained when we honor our intrinsic sense of awe and worship toward nature, and our deep desire for connection with both nature and our human community. Walker calls for more humane motivation in international as well as personal action.
The late Colin Fletcher decided at the age of 67 to make a foot and raft expedition, some 1700 miles, down the full length of the fabled Colorado River--alone. Pursuing an idea that came to him in the shower, Fletcher commenced the six-month river trip from the Wyoming Rockies to Mexico's Gulf of California, having never even been in a raft before.
In Yellow Fever Black Goddess, popular author and biology professor, Christopher Wills, brings the latest scientific developments to the page in entertaining, dramatic form. Through meticulous yet riveting research, he pens a vivid account of deadly microbes struggling for survival in hostile hosts. Beginning with ancient illnesses like the Black Death and syphilis, Christopher Wills explores how these devastating diseases have changed their method of attack through the years. And against the backdrop of more contemporary threats-the spread of AIDS and deadly outbreaks of the Ebola virus-he attempts to answer the compelling question: Will dangerous new plagues sweep the world with death and disfigurement? A remarkable book, Yellow Fever Black Goddess examines headline-making maladies with a balanced approach that respects their powers, yet has faith in the victory of scientific research. Veteran narrator Richard M. Davidson holds listeners spellbound with his thought-provoking rendition.
In this brilliant and gripping medical detective story. Richard Rhodes follows virus hunters on three continents as they track the emergence of a deadly new brain disease that first kills cannibals in New Guinea, then cattle and young people in Britain and France -- and that has already been traced to food animals in the United States. In a new Afterword for the paperback, Rhodes reports the latest U.S. and worldwide developments of a burgeoning global threat.
