The fourth book in the Science of Discworld series, and this time around dealing with THE REALLY BIG QUESTIONS, Terry Pratchett s brilliant new Discworld story Judgement Day is annotated with very big footnotes (the interleaving chapters) by mathematician Ian Stewart and biologist Jack Cohen, to bring you a mind-mangling combination of fiction, cutting-edge science and philosophy.Marjorie Daw is a librarian, and takes her job and indeed the truth of words very seriously. She doesn t know it, but her world and ours Roundworld is in big trouble. On Discworld, a colossal row is brewing The Wizards of Unseen University feel responsible for Roundworld (as one would for a pet gerbil). After all, they brought it into existence by bungling an experiment in Quantum ThaumoDynamics. But legal action is being brought against them by Omnians, who say that the Wizards god-like actions make a mockery of their noble religion.As the finest legal brains in Discworld (a zombie and a priest) gird their loins to do battle and when the Great Big Thing in the High Energy Magic Laboratory is switched on Marjorie Daw finds herself thrown across the multiverse and right in the middle of the whole explosive affair. As God, the Universe and, frankly, Everything Else is investigated by the trio, you can expect world-bearing elephants, quantum gravity in the Escher-verse, evolutionary design, eternal inflation, dark matter, disbelief systems and an in-depth study of how to invent a better mousetrap.
The acclaimed Science of Discworld centred around an original Pratchett story about the Wizards of Discworld. In it they accidentally witnessed the creation and evolution of our universe, a plot which was interleaved with a Cohen & Stewart non-fiction narrative about Big Science. In The Science of Discworld II our authors join forces again to see just what happens when the wizards meddle with history in a battle against the elves for the future of humanity on Earth. London is replaced by a dozy Neanderthal village. The Renaissance is given a push. The role of fat women in art is developed. And one very famous playwright gets born and writes The Play. Weaving together a fast-paced Discworld novelette with cutting-edge scientific commentary on the evolution and development of the human mind, culture, language, art, and science, this is a book in which 'the hard science is as gripping as the fiction'. (The Times)
Examines seventeen groundbreaking equations that have altered the course of human history. This book explores how Pythagoras' Theorem led to GPS and SatNav; how logarithms are applied in architecture; why imaginary numbers were important in the development of the digital camera, and what is really going on with Schrodinger's cat.
Roundworld is in trouble again, and this time it looks fatal. Having created it in the first place, the wizards of Unseen Univeristy feel vaguely responsible for its safety. They know the creatures who lived there escaped the impending Big Freeze by inventing the space elevator - they even intervened to rid the planet of a plague of elves, who attempted to divert humanity onto a different time track. But now it's all gone wrong - Victorian England has stagnated and the pace of progress would embarrass a limping snail. Unless something drastic is done, there won't be time for anyone to invent spaceflight and the human race will be turned into ice-pops.Why, though, did history come adrift? Was it Sir Arthur Nightingale's dismal book about natural selection? Or was it the devastating response by an obscure country vicar called Charles Darwin, whose bestselling Theology of Species made it impossible to refute the divine design of living creatures? Either way, it's no easy task to change history, as the wizards discover to their cost. Can the God of Evolution come to humanity's aid and ensure Darwin writes a very different book? And who stopped him writing it in the first place?
A new history of the Celts that reveals how this once-forgotten people became a pillar of modern national identity in Britain, Ireland, and FranceBefore the Greeks and Romans, the Celts ruled the ancient world. They sacked Rome, invaded Greece, and conquered much of Europe, from Ireland to Turkey. Celts registered deeply on the classical imagination for a thousand years and were variously described by writers like Caesar and Livy as unruly barbarians, fearless warriors, and gracious hosts. But then, in the early Middle Ages, they vanished. In The Celts, Ian Stewart tells the story of their rediscovery during the Renaissance and their transformation over the next few centuries into one of the most popular European ancestral peoples. The Celts shows how the idea of this ancient people was recovered by scholars, honed by intellectuals, politicians, and other thinkers of various stripes, and adopted by cultural revivalists and activists as they tried to build European nations and nationalisms during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Long-forgotten, the Celts improbably came to be seen as the ancestors of most western Europeans-and as a pillar of modern national identity in Britain, Ireland, and France. Based on new research conducted across Europe and in the United States, The Celts reveals when and how we came to call much of Europe "Celtic," why this idea mattered in the past, and why it is still matters today, as the tide of nationalism is once again on the rise.
In this autobiographical work, Ian Stewart shows his vulnerability in sharing his recovery story. He has written the answers to the questions he posed in his previous book, Know Thyself. Ian has included many other helps he found along the way in his recovery that you may find as important gems in your recovery.Ian explains, "Writing out steps 1 through 7 is very important to review during continued recovery you can see where you have been, where you want to go (recovery achievements), and where you are now. You can trace your recovery process and accomplishments, proving to yourself (and others) that your recovery journey has enhanced your life."There are twelve steps of recovery in all 12-Step recovery programs. Steps 1 through 7 are the core of the recovery program, identifying a person's strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and self-discoveries. It shows the person's areas that need to be worked on to improve their life by identifying areas, taking action in correcting, and moving to a healthier way of life by renewing your mind.Step 8 identifies people, places, and things to make amends to for enhancing an individual's recovery (if you don't realize your problem, it simply does not exist to you; however, others can see your problem areas clearly).Steps 9 through 12 are maintenance steps to keep an individual on track and in a strong recovery program.This book is highly recommended reading for all people in any 12-step program, whether contemplating attending a 12-step program, after your first 12-step meeting, or after years of attending recovery groups.
Don't poke your nose down a wormhole - you never know what you might find.Two universes joined by a wormhole pair that forms a 'loophole', with an icemoon orbiting through the loophole, shared between two different planetary systems in the two universes.A civilisation with uploaded minds in virtual reality served by artificial humans.A ravening Horde of replicating machines that kill stars.Real humans from a decrepit system of colony worlds.A race of hyperintelligent but somewhat vague aliens.Who will close the loophole... who will exploit it?Cover design: David A. Hardy
Uncovers new material from one of the major figures of the Scottish Enlightenment As scholarly interest in the Scottish Enlightenment continues to grow, so too does attention to the moral philosopher and historian Adam Ferguson (1723-1816). Ferguson has been one of the principal beneficiaries of the refocus of academic attention beyond the towering figures of David Hume (1711-1776) and Adam Smith (1723-1790) and towards their larger intellectual network. The plethora of recent studies, as well as the publication of Ferguson's unpublished manuscripts and his apparent extant correspondence, testifies to the increasing recognition of his importance to this era in Scotland. This volume contains thirty-six previously unpublished letters and one new essay on the French Revolution written by Ferguson. Penned during the last decades of his life, they were all addressed to his close friend Sir John Macpherson (1745-1821). The letters and essay concern major topics such as the context of the European Enlightenment, Empire, and the French Revolution, as well as various illuminating details about Ferguson's ideas (philosophical, historical, economic, and political) and his intellectual milieu from 1784 to 1815. The rediscovery of these writings marks a significant development in Ferguson studies and in the historiography of the late Scottish Enlightenment. This book presents the notable findings from these materials and provides a critical apparatus to assist specialists and students alike in understanding this key Enlightenment thinker. Key features and benefits: - Contextualises the thirty-six new letters and the new essay within Ferguson's life and oeuvre - Includes modern editions of further writings by Ferguson and helps to fill in gaps in his biography - Focuses on various anecdotes by and new information about the Moderate Literati of the Scottish Enlightenment - Presents new angles on crucial areas of study including the East India Company, the Regency Crisis, Scottish reactions to the French Revolution, and contemporary perceptions of Adam Smith's Political Economy - Reveals the extent of political influence that the Moderates of the Scottish Enlightenment, such as Ferguson, Hugh Blair (1718-1800) and Alexander Carlyle (1722-1805), attempted to exert on British foreign policy in the 1790s Ian Stewart is Associate Lecturer in European Intellectual History at University College London. Max Skjönsberg is an Assistant Professor of Humanities in the Hamilton Center at the University of Florida.
This highly interdisciplinary book, covering more than six fields, from philosophy and sciences all the way up to the humanities and with contributions from eminent authors, addresses the interplay between content and context, reductionism and holism and their meeting point: the notion of emergence. Much of today's science is reductionist (bottom-up); in other words, behaviour on one level is explained by reducing it to components on a lower level. Chemistry is reduced to atoms, ecosystems are explained in terms of DNA and proteins, etc. This approach fails quickly since we can't cannot extrapolate to the properties of atoms solely from Schrodinger's equation, nor figure out protein folding from an amino acid sequence or obtain the phenotype of an organism from its genotype. An alternative approach to this is holism (top-down). Consider an ecosystem or an organism as a whole: seek patterns on the same scale. Model a galaxy not as 400 billion-point masses (stars) but as an object in its own right with its own properties (spiral, elliptic). Or a hurricane as a structured form of moist air and water vapour. Reductionism is largely about content, whereas holistic models are more attuned to context. Reductionism (content) and holism (context) are not opposing philosophies - in fact, they work best in tandem. Join us on a journey to understand the multifaceted dialectic concerning this duo and how they shape the foundations of sciences and humanities, our thoughts and, the very nature of reality itself.
The science of chaos is forcing scientists to rethink Einstein's fundamental assumptions regarding the way the universe behaves. This text reveals a strange universe in which nothing may be as it seems. It aims to make the complex mathematics of chaos accessible and entertaining.
Eye of the Tiger is the story of one of the most legendary figures in Glasgow Rangers' rich history, a man who epitomised what it meant to be a Ranger. Jock Shaw was a no-nonsense full-back whose fierce, uncompromising tackling earned him the nickname 'Tiger' from club supporters. He joined the Gers from Airdrie in 1938 for GBP2,000 and was a key figure in the Ibrox defence in the immediate post-war years. That defence was dubbed the 'Iron Curtain' because it seemed as unyielding as the barrier that divided Europe at the time. The book charts Jock's extraordinary journey from the coal pit at Bedlay (Annathill) to becoming Rangers' first treble-winning captain. His signing for Rangers started a remarkable association with the club, which lasted over 40 years and saw him serve as team captain, third-team coach and groundsman. He also captained Scotland and shared the distinction of beating England with his brother David. Ian Stewart worked with Tiger Shaw's family to bring you the inside track on his life and career.
A unique and innovative study, Roasting Chestnuts seeks to demystify Maritime politics and expose the flimsy basis for many of the region's lasting political stereotypes.
Enter the magical maze of mathematics and explore the surprising passageways of a fantastical world where logic and imagination converge. For mathematics is a maze-a maze in your head-a maze of ideas, a maze of logic. And that maze in your mind is a powerful tool for understanding an even bigger maze-the one of cause and effect that we call "e;the universe."e; That is its special kind of magic. Real magic. Strange magic. Infinitely fascinating magic. Acclaimed author Ian Stewart leads you swiftly and humorously through the junctions, byways, and secret passages of the magical maze to reveal its beauty, surprise, and power. Along the way, he reveals the infinite possibilities that arise from what he calls "e;the two-way trade between the natural world and the human mind."e; If you've always loved mathematics, you will find endless delights in the twists and turns of The Magical Maze. If you've always hated mathematics, a trip through this marvelous book will do much to change your mind.
With over 25,000 copies sold since its first edition, this book provides an unrivalled introduction to the core concepts and basic techniques of transactional analysis (TA).
Conventional Choices examines twenty-five different leadership elections over thirty-two years in three of Canada's maritime provinces to explore the backgrounds, attitudes, and motivations of those who select party leaders.
For the first time in paperback, the only annotated edition of Edwin Abbott's classic mind-bending tale of an alternate, two-dimensional universe presented side-by-side with mathematician Ian Stewart's revealing commentary and analysis.
From ancient Babylon to the last great unsolved problems, Ian Stewart brings us his definitive history of mathematics. In his famous straightforward style, Professor Stewart explains each major development - from the first number systems to chaos theory - and considers how each affected society and changed everyday life forever.
An eminent teacher and writer explores an idea both simple and complex, both multidisciplinary and unifying-the story of symmetry
The framework of 'symmetry' provides an important route between the abstract theory and experimental observations. From the reviews:"[The] rich collection of examples makes the book...extremely useful for motivation and for spreading the ideas to a large Community."--MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS
Since the dramatic discovery of the mathematical concept of chaos in 1989, the controversy of its contents has settled down. This revised edition of Does God Play Dice? takes a fresh look at its achievements and potential. With a new preface and three completely new chapters, it includes the latest practical applications of chaos theory, such as developing intelligent heart pacemakers. All this provides a fascinating new answer to Einstien's question which provided the title of this book.
Inside this small (but perfectly formed) hardback there lurks some of the most devilishly difficult mathematical brainteasers human beings have yet devised.
A mathematical sightseeing tour of the natural world from the author of THE MAGICAL MAZE
Offers 30 practical suggestions to help practising counsellors develop and enhance their Transactional Analysis (TA) counselling skills. After an introductory section that summarizes the uses of TA theory and technique, this book covers crucial aspects of best practice in TA.
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