DescriptionFrancis Bacon, the great English philosopher, lawyer, scientist, and statesman, is also remembered as a formidable writer of prose. These 58 essays are his greatest literary legacy. Bacon's education was grounded in the classical texts of ancient Greece and Rome, but his writings bring clarity and color to the dry scholasticism of medieval learning. Among his lofty subjects are truth, death, nobility, travel, marriage, health, riches, beauty, negotiating, ambition, and gardens. Rather than merely summarizing popular philosophy, Bacon attempted to change the shape of other men's minds, and there is little doubt that many minds have been persuaded by these eloquent essays.
DescriptionThe riveting story of one of the greatest scientific accomplishments of the twentieth century, from the co-author of the #1 New York Times best seller Apollo 13 . With rivalries, reversals, and a race against time, the struggle to eradicate…
DescriptionIn a world in which news and information flashes around the globe in an instant, time lags are inconceivable. But they were a fact of life in the 19th century. One of those adept, impressively learned, sometimes impractical 19-century woodshed thinkers an…
DescriptionIn this companion volume to The Discoverers, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin brings to life more than three thousand years of human artistic achievement. In this engrossing book, Boorstin examines what people have added to the world: painting, sculpture, architecture, theology, philosophy, history, poetry, drama, literature, dance, music, and film. In a narrative brimming with lively biographical sketches and illuminating anecdotes, Boorstin captures the remarkable history of artistic achievement in the West. Here is a truly epic story, told with all the excitement, appreciation, and authority Boorstin brought to The Discoverers .
DescriptionFew scientists have enthralled more people than Richard P. Feynman, the Nobel Prize winner and best-selling author of Six Easy Pieces and Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Beloved for his engaging character and zest for life, he is an Ameri…
DescriptionThis is the true story of 35-year-old Helena Greenwood, a doctor with a Ph.D. in chemical pathology, who had recently moved with her husband from England to California. She was embarking on a new, exciting career in biotechnology when she was the victim o…
DescriptionThis intimate portrait of Albert Einstein reveals the "backward" child, the academic outcast, the reluctant world celebrity, the exile, the pacifist, the philosopher, the humanitarian, the tragically saddened "father" of the atomic bomb, and above all, the unceasing searcher after scientific truth. At the same time, you'll be given a superb and essential introduction to the creative process and the concepts that shattered an age-old view of the universe and ushered in a revolution whose reverberations continue to touch us all. Banesh Hoffmann was a collaborator and friend of Einstein, as well as a noted scientist.
DescriptionNowhere is there another lab like Dr. Bill Bass's: on a hillside in Tennessee, human bodies decompose in the open air, aided by insects, bacteria and birds, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. At the "Body Farm, " nature takes its course, with corpses bur…
DescriptionThe founder of modern science and the embodiment of the conflict between science and faith, Galileo remains the most fascinating figure of his age. In this biography, James Reston Jr. provides a lively, vivid portrait of Galileo, taking the listener to the heart of this passionate, embattled, arrogant, and brilliant man. In doing so, Reston paints a picture of Renaissance Italy, of its unparalleled cultural richness and political and religious intrigues. At the center of the story is Galileo's discovery of the telescope, which revolutionized astronomy and put Galileo into conflict with the Catholic church until 1633, when the Inquisition denounced him and banished him for the last 9 years of his life.
DescriptionDuring the great ages of exploration, "the longitude problem" was the gravest of all scientific challenges. Lacking the ability to determine their longitude, sailors were literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Ships ran aground on rocky shores; those traveling well-known routes were easy prey to pirates. In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment, from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton, had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution, a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on. Complete with a new foreword written and read by Neil Armstrong.
