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Until the end of time : mind, matter, and our search for meaning in an evolving universe / by Greene, B.(Brian),1963-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the world-renowned physicist, co-founder of the World Science Festival, and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes this utterly captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose. Brian Greene takes readers on a breathtaking journey from the big bang to the end of time and invites us to ponder meaning in the face of this unimaginable expanse. He shows us how, from its original orderly state the universe has been moving inexorably toward chaos, and, still, remarkable structures have continually formed: the planets, stars, and galaxies that provide islands in a sea of disorder; biochemical mechanisms, including mutation and selection, animate life; neurons, information, and thought developed into complex consciousness which in turn gave rise to cultures and their timeless myths and creativity. And he describes, as well, how, in the deep reaches of the future, the nature of the universe will threaten the existence of matter itself. Through a series of nested stories Greene provides us with a clearer sense of how we came to be, a finer picture of where we are now, and a firmer understanding of where we are headed. Taken together, it is a completely new perspective on our place in the universe and on what it means to be human"--
Subjects: Cosmology.; Physics;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Lands of lost borders : out of bounds on the Silk Road / by Harris, Kate,1982-author.;
"In the spirit of The Places in Between and Into the Silence, this is a transcendent memoir about travelling wildly out of bounds on the fabled Silk Road. "Carried me up into a state of excitement I haven't felt for years. It's a modern classic."--Pico Iyer. As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she most craved--that of a generalist explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and metaphysician, with a flair for basic science and endless slogging--had gone extinct. From what she could tell of the world from small-town Ontario, the likes of Marco Polo and Magellan had mapped the whole earth. So she looked beyond this planet, vowing to become a scientist and go to Mars. Well along this path, Harris set off by bicycle down a short section of the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel Yule. This trip was just a simulacrum of exploration, she thought, not the thing itself--a little adventure to pass the time until she could launch for outer space. But somewhere in between sneaking illegally across Tibet, studying the history of science and exploration at Oxford, and staring down a microscope for a doctorate at MIT, she realized that an explorer, in any day and age, is by definition the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. Forget charting maps, naming peaks, leaving footprints on another planet: what she yearned for was the feeling of soaring completely out of bounds. And where she'd felt that most intensely was on a bicycle, on a bygone trading route. So Harris quit the laboratory and hit the Silk Road again with Yule, this time determined to bike it from beginning to end. Like Rebecca Solnit and Pico Iyer, Kate Harris offers a travel account at once exuberant and meditative, wry and rapturous, and above all full of hope. Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of the self that, like our planet, can never be fully mapped. Weaving adventure and deep reflection with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders celebrates our connection as humans to the natural world, and ultimately to each other--a belonging that transcends any fences or stories that may divide us."--
Subjects: Harris, Kate, 1982-; Cycling;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The stowaway : a young man's extraordinary adventure to Antarctica / by Shapiro, Laurie Gwen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-223) and index.The spectacular, true story of a scrappy teenager from New York's Lower East Side who stowed away on the Roaring Twenties' most remarkable feat of science and daring: an expedition to Antarctica. It was 1928: a time of illicit booze, of Gatsby and Babe Ruth, of freewheeling fun... The night before the expedition's flagship launched, Billy Gawronski--a skinny, first generation New York City high schooler desperate to escape a dreary future in the family upholstery business--jumped into the Hudson River and snuck aboard. Could he get away with it? From the grimy streets of New York's Lower East Side to the rowdy dance halls of sultry Francophone Tahiti, all the way to Antarctica's blinding white and deadly freeze, Laurie Gwen Shapiro's The Stowaway takes you on the unforgettable voyage of a gutsy young stowaway who became an international celebrity, a mascot for an up-by-your bootstraps age.
Subjects: Travel writing.; Biographies.; Gawronski, Billy, 1910-1981; Adventure and adventurers; Ocean travel; Stowaways; Teenage boys;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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On sex and gender : a commonsense approach / by Coleman, Doriane Lambelet,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."On Sex and Gender focuses on three sequential and consequential questions: What is sex -- as opposed to gender? How does sex matter in our everyday lives? And how should it be reflected in law and policy? All three are front-and-center in American politics: They are included in both of the major parties' political platforms. They are the subject of ongoing litigation in the federal courts and of highly contentious legislation on Capitol Hill. And they are a pivotal issue in the culture war between left and right playing out on battlegrounds from campuses and school boards to op-ed pages and corporate handbooks. Doriane Coleman challenges both sides to chart a new way forward. She argues that denying biological sex would have profound and detrimental effects on women's equal opportunity and on the health and welfare of society generally. Structural sexism needed to be dismantled -- a true achievement of feminism and an ongoing fight -- but sex blindness is not the next step forward. This book is a clear guide for reasonable Americans on the issue of gender and sex -- something everyone is terrified to discuss. Coleman shows equally that the science is settled but there is a middle ground on protecting both women's rights and trans rights. She livens her narrative with a sequence of portraits of exceptional human beings who have fought to advance the cause of equality from legal pioneers like Myra Bradwell and Ketanji Brown Jackson to champion athletes like Caster Semenya and Cate Campbell to civil rights giants like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Pauli Murray. Above all, Coleman reminds us that sex -- the male and the female body -- is good for three reasons. Sex is good for procreation, it's good for sexual pleasure, and it's good for something in our natural lives to be beautiful"--
Subjects: Feminism; Gender identity; Sex (Biology); Sex and law; Women's rights;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Book and Dagger How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II [electronic resource] : by Graham, Elyse.aut; cloudLibrary;
The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today’s CIA, was quickly formed—and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work—and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts. In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, letters, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis—a tale that reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the world.
Subjects: Electronic books.; 20th Century; Historical; World War II; Intelligence & Espionage; Germany;
© 2024., HarperCollins,
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Caste : the origins of our discontents / by Wilkerson, Isabel,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.""As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power--which groups have it and which do not." In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people--including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball's Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others--she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity. Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of America life today"--
Subjects: Caste; Social stratification; Ethnicity; Power (Social sciences);
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The urban bestiary : encountering the everyday wild / by Haupt, Lyanda Lynn.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The Bestiary's Bestiary : A Note on Process -- Part I. Entering the Bestiary -- A New Nature, a New Bestiary -- The Lost Art of Urban Tracking -- Part II. The Furred Coyote -- Mole -- Raccoon -- Opossum -- Squirrel (and Rat) -- Black Bear and Cougar -- Part III. The Feathered Bird -- Starling, House Sparrow, Pigeon -- Chickadee -- Crow -- Hawk and Owl -- Chicken -- Part IV. The Branching and the Rooted Tree -- Human."From the bestselling author of Crow Planet, a compelling journey into the secret lives of the wild animals at our back door. In The Urban Bestiary, acclaimed nature writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt journeys into the heart of the everyday wild, where coyotes, raccoons, chickens, hawks, and humans live in closer proximity than ever before. Haupt's observations bring compelling new questions to light: Whose 'home' is this? Where does the wild end and the city begin? And what difference does it make to us as humans living our everyday lives? In this wholly original blend of science, story, myth, and memoir, Haupt draws us into the secret world of the wild creatures that dwell among us in our urban neighborhoods, whether we are aware of them or not. With beautiful illustrations and practical sidebars on everything from animal tracking to opossum removal, The Urban Bestiary is a lyrical book that awakens wonder, delight, and respect for the urban wild, and our place within it"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Human-animal relationships; Philosophy of nature.; Urban animals; Urban animals; Wildlife watching;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Grown woman talk : your guide to getting and staying healthy / by Malone, Sharon,1959-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A practical guide to aging and health for women who have felt ignored or marginalized by the medical profession, from a leading Ob/Gyn and expert on menopausal and post-reproductive health. The medical system today is increasingly complicated and impersonal, and unfortunately, it is not going to be less so in the future. The rules of engagement have changed in medicine, but no one has bothered to inform patients. Much is written about Black women and women of color, be it our increased cancer risk, our alarming obesity statistics, or our disproportionate risk of cardiovascular diseases, but very little is written for us, and a diagnosis from Dr. Internet doesn't cut it. Talk about being sick? Dr. Sharon Malone is sick of that. Grown Woman Talk is for all women who have often not been seen or heard. For more than three decades as a practicing Ob/Gyn in the nation's capital and now as chief medical officer of Alloy Women's Health, Dr. Malone has served women across the city all the way to the upper echelons of power. In this book, she gives us the nudge we all need to become effective and efficient advocates in getting the care we deserve. Part medical memoir of the Malone family experience tracing from the Jim Crow South to the highest corridors of power in Washington, part relatable clinical scenarios of women from all walks of life and experiences, and part practical medical and logistical advice, this book is a reliable and easy-to-understand resource. In addition to information on ailments like fibroids, cancer, heart disease, and perimenopause, it also helps us navigate the medical establishment of today with advice on how to choose a doctor, why our family's health history matters, and how to decide among treatments. Combining emerging practices with the latest research the book addresses many women's greatest gap, the one between what they believe and what is actually true. With a combination of medical expertise, up-to-date science, and lived experience, Grown Woman Talk addresses the most common conditions women over forty deal with. And it helps women, especially Black women, identify the power they have and how to use it to chart a path to improve their health outcomes and thrive"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Malone, Sharon, 1959-; Malone, Sharon, 1959-; African American women; African American women; African American women; Women; Women; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Full battle rattle : my story as the longest-serving special forces A-Team soldier in American history / by Lahidji, Changiz,1950-author.; Pezzullo, Ralph,author.;
Subjects: Biographies.; Lahidji, Changiz, 1950-; United States. Army. Special Forces; United States. Army. Special Forces; Special operations (Military science); Iranian Americans; Persian Gulf War, 1991; Afghan War, 2001-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Yellowstone. by Firth, Peter,actor.; BBC Studios (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Peter FirthOriginally produced by BBC Studios in 2009.Yellowstone National Park is one of the world's last and most spectacular wildernesses. It is also home to some of the richest wildlife beyond the plains of Africa. This landmark series follows the intertwining stories of Yellowstone's iconic inhabitants: the grey wolf, the grizzly bear and the herds of antelope and buffalo. In a land of beauty and peril, the dramatic lives and fortunes of these animals are inexorably bound together.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Science.; Biology.; Zoology.; Environmental sciences.; Documentary films.; Television series.; Motion pictures.; United States.; Nature.; Documentary television programs.;
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