Science

Ray Kurzweil is the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era, an international authority on artificial intelligence, and one of our greatest living visionaries. Now he offers a framework for envisioning the twenty-first century--an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. Kurzweil's prophetic blueprint for the future takes us through the advances that inexorably result in computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain by the year 2020 (with human-level capabilities not far behind); in relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers; and in information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways. Optimistic and challenging, thought-provoking and engaging, The Age of Spiritual Machines is the ultimate guide on our road into the next century. more...

Price: $17.00

Say goodbye to dry presentations, grueling formulas, and abstract theories that would put Einstein to sleep -- now there's an easier way to master the disciplines you really need to know. McGraw-Hill's Demystified Series teaches complex subjects in a unique, easy-to-absorb manner, and is perfect for users without formal training or unlimited time. They're also the most time-efficient, interestingly written ''brush-ups'' you can find. Organized as self-teaching guides, they come complete with key points, background information, questions at the end of each chapter, and even final exams. You'll be able to learn more in less time, evaluate your areas of strength and weakness and reinforce your knowledge and confidence. This clear, heavily-illustrated guide to the human body covers anatomy of cells and tissues, muscle tissue, major muscles of the body, nervous tissue, membranes, organs, cancer, the skin, the human skeleton, the nervous system, glands, the senses, the cardiovascular system, the immune system, the respiratory system, digestion, genitourinary system, the embryo, and more. more...

Price: $19.95

Review material and expert test-taking tips to help students ace the AP Chemistry exam. In 2006, over 90,000 high school students took the Advanced Placement chemistry exam, and since 2002, there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of students taking AP Chemistry courses in U.S. high schools. AP Chemistry For Dummies includes a detailed overview of the exam and subject reviews of all topics. It features two full-length tests with answers and explanations designed to help students bring their skills up to the collegiate level and maximize their scores on the exam. Peter J. Mikulecky, PhD (San Diego, CA), teaches science and mathematics at the Fusion Learning Center in Southern California. Michelle Rose Gilman (Solana Beach, CA) is the founder of Fusion Learning Center and Fusion Academy and the author of several For Dummies science, math, and test-prep titles. Katherine Brutlag (San Diego, CA) teaches chemistry and other sciences at the Fusion Academy. Together, the authors also cowrote Chemistry Workbook For Dummies (978-0-470-25152-2). more...

Price: $16.99

Arsenic is rightly infamous as the poison of choice for Victorian murderers. Yet the great majority of fatalities from arsenic in the nineteenth century came not from intentional poisoning, but from accident. Kept in many homes for the purpose of poisoning rats, the white powder was easily mistaken for sugar or flour and often incorporated into the family dinner. It was also widely present in green dyes, used to tint everything from candles and candies to curtains, wallpaper, and clothing (it was arsenic in old lace that was the danger). Whether at home amidst arsenical curtains and wallpapers, at work manufacturing these products, or at play swirling about the papered, curtained ballroom inarsenical gowns and gloves, no one was beyond the poison's reach. Drawing on the medical, legal, and popular literature of the time, The Arsenic Century paints a vivid picture of its wide-ranging and insidious presence in Victorian daily life, weaving together the history of its emergence as a nearly inescapable household hazard with the sordid story of its frequent employment as a tool of murder and suicide. And ultimately, as the final chapter suggests, arsenic in Victorian Britain was very much the pilot episode for a series of environmentalpoisoning dramas that grew ever more common during the twentieth century and still has no end in sight. more...

Price: $29.95

1st Prize, 'New Authored Books' category, Royal Society of Medicine and Society of Authors Medical Book Awards 2008. “Wilson provides the reader with an up-to-date, comprehensive census of the indigenous microorganisms that inhabit the human body and in so doing contributes significantly to this rapidly advancing area of study. The narrative is clearly written; the index is excellent; there are numerous bibliographic citations. Each chapter is rich with tables, diagrams, color micrographs, and charts … Highly recommended.” –Choice Reviews. “This comprehensive, yet accessible text... is an excellent and informative reference book… it should be on the shelf of every major science and medical library. The content, organization, and presentation make this book a unique resource.” –Doody's Book Reviews. Until recently, the indigenous microbiota of humans has been a relatively neglected area of microbiology with most attention being focused on those microbes that cause disease in humans, rather than on those that co-exist with us in the disease-free state. However, in the past decade research has shown that not only is the indigenous microbiota involved in protecting humans from exogenous pathogens but it is also involved in our development and nutrition. Consequently, interest has grown substantially among health professionals and scientists in analyzing and understanding these microbial (largely bacterial) communities. This comprehensive, yet accessible text provides an up-to-date guide to the development, composition and distribution of indigenous microbial communities of humans. With the aid of abundant colour figures, diagrams, tables and maps, it establishes links between the physicochemical factors prevailing at an anatomical site and the types of microbes to be found there. The book includes an introduction to the human-microbe symbiosis as well as an in-depth look at the main systems and organs more...

Price: $82.50