Take control of the algorithms that run your life. How the rich and powerful use math to exploit you, and what you can do to beat them at their own game. Everything we do today is recorded as data that's sold to the highest bidder. Plugging our personal data into impersonal algorithms has made government agencies more efficient and tech companies more profitable. But all this comes at a price. It's easy to feel like an insignificant number in a world of number crunchers who care more about their bottom line than your humanity. It's time to flip the equation, turning math into an empowering tool for the rest ... |
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Nicholas Carr's bestseller The Shallows has become a foundational book in one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the internet's bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? This 10th-anniversary edition includes a new afterword that brings the story up to date, with a deep examination of the cognitive and behavioral effects of smartphones and social media. ... |
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What Nature Can Teach Us About Working Together. Why do we live in families? Why do we help complete strangers? Why do we compare ourselves to others? Why do we cooperate? The science of cooperation tells us not only how we got here, but also where we might end up. In The Social Instinct Nichola Raihani introduces us to other species who, like us, live and work together. From the pied babblers of the Kalahari to the cleaner fish of the Great Barrier Reef, they happen to be some of the most fascinating and extraordinarily successful species on this planet. What do we have in common with these animals, and what can we ... |
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How numbers created civilisation. Quadratic equations, Pythagoras' theorem, imaginary numbers, and pi - you may remember studying these at school, but did anyone ever explain why? Never fear - bestselling science writer, and your new favourite maths teacher, Michael Brooks, is here to help. In The Maths That Made Us, Brooks reminds us of the wonders of numbers: how they enabled explorers to travel far across the seas and astronomers to map the heavens; how they won wars and halted the HIV epidemic; how they are responsible for the design of your home and almost everything in it, down to the smartphone in your pocket. ... |
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A story of survival. In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls from eleven nations were drafted into a hurriedly assembled band that would play marching music to other inmates, forced labourers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and often broken, at the end of the day. While still living amid the most brutal and dehumanising of circumstances, they were also made to give weekly concerts for Nazi officers, and individual members were sometimes summoned to give solo performances of an officer' ... |
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This book explores the international legal regulation on protecting outer space environment from different types of space debris. The monograph focuses on the international legal gaps to regulate all major aspects of space debris and the challenges in front of comprehensive international cooperation and legal regulation. It illustrates the levels of cooperation, achievements and omissions in different international forums that address the issue of space debris. The book also examines the roles of international governmental organizations as well as international scientific organizations to address the issues of space ... |
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How to live in harmony with the planet and with each other? Which is the best way to meet the global challenges of today? Philosophers, political scientists, world leaders and many other people are looking for answers of these crucial questions. Every generation formulates its ideas, has its hopes and is searching for the next step of building a more just social order. According to the author of this book, society which implements the holistic model will find the way to peace and common prosperity! Every social problem is a result of application of a particular social model. If we aim that all members of society have the ... |
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The ultimate bitesize study guide. All the core national curriculum maths topics in one book, an accessible, and indispensable guide for students, parents, and educators. Covering topics from probability to statistics, algebra to geometry, this study guide is what every young, budding mathematician needs to succeed in maths - both at home and in school. This maths book is the perfect support for coursework, homework, and exam revision. Inside students will find: key concepts are shown in visual form and summarised to just one page; important aspects of each topic explained with step-by-step instructions and diagrams; ... |
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Quantum physics is strange. It tells us that a particle can be in two places at once. Indeed, that particle is also a wave, and everything in the quantum world can be described entirely in terms of waves, or entirely in terms of particles, whichever you prefer. All of this was clear by the end of the 1920s. But to the great distress of many physicists, let alone ordinary mortals, nobody has ever been able to come up with a common sense explanation of what is going on. Physicists have sought 'quanta of solace' in a variety of more or less convincing interpretations. Popular science master John Gribbin takes us on a ... |
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How to think, like a scientist. Learn how to fail and embrace the unknown. A scientist's journey from observation to discovery is anything but straightforward. It is littered with failure, unexpected diversions and joyous realizations. Science helps us to understand ourselves - but what we know about the world around us, what has already been explored and discovered, is only half of science's story. Dr. Camilla Pang will look at some of the biggest mysteries facing science today and how some of the best, most cutting-edge scientists can illuminate our own approaches to observation, hypothesis, exploration, ... |
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Unlocking the mysteries of all 118 elements. Every element has character, be it volatile, aloof, gregarious or enigmatic. They also have incredible stories of how they came to be, how they were discovered and how their qualities have been harnessed to make everything we have in the world. Dr Ben Still takes you through all the groups, revealing the fascinating circumstances of their discoveries and explaining their characteristics and behaviour, often delving inside the atom to explain their structure in a way easily accessible to everyone. Insightful illustrations help you to understand even the most complex-looking ... |
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And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong. In A Brief History of Black Holes, award-winning University of Oxford researcher Dr Becky Smethurst charts five hundred years of scientific breakthroughs in astronomy and astrophysics. Right now, you are orbiting a black hole. The Earth orbits the Sun, and the Sun orbits the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole, the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy. In this cosmic tale of discovery, Dr Becky Smethurst takes us from the earliest observations of the universe and the collapse of massive stars, to the iconic first photographs of a ... |
