Deep Beauty: Understanding the Quantum World through Mathematical Innovation
No scientific theory has caused more puzzlement and confusion than quantum theory. Physics is supposed to help us to understand the world, but quantum theory makes it seem a very strange place. This book is about how mathematical innovation can help us gain deeper insight into the structure of the physical world. Chapters by top researchers in the mathematical foundations of physics explore new ideas, especially novel mathematical concepts, at the cutting edge of future physics.
The Botany of Desire: A Plants-Eye View of the World (Audiobook, MP3)
In 1637, one Dutchman paid as much for a single tulip bulb as the going price of a town house in Amsterdam. Three and a half centuries later, Amsterdam is once again the mecca for people who care passionately about one particular plant — thought this time the obsessions revolves around the intoxicating effects of marijuana rather than the visual beauty of the tulip. How could flowers, of all things, become such objects of desire that they can drive men to financial ruin?
Grade 1-3-Ingenuous Miss Spider can't understand why insects flee in panic at her approach. Being a florivore herself, she only wants to invite them over for cakes and tea. The ironic air wafting through Kirk's rhymed tale will not be lost on young readers, and the insects in the big, brightly colored illustrations bear comically apprehensive expressions as they hastily depart. Miss Spider is depicted as a freckled, green-eyed beauty with a bulbous black-and-gold body; she and her would-be guests are seen in a slightly softened focus that sometimes sharpens to a glossy solidity reminiscent of William Joyce's figures.
After years spent on ranches around Los Angeles, Clay Tahoma is delighted to be Virgin River's new veterinary assistant. The secluded community's wild beauty tugs at his Navajo roots, and he's been welcomed with open arms by everyone in town-everyone except Lilly Yazhi.
Journey across the Pacific for a handsomely photographed look at Japan's past and present, from the former imperial capital of Japan in Kyoto, which stood as the center of Japanese culture for more than 1,000 years, to the Itsukushima Shrine, featuring harmoniously arranged buildings that reveal great artistic and technical skill while illustrating the Japanese concept of scenic beauty. From there, students will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial -- also known as the Genbaku Dome
