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Book Preview: #1 The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that the earth was a round sphere rather than a flat plate. He knew that eclipses of the moon were caused by the earth coming between the sun and the moon, and that the North Star appeared lower in the sky when viewed in the south than it did in more northerly regions.
#2 Aristotle believed the earth was the center...
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Get the Summary of Carlo Rovelli's “The Order of Time” in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike.
For...
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Get the Summary of Craig Nelson's The Age of Radiance in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "The Age of Radiance" by Craig Nelson provides a comprehensive history of the nuclear age, detailing the discovery of radioactivity and its profound impact on the world. The book traces the origins of nuclear science with pioneers like Marie and Pierre Curie, who uncovered the mysteries of radium and polonium, and Wilhelm Röntgen's...
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#1 Newton was a man who changed our view of the world and set us on the path to modern science. He was not a boy genius, like Mozart, but rather a man who was taught and encouraged by a talented father.
#2 Isaac Newton was born in 1642. He was named after his father, a prosperous yeoman farmer who had died three months earlier. The baby was premature, tiny, and sickly....
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#1 Caspian arrived late to the tea party, and was greeted by Audrey, who had a discovery to make about time and quantum physics. She explained that her brother was developing a superior version of the fly that could extract energy from a certain type of light.
#2 I'm a theoretical physicist who works at the intersection of quantum physics, information processing, and...
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Get the Summary of Dave Goulson's Silent Earth in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
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Drawing on thirty years of research, Goulson has written an accessible, fascinating, and important book that examines the evidence of an alarming drop in insect numbers around the world. "If we lose the insects, then everything is going to collapse," he warned in a recent interview in the New York Times-beginning...
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Get the Summary of Dorothy H. Crawford's Viruses in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
Viruses are big news. From pandemics such as HIV, to swine flu, and SARS, we are constantly being bombarded with information about new lethal infections. In this Very Short Introduction Dorothy Crawford demonstrates how clever these entities really are. From their discovery and the unravelling of their intricate structures, Crawford...
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Get the Summary of Amy Leach's The Everybody Ensemble in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
Amy Leach, the celebrated author of the transcendent Things That Are, invites you into The Everybody Ensemble, an effervescent tonic of a book. These short, wildly inventive essays are filled with praise songs, poetry, ingenious critique, soul-lifting philosophy, music theory, and whimsical but scientific trips into nature....
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Get the Summary of Michael D. Fayer's Absolutely Small in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Absolutely Small" by Michael D. Fayer delves into the realm of quantum theory, explaining how it revolutionized our understanding of the physical world, particularly the concept of size and its relation to observable phenomena like color. The book distinguishes between classical and quantum mechanics, using Schrödinger's...
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Get the Summary of Elizabeth Kolbert's Under a White Sky in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
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That man should have dominion "over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it's said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.
In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth...
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Get the Summary of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine....
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Get the Summary of Rob Dunn's A Natural History of the Future in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
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Our species has amassed unprecedented knowledge of nature, which we have tried to use to seize control of life and bend the planet to our will. In A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life's overlords, but we...
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Get the Summary Robin George Andrews' Super Volcanoes of in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary and not the original book.
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Volcanoes are capable of acts of pyrotechnical prowess verging on magic: they spout black magma more fluid than water, create shimmering cities of glass at the bottom of the ocean and frozen lakes of lava on the moon, and can even tip entire planets over. Between lava that melts and re-forms...
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Get the Summary of Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "The Hidden Reality" by Brian Greene explores the concept of parallel universes and the scientific theories that support their existence. The book delves into the evolution of the definition of "universe," which has expanded from everything in existence to the parts we can observe, and now to the idea of multiverses. Greene examines...
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Get the Summary of Michio Kaku's Quantum Supremacy in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Quantum Supremacy" by Michio Kaku chronicles the advent of quantum computing, a transformative technology that surpasses traditional supercomputers by exploiting atomic properties to tackle complex problems, such as simulating chemical reactions. This innovation has sparked a competitive race among tech giants like IBM, Google,...
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Get the Summary of Philip Ball's Beyond Weird in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Beyond Weird" by Philip Ball offers a deep dive into the perplexing world of quantum mechanics, a field that challenges our conventional understanding of reality. The book explores the evolution of quantum theory since its inception in the early 20th century, highlighting the ongoing quest to unravel its foundational principles. Ball...
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#1 When a loved one commits suicide, it leaves a wound that never heals. The family bank account is usually empty, since my father's once-pristine 1955 Buick Skylark, purchased with the proceeds from the sale of our suburban Boston house, had depreciated immediately after he drove it out of the dealership's lot.
#2 I was determined to never end up like my father, who...
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#1 I grew up reading books in my father's bookcase, and while I was never forbidden to read them, I never saw anyone take one down. The books were massive tomes that seemed almost fused to the shelves. But the one that stood out was The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus.
#2 I found it difficult to believe that scientific progress could make any difference to our assessment...
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#1 Elephants can be very loud while they're feeding, but they can also be very quiet. They can appear out of nowhere, and they can be completely harmless. They are extremely smart, and they have a very good sense of smell.
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#1 The German empire was created in 1871, and soon after Wilhelm II dismissed Bismarck, the architect of Germany's greatness. The Kaiser, who considered himself the leader of both civil and military life, had a respect for science and learning.
#2 Science entered a great age in Germany, with scientists as the new heroes. The research that led to Germany's pioneering...
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