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A Tear at the Edge of Creation:  A Radical New Vision for Life in an imperfect Universe

Marcelo Gleiser

 

"A scientist's deeply personal plea to accept and cherish the universe as it is-with all its rich and creative imperfections-rather than seek in vain some sterile notion of simplistic ´oneness.' Urging humility above all before the fantastic complexity of our universe, Gleiser reminds us that neither the universe nor life needs a ´reason' in order to be meaningful. Only by embracing the fragility and unlikeliness of our existence can we create a new morality aimed at fighting not each other, but together as a species, for the continued existence of what is probably the only life in the universe capable of fully appreciating all that surrounds us."  K.C. Cole, author of Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens

 

"For most of his career, physicist Gleiser (The Dancing Universe) was a "true believer in unification," seeing in string theory a "more profound description of Nature" with "a higher level of mathematical symmetry." He now rejects the search for a perfect theory as an improvable article of belief akin to monotheism. Explaining his turnaround, Gleiser points to the game-changing 1998 discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, indicating that 96 percent of the "stuff of the cosmos" is undetectable "dark matter" or "dark energy." Even the 4 percent of matter contained in the known universe reveals anomalous behavior, like the predominance of matter over anti-matter, and the asymmetry of "left-handed" neutrinos. Gleiser argues that life, and perhaps even matter, could not have developed in a symmetrical universe: "Behind every imperfection there is a mechanism for generating structure and complex behavior." The conclusions Gleiser draws from his reconfiguration include the idea that time has a beginning and that "human understanding of the world is forever a work in progress"; though Gleiser has a remarkable gift for elucidating complex scientific concepts (without mathematics), this is not a volume for novices."  Publishers Weekly

 

UFO's:  Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record

Leslie Kean

 

"At last, a serious and thoughtful book about this controversial subject. Skeptics and true believers will find a treasure trove of insightful and eye opening information. This book is bound to set the gold standard for UFO research."  Michio Kaku, Ph.D. Author of Physics of the Impossible and host of Sci Fi Science on the Science Channel

"I was astonished by the care and precision of Leslie Kean's research in this terrific book.  Her analysis is carefully reasoned and to the point; her craftsmanship in organization and writing are superb.    Her expose' raises important questions: Why does the US government create public distrust by neglecting this important topic? Why do its agencies avoid investigating cases of interference with flight operations and instead issue absurd cover-up stories?  This book is ultimately an appeal to all scholars for an "extraordinary investigation of an extraordinary phenomenon."  Rudy Schild, Ph.D., Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
 
"Like me, Leslie Kean is an agnostic on the issue of UFOs.  Her book is a fine piece of journalism - not about beliefs, but about facts.  Kean presents the most accurate, most credible reports on UFO's you will ever find.  She has fought long and hard to discover the facts and let the chips fall where they may.  She may not have the final smoking gun, but I smell the gunpowder."  Miles O'Brien, former CNN space/science correspondent

 

The Shallows:  What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

Nicholas Carr

 

"Carr-author of The Big Switch (2007) and the much-discussed Atlantic Monthly story "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"-is an astute critic of the information technology revolution. Here he looks to neurological science to gauge the organic impact of computers, citing fascinating experiments that contrast the neural pathways built by reading books versus those forged by surfing the hypnotic Internet, where portals lead us on from one text, image, or video to another while we're being bombarded by messages, alerts, and feeds. This glimmering realm of interruption and distraction impedes the sort of comprehension and retention "deep reading" engenders, Carr explains. And not only are we reconfiguring our brains, we are also forging a "new intellectual ethic," an arresting observation Carr expands on while discussing Google's gargantuan book digitization project. What are the consequences of new habits of mind that abandon sustained immersion and concentration for darting about, snagging bits of information? What is gained and what is lost? Carr's fresh, lucid, and engaging assessment of our infatuation with the Web is provocative and revelatory."  Donna Seaman, Booklist

"Nicholas Carr has written an important and timely book. See if you can stay off the web long enough to read it!" Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change

The Day We Found the Universe

Marcia Bartusiak

 

"On January 1, 1925, thity-five-year-old Edwin Hubble announced findings that ultimately established that our universe was a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed, filled with myriad galaxies like our own. It was a realization that reshaped how humans understood their place in the cosmos. Six years later, continuing research by Hubble and others forced Albert Einstein to renounce his own cosmic model and finally accept the astonishing fact that the universe was not immobile but instead expanding. The story of these interwoven discoveries includes battles of will, clever insights, and wrong turns made by the early investigators in this great twentieth-century pursuit, from the luminaries (Einstein, Hubble, Harlow Shapley) to the lesser known: Henrietta Leavitt, who discovered the means to measure the vast dimensions of the cosmos . . . Vesto Slipher, the first and unheralded discoverer of the universe's expansion... Georges Lematre, the Jesuit priest who correctly interpreted Einstein's theories in relation to the universe... Milton Humason, who, with only an eighth-grade education, became a world-renowned expert on galaxy motions... and others.

"Here is the watershed moment in our cosmic history, splendidly arising from the exceptional combination of human curiosity, intelligence, and enterprise."  Amazon.com