Controversies in Science and Technology : From Maize to Menopause

Written for general readers, teachers, journalists, and policymakers, this volume explores four controversial topics in science and technology, with commentaries from experts in such fields as sociology, religion, law, ethics, and politics: • Antibiotics and Resistance, Genetically Modified Maize and Gene Flow, Hormone Replacement Theory and Menopause, Smallpox

Not a Chimp : The Hunt to Find the Genes That Make Us Human

Certainly chimps are our closest genetic relatives. But relatively small differences in genetic code can lead to profound differences in cognition and behaviour. Our abilities give us the responsibility to protect and preserve the natural world, including endangered primates. But for the purposes of human society and human concepts such as rights, let’s not pretend that chimps are humans uneducated and undressed. We’ve changed a lot in those 12 million years.

Spectacular Death : Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Mortality and (Un)representability

An interdisciplinary collection of essays on the medical and social articulation of death, this anthology considers to what extent a subject as elusive as death can be examined. Though it touches us all, we can perceive it only in life – with the predictable result that we treat it either as a clinical or social problem to be managed or as a phenomenon to be studied quantitatively.

Sound Tracks : Popular Music Identity and Place

Sound Tracks is the first comprehensive book on the new geography of popular music, examining the complex links between places, music and cultural identities. It provides an interdisciplinary perspective on local, national and global scenes, from the’Mersey’and’Icelandic’sounds to’world music’, and explores the diverse meanings of music in a range of regional contexts.

Algorithmic Puzzles

While many think of algorithms as specific to computer science, at its core algorithmic thinking is defined by the use of analytical logic to solve problems. This logic extends far beyond the realm of computer science and into the wide and entertaining world of puzzles. In Algorithmic Puzzles, Anany and Maria Levitin use many classic brainteasers as well as newer examples from job interviews with major corporations to show readers how to apply analytical thinking to solve puzzles requiring well-defined procedures.

A Physicist’s View Of Matter And Mind

This is a highly interdisciplinary book straddling physics and complex systems such as living organisms. The presentation is from the perspective of physics, in a manner accessible to those interested in scientific knowledge integrated within its socio-cultural and philosophical backgrounds. Two key areas of human understanding, namely physics and conscious complex systems, are presented in simple language.

Scoring the Rorschach : Seven Validated Systems

Exner’s Comprehensive System has attracted so much attention in recent years that many clinicians and personality researchers are unaware that alternative Rorschach scoring systems exist. This is unfortunate, because some of these systems have tremendous clinical value. Scoring the Rorschach: Seven Validated Systems provides detailed reviews of the best-validated alternative approaches, and points to promising new paths towards the continued growth and refinement of Rorschach interpretation.

Madness and Creativity

Analyst and author Ann Belford Ulanov draws on her years of clinical work and reflection to make the point that madness and creativity share a kinship, an insight that shakes both analysand and analyst to the core, reminding us as it does that the suffering places of the human psyche are inextricably—and, often inexplicably—related to the fountains of creativity, service, and even genius. She poses disturbing questions: How do we depend on order, when chaos is a necessary part of existence? What are we to make of evil—both that surrounding us and that within us? Is there a myth of meaning that can contain all the differences that threaten to shatter us?

Navigating on the Titanic: Economic Growth, Energy, and the Failure of Governance

Navigating on the Titanic outlines the brief history of economic growth and the private and public institutions – markets, corporations, households, and governments – which underpin that growth. Bryne Purchase examines mega-risks related to our economy’s use of fossil fuels and specifically looks at resource depletion, energy security, and climate change – all’mega-risks’because they are both global in scope and potentially existential in impact.

Science Secrets : The Truth About Darwin’s Finches, Einstein’s Wife, and Other Myths

Was Darwin really inspired by Galápagos finches? Did Einstein’s wife secretly contribute to his theories? Did Franklin fly a kite in a thunderstorm? Did a falling apple lead Newton to universal gravity? Did Galileo drop objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Did Einstein really believe in God? Science Secrets answers these questions and many others. It is a unique study of how myths evolve in the history of science. Some tales are partly true, others are mostly false, yet all illuminate the tension between the need to fairly describe the past and the natural desire to fill in the blanks.