Magnifique était Yonaguni. Kihachiro pleure. Assis sur un banc, l’homme est à l’ombre du soleil menaçant. La brise, elle, n’arrange peu les choses. Ce vent balaye juste la chaleur enflammant les paupières du japonais. Loin de ce repère aux rats, ses souvenirs l’emmènent dans un endroit et une époque où l’enfance se gardait de montrer l’avenir sombre de l’âge adulte. Un endroit aux teintes bleutées, parfois immaculées au contact brutal des falaises de l’île. Yonaguni fait partie de l’archip...

“They laid out a road map for investing that I have now been following for 57 years. There’s been no reason to look for another.”—Warren Buffett, on the writings of Benjamin GrahamLegendary investing author and philosopher Benjamin Graham lived through interesting times. Soon after his graduation from Columbia College, the nation entered the First World War. As the stock market fluctuated in wild dips and peaks, the government seized control of the railroad ...

The immune system can deal effectively with the majority of viruses and bacteria, less effectively with parasites, and very poorly with cancer. Why is this so? Why are McFarlane Burnet's and Lewis Thomas' predictions that the immune system is in volved in ridding the body of cancer cells, encapsulated in the catchy phrase "immunologic surveillance," so difficult to experi mentally establish? Cancer differs from infectious agents in being derived from the host. Hence, it has been postulated...

"The dazzling clutch of scientific minds caught in mid-thought here makes for a read that provokes thought in its turn. Delights abound." —Nature"What distinguishes scientists, in your eyes?" —Stefan Klein"First and foremost, curiosity." —Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize–winning chemistWhen Stefan Klein, an acclaimed journalist, sits down to talk with 18 of the world's leading scientists, he finds they're driven by, above all, curiosity. When they talk abou...

A sterling roster of natural and social scientists in conversation with top-flight journalist Stefan Klein—shedding new light on their work, their lives, and what they still hope to discoverWhen acclaimed science writer Stefan Klein asks Nobel Prize–winning chemist Roald Hoffmann what sets scientists apart, Hoffmann says, “First and foremost, curiosity.” In this collection of intimate conversations with nineteen of the world’s best-known scientists (including three Nobel Laureates)...

This book is based on a symposium that was inspired by the late Donald O. Hebb who, in his latter years while an Honorary Professor in the Department of Psychology at Dalhousie University, became very interested in the phenomenon of multiple personality and other dissociative states. Hebb was troubled by the lack of understanding of dissociative behavior and, through his discussions with basic science and clinical colleagues in psychology and psychiatry, he became convinced that the subjec...

A Fields medalist recounts his lifelong transnational effort to uncover the geometric shape—the Calabi-Yau manifold—that may store the hidden dimensions of our universe.Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable ...

The wild, combative inside story of the most stunning upset in the history of presidential elections: Harry Truman's 1948 victory over Tom Dewey."Outstanding. . . . by far the best yet about the fateful [1948] election." ―Minneapolis Star-Tribune"Coherent, compelling. . . . A skillful, authoritative investigation." ―Kirkus ReviewsAward-winning historian David Pietrusza unpacks the most ingloriously iconic headline in the history of...

From Frank Herbert's Dune to Isaac Asimov's Foundation series to Philip K. Dick's stories of bizarre visions of a dystopian future, the latter half of the twentieth century produced some of the finest examples of speculative fiction ever published. Yet no science fiction author was more highly regarded than Grand Master Clifford D. Simak, winner of numerous honors.Whether it's an irascible old man's discovery of a very unusual skunk that puts him at odds with the US Air Fo...

Delve into the fascinating world of dirt in this history of culture, cleanliness, and our evolving perceptions of what is and isn't gross.In this engaging and often humorous study of life's imperfections, public health and hygiene authority Terence McLaughlin dissects our attitudes toward the filth that has accompanied society throughout human history. According to him, "dirt" is a matter of opinion.Cultural attitudes about everything from factory smoke to ...

American journalist and author William L. Shirer was a war correspondent for six years in Nazi Germany, having a front-row seat to Hitler’s rise in influence and power. His most definitive work on the subject, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, is a riveting account of life in the tyrannical state, a country transformed by war and dictatorship.The author was originally commissioned to write The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler for a young adult audience. This acco...

Whose Middle Ages? is an interdisciplinary collection of short, accessible essays intended for the nonspecialist reader and ideal for teaching at an undergraduate level. Each of twenty-two essays takes up an area where digging for meaning in the medieval past has brought something distorted back into the present: in our popular entertainment; in our news, our politics, and our propaganda; and in subtler ways that inform how we think about our histories, our countries, and ourselves. Each a...