In 1915, Thomas Edison proclaimed that he could record a live performance and reproduce it perfectly, shocking audiences who found themselves unable to tell whether what they were hearing was an Edison Diamond Disc or a flesh-and-blood musician. Today, the equation is reversed. Whereas Edison proposed that a real performance could be rebuilt with absolute perfection, Pro Tools and digital samplers now allow musicians and engineers to create the illusion of performances that never were. In ...

Over the last fifty years, humanity has developed an extraordinary global utility which is omnipresent, universal, and available to all: the Global Positioning System (GPS). A network of twenty-four satellites and their monitoring stations on Earth, it makes possible almost all modern technology, from the smartphone in your pocket to the Mars rover. Neither the internet nor the cloud would work without it. And it is changing us in profound ways we've yet to come to terms with.While...

"Triumphs because of the commitment and fearlessness of Metallica . . . [and] shows that tenacious reporting can still produce great narratives." — New York TimesMetallica is one of the most successful hard-rock bands of all time, having sold more than ninety million albums worldwide. Receiving unfettered access, acclaimed filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky followed Metallica over two and a half years as they faced personal and professional challen...

From our CD collections to iPods bursting with MP3s to the hallowed vinyl of DJs, recordings are the most common way we experience music. Perfecting Sound Forever tells the story of recorded music, introducing us to the innovators, musicians and producers who have affected the way we hear our favourite songs, from Thomas Edison to Phil Spector. Exploring the balance that recordings strike between the real and the represented, Greg Milner asks the questions which have divided sound...

Alan Cross is the preeminent chronicler of popular music.Here he looks at Green Day from their founding through 2006.This ebook is adapted from the audiobook.

On 12th April 1981 a revolutionary new spacecraft blasted off from Florida on her maiden flight. NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia was the most advanced flying machine ever built – the high watermark of post-war aviation development. A direct descendant of the record-breaking X-planes the likes of which Chuck Yeager had tested in the skies over the Mojave Desert, Columbia was a winged rocket plane, the size of an airliner, capable of flying to space and back before be...

The former launch commentator "offers a personal—and sometimes painful—look back at one of the darkest chapters in US human spaceflight" (Space.com).On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Seventy-three seconds after launch, the fiery breach of a solid motor joint caused a rupture of the propellant tanks, and a stunned nation watched as flames engulfed the craft, killing all seven crew members on...

Normal Accidents analyzes the social side of technological risk. Charles Perrow argues that the conventional engineering approach to ensuring safety--building in more warnings and safeguards--fails because systems complexity makes failures inevitable. He asserts that typical precautions, by adding to complexity, may help create new categories of accidents. (At Chernobyl, tests of a new safety system helped produce the meltdown and subsequent fire.) By recognizing two dimensions of...

From Adam Steltzner, who led the Entry, Descent, and Landing team in landing the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars, comes a profound book about breakthrough innovation in the face of the impossibleThe Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is home to some of history’s most jaw-dropping feats of engineering. When NASA needed to land Curiosity—a 2,000-pound, $2.5 billion rover—on the surface of Mars, 140 million miles away, they turned to JPL. Steltzn...

Alan Cross is the preeminent chronicler of popular music.Here he provides a history of nu metal band Linkin Park.This look at "the best-selling American rock band of the 20th century" is adapted from the audiobook.

Elana Freeland is a relentless prosletyzer. She maintains websites and social media chat groups with thousands of active participants. Her work has positioned her as the leading expert on counter-vailing theories of climate change.With the election of Trump, outsider prespectives are becoming more relevant to those seeking non-mainstream expertise. Freeland’s work will appeal to those sceptics.Her previous book, Chemtrails, is a highly-rated seller and those reader...

A comprehensive biography of the music icon's life and career—with a new introduction and chapter on his final years and lasting legacy.In his three decades of recording, Prince had nearly thirty albums hit the Billboard Top 100 and won him millions of adoring fans the world over. In Prince, acclaimed music journalist Ronin Ro delves into his trailblazing journey from anonymity to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and beyond.Ro traces Prince's rise from ...