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Thinking Better is a celebration of the art of the short cut - and an encouragement to all of us, in our lives and maybe particularly in our business lives, to realise that thinking better is often more successful than working faster.
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We have never had so much information at our fingertips and yet most of us don't know how the world really works. This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its ...globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check - because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts. In this ambitious and thought-provoking book we see, for example, that globalization isn't inevitable and that our societies have been steadily increasing their dependence on fossil fuels, making their complete and rapid elimination unlikely. Vaclav Smil is neither a pessimist nor an optimist, he is a scientist; he is the world-leading expert on energy and an astonishing polymath. This is his magnum opus and is a continuation of his quest to make facts matter. Drawing on the latest science, including his own fascinating research, and tackling sources of misinformation head on - from Yuval Noah Harari to Noam Chomsky - ultimately Smil answers the most profound question of our age- are we irrevocably doomed or is a brighter utopia ahead?
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This book provides a fresh modern introduction to geometry, an ancient branch of mathematics with important applications. It takes readers from Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometries, to curved spaces, and the geometry of space-time inside a black hole, and outlines the role geom...etry plays in the broader context of science and art.
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In the twenty-first century, humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding - and at the same time appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that discovered vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, quack cures and conspiracy theori...zing? In Rationality, Pinker rejects the cynical cliche that humans are simply an irrational species. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives and set the benchmarks for rationality itself. Instead, he explains, we think in ways that suit the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we have built up over millennia- logic, critical thinking, probability, and decision-making under uncertainty. These tools are not a standard part of our educational curricula, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book - until now. Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with insight and humour, Rationality will enlighten, inspire and empower.
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For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac or Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths - via ever more mind-boggling numbers - led to strange new understandings of reality. But what are these mysterious numbers that explain t...he universe? In Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Antonio Padilla takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics. These include Graham's number, which is so large that if you thought about it in the wrong way, your head would collapse into a singularity; TREE(3), whose finite value could never be reached before the universe reset itself; and 10^{-120}, which measures the desperately unlikely balance of energy the universe needs to exist. . . Leading us down the rabbit hole to the inner workings of reality, Padilla demonstrates how these unusual numbers are the key to unlocking such mind-bending phenomena as black holes, entropy and the problem of the cosmological constant, which shows that our two best ways of understanding the universe contradict one another. Combining cutting-edge science with an entertaining cosmic quest, Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them is an electrifying, head-twisting guide to the most fundamental truths of the universe.
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The weird and wonderful quest for unfathomably large numbers
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The world is awash in bullshit, and we're drowning in it. Politicians are unconstrained by facts. Science is conducted by press release. Start-up culture elevates hype to high art. These days, calling bullshit is a noble act. Calling Bullshit gives us the tools to see through the... obfuscations, deliberate and careless, that dominate every realm of our lives. In this lively guide, biologist Carl Bergstrom and statistician Jevin West show that calling bullshit is crucial to a properly functioning social group, whether it be a circle of friends, a community of researchers, or the citizens of a nation. Through six rules of thumb, they help us recognize bullshit whenever and wherever we encounter it - even within ourselves - and explain it to a crystal-loving aunt or casually racist grandfather.
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Best-selling author and worst-drawing artist Ben Orlin expands his oeuvre with this interactive collection of mathematical games. With 70-plus games, each taking a minute to learn and a lifetime to master, this treasure chest will delight, educate, and entertain.
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Discover the power of one of the fastest growing programming languages in the world with this insightful new resource
The Python Bookdelivers an essential introductory guide to learning Python for anyone who works with data but does not have experience in programming. The experi...enceddata scientist, Python programmer, and author shows readers how to use Python for data analysis, exploration, cleaning, and wrangling. Readers will learn what in the Python language is important for data analysis and why and remain focused on those skills.
The book assists budding programmers to gradually increase their skills as they move through the book, always with an understanding ofwhat they are covering and why it is useful.
The Python Bookoffers readers a thorough and comprehensive introduction to a language that is both simple enough to be ideal for a novice programmer, yet robust enough to be useful forthose more experienced in the language. Used by major companies like Google, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, and more, Python promises to remain central to the programming landscape for years to come.
Readers will also learn from:
A thorough discussion of Python programming topics likevariables,equalities and comparisons, tuple and dictionary data types, while and for loops, and if statements
An exploration of highly useful Python programming libraries, including Pandas and Matplotlib
An analysis of how to write Pythonfunctions, andclasses
A treatment of Python scripts and how to write and use them
An exploration of dealing with different data types within Python
Perfect for statisticians, computer scientists, software programmers, and practitioners working in private industry and medicine,The Python Bookwill also be of interest to students in any of the aforementioned fields. Because it assumes no programming experience or knowledge, the book is ideal for those who work with data but lack ability with Python.
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This new book from the author of 'The Music of the Primes' combines a personal insight into the mind of a working mathematician with the story of one of the biggest adventures in mathematics: the search for symmetry.
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