Sum

At once funny, wistful and unsettling, Sum is a dazzling exploration of unexpected afterlives—each presented as a vignette that offers a stunning lens through which to see ourselves in the here and now. In one afterlife, you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. In another version, you work as a background character in other people’s dreams. Or you may find that God is a married couple, or that the universe is running backward, or that you are forced to live out your afterlife with annoying versions of who you could have been. With a probing imagination and deep understanding of the human condition, acclaimed neuroscientist David Eagleman offers wonderfully imagined tales that shine a brilliant light on the here and now.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • One of today’s most insightful and influential thinkers offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone—not just for people of color. WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ms. magazine, BookRiot, Library Journal “This is the book I’ve been waiting for.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist Look for the author’s new podcast, The Sum of Us, based on this book! Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare. But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL

During the academic year 1980-1981 I was teaching at the Technion-the Israeli Institute of Technology-in Haifa. The audience was small, but con sisted of particularly gifted and eager listeners; unfortunately, their back ground varied widely. What could one offer such an audience, so as to do justice to all of them? I decided to discuss representations of natural integers as sums of squares, starting on the most elementary level, but with the inten tion of pushing ahead as far as possible in some of the different directions that offered themselves (quadratic forms, theory of genera, generalizations and modern developments, etc.), according to the interests of the audience. A few weeks after the start of the academic year I received a letter from Professor Gian-Carlo Rota, with the suggestion that I submit a manuscript for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences under his editorship. I answered that I did not have a ready manuscript to offer, but that I could use my notes on representations of integers by sums of squares as the basis for one. Indeed, about that time I had already started thinking about the possibility of such a book and had, in fact, quite precise ideas about the kind of book I wanted it to be.

This comprehensive overview of lattice sums is long overdue for a topic that is important in diverse areas of science.

From Polynomials to Sums of Squares describes a journey through the foothills of algebra and number theory based around the central theme of factorization. The book begins by providing basic knowledge of rational polynomials, then gradually introduces other integral domains, and eventually arrives at sums of squares of integers. The text is complemented with illustrations that feature specific examples. Other than familiarity with complex numbers and some elementary number theory, very little mathematical prerequisites are needed. The accompanying disk enables readers to explore the subject further by removing the tedium of doing calculations by hand. Throughout the text there are practical activities involving the computer.

Plates and bamboo steamers come, each with a taste or two! From sticky rice to sesame balls, tasty treats await young readers in this colorful, rhyming ode to Chinese cuisine. With pages full of tummy-tempting foods, the books in the World Snacks series are a delicious way to introduce even the littlest eaters to cuisines from all around the globe.