Undiluted Hocus Pocus

Undiluted Hocus Pocus
Author: Martin Gardner
Publsiher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2015-11-03
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780691169699

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The autobiography of the beloved writer who inspired a generation to study math and science Martin Gardner wrote the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American for twenty-five years and published more than seventy books on topics as diverse as magic, religion, and Alice in Wonderland. Gardner's illuminating autobiography is a candid self-portrait by the man evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould called our "single brightest beacon" for the defense of rationality and good science against mysticism and anti-intellectualism. Gardner takes readers from his childhood in Oklahoma to his varied and wide-ranging professional pursuits. He shares colorful anecdotes about the many fascinating people he met and mentored, and voices strong opinions on the subjects that matter to him most, from his love of mathematics to his uncompromising stance against pseudoscience. For Gardner, our mathematically structured universe is undiluted hocus-pocus—a marvelous enigma, in other words. Undiluted Hocus-Pocus offers a rare, intimate look at Gardner’s life and work, and the experiences that shaped both.

Grooks

Grooks
Author: Piet Hein
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 136
Release: 1969
Genre: Danish poetry
ISBN: UVA:X001181359

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Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
Author: Martin Gardner
Publsiher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2012-05-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780486131627

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Fair, witty appraisal of cranks, quacks, and quackeries of science and pseudoscience: hollow earth, Velikovsky, orgone energy, Dianetics, flying saucers, Bridey Murphy, food and medical fads, and much more.

Magical Mathematics

Magical Mathematics
Author: Persi Diaconis,Ron Graham
Publsiher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2015-10-13
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 9780691169774

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"Magical Mathematics reveals the secrets of amazing, fun-to-perform card tricks--and the profound mathematical ideas behind them--that will astound even the most accomplished magician. Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham provide easy, step-by-step instructions for each trick, explaining how to set up the effect and offering tips on what to say and do while performing it. Each card trick introduces a new mathematical idea, and varying the tricks in turn takes readers to the very threshold of today's mathematical knowledge. For example, the Gilbreath principle--a fantastic effect where the cards remain in control despite being shuffled--is found to share an intimate connection with the Mandelbrot set. Other card tricks link to the mathematical secrets of combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, topology, the Riemann hypothesis, and even Fermat's last theorem. Diaconis and Graham are mathematicians as well as skilled performers with decades of professional experience between them. In this book they share a wealth of conjuring lore, including some closely guarded secrets of legendary magicians. Magical Mathematics covers the mathematics of juggling and shows how the I Ching connects to the history of probability and magic tricks both old and new. It tells the stories--and reveals the best tricks--of the eccentric and brilliant inventors of mathematical magic. Magical Mathematics exposes old gambling secrets through the mathematics of shuffling cards, explains the classic street-gambling scam of three-card monte, traces the history of mathematical magic back to the thirteenth century and the oldest mathematical trick--and much more"-

Her 2

Her 2
Author: Robert Bazell
Publsiher: Random House
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2011-04-27
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780307764980

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Two years after she underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Barbara Bradfield's aggressive breast cancer had recurred and spread to her lungs. The outlook was grim. Then she took part in Genentech's clinical trials for a new drug. Five years later she remains cancer-free. Her-2 is the biography of Herceptin, the drug that provoked dramatic responses in Barbara Bradfield and other women in the trials and that offers promise for hundreds of thousands of breast cancer patients. Unlike chemotherapy or radiation, Herceptin has no disabling side effects. It works by inactivating Her-2/neu--a protein that makes cancer cells grow especially quickly-- produced by a gene found in 25 to 30 percent of all breast tumors. Herceptin caused some patients' cancers to disappear completely; in others, it slowed the progression of the disease and gave the women months or years they wouldn't otherwise have had. Herceptin is the first treatment targeted at a gene defect that gives rise to cancer. It marks the beginning of a new era of treatment for all kinds of cancers. Robert Bazell presents a riveting account of how Herceptin was born. Her-2 is a story of dramatic discoveries and strong personalities, showing the combination of scientific investigation, money, politics, ego, corporate decisions, patient activism, and luck involved in moving this groundbreaking drug from the lab to a patient's bedside. Bazell's deft portraits introduce us to the remarkable people instrumental in Herceptin's history, including Dr. Dennis Slamon, the driven UCLA oncologist who played the primary role in developing the treatment; Lily Tartikoff, wife of television executive Brandon Tartikoff, who tapped into Hollywood money and glamour to help fund Slamon's research; and Marti Nelson, who inspired the activists who lobbied for a "compassionate use" program that would allow women outside the clinical trials to have access to the limited supplies of Herceptin prior to FDA approval of the drug. And throughout there are the stories of the heroic women with advanced breast cancer who volunteered for the trials, risking what time they had left on an unproven treatment. Meticulously researched, written with clarity and compassion, Her-2 is masterly reporting on cutting-edge science.

Out Of Control

Out Of Control
Author: Kevin Kelly
Publsiher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2009-04-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780786747030

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Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.

The Napoleon of Notting Hill

The Napoleon of Notting Hill
Author: G. K. Chesterton
Publsiher: The Floating Press
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2009-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781775414728

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The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a futuristic novel set in London in 1984. Chesterton envisions neither great technological leaps nor totalitarian suppression. Instead, England is ruled by a series of randomly selected Kings, because people have become entirely indifferent. The joker Auberon Quin is crowned and he instates elaborate costumes for every sector of London. All the city's provosts are bored with the idea except for the earnest young Adam Wayne - the Napoleon of Notting Hill.

The Last Egyptian

The Last Egyptian
Author: L. Frank Baum
Publsiher: Graphic Arts Books
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2022-01-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781513210551

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The Last Egyptian (1908) is a novel by L. Frank Baum. Although he is more widely known as the author of the Land of Oz series, Baum also used several pseudonyms to make forays into more conventional fiction for adults. The Last Egyptian, published anonymously, is a story of corruption, betrayal, romance, and adventure. It was adapted into a 1914 silent film by Baum and J. Farrell MacDonald, an influential and prolific figure in early American cinema. “‘I regret,’ said he, with mock politeness, ‘that I have never before heard of your great forefather.’ ‘But why should you?’ asked the Egyptian. ‘You are, I suppose, one of those uneasy investigators that prowl through Egypt in a stupid endeavor to decipher the inscriptions on the old temples and tombs. You can read a little—yes; but that little puzzles and confuses you.’” Traveling across Egypt alone, English Egyptologist Winston Bey encounters an interesting local named Kāra. According to the young man, he is the descendant of Ahtka-Rā, a powerful advisor the Rameses II. Although he questions the truth of this claim, Winston enlists Kāra’s help. Back home, Kāra cares for his ailing grandmother Hatatcha, who reveals a life-changing secret upon her deathbed: he is the grandson of Lord Roane, a powerful Englishman who abandoned her while she was pregnant. From then on, Kāra swears to exact revenge on the man and his family. Before she dies, she shows him the way to their family’s ancient treasure, a horde of jewels and priceless artifacts with which he will fund his plot. While The Last Egyptian is far from the fantasy and fairy tale style most of Baum’s readers adore him for, it remains an entertaining work of adventure fiction for devoted fans of the Oz series and newcomers alike. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of L. Frank Baum’s The Last Egyptian is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.