my mind on books

“Big Spring Books: Nonfiction” at Amazon.com amazon.com/b/?_encoding=U… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) March 1, 2013

Now through March 10 there’s a “Big Deal” on over 500 Kindle ebooks up to 88% off at Amazon.com. (Note their disclaimer: “Individual books may have additional territory restrictions, and not all deals are available in all territories. Amazon may modify the selection of books offered at any time.”)

Nonfiction selections include:

This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking edited by John Brockman for $2.99.

Book description from the publisher:

Edge.org presents brilliant, accessible, cutting-edge ideas to improve our decision-making skills and improve our cognitive toolkits, with contributions by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Richard Dawkins, Brian Eno, Steven Pinker, and more. Featuring a foreword by New York Times columnist David Brooks and edited by John Brockman, This Will Make You Smarter presents some of the best wisdom from today’s leading thinkers—to make better thinkers out of the leaders of tomorrow.

The Labyrinth of Time: Introducing the Universe by Michael Lockwood for $3.99.

Book description from the publisher:

Modern physics has revealed the universe as a much stranger place than we could have imagined. The puzzle at the centre of our knowledge of the universe is time.

Michael Lockwood takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the nature of things. He investigates philosophical questions about past, present, and future, our experience of time, and the possibility of time travel. And he provides the most careful, lively, and up-to-date introduction to the physics of time and the structure of the universe. He guides us step by step through relativity theory and quantum physics, introducing and explaining the ground-breaking ideas of Newton and Boltzmann, Einstein and Schroedinger, Penrose and Hawking. We zoom in on the behaviour of molecules and atoms, and pull back to survey the expansion of the universe. We learn about entropy and gravity, black holes and wormholes, about how it all began and where we are all headed. Lockwood’s aim is not just to boggle the mind but to lead us towards an understanding of the science and philosophy. Things will never seem the same again after a voyage through The Labyrinth of Time.

Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science by Nigel Calder for $2.99.

Book description from the publisher:

As a prolific author, BBC commentator, and magazine editor, Nigel Calder has spent a lifetime spotting and explaining the big discoveries in all branches of science. In Magic Universe, he draws on his vast experience to offer readers a lively, far-reaching look at modern science in all its glory, shedding light on the latest ideas in physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, and many other fields.

What is truly magical about Magic Universe is Calder’s incredible breadth. Migrating birds, light sensors in the human eye, black holes, antimatter, buckyballs and nanotubes–with exhilarating sweep, Calder can range from the strings of a piano to the superstrings of modern physics, from Pythagoras’s theory of musical pitch to the most recent ideas about atoms and gravity and a ten-dimensional universe–all in one essay. The great virtue of this wide-ranging style–besides its liveliness and versatility–is that it allows Calder to illuminate how the modern sciences intermingle and cross-fertilize one another. Indeed, whether discussing astronauts or handedness or dinosaurs, Calder manages to tease out hidden connections between disparate fields of study. What is most wondrous about the “magic universe” is that one can begin with stellar dust and finish with life itself.

Drawing on interviews with more than 200 researchers, from graduate students to Nobel prize-winners, Magic Universe takes us on a high-spirited tour through the halls of science, one that will enthrall everyone interested in science, whether a young researcher in a high-tech lab or an amateur buff sitting in the comfort of an armchair.

How Invention Begins: Echoes of Old Voices in the Rise of New Machines by John H. Lienhard for $1.99.

Book description from the publisher:

In How Invention Begins, Lienhard reconciles the ends of invention with the individual leaps upon which they are built, illuminating the vast web of individual inspirations that lie behind whole technologies. He traces, for instance, the way in which thousands of people applied their combined inventive genius to airplanes, railroad engines, and automobiles. As he does so, it becomes clear that a collective desire, an upwelling of fascination, a spirit of the times–a Zeitgeist–laid its hold upon inventors. The thing they all sought to create was speed itself. Likewise, Lienhard shows that when we trace the astonishingly complex technology of printing books, we come at last to that which we desire from books–the knowledge, the learning, that they provide. Can we speak of speed or education as inventions? To do so, he concludes, is certainly no greater a stretch than it is to call radio or the telephone an “invention.”

Throughout this marvelous volume, Lienhard illuminates these webs of insight or inspiration by weaving a fabric of anecdote, history, and technical detail–all of which come together to provide a full and satisfying portrait of the true nature of invention.

$2.99 kindle ebook on Amazon: What To Do When There’s Too Much To Do: Reduce Tasks… by Laura Stack amazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) February 21, 2013

The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More by Bruce Feiler (William Morrow, 2013)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

In The Secrets of Happy Families, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler has drawn up a blueprint for modern families — a new approach to family dynamics, inspired by cutting-edge techniques gathered from experts in the disciplines of science, business, sports, and the military.

The result is a funny and thought-provoking playbook for contemporary families, with more than 200 useful strategies, including: the right way to have family dinner, what your mother never told you about sex (but should have), and why you should always have two women present in difficult conversations…

Timely, compassionate, and filled with practical tips and wise advice, Bruce Feiler’s The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More should be required reading for all parents.

See also: Author’s website

Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (Twelve, 2013)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

It’s a Dog Eat Dog World. Don’t Be on the Menu.

What are the differences between a winning and losing performance? Why are we able to rise to the challenge one day, but wilt from it the next? Can we in fact become better competitors? In TOP DOG, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman use cutting edge science to tease out the hidden factors at the core of every great triumph – and every tragic failure. By enabling you to identify your own competitive style, TOP DOG will help you tip the odds of success in your favor. Integrating wisdom from politics, finance, genetics, neuroscience, psychology, military training, sports, economics, education and more, TOP DOG offers counterintuitive, game-changing insights into the nature of competition, such as:

• Why the home field advantage in sports is just as relevant in diplomacy and deal-making
• That women are better at judging risk, while men are better at ignoring it – and how this plays out on K Street and Wall Street
• Why younger siblings are more competitive than first-borns, and how early-childhood influences shape competitive styles forever
• That the shape of entrepreneurs’ hands can be just as revealing as their business plans
• How a single biochemical can predict a winner before an event has even begun
• Why discord can be better than harmony, and why stars on a team do deserve special treatment.

As President Dwight Eisenhower said, “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight-it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” In TOP DOG, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman reveal the size of the fight in all of us.

See also: Book website