my mind on books

Amazon’s “Big Fall Books Preview” – Nonfiction – amazon.com/mn/landing/555… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) July 27, 2012

[Above link isn’t working; try this: Big Fall Books Preview – Nonfiction]

$2.99 Kindle Single: ‘Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space’… by Lisa Randallamazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) July 26, 2012

Book description from the publisher:

On July 4th, 2012, one of physics’ most exhilarating results was announced: an entirely new kind of particle had been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider. The particle—a Higgs boson—is the key to verifying and understanding the Higgs mechanism that underlies elementary particle masses. Harvard University Professor Lisa Randall, one of the world’s most cited and influential theoretical physicists, and author of the bestselling Knocking on Heaven’s Door and Warped Passages, deftly explains both this epochal discovery and its startlingly beautiful implications.

Another Day in the Monkey’s Brain by Ralph Mitchell Siegel, with a foreword by Oliver Sacks (Oxford University Press, USA, 2012)

(amazon.co.uk – Sep 2012)

Book description from the publisher:

ANOTHER DAY IN THE MONKEY’S BRAIN charts a neuroscientist’s journey to understand the central mysteries of consciousness. Dr. Siegel began his career in the neurophysiology of vision in the 1980s, just when the field was coming into focus with the advent of new computing and imaging technologies. As a pioneer in the technique of mesoscopic imaging, he worked with some of the giants in vision science: Torsten Wiesel, Francis Crick, Tom Albright and many others. With insight and clarity, he shows how science is built on such relationships. Along the way, he gives a vivid sense of the abundant passion and creativity that drive scientists in their pursuit of understanding. From monkey to man, Dr. Siegel finds the beauty in the scientific discovery of self in mind and brain.

Google Books preview:

What Are You Laughing At?: A Comprehensive Guide to the Comedic Event by Dan O’Shannon (Continuum, 2012)

(amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

If you’re looking for a book that will teach you how to write comedy, we suggest you keep moving. You still have time to pick up a copy of Writing Big Yucks for Big Bucks before the store closes. However, if you want to understand the bigger picture — what is comedy, why do we respond to it the way we do — then you’ve come to the right place.

What Are You Laughing At? presents an entirely new approach to comedy theory. It challenges long-held beliefs and shows how the three main theories of comedy (incongruity, superiority, and relief) are not in conflict; but rather, work as parts of a larger model. There are many examples pulled from the author’s own experiences, writing for shows such as Cheers, Frasier, and Modern Family. By the end, you’ll have an understanding of just what happens when man meets comedy. It will change the way you hear laughter.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW
Common Comedy Theories
The Comedic Event
Documenting the Comedic Event
PART I: ELEMENTS OF CONTEXT: THE RECEPTION FACTORS
CHAPTER 1: THE RECEIVER AND HIS WORLD
1-1. A Comedy Frame of Mind
1-2. Early Reception Factors
1-3. Levels of Social Interaction
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
2-1. Modes of Communication
2-2. Device and Specific Device
CHAPTER 3: VEHICLES
3-1. Vehicles
3-2. Vehicle-based Reception Factors
CHAPTER 4: LEVEL OF CONTROL AND IDENTIFYING THE SOURCE
4-1. Level of Control
4-2. Identifying The Source
PART II: THE INCONGRUOUS PICTURE
CHAPTER 5: FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS
5-1. The Receiver’s Brain: Hard-wired for Comedy?
5-2. The Triangle
5-3. The Core Variables
CHAPTER 6: INCONGRUITY
6-1. Incongruity
6-2. Estimating Levels of Incongruity
6-3. Types of Incongruity
CHAPTER 7: COGNITIVE PROCESS
7-1. Cognitive Process: Overview
7-2. Level One: Straightforward Information
7-3. Level Two: Gap-filling
7-4: Level Three: Recontextualization
CHAPTER 8: VARIATIONS
8-1. Exploring the Four Corners of the Triangle
8-2. What are Practical Jokes?
CHAPTER 9: COMEDY AND ENTROPY
9-1. Sustaining the Laugh
9-2. Entropy
PART III: ENHANCERS AND INHIBITORS
CHAPTER 10: HOW COMEDIC INFORMATION TRIGGERS ENHANCERS AND INHIBITORS
10-1. Overview
10-2. On-going Social Needs: Superiority, Identification, and Inclusion
10-3. Aspects of Awareness
CHAPTER 11: ELEMENTS OF THE JOKE’S COMMUNICATION, STRUCTURE, AND CONTENT
11-1. Resuming the Chart: The Joke as a Whole
11-2. Elements of Communication and Structure
11-3. Elements of Content
SUMMING IT ALL UP
The Completed Chart
Final Thoughts and Acknowledgments

$1.99 kindle ebook: Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society, ed. by Bill Bryson amazon.com/gp/product/B00… via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) July 19, 2012