Weaving together science and storytelling, art and anthropology, Dewdney takes readers on a fascinating journey through the nocturnal realm. In twelve chapters corresponding to the twelve hours of night, he illuminates night's central themes, including sunsets, nocturnal animals, bedtime stories, festivals of the night, fireworks, astronomy, nightclubs, sleep and dreams, the graveyard shift, the art of darkness, and endless nights. With infectious curiosity, a lyrical, intimate tone, and an eye for nighttime beauties both natural and man-made, Christopher Dewdney paints a captivating portrait of our hours in darkness. Christopher Dewdney is the author of three books of nonfiction-Last Flesh, The Secular Grail, and The Immaculate Perception-as well as eleven books of poetry. A three-time nominee for Governor General's Awards and a first-prize winner of the CBC Literary Competition, Dewdney lives in Toronto, Ontario. "As you read these pages, your life will change, because the way you see half of it will change. The night we're all familiar with will emerge as a fresh thing, deeper, fuller, older, younger, more evocative, more intimate, larger, more spectacular and, yes, more magical, and much more thrilling."-Margaret Atwood, Globe and Mail "[A] felicitous literary gambol from dusk till dawn...Dewdney throws himself headlong into the deep pool of his subject."-Sue Halpern, Newsday "An enjoyable and instructive read."-Sven Birkerts, Boston Globe Also available: HC 1-58234-396-9 $24.95

The first instance of pre-computer fractals was noted by the French mathematician Gaston Julia. He wondered what a complex polynomial function would look like, such as the ones named after him (in the form of z2 + c, where c is a complex constant with real and imaginary parts). The idea behind this formula is that one takes the x and y coordinates of a point z, and plug them into z in the form of x + i*y, where i is the square root of -1, square this number, and then add c, a constant. Then plug the resulting pair of real and imaginary numbers back into z, run the operation again, and keep doing that until the result is greater than some number. The number of times you have to run the equations to get out of an 'orbit' not specified here can be assigned a colour and then the pixel (x,y) gets turned that colour, unless those coordinates can't get out of their orbit, in which case they are made black. Later it was Benoit Mandelbrot who used computers to produce fractals. A basic property of fractals is that they contain a large degree of self similarity, i.e., they usually contain little copies within the original, and these copies also have infinite detail. That means the more you zoom in on a fractal, the more detail you get, and this keeps going on forever and ever. The well-written book 'Getting acquainted with fractals' by Gilbert Helmberg provides a mathematically oriented introduction to fractals, with a focus upon three types of fractals: fractals of curves, attractors for iterative function systems in the plane, and Julia sets. The presentation is on an undergraduate level, with an ample presentation of the corresponding mathematical background, e.g., linear algebra, calculus, algebra, geometry, topology, measure theory and complex analysis. The book contains over 170 color illustrations.

The mysterious, eloquent essence of the night--long a favorite subject of artists and writers--is the focus of this unique book, which couples evocative black and white photos with night-inspired poetry from around the world and across the centuries. Shot after dark in and around New York, and in rural Vermont, Ireland, Lisbon, and other places. 80 photos.

A survey of the Bible for group or individual study.

What makes a ‘getting acquainted’ a recognizable conversational activity, and how are interpersonal relationships established in a first conversation? This book presents a theoretical framework for the study of relationship management in conversation and an empirical study of a corpus of initial interactions. It provides detailed descriptions of the sequential resources unacquainted interlocutors use in order to: – generate self-presentation – introduce topics – establish common contextual resources It is argued that these sequential patterns embody conventionalized procedures for establishing an interpersonal relationship involving some degree of: – solidarity (mutual rights and obligations) – familiarity (mutual knowledge of personal background) – mutual affect (emotional commitment) The sequential analysis is based on a conversation analytic approach, while the interpretive framework consists of pragmatic theories of politeness, conversational style and common ground.

Bertrand Russell famously distinguished between 'knowledge by acquaintance' and 'knowledge by description'. For much of the latter half of the twentieth century, many philosophers viewed the notion of acquaintance with suspicion, associating it with Russellian ideas that they would wish to reject. However in the past decade or two the concept has undergone a striking revival in mainstream 'analytic' philosophy—acquaintance is, it seems, respectable again. This volume showcases the great variety of topics in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and philosophy of language for which philosophers are currently employing the notion of acquaintance. It is the first collection of new essays devoted to the topic of acquaintance, featuring chapters from many of the world's leading experts in this area. Opening with an extensive introductory essay, which provides some historical background and summarizes the main debates and issues concerning acquaintance, the remaining thirteen contributions are grouped thematically into four sections: phenomenal consciousness, perceptual experience, reference, and epistemology.

Alex Ryan is happier than she believed possible and her relationship with fellow police officer CJ St. Clair is the reason. But in the blink of an eye her world falls into darkness. An accident leaves her injured and sidelined--and suspicious about the circumstances. Then tragedy strikes at the heart of her family. It seems like random violence until the worst blow falls, leaving Alex devastated. Alex has no proof that there is more than terrible coincidence at work, but she can't accept that her life is fated to be filled with shadows and pain. She must unravel the mystery and motive behind the tragic changes in her life--and fight to regain her love. Brainy is the new sexy in Erica Abbott's celebrated, reader favorite series.

The objective of this book is to navigate beginning graduate students in mathematics and engineering through a mature field of multiscale problems in homogenization theory and to provide an idea of its broad scope. An overview of a wide spectrum of homogenization techniques ranging from classical two-scale asymptotic expansions to Gamma convergence and the rapidly developing field of stochastic homogenization is presented. The mathematical proofs and definitions are supplemented with intuitive explanations and figures to make them easier to follow. A blend of mathematics and examples from materials science and engineering is designed to teach a mixed audience of mathematical and non-mathematical students.

Describes how evangelist and minister Wang Mingdao emerged from humble roots to take a dramatic stand against the state-sponsored Chinese churches.

I hated the military…and now I'm an alien's pet! I hated the Terran military. I didn't volunteer, either. Like so many others, I was drafted as cannon fodder in the senseless Terran war against the Algonquans. Not like I had much of a future ahead of me, though, without a rich family to pave my way or even pay for me to have a wife. Now, my entire ship's been captured. If what we've been told about the alien race is true, I'll never be seen again. I hope they don't eat me. Turns out the truth is far different than we were led to believe. The Algonquans aren't vicious, insectoid monsters, either. We're now their pampered pets…and they're using us to help replenish their population to win the war. You know, maybe this isn't the worst life after all. This standalone MMMM, sci-fi romance features humans as aliens' pets (and more), m-preg, a touch of power exchange, and…interesting alien tech. This book was previously published under my Tymber Dalton pen name. It has been revised and expanded for re-release.