Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre

Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre
Author :
Publisher : Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages : 166
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781611459760
ISBN-13 : 1611459761
Rating : 4/5 (60 Downloads)

Synopsis Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre by : Len Fisher

From the man who "puts the fizz in physics" (Entertainment Weekly), an entertaining and thought-provoking foray into the science of the bizarre, the peculiar, and the downright nutty! Winner of the IgNobel Prize in physics and the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, Len Fisher showed just how much fun science can be in his enthusiastically praised debut, How to Dunk a Doughnut. In this new work, he reveals that science sometimes takes a path through the ridiculous and the bizarre to discover that Nature often simply does not follow common sense. One experiment, involving a bed, platform scales, and a dying man, seemed to prove that the soul weighed the same as a slice of bread. But other, no less fanciful experiments and ideas led to the fundamentals of our understanding of movement, heat, light, and energy, and such things as the discovery of electricity, and the structure of DNA; improved engines; and the invention of computers. As in his previous book, Fisher uses personal stories and examples from everyday life, as well as humor, to make the science accessible. He touches on topics from lightning to corsets and from alchemy to Frankenstein and water babies, but he may not claim the last word on the weight of the soul!

Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre

Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre
Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Total Pages : 256
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781611459128
ISBN-13 : 1611459125
Rating : 4/5 (28 Downloads)

Synopsis Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre by : Len Fisher

Winner of the IgNobel Prize in physics and the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, Len Fisher showed just how much fun science can be in his enthusiastically praised debut, How to Dunk a Doughnut. In this new work, he reveals that science sometimes takes a path through the ridiculous and the bizarre to discover that Nature often simply does not follow common sense. One experiment, involving a bed, platform scales, and a dying man, seemed to prove that the soul weighed the same as a slice of bread. But other, no less fanciful experiments and ideas led to the fundamentals of our understanding of movement, heat, light, and energy, and such things as the discovery of electricity, and the structure of DNA; improved engines; and the invention of computers. As in his previous book, Fisher uses personal stories and examples from everyday life, as well as humor, to make the science accessible. He touches on topics from lightning to corsets and from alchemy to Frankenstein and water babies, but he may not claim the last word on the weight of the soul!

Weighing the Soul

Weighing the Soul
Author :
Publisher : Arcade Publishing
Total Pages : 278
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1559707321
ISBN-13 : 9781559707329
Rating : 4/5 (21 Downloads)

Synopsis Weighing the Soul by : Len Fisher

Explores the strange and ridiculous paths science can take, describing bizarre experiments, discoveries, and figures.

Spooky Science

Spooky Science
Author :
Publisher : Union Square + ORM
Total Pages : 296
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781454917267
ISBN-13 : 1454917261
Rating : 4/5 (67 Downloads)

Synopsis Spooky Science by : John Grant

A hilarious lampoon of scientific inquiry into the psychic. Life after death, spirit communication, the astral plane, reincarnation: on the relatively rare occasions when scientists have tried to apply their methods to the paranormal, they’ve often ended up embarrassed—fooled by obvious charlatans, deluded into making irrational and unsubstantiated claims, or frustrated in their attempt to find something that just isn’t there. John Grant—author of Discarded Science and Corrupted Science—investigates the pseudoscience of spooky stuff to fascinating and humorous effect. From scamming mediums, to poltergeist fakery, to heavenly hallucinations, Grant spares ardent believers and gullible thinkers no mercy in this rollicking history of psychic “phenomena.”

The Seeds of Life

The Seeds of Life
Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
Total Pages : 406
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780465094967
ISBN-13 : 0465094961
Rating : 4/5 (67 Downloads)

Synopsis The Seeds of Life by : Edward Dolnick

Why cracking the code of human conception took centuries of wild theories, misogynist blunders, and ludicrous mistakes Throughout most of human history, babies were surprises. People knew the basics: men and women had sex, and sometimes babies followed. But beyond that the origins of life were a colossal mystery. The Seeds of Life is the remarkable and rollicking story of how a series of blundering geniuses and brilliant amateurs struggled for two centuries to discover where, exactly, babies come from. Taking a page from investigative thrillers, acclaimed science writer Edward Dolnick looks to these early scientists as if they were detectives hot on the trail of a bedeviling and urgent mystery. These strange searchers included an Italian surgeon using shark teeth to prove that female reproductive organs were not 'failed' male genitalia, and a Catholic priest who designed ingenious miniature pants to prove that frogs required semen to fertilize their eggs. A witty and rousing history of science, The Seeds of Life presents our greatest scientists struggling-against their perceptions, their religious beliefs, and their deep-seated prejudices-to uncover how and where we come from.

Crashes, Crises, and Calamities

Crashes, Crises, and Calamities
Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
Total Pages : 225
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780465023356
ISBN-13 : 0465023355
Rating : 4/5 (56 Downloads)

Synopsis Crashes, Crises, and Calamities by : Len Fisher

Why do certain civilizations, societies, and ecosystems collapse? How does the domino effect relate to the credit crunch? When can mathematics help explain marriage? And how on earth do toads predict earthquakes? The future is uncertain. But science can help foretell what lies ahead. Drawing on ecology and biology, math and physics, Crashes, Crises, and Calamities offers four fundamental tools that scientists and engineers use to forecast the likelihood of sudden change: stability, catastrophe, complexity, and game theories. In accessible prose, Len Fisher demonstrates how we can foresee and manage events that might otherwise catch us by surprise. At the cutting edge of science, Fisher helps us find ways to act before a full-fledged catastrophe is upon us. Crashes, Crises, and Calamities is a witty and informative exploration of the chaos, complexity, and patterns of our daily lives.

The Precarious Human Role In a Mechanistic Universe

The Precarious Human Role In a Mechanistic Universe
Author :
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages : 513
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781456826840
ISBN-13 : 1456826840
Rating : 4/5 (40 Downloads)

Synopsis The Precarious Human Role In a Mechanistic Universe by : John F. Brinster

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The Perfect Swarm

The Perfect Swarm
Author :
Publisher : Basic Books (AZ)
Total Pages : 290
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780465020249
ISBN-13 : 0465020240
Rating : 4/5 (49 Downloads)

Synopsis The Perfect Swarm by : Len Fisher

The IgNobel Prize-winner and author of Rock, Paper, Scissors applies science-based solutions to seemingly complex problems in life.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Rock, Paper, Scissors
Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
Total Pages : 280
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780786726936
ISBN-13 : 0786726938
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Synopsis Rock, Paper, Scissors by : Len Fisher

Praised by Entertainment Weekly as “the man who put the fizz into physics,” Dr. Len Fisher turns his attention to the science of cooperation in his lively and thought-provoking book. Fisher shows how the modern science of game theory has helped biologists to understand the evolution of cooperation in nature, and investigates how we might apply those lessons to our own society. In a series of experiments that take him from the polite confines of an English dinner party to crowded supermarkets, congested Indian roads, and the wilds of outback Australia, not to mention baseball strategies and the intricacies of quantum mechanics, Fisher sheds light on the problem of global cooperation. The outcomes are sometimes hilarious, sometimes alarming, but always revealing. A witty romp through a serious science, Rock, Paper, Scissors will both teach and delight anyone interested in what it what it takes to get people to work together.

Weighing the Soul

Weighing the Soul
Author :
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages : 222
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781780220604
ISBN-13 : 178022060X
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Synopsis Weighing the Soul by : Len Fisher

From the IgNobel-winning author of How to Dunk a Doughnut, another slice of the weird and wonderful side of science Good science and common sense often don't mix. In Weighing the Soul, Len Fisher shows the path to scientific discovery is frequently a bumpy one that follows Schopenhauer's famous maxim - 'All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.' Fisher tells the fascinating, human stories behind some of the great as well as some of the not-so-great scientific ideas of the past - those that were truly bizarre, peculiar or downright daft, and those that just seemed that way at the time. As he shows, it is often only with hindsight that the two can be told apart, and it is some of those who appeared most wrong - and who were variously ignored, persecuted and imprisoned as a result - that ultimately went on to be proved most right.