Things which we regard as the everyday objects of consumption (and hence re-purchase), and essential to any decent, civilised lifestyle, have not always been so: in former times, everyday objects would have passed from one generation to another, without anyone dreaming of acquiring new ones. How, therefore, have people in the modern world become 'prisoners of objects', as Rousseau put it? The celebrated French cultural historian Daniel Roche answers this fundamental question using insights from economics, politics, demography and geography, as well as his own extensive historical knowledge. Professor Roche places familiar objects and commodities - houses, clothes, water - in their wider historical and anthropological contexts, and explores the origins of some of the daily furnishings of modern life. A History of Everyday Things is a pioneering essay that sheds light on the origins of the consumer society and its social and political repercussions, and thereby the birth of the modern w
If you’re curious about how things work, this fun and intriguing guide will help you find real answers to everyday problems. By using fundamental math and doing simple programming with the Ruby and R
Are the characteristics and relationships among spatio-temporal entities "real" or are they simply conventional terms that note similarities among things in the world but lack any reality of their own
With over one million copies sold, The Undercover Economist has been hailed worldwide as a fantastic guide to the fundamental principles of economics. An economist's version of The Way Things Work, th
In these classic lectures, Richard Feynman first considers the basic ideas of quantum mechanics, treating the concept of amplitude in special detail and emphasizing that other things, such as the comb
Can professional librarianship exist, let alone thrive, in the 21st century? Will educators and practitioners ever see eye to eye? Find out where you stand in the scheme of things!
Symmetry is a fundamental phenomenon in art, science, and nature that has been captured, described, and analyzed using mathematical concepts for a long time. Inspired by the geometric intuition of Bi
Everybody has heard that we live in a world made of atoms. But far more fundamentally, we live in a universe made of quanta. Many things are not made of atoms: light, radio waves, electric current, ma
Moving effortlessly between symbolist poetry and Barbie dolls, artificial intelligence and Kleist, Kant, and Winnicott, Barbara Johnson not only clarifies psychological and social dynamics; she also re-dramatizes the work of important tropes—without ever losing sight of the ethical imperative with which she begins: the need to treat persons as persons.In Persons and Things, Johnson turns deconstruction around to make a fundamental contribution to the new aesthetics. She begins with the most elementary thing we know: deconstruction calls attention to gaps and reveals that their claims upon us are fraudulent. Johnson revolutionizes the method by showing that the inanimate thing exposed as a delusion is central to fantasy life, that fantasy life, however deluded, should be taken seriously, and that although a work of art “is formed around something missing,” this “void is its vanishing point, not its essence.” She shows deftly and delicately that the void inside Keats’s urn, Heidegger’s j
There are some wonderfully bizarre ideas in physics, and it seems a pity to keep them locked up in small boxes, available only to an esoteric coterie of key holders. Brian Ridley's book sets out to survey in simple, non-mathematical terms what physics has to say about the fundamental structure of the universe. He deals with all the basic concepts of modern physics: elementary particles, black holes, gravity, quantum theory, time, mass, relativity and energy; this new edition also includes coverage of more recently emerging ideas including strings, imaginary time and chaos. Ridley's clear and witty account gives an exciting introduction to the non-specialist while offering a fresh perspective to scientists themselves.
The quest for the farthest objects in the Universe remains one of the most challenging to modern astronomy. Peering deeper and deeper into space reveals the most distant and powerful objects known and so probes back to the embryonic epochs of the Universe not long after its birth in the Big Bang. Four world experts - chosen for their ability to communicate research astronomy to popular audiences - each contribute a chapter to this lucid survey, first published in 1994. In clear terms they bring to the general audience the excitement and challenge of studying the Universe on the largest scales. They address the fundamental issues of scale in the Universe; the ghostly etchings seen on the cosmic background radiation; quasars and their evolution; and galaxy birth. This survey offers an exceptional chance for the general audience to share in the excitement of today's forefront research of the early Universe in an accessible and stimulating way.
The quest for the farthest objects in the Universe remains one of the most challenging to modern astronomy. Peering deeper and deeper into space reveals the most distant and powerful objects known and so probes back to the embryonic epochs of the Universe not long after its birth in the Big Bang. Four world experts - chosen for their ability to communicate research astronomy to popular audiences - each contribute a chapter to this lucid survey, first published in 1994. In clear terms they bring to the general audience the excitement and challenge of studying the Universe on the largest scales. They address the fundamental issues of scale in the Universe; the ghostly etchings seen on the cosmic background radiation; quasars and their evolution; and galaxy birth. This survey offers an exceptional chance for the general audience to share in the excitement of today's forefront research of the early Universe in an accessible and stimulating way.
Key FeaturesGetting to know the all new powerful EPS32 boards and build interesting Internet of Things projectsConfigure your ESP32 to the cloud technologies and explore the networkable modules that will be utilised in your IoT projectsA step-by-step guide that teaches you the basic to advanced IoT concepts with ESP32Book DescriptionESP32 is a low-cost MCU with integrated Wi-Fi and BLE. Various modules and development boards-based on ESP32 are available for building IoT applications easily. Wi-Fi and BLE are a common network stack in the Internet of Things application. These network modules can leverage your business and projects needs for cost-effective benefits.This book will serve as a fundamental guide for developing an ESP32 program. We will start with GPIO programming involving some sensor devices. Then we will study ESP32 development by building a number of IoT projects, such as weather stations, sensor loggers, smart homes, Wi-Fi cams and Wi-Fi wardriving. Lastly, we will enabl
Uncover the language of our universe - numbers - in this wide-ranging whistle-stop tour of the history and majesty of mathematics. Our world simply wouldn't function if we didn't have numbers. But where do they come from? Why do we cut cake the wrong way? How can there be different sizes of infinity?All these questions and more are answered in this engaging romp through the history of numbers by acclaimed science writer, Colin Stuart.From the mathematicians who have (and haven't) shouted 'Eureka!' to the theories that affect and inform our everyday lives; Numbers shows us that maths was never boring - we were just being taught it in the wrong way. Consisting of ten bite-sized essays, there's no better guide to this fundamental science.
