A lively and provocative look at how evolution shapes our behavior and our lives.Contrary to conventional wisdom, our brains and bodies are hardwired to carry out an evolutionary mission that determines much of what we do, from life plans to everyday decisions.With an accessible tone and a healthy disregard for political correctness, this lively and eminently readable book popularizes the latest research in a cutting-edge field of study–one that turns much of what we thought we knew about human nature upside-down.Every time we fall in love, fight with our spouse, enjoy watching a favorite TV show, or feel scared–walking alone at night, we are in part behaving as a human animal with its own unique nature–a nature that essentially stopped evolving 10,000 years ago. Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa re-examine some of the most popular and controversial topics of modern life-and shed a whole new light on why we do the things we do.Reader beware: You may never look at human nature the same way again. Views: 51
The idea of a missing link between humanity and our animal ancestors predates evolution and popular science and actually has religious roots in the deist concept of the Great Chain of Being. Yet, the metaphor has lodged itself in the contemporary imagination, and new fossil discoveries are often hailed in headlines as revealing the elusive transitional step, the moment when we stopped being “animal” and started being “human.” In The Accidental Species, Henry Gee, longtime paleontology editor at Nature, takes aim at this misleading notion, arguing that it reflects a profound misunderstanding of how evolution works and, when applied to the evolution of our own species, supports mistaken ideas about our own place in the universe. Gee presents a robust and stark challenge to our tendency to see ourselves as the acme of creation. Far from being a quirk of religious fundamentalism, human exceptionalism, Gee argues, is an error that also infects scientific thought. Touring the many features of human beings that have recurrently been used to distinguish us from the rest of the animal world, Gee shows that our evolutionary outcome is one possibility among many, one that owes more to chance than to an organized progression to supremacy. He starts with bipedality, which he shows could have arisen entirely by accident, as a by-product of sexual selection, moves on to technology, large brain size, intelligence, language, and, finally, sentience. He reveals each of these attributes to be alive and well throughout the animal world—they are not, indeed, unique to our species. The Accidental Species combines Gee’s firsthand experience on the editorial side of many incredible paleontological findings with healthy skepticism and humor to create a book that aims to overturn popular thinking on human evolution—the key is not what’s missing, but how we’re linked. Views: 51
A delectable true-crime story of scandal and murder at America's most celebrated university.On November 23, 1849, in the heart of Boston, one of the city's richest men vanished. Dr. George Parkman, a Brahmin who owned much of Boston's West End, was last seen that afternoon visiting his alma mater, Harvard Medical School. Police scoured city tenements and the harbor—some leads put Parkman at sea or in Manhattan—but a Harvard janitor held a much darker suspicion: that their ruthless benefactor had never even left the Medical School building. His shocking discovery engulfed America in one of its most infamous trials, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. John White Webster, Harvard's professor of chemistry. A baffling case of red herrings, grave robbing, and dismemberment, it became a landmark in the use of medical forensics. Rich in characters and atmosphere, Blood & Ivy explores the fatal entanglement of new science and old money in one of America's greatest... Views: 51
After years of prosecuting hard-core criminals, rising legal star Alan Bell took a private sector job in South Florida's newest skyscraper. Suddenly, he suffered such bizarre medical symptoms, doctors suspected he'd been poisoned by the Mafia. Bell's rapidly declining health forced him to flee his glamorous Miami life to a sterile "bubble" in the remote Arizona desert. As his career and marriage dissolved, Bell pursued medical treatments in a race against time, hoping to stay alive and raise his young daughter, his one desperate reason to keep going. He eventually discovered he wasn't poisoned by a criminal, but by his office building. His search for a cure led him to discover the horrifying truth: his tragedy was just the tip of the iceberg. Millions of people fall ill and die each year because of toxic chemical exposures—without knowing they're at risk. Stunned by what he discovered, Bell chose to fight back, turning his plight into an opportunity.... Views: 51
Hailed by David Attenborough and acclaimed a second Charles Darwin, Charlie Veron has lived up to his namesake. Even as a toddler, he had a deep affinity with the natural world, and by school age he knew more about some sciences than his teachers did. This didn't prevent him failing in a system that smothered creativity, and it was only by chance that he went to university. And only by chance that he became a marine biologist, through his love of scuba diving. But once he found his specialty he revolutionised it. He generated a new concept of evolution that incorporates environmental change and a radical idea of what species are, matters which lie at the heart of conservation. He has identified more coral species than anyone in history, and in the process become known as the Godfather of Coral.Charlie has dived most of the world's coral reefs, revelling in a beauty that few others have seen. In this memoir he explains what reefs say about our planet's past and future and... Views: 51
THE IRREPRESSIBLE SAM GUNN A hero without peer or scruples, Sam
Gunn has a nose for trouble, money, and women--though not necessarily in that
order. A man with the ego (and stature) of a Napoleon, the business acumen of a
P. T. Barnum, and the raging hormones of a teenage boy, Sam is the finest
astronaut NASA ever trained...and dumped. But more than money, more than
women, Sam Gunn loves justice. (And he really does love money and
women.) Whether he's suing the Pope, helping twin sisters entangled in the
"virtual sex" trade, or on trial for his life on charges of interplanetary
genocide, you can be sure of one thing: this is one space jockey who'll meet
every challenge with a smile on his lips, an ace up his sleeve...and a weapon in
his pocket. Now, for the first time between covers, Hugo-winner Ben Bova
presents all the tales of Sam Gunn to date, including three never before
collected in book form. Here is the entire chronicle of Sam Gunn, trailblazer
and scoundrel, as he scams his way from one end of the Solar System to the
other, giving bold new meaning to the term "venture capitalist." Views: 50
The sequel to “Moonrise”. Douglas Stavenger and his dedicated team of scientists are determined to defend their life’s work, but technology-hating factions on Earth want to close the flourishing space colony, Moonbase. Can a combination of military defence and political wisdom save the colony? Views: 50
Brand-new stories by: Nick Petrulakis, Kim Addonizio, Keenan Norris, Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder, Katie Gilmartin, Dorothy Lazard, Harry Louis Williams II, Carolyn Alexander, Phil Canalin, Judy Juanita, Jamie DeWolf, Nayomi Munaweera, Mahmud Rahman, Tom McElravey, Joe Loya, and Eddie Muller.In the wake of San Francisco Noir, Los Angeles Noir, and Orange County Noir—all popular volumes in the Akashic Noir Series—comes the latest California installment, Oakland Noir. Masterfully curated by Jerry Thompson and Eddie Muller (the "Czar of Noir"), this volume will shock, titillate, provoke, and entertain. The diverse cast of talented contributors will not disappoint.From the introduction:Jerry Thompson: Discovering the wang-dang-doodle jams of the Pointer Sisters shifted my entire focus. Stunning black women were scatting and bebopping all the way into my soul. I think what we've put together in Oakland Noir is a volume... Views: 50
