Central Skagit Library District

"From one of our foremost thinkers and public intellectuals, a radical new view of the nature of time and the cosmos What is time? This deceptively simple question is the single most important problem facing science as we probe more deeply into the fundamentals of the universe. All of the mysteries physicists and cosmologists face--from the Big Bang to the future of the universe, from the puzzles of quantum physics to the unification of forces...

Uses the two sides of the human brain as a metaphor for understanding how the information age came about throughout the course of the past generation, counseling readers on how to survive and find a place in the information society.

"No one was less likely to take her own life. That's what her Oxford thesis advisor wrote. From the moment I stumbled across the obituary, late at night when I couldn't sleep, I was captivated, and it wasn't the terrible details of her death: That she leapt from the balcony of a high rise in Century City. That she was 27, and a newlywed." So begins Jessica Teich's quest to unravel a mystery: the suicide of someone she never met. Bright and accomplished,...

"What happens when a Predator drone has as much autonomy as a Google car? Although it sounds like science fiction, the technology to create weapons that could hunt and destroy targets on their own already exists. Paul Scharre, a leading expert in emerging weapons technologies, draws on incisive research and firsthand experience to explore how increasingly autonomous weapons are changing warfare. This far-ranging investigation examines the emergence...

Many people see Pope Francis using his authority to address global crises, from climate change to the scourge of global poverty. But he has divided his church by seeking changes, especially around marriage, sexuality and divorce, that many Catholics believe are betrayals not only of church teaching but of the words of Jesus Christ himself. Douthat shows how the major debate Francis has opened-- over communion for the divorced and remarried-- divides...

"From a renowned education writer comes a paradigm-shifting examination of the rapidly changing world of college that every parent, student, educator, and investor needs to understand. Over the span of just nine months in 2011 and 2012, the world's most famous universities and high-powered technology entrepreneurs began a race to revolutionize higher education. College courses that had been kept for centuries from all but an elite few were released...

A blueprint for how our world will change in response to the next ten years of rapid technological disruption. The authors investigate how exponentially accelerating technologies will impact our daily lives and society as a whole. They probe the science of technological convergence and how it will reinvent every part of our lives, including transportation, retail, advertising, education, health, entertainment, food, and finance.

"Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the civil rights movement, and the space race, [this book] follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA's greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances, and used their intellect to change their own...

"The term 'metaverse' is suddenly everywhere, from the front pages of national newspapers and the latest fashion trends to the plans of the most powerful companies in history. It is already shaping the policy platforms of the US government, the European Union, and the Chinese Communist Party. But what, exactly, is the metaverse? As pioneering theorist and venture capitalist Matthew Ball explains, it is a persistent and interconnected network of 3D...

Dr. Damour draws on decades of experience and the latest research to reveal the seven distinct -- and absolutely normal -- developmental transitions that turn girls into grown-ups, including Parting with Childhood, Contending with Adult Authority, Entering the Romantic World, and Caring for Herself. Providing realistic scenarios and advice on how to engage daughters in smart, constructive ways, Untangled gives parents a broad framework for understanding...