Best Mathematics History
he #1 New York Times bestseller The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is as much about the advances and science done at NACA and NASA as it is about the black women who were an integral part of this piece of history."
"Many movie goers who only see the movie will miss out on a number of opportunities to see more realistically Aunt Katherine's nature, attitudes, and life's perspectives on work, family, and race."
"Sure, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, et al are amazing, inspiring, and strong, but their own modesty over their roles in NACA/NASA history is telling: like many black pioneers of the Jim Crow era, they didn't step up for the attention or accolades. The portions of the book that were the most fascinating to me were those pertaining to the links forged by the black community in the Southern Virginia area, and how they intersected with employment and residency in Hampton as the 20th century progressed."
"I had no idea that black women played such a key role in our space program. HIDDEN FIGURES tells the story of four determined black women, who overcame numerous obstacles, and worked in the space program at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now known as "Langley Research Center."). To give the reader an idea of how difficult it was for a woman--much less an African-American woman--to actually become a mathematician, the author notes these statistics: "In the 1930s, just over a hundred women worked as professional mathematicians." The likelihood of a black woman actually becoming a mathematician working on the space program was about zero: "Employers openly discriminated against Irish and Jewish women with math degrees. It was unusual for a woman to even be acknowledged as co-author of a report: "The work of most of the women, like that of the computing machines they used, was anonymous."
"But this book dealt particularly well with how black society dealt with segregation and all the attendant hardships and how it fought against them."
The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA at the leading edge of the feminist and civil rights movement, whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space-a powerful, revelatory contribution that is as essential to our understanding of race, discrimination, and achievement in modern America as Between the World and Me and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is as much about the advances and science done at NACA and NASA as it is about the black women who were an integral part of this piece of history."
"Many movie goers who only see the movie will miss out on a number of opportunities to see more realistically Aunt Katherine's nature, attitudes, and life's perspectives on work, family, and race."
"Sure, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, et al are amazing, inspiring, and strong, but their own modesty over their roles in NACA/NASA history is telling: like many black pioneers of the Jim Crow era, they didn't step up for the attention or accolades. The portions of the book that were the most fascinating to me were those pertaining to the links forged by the black community in the Southern Virginia area, and how they intersected with employment and residency in Hampton as the 20th century progressed."
"I had no idea that black women played such a key role in our space program. HIDDEN FIGURES tells the story of four determined black women, who overcame numerous obstacles, and worked in the space program at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now known as "Langley Research Center."). To give the reader an idea of how difficult it was for a woman--much less an African-American woman--to actually become a mathematician, the author notes these statistics: "In the 1930s, just over a hundred women worked as professional mathematicians." The likelihood of a black woman actually becoming a mathematician working on the space program was about zero: "Employers openly discriminated against Irish and Jewish women with math degrees. It was unusual for a woman to even be acknowledged as co-author of a report: "The work of most of the women, like that of the computing machines they used, was anonymous."
"But this book dealt particularly well with how black society dealt with segregation and all the attendant hardships and how it fought against them."
Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures 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. Before John Glenn orbited Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia, and entering the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is as much about the advances and science done at NACA and NASA as it is about the black women who were an integral part of this piece of history."
"Many movie goers who only see the movie will miss out on a number of opportunities to see more realistically Aunt Katherine's nature, attitudes, and life's perspectives on work, family, and race."
"Sure, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, et al are amazing, inspiring, and strong, but their own modesty over their roles in NACA/NASA history is telling: like many black pioneers of the Jim Crow era, they didn't step up for the attention or accolades. The portions of the book that were the most fascinating to me were those pertaining to the links forged by the black community in the Southern Virginia area, and how they intersected with employment and residency in Hampton as the 20th century progressed."
"I had no idea that black women played such a key role in our space program. HIDDEN FIGURES tells the story of four determined black women, who overcame numerous obstacles, and worked in the space program at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now known as "Langley Research Center."). To give the reader an idea of how difficult it was for a woman--much less an African-American woman--to actually become a mathematician, the author notes these statistics: "In the 1930s, just over a hundred women worked as professional mathematicians." The likelihood of a black woman actually becoming a mathematician working on the space program was about zero: "Employers openly discriminated against Irish and Jewish women with math degrees. It was unusual for a woman to even be acknowledged as co-author of a report: "The work of most of the women, like that of the computing machines they used, was anonymous."
"But this book dealt particularly well with how black society dealt with segregation and all the attendant hardships and how it fought against them."
Best Algebraic Geometry
In 1859, Bernhard Riemann, a little-known thirty-two year old mathematician, made a hypothesis while presenting a paper to the Berlin Academy titled “On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity.” Today, after 150 years of careful research and exhaustive study, the Riemann Hyphothesis remains unsolved, with a one-million-dollar prize earmarked for the first person to conquer it. Partly a biography of Riemann, Derbyshire's work presents more technical details about the hypothesis and will probably attract math recreationists.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I bought this book together with "The Music of the Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics"."
"I bought the book because of the political and current events writing of Derbyshire are always meaty , informative and original."
"The math required is limited to 2d semester calculus, tho' it helps immensely to have had real and complex analysis, some number theory and abstract algebra."
"Naturally, he had to omit some of the more mathematically sophisticated details, including questions of convergence, how to extend the domain of the zeta function from the series definition, and how exactly you calculate the zeros of the zeta function."
"It compares favorably to the other popular books on the same topic because it takes the trouble to SHOW the deep beauty of the Riemann hypothesis by laying out the mathematics in some detail, while always keeping the explanations accessible to the thoughtful layperson."
"The hypothesis was first introduced by Bernhard Riemann's paper "On the Number of Prime Numbers Less Than a Given Quantity" in August 1859. "If either...or...could have proved the truth of the [Riemann] Hypothesis, the PNT would have followed at once...They couldn't of course...The PNT [could] follows from a much weaker result...: All non-trivial zeros of the zeta function have real part less than one." Riemann Hypothesis is similar to the above weaker result: all non-trivial zeros of the zeta function have real part one-half."
Best Mathematics
In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. "In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to a singular talent as exists today... Outliers is a pleasure to read and leaves you mulling over its inventive theories for days afterward.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If the tale of the self made man is one extreme, then outliers is the other extreme as it basically attempts to discredit the successful and say it was all due to luck. He also mentions that there were only a handful of school at the time to have such a computer. You are correct that now I'd have a harder time creating my own operating system, that ship has sailed, I agree, but that is looking at success with a very narrow lense. The true story of success is that successful people will not let their story be changed by adding or removing a variable from their path, they will keep fighting and find something to replace that variable. That's why some of the most successful people have been declined or faced defeat (be it investors, agents, etc.). This is NOT personal development, or anything of the sort in case you think this is a book I read and learn to be successful... quite contrary the message appears to comfort those that don't have success and blame society, and poke those with success implying that whatever they have was not earned."
"BIG Fan of Malcolm Gladwell -and 1984- and this is a great read for anyone that wants a mind-blowing book."
"“No matter how talented you are, how hard you work and how much you practice, you can be successful only if you also have the right backing and luck.” This is a statement I have had heard from elders a thousand times over and this book statistically validates the point."
"I must call the reader to question the assertion that 10,000 hours or more will make you an expert and the inference that much of what brings about success is the sheer amount of time invested in learning a skill. It is important to realize we often stop short in learning something; yet, it is also important to realize that while you could spend tons of hours learning something that there may be a particular thing you simply enjoy doing more than another or that you're simply better at."
"It contained a lot of factual information that with a grain of salt, made a social theory on how and why people are successful/the way they are."
"Not only does this detail some methods of thinking that are outside of the box and beneficial to the reader, but it also going a long way to help inspire you to overcome difficulties in your own life."
"There is a reason behind any trend and phenomenon."
"Gladwell has once again used his unique writing style, his meticulous research and his ability to tell a story to produce an eye opening and thought provoking book."
Best Mathematical Set Theory
The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation
Casting his eyes from the Bush administration's final months of plunder to the earliest days of the Republican revolution, Frank describes the rise of a ruling coalition dedicated to dismantling government. But rather than cutting down the big government they claim to hate, conservatives have simply sold it off, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war. “Written with barbed wit and finely controlled anger, he skewers such juicy targets as libertarian strategist Grover Norquist and Michelle Malkin.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review. The Wrecking Crew explains how cynical conservatives have wrested control of the government by railing against its very existence, all while using federal perches to funnel billions into the pockets of lobbyists and the corporations they represent.” ―Time. “Conservatives in office have made their share of blunders and mistakes, and Frank is at his finest in depicting some of the stunning instances of hypocrisy and idiocy in the period of Republican rule.” ―The New York Post. “Frank brings invaluable insider perceptions, ardor, and precision to his lancing inquiry into the erosion of democracy and the enshrinement of the mighty dollar… An electrifying, well-researched analysis of ‘conservatism-as-profiteering.'. This staggering history of systematic greed with inject new energy into public discourse as a historical election looms.” ―Booklist (starred review).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I know Frank from his book "Listen Liberal" but this books is so much more. informative and instructive ... but it is completely devastating, and I am not sure. there are many American who can read this, recognize just how awful things. are, and ever be able to smile again ... that is, unless they are of the psychopathic. oligarchic class."
"Brilliant, thorough and wry expose on how the Republican Party deliberately produces colossal deficits, rips us off, and destroys government."
"If only the Democrats would read this, they'd have a plan to win every election until all the NeoCons were in jail or had gone into hiding."
"Suspicions confirmed."
"GREAT STUFF BUY SCARY THAT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE SO EVIL AND SO MANY OTHERS ARE SO DUMB TO FOLLOW THEM AND DRINK THEIR KOOL AID!"
"Everyone should read this."
"Great...so well-written with lots of relevant history."
": How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, Thomas Frank made the argument many liberals were reluctant to make. Frank received not only the usual charges from the right of being an elitist, but also criticism from the left such as Larry Bartels in Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age (Russell Sage Foundation Co-Pub). It was their goal to downsize and outsource public agencies to the point were they became ineffective and incompetent, thereby validating the conservative philosophy of government. The generation of conservative idealists that came to Washington during the Reagan administration, Frank concedes, came with goods intention. Robert Reich in Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life (Vintage) estimated that there are now around 37,000 registered lobbyists in Washington engaged in an "arms race of spending"."
Best Mathematical Infinity
By practicing and mastering this entire workbook, your child will become very familiar and comfortable with the state math exam and common core standards. By working on these problems on a daily basis, students will be able to (1) find any deficiencies in their understanding and/or practice of math and (2) have small successes each day that will build competence and confidence in their abilities. If your child is having trouble with any questions, you can easily access our video explanations where an instructor will show the student how to get the correct answer. CEO & Co-Founder of Argo Brothers is an author, entrepreneurial thinker, and educator who has helped thousands of students gain acceptance into top colleges and high schools. Eduard has been an educator for over a decade teaching students about corporate finance, stock market analysis and business expansion. Aside from actively being involved in the production of K-12 and higher education test prep books, Eduard believes education starts from the very beginning and Eduard has created a custom learning program at Einstein Daycare, a licensed pre-school located in New York City, where kids are intellectually stimulated using cutting-edge learning tools.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Highly recommend this book, provides excellent preparation for state exam."
"This book helps parents who weren't taught common core."
"Great and useful book."
"We just received the book and have worked on a few pages and it's to be going pretty good."
"Best common core book i bought."
Best African American History
With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties. A Look Inside The Warmth of Other Suns The author's father as a Tuskegee Airman George Starling as a young manThe author's mother at Meridian Hill The author’s mother at Howard University with friends A migrant man studying a mapA migrant man packing his suitcaseIda Mae Brandon Gladney as a young womanRobert Joseph Pershing Foster as a young physician Starred Review.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Isabel Wilkerson, the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper writer, has now come back to write a fascinating and sweeping book on what she calls ""the biggest underreported story of the twentieth century." Of course we all know the tale of the "Dust Bowl" and the "Okies", as captured by Steinbeck in words, by Dorothea Lange in photographs, and even in song by Woody Guthrie. The title of this book is taken from Richard Wright's "Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth": "I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns, and, perhaps, to bloom." Our families became friends, as also "Miz Edna's" husband had served in New Guinea with my father (as a cook, however, remember the WWII Army was still segregated) ."
"This book is a hard hitting engrossing tale which details the Great Migration of African Americans out of the Jim Crow South to the cities of the North and West and points in between. The story is told via the vivid (often gut-wrenching)personal experiences of African Americans who made the arduous and dangerous trek from a land they much loved but could no longer tolerate."
"This should be must read in schools as well as all people. It's my second reading."
"The incredible research, the personalized historical accounts of the migration, and the engaging writing style offer unparalleled insight and perspective into this very silent aspect of American history."
"I just finished this book."
Best History eBooks of Astronomy
Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures 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. Before John Glenn orbited Earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia, and entering the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is as much about the advances and science done at NACA and NASA as it is about the black women who were an integral part of this piece of history."
"Many movie goers who only see the movie will miss out on a number of opportunities to see more realistically Aunt Katherine's nature, attitudes, and life's perspectives on work, family, and race."
"Sure, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, et al are amazing, inspiring, and strong, but their own modesty over their roles in NACA/NASA history is telling: like many black pioneers of the Jim Crow era, they didn't step up for the attention or accolades. The portions of the book that were the most fascinating to me were those pertaining to the links forged by the black community in the Southern Virginia area, and how they intersected with employment and residency in Hampton as the 20th century progressed."
"I had no idea that black women played such a key role in our space program. HIDDEN FIGURES tells the story of four determined black women, who overcame numerous obstacles, and worked in the space program at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now known as "Langley Research Center."). To give the reader an idea of how difficult it was for a woman--much less an African-American woman--to actually become a mathematician, the author notes these statistics: "In the 1930s, just over a hundred women worked as professional mathematicians." The likelihood of a black woman actually becoming a mathematician working on the space program was about zero: "Employers openly discriminated against Irish and Jewish women with math degrees. It was unusual for a woman to even be acknowledged as co-author of a report: "The work of most of the women, like that of the computing machines they used, was anonymous."
"But this book dealt particularly well with how black society dealt with segregation and all the attendant hardships and how it fought against them."
Best Game Theory
In this powerful and dramatic biography Sylvia Nasar vividly recreates the life of a mathematical genius whose career was cut short by schizophrenia and who, after three decades of devastating mental illness, miraculously recovered and was honored with a Nobel Prize. Sylvia Nasar is the author of the bestselling A Beautiful Mind , which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Mirroring the arc of Nash’s own life, Nassar splits the book into several parts: the first part covers Nash’s early life and mathematical blossoming; the second part elucidates his burgeoning relationships and the importance of connections to the outside world, as well as his growing star and significant mathematical contributions. The third section delves into some of the roots of his coming mental illness, both in terms of mathematical failures and turmoil within his personal life, as well as the first acute symptoms and subsequent hospitalization. The fourth part dives deeply into his downfall and plunge into mental illness, with the psychological reasoning and process behind it."
"The book that inspired the movie."
"Nasar does a good job of telling the story without bogging down in mathematical terms."
"I appreciated this book for the depth of historical perspective it offered about mathematics, John Nash's struggle with schizophrenia, and the politics involved in the Nobel prizes."
"John Nash, the heralded math genius who would be around 83 years old now, fathered a son with the same illness."
"I purchased this book in order to learn about John Nash, Jr.'s life. Instead I found a book that rambled on about all sorts of others, but frequently it took pages and pages to get to John Nash, Jr.'s name or anything that related to him."
Best Aeronautics & Astronautics
In this “enjoyable, fast-paced tale” ( The Economist ), master historian David McCullough “shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly” ( The Washington Post) and “captures the marvel of what the Wrights accomplished” ( The Wall Street Journal ). Essential reading, this is “a story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency…about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished… The Wright Brothers soars” ( The New York Times Book Review ). An Amazon Best Book of May 2015: Most people recognize the famous black-and-white photo of the Wright brothers on a winter day in 1903, in a remote spot called Kitty Hawk, when they secured their place in history as the first to fly a motor-powered airplane. That brilliant moment is the cornerstone of the new masterful book by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, who brings his deft touch with language and his eye for humanizing details to the unusually close relationship between a pair of brothers from Dayton, Ohio, who changed aviation history. Bicycle shop owners by day, Wilbur and Orville taught themselves flight theory through correspondence with the Smithsonian and other experts. But the brothers soon realized that theory was no match for practical testing, and they repeatedly risked life and limb in pursuit of their goal—including when Orville fractured a leg and four ribs in a 75-foot plunge to the ground. McCullough’s narration of ventures such as this—their famous first flight at Kitty Hawk; the flight in Le Mans, France that propelled the brothers to international fame; the protracted patent battles back at home; and the early death of elder brother Wilbur—will immerse readers in the lives of the Wright family. The Wright Brothers soars.” (Daniel Okrent The New York Times Book Review). “David McCullough has etched a brisk, admiring portrait of the modest, hardworking Ohioans who designed an airplane in their bicycle shop and solved the mystery of flight on the sands of Kitty Hawk, N.C. Mr. McCullough is in his element writing about seemingly ordinary folk steeped in the cardinal American virtues—self-reliance and can-do resourcefulness.” (Roger Lowenstein The Wall Street Journal). Mr. McCullough presents all this with dignified panache, and with detail so granular you may wonder how it was all collected.” (Janet Maslin The New York Times). "McCullough’s magical account of [the Wright Brothers'] early adventures — enhanced by volumes of family correspondence, written records, and his own deep understanding of the country and the era — shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly." But it’s also a story that resonates with anyone who believes deeply in the power of technology to change lives – and the resistance some have to new innovations.” (Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google ). With his ear for dialect and eye for detail, McCullough puts the Wrights in historical context, flushed out by vivid portraits of their loyal father and sister. "McCullough's usual warm, evocative prose makes for an absorbing narrative; he conveys both the drama of the birth of flight and the homespun genius of America's golden age of innovation." "McCullough shows the Wright brothers (snubbed by the British as mere bicycle mechanics) for the important technoscientists they were. The United States honors David McCullough for his lifelong efforts to document the people, places, and events that have shaped America.” (From The Presidential Medal of Freedom Citation).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"David McCullough is one of the preeminent American historians of our times, the deft biographer of John Adams and Harry Truman, and in this book he brings his wonderful historical exposition and storytelling skills to the lives of the Wright brothers. If I have some minor reservations they are only in the lack of technical detail which could have informed descriptions of some of the Wrights' experiments and the slightly hagiographical tint that McCullough is known to bring to his subjects. Firstly McCullough who is quite certainly one of the best storytellers among all historians does a great job of giving us the details of the Wrights' upbringing and family. The Wrights' sister Katharine also played an integral part in their lives; they were very close to her and McCullough's account is filled with copious examples of the affectionate, sometimes scolding, always encouraging letters that the siblings wrote to each other. Lastly, McCullough does a fine job describing how the Wrights rose to world fame after their flight. McCullough's account of the Wright brothers, as warm and fast-paced as it is, was most interesting to me for the lessons it holds for the future. But perhaps what the Wright brothers' story exemplifies the most is the importance of simple traits like devotion to family, hard work, intense intellectual curiosity and most importantly, the frontier, can-do attitude that has defined the American dream since its inception."
"McCullough has written a serious and riveting review of the lives of Wilbur and Orville. FAMILY. McCullough makes it clear that the Wilbur and Orville were a product of their family environment. McCullough writes — “He was an unyielding abstainer, which was rare on the frontier, a man of rectitude and purpose— all of which could have served as a description of Milton himself and Wilbur and Orville as well.”. His strict values molded and focused the views of the three younger Wrights (Katherine, Wilbur, and Orville). I am sure that Orville and myself will do nothing that will disgrace the training we received from you and Mother.”. McCullough writes — “Years later, a friend told Orville that he and his brother would always stand as an example of how far Americans with no special advantages could advance in the world. the greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity.’ ”. BUSINESS. McCullough records Wilbur’s thoughts on being in business in a letter to his brother Lorin in 1894: “In business it is the aggressive man, who continually has his eye on his own interest, who succeeds. … We ought not to have been businessmen.”. In 1911, Wilbur wrote: “When we think what we might have accomplished if we had been able to devote this time [fighting patent infringement suits] to experiments, we feel very sad, but it is always easier to deal with things than with men, and no one can direct his life entirely as he would choose.”. The Wrights never built, or even tried to build, an industrial empire as Ford or Edison or their Dayton neighbors John and Frank Patterson (National Cash Register) had done. Wilbur and Orville were superb engineers, though neither went beyond high school. For example, the wind tunnel had been invented thirty years before, but Wilbur and Orville developed it into a precise quantitative instrument. For example, McCullough writes — “In early 1889, while still in high school, Orville started his own print shop in the carriage shed behind the house, and apparently with no objections from the Bishop. To reinforce that point requires some expansion of that event or similar other defining events in the lives of Wilbur and Orville. One source of knowledge about the Wrights’ approach to aeronautics is the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton."
"Of particular interest are the Wright's struggles to actually fly at Kitty Hawk and how primitive a place that part of North Carolina was at the start of the 20th century. McCullough does spend a bit of time talking about Charles Taylor who was the Wright's mechanic and without whom they would not have flown. If you want to know more about the Wright's then this is a great place to start but a fuller biography/history might have been more fulfilling."
Best Astronautics & Space Flight
he #1 New York Times bestseller The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book is as much about the advances and science done at NACA and NASA as it is about the black women who were an integral part of this piece of history."
"Many movie goers who only see the movie will miss out on a number of opportunities to see more realistically Aunt Katherine's nature, attitudes, and life's perspectives on work, family, and race."
"Sure, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, et al are amazing, inspiring, and strong, but their own modesty over their roles in NACA/NASA history is telling: like many black pioneers of the Jim Crow era, they didn't step up for the attention or accolades. The portions of the book that were the most fascinating to me were those pertaining to the links forged by the black community in the Southern Virginia area, and how they intersected with employment and residency in Hampton as the 20th century progressed."
"But this book dealt particularly well with how black society dealt with segregation and all the attendant hardships and how it fought against them."
"I had no idea that black women played such a key role in our space program. HIDDEN FIGURES tells the story of four determined black women, who overcame numerous obstacles, and worked in the space program at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (now known as "Langley Research Center."). To give the reader an idea of how difficult it was for a woman--much less an African-American woman--to actually become a mathematician, the author notes these statistics: "In the 1930s, just over a hundred women worked as professional mathematicians." The likelihood of a black woman actually becoming a mathematician working on the space program was about zero: "Employers openly discriminated against Irish and Jewish women with math degrees. It was unusual for a woman to even be acknowledged as co-author of a report: "The work of most of the women, like that of the computing machines they used, was anonymous."
Best Logic & Language Philosophy
Why do tall parents have shorter children? Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God. By exploring questions such as these, Ellenberg breaks through the widespread perception of mathematics as a narrowly academic pursuit, hopelessly irrelevant to the lives of ordinary people. Readers will indeed marvel at how often mathematics sheds unexpected light on economics (assessing the performance of investment advisors), public health (predicting the likely prevalence of obesity in 30 years), and politics (explaining why wealthy individuals vote Republican but affluent states go for Democrats). It will help you realize that mathematical reasoning permeates our lives—that it can be, as Mr. Ellenberg writes, a kind of 'X-ray specs that reveal hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of the world. Ellenberg, an academic and Slate’s ‘Do the Math’ columnist, explains key principles with erudite gusto—whether poking holes in predictions of a US 'obesity apocalypse', or unpicking an attempt by psychologist B. F. Skinner to prove statistically that Shakespeare was a dud at alliteration.”. Bloomberg View : “If you have a vacation coming up in August and you’re looking for a fun book to read that will also enlighten you, it would be hard to beat Jordan Ellenberg’s How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking .”. Times Higher Education : “A fresh application of complex mathematical thinking to commonplace events.... How Not to Be Wrong is beautifully written, holding the reader’s attention throughout with well-chosen material, illuminating exposition, wit and helpful examples. Kirkus Reviews : “The author avoids heavy jargon and relies on real-world anecdotes and basic equations and illustrations to communicate how even simple math is a powerful tool…. Booklist : “Readers will indeed marvel at how often mathematics sheds unexpected light on economics (assessing the performance of investment advisors), public health (predicting the likely prevalence of obesity in 30 years), and politics (explaining why wealthy individuals vote Republican but affluent states go for Democrats). Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; author of How the Mind Works : “The title of this wonderful book explains what it adds to the honorable genre of popular writing on mathematics. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex : “Jordan Ellenberg promises to share ways of thinking that are both simple to grasp and profound in their implications, and he delivers in spades.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"He writes, “Mathematics is the extension of common sense by other means”, and proceeds to expound upon an incredible number of interesting subjects and how mathematics can help us better understand these topics, such as obesity, economics, reproducibility, the lottery, error-correcting codes, and the existence (or not) of God. He writes in a compelling, explanatory way that I think anyone with an interest in mathematics and/or simply understanding things more completely will be able to grasp."
"Very interesting case studies and applications with clear explanations."
"I have been an entrepreneur almost my entire life, and while there is luck involved, I believe that a lot of capability is required along with some luck, along recognizing the difference."
"Lots of things you think you know if you have education on the topic, but presents it in such a philosophical way and does a great job of helping you see the concepts with much more practical application."
"One note though, if you are political conservative then I hope you have thick skin when you read this."
"I loved the audio of this book- got this one for my son who loves not only math, but also loves not being wrong."
"One of few books that I've read and reread on more than one occasion."
"Have not reae much, but it is a very interesting book."
Best Non-Euclidean Geometries
Coverage of the fundamental structure of geometry.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My niece had such a difficult time with Geometry."
"Nice laminated reference guide."
"College level.........not so good for elementary but helpful for adults."
"Very helpful - I bought this so that I can help my 8th grade daughter with her homework."
"Good reference for my middle schooler."
"Great review to keep on hand for my math students."
"Bought a set for Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus."
Best General Technology & Reference
In this “enjoyable, fast-paced tale” ( The Economist ), master historian David McCullough “shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly” ( The Washington Post) and “captures the marvel of what the Wrights accomplished” ( The Wall Street Journal ). Essential reading, this is “a story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency…about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished… The Wright Brothers soars” ( The New York Times Book Review ). An Amazon Best Book of May 2015: Most people recognize the famous black-and-white photo of the Wright brothers on a winter day in 1903, in a remote spot called Kitty Hawk, when they secured their place in history as the first to fly a motor-powered airplane. That brilliant moment is the cornerstone of the new masterful book by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, who brings his deft touch with language and his eye for humanizing details to the unusually close relationship between a pair of brothers from Dayton, Ohio, who changed aviation history. Bicycle shop owners by day, Wilbur and Orville taught themselves flight theory through correspondence with the Smithsonian and other experts. But the brothers soon realized that theory was no match for practical testing, and they repeatedly risked life and limb in pursuit of their goal—including when Orville fractured a leg and four ribs in a 75-foot plunge to the ground. McCullough’s narration of ventures such as this—their famous first flight at Kitty Hawk; the flight in Le Mans, France that propelled the brothers to international fame; the protracted patent battles back at home; and the early death of elder brother Wilbur—will immerse readers in the lives of the Wright family. The Wright Brothers soars.” (Daniel Okrent The New York Times Book Review). “David McCullough has etched a brisk, admiring portrait of the modest, hardworking Ohioans who designed an airplane in their bicycle shop and solved the mystery of flight on the sands of Kitty Hawk, N.C. Mr. McCullough is in his element writing about seemingly ordinary folk steeped in the cardinal American virtues—self-reliance and can-do resourcefulness.” (Roger Lowenstein The Wall Street Journal). Mr. McCullough presents all this with dignified panache, and with detail so granular you may wonder how it was all collected.” (Janet Maslin The New York Times). "McCullough’s magical account of [the Wright Brothers'] early adventures — enhanced by volumes of family correspondence, written records, and his own deep understanding of the country and the era — shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly." But it’s also a story that resonates with anyone who believes deeply in the power of technology to change lives – and the resistance some have to new innovations.” (Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google ). With his ear for dialect and eye for detail, McCullough puts the Wrights in historical context, flushed out by vivid portraits of their loyal father and sister. "McCullough's usual warm, evocative prose makes for an absorbing narrative; he conveys both the drama of the birth of flight and the homespun genius of America's golden age of innovation." "McCullough shows the Wright brothers (snubbed by the British as mere bicycle mechanics) for the important technoscientists they were. The United States honors David McCullough for his lifelong efforts to document the people, places, and events that have shaped America.” (From The Presidential Medal of Freedom Citation).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"David McCullough is one of the preeminent American historians of our times, the deft biographer of John Adams and Harry Truman, and in this book he brings his wonderful historical exposition and storytelling skills to the lives of the Wright brothers. If I have some minor reservations they are only in the lack of technical detail which could have informed descriptions of some of the Wrights' experiments and the slightly hagiographical tint that McCullough is known to bring to his subjects. Firstly McCullough who is quite certainly one of the best storytellers among all historians does a great job of giving us the details of the Wrights' upbringing and family. The Wrights' sister Katharine also played an integral part in their lives; they were very close to her and McCullough's account is filled with copious examples of the affectionate, sometimes scolding, always encouraging letters that the siblings wrote to each other. Lastly, McCullough does a fine job describing how the Wrights rose to world fame after their flight. McCullough's account of the Wright brothers, as warm and fast-paced as it is, was most interesting to me for the lessons it holds for the future. But perhaps what the Wright brothers' story exemplifies the most is the importance of simple traits like devotion to family, hard work, intense intellectual curiosity and most importantly, the frontier, can-do attitude that has defined the American dream since its inception."
"McCullough has written a serious and riveting review of the lives of Wilbur and Orville. FAMILY. McCullough makes it clear that the Wilbur and Orville were a product of their family environment. McCullough writes — “He was an unyielding abstainer, which was rare on the frontier, a man of rectitude and purpose— all of which could have served as a description of Milton himself and Wilbur and Orville as well.”. His strict values molded and focused the views of the three younger Wrights (Katherine, Wilbur, and Orville). I am sure that Orville and myself will do nothing that will disgrace the training we received from you and Mother.”. McCullough writes — “Years later, a friend told Orville that he and his brother would always stand as an example of how far Americans with no special advantages could advance in the world. the greatest thing in our favor was growing up in a family where there was always much encouragement to intellectual curiosity.’ ”. BUSINESS. McCullough records Wilbur’s thoughts on being in business in a letter to his brother Lorin in 1894: “In business it is the aggressive man, who continually has his eye on his own interest, who succeeds. … We ought not to have been businessmen.”. In 1911, Wilbur wrote: “When we think what we might have accomplished if we had been able to devote this time [fighting patent infringement suits] to experiments, we feel very sad, but it is always easier to deal with things than with men, and no one can direct his life entirely as he would choose.”. The Wrights never built, or even tried to build, an industrial empire as Ford or Edison or their Dayton neighbors John and Frank Patterson (National Cash Register) had done. Wilbur and Orville were superb engineers, though neither went beyond high school. For example, the wind tunnel had been invented thirty years before, but Wilbur and Orville developed it into a precise quantitative instrument. For example, McCullough writes — “In early 1889, while still in high school, Orville started his own print shop in the carriage shed behind the house, and apparently with no objections from the Bishop. To reinforce that point requires some expansion of that event or similar other defining events in the lives of Wilbur and Orville. One source of knowledge about the Wrights’ approach to aeronautics is the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton."
"Of particular interest are the Wright's struggles to actually fly at Kitty Hawk and how primitive a place that part of North Carolina was at the start of the 20th century. McCullough does spend a bit of time talking about Charles Taylor who was the Wright's mechanic and without whom they would not have flown. If you want to know more about the Wright's then this is a great place to start but a fuller biography/history might have been more fulfilling."
Best Teen & Young Adult SAT Study Aids
The Official SAT Subject Test in Physics Study Guide is the best way to get ready for the SAT Subject Tests in Physics. The College Board, a not-for-profit membership association, connects students to college success and opportunity through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is the most essential preparation book for the new, revised SAT and PSAT (beginning in March 2016 and October 2015, respectively) because it’s the only physical source of official revised SATs—the practice SATs in all other books are nothing more than subpar imitations of the real thing. However, the PDFs of all 4 tests in this book, along with answer explanations, can also be downloaded from the College Board website for free (google "SAT Practice Tests - The College Board"). In addition, there are no score conversion tables provided: you will have to visit the College Board website (google "Scoring your SAT Practice Test #1") in order to convert your raw scores (total number correct on each section) into scaled scores (400-1600 scale, with additional sub-scores). On the other hand, the physical book does still have its advantages over a bunch of PDFs—perhaps most importantly, the tests are already printed out for you (for now, the SAT is still a paper and pencil test, and you are allowed to write on the test, so in the interest of practicing the way you play, you should never attempt to take it on a computer screen). Many of the one-star, harshly negative reviews of this book have nothing to do with the quality of the book and practice tests themselves; it's simply that the reviewers had expected 4 different practice SATs from the ones released digitally as free PDFs earlier in the month, and were thus disappointed when they saw the same tests in this book. This book contains 326 pages of SAT prep advice, much of which cannot be found anywhere else, and another 458 pages of the practice tests and answer explanations that can be found online. Although much of the first half of the book is superfluous, and parts of it are indeed available online through Khan Academy, it does offer some moderately helpful tips in its first 326 pages, including a test structure recap, concept overview, practice questions and explanations, as well as an essay rubric, scoring guidelines, sample essays and an introduction to the PSAT. However, I must applaud the College Board for increasing its level of transparency, and for releasing the tests in PDF form to benefit those who cannot afford to buy the book, as well as adding detailed answer explanations (though very often, the explanation provided in the book is not the simplest way to solve the question). As was done in the old (current) SAT Official Guide, this edition should have included single-page answer sheets for each test, with only the letter answers to the questions on each test, which would have made it much easier to grade the tests yourself. Instead of simply using a single answer page to correct your test, will you have to flip through 40 pages of answer explanations in order to correct your practice tests. For the essay, you're going to want to rip out the pages from the book (it's hard to write without doing so) because at the moment the College Board has yet to provide a digital option, and because you're going to want to practice using the actual essay space, to get a feel for the proper length (always write by hand, unless you are injured or have a disability, and try to avoid the temptation to type it--good typists can type 2-3 times as fast as the average person can write by hand). For some reason there is currently no way to download the Essay Space PDF online (ahem, College Board, please get on this), but if you want to practice filling in the bubbles, then you can google "Answer Sheet - New SAT Practice Test." Thus, if time management is a major issue, then the SAT might be a better test for you: SAT Reading = 1.25 minutes per question (75 seconds). ACT Reading = .875 minutes per question (52.5 seconds). SAT Grammar (Writing and Language) = .8 minutes per question (48 seconds). ACT Grammar (English) = .6 minutes per question (36 seconds). SAT Math = 1.4 minutes per question (83 seconds). ACT Math = 1 minute per question (60 seconds). Please keep in mind that this book is not necessarily the best source of SAT strategy. However, one benefit of using them is that they also include additional (non-official) SAT practice tests: most of my private students find the 4 tests included in the book to be insufficient for a full preparation. Flawed as these synthetic tests may be at times, it's nice to have 10 extra diagnostic exams to prepare with while the College Board cooks up a new batch of actual SAT practice tests. The Ivy Global Ivy Global's New SAT Guide, 2nd Edition and Barron's Barron's 6 Practice Tests for the NEW SAT, 2nd Edition books serve well for this purpose. The Ivy Global book includes 3 tests (including an extra PDF test that is free to download online), and the Barron's book contains 6 tests. Overall, the quality of the Ivy Global tests is better, but there are fewer tests than the Barron's book, and the Ivy Global guide costs 2.5 times as much. If you need more help with SAT strategy and want to focus on particular types of questions, then the Ivy Global book could be a good choice--it has nearly 500 pages of mostly helpful SAT prep advice and practice questions drills in addition to the 3 SAT practice tests. The Board likes to wax poetic about how much better the new test is, and all the various areas of knowledge it’s going to test, but as I learned from the last time the SAT was updated 10 years ago, the proof is in the pudding: the actual College Board tests. In the introduction to the book, Cynthia B. Schmeiser (Chief of Assessment at the College Board) writes that “the new SAT is clearer than ever.” Having completed all of these tests with my students already, I don’t know if I would agree with that observation—the math sections can be quite tricky at times, and starting the test off with a seemingly interminable 65-minute Reading section (the longest reading section on the current SAT--3 reading sections total--is only 25 minutes long, and the lone reading section on the ACT is only 35 minutes long) isn't going to attract many new students either."
"Many students have complained that College Board books do not contain explanations to the problems on the practice tests, only an answer key. I should note that others have independently published books with explanations to the College Board practice tests, but I am not familiar with those and cannot compare them. -- The DVD has a "Math Concepts Reference Guide" which is identical to the "SAT Mathematics Review" on the web site and in the preparation booklet."
"This book really helped our son to prepare for the new style SAT and to understand the differences from the previous format."
"This is the most essential preparation book for the new, revised SAT and PSAT (beginning in March 2016 and October 2015, respectively) because it’s the only physical source of official revised SATs—the practice SATs in all other books are nothing more than subpar imitations of the real thing."