Download or read book Energy for Future Presidents The Science Behind the Headlines written by Richard A. Muller and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Physics for Future Presidents returns to educate all of us on the most crucial conundrum facing the nation: energy. The near-meltdown of Fukushima, the upheavals in the Middle East, the BP oil rig explosion, and the looming reality of global warming have reminded the president and all U.S. citizens that nothing has more impact on our lives than the supply of and demand for energy. Its procurement dominates our economy and foreign policy more than any other factor. But the “energy question” is more confusing, contentious, and complicated than ever before. We need to know if nuclear power will ever really be safe. We need to know if solar and wind power will ever really be viable. And we desperately need to know if the natural gas deposits in Pennsylvania are a windfall of historic proportions or a false hope that will create more problems than solutions. Richard A. Muller provides all the answers in this must-read guide to our energy priorities now and in the coming years.
Download or read book Physics for Future Presidents The Science Behind the Headlines written by Richard A. Muller and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-08-17 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller We live in complicated, dangerous times. Present and future presidents need to know if North Korea's nascent nuclear capability is a genuine threat to the West, if biochemical weapons are likely to be developed by terrorists, if there are viable alternatives to fossil fuels that should be nurtured and supported by the government, if private companies should be allowed to lead the way on space exploration, and what the actual facts are about the worsening threats from climate change. This is "must-have" information for all presidents—and citizens—of the twenty-first century. Winner of the 2009 Northern California Book Award for General Nonfiction. Images in this eBook are not displayed due to permissions issues.
Download or read book Physics and Technology for Future Presidents written by Richard A. Muller and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-12 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Physics for future world leaders Physics and Technology for Future Presidents contains the essential physics that students need in order to understand today's core science and technology issues, and to become the next generation of world leaders. From the physics of energy to climate change, and from spy technology to quantum computers, this is the only textbook to focus on the modern physics affecting the decisions of political leaders and CEOs and, consequently, the lives of every citizen. How practical are alternative energy sources? Can satellites really read license plates from space? What is the quantum physics behind iPods and supermarket scanners? And how much should we fear a terrorist nuke? This lively book empowers students possessing any level of scientific background with the tools they need to make informed decisions and to argue their views persuasively with anyone—expert or otherwise. Based on Richard Muller's renowned course at Berkeley, the book explores critical physics topics: energy and power, atoms and heat, gravity and space, nuclei and radioactivity, chain reactions and atomic bombs, electricity and magnetism, waves, light, invisible light, climate change, quantum physics, and relativity. Muller engages readers through many intriguing examples, helpful facts to remember, a fun-to-read text, and an emphasis on real-world problems rather than mathematical computation. He includes chapter summaries, essay and discussion questions, Internet research topics, and handy tips for instructors to make the classroom experience more rewarding. Accessible and entertaining, Physics and Technology for Future Presidents gives students the scientific fluency they need to become well-rounded leaders in a world driven by science and technology. Leading universities that have adopted this book include: Harvard Purdue Rice University University of Chicago Sarah Lawrence College Notre Dame Wellesley Wesleyan University of Colorado Northwestern Washington University in St. Louis University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign Fordham University of Miami George Washington University Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.
Download or read book Apollo s Fire written by Jay Inslee and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2009-08-13 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the authors make the case for renewable energy and renewable energy policy. Each chapter begins with an inspiring story by someone working in renewable energy or a related field.
Download or read book The President s Book of Secrets written by David Priess and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every president has had a unique and complicated relationship with the intelligence community. While some have been coolly distant, even adversarial, others have found their intelligence agencies to be among the most valuable instruments of policy and power. Since John F. Kennedy's presidency, this relationship has been distilled into a personalized daily report: a short summary of what the intelligence apparatus considers the most crucial information for the president to know that day about global threats and opportunities. This top-secret document is known as the President's Daily Brief, or, within national security circles, simply "the Book." Presidents have spent anywhere from a few moments (Richard Nixon) to a healthy part of their day (George W. Bush) consumed by its contents; some (Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush) consider it far and away the most important document they saw on a regular basis while commander in chief. The details of most PDBs are highly classified, and will remain so for many years. But the process by which the intelligence community develops and presents the Book is a fascinating look into the operation of power at the highest levels. David Priess, a former intelligence officer and daily briefer, has interviewed every living president and vice president as well as more than one hundred others intimately involved with the production and delivery of the president's book of secrets. He offers an unprecedented window into the decision making of every president from Kennedy to Obama, with many character-rich stories revealed here for the first time.
Download or read book The Instant Physicist written by Richard A. Muller and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents fun cartoons alongside explanations of scientific curiosities such as chocolate having more energy than TNT, and wine being radioactive.
Download or read book The Great Transition Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy written by Lester R. Brown and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The great energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is under way. As oil insecurity deepens, the extraction risks of fossil fuels rise, and concerns about climate instability cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new world energy economy is emerging. The old economy, fueled by oil, natural gas, and coal is being replaced with one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal energy. The Great Transition details the accelerating pace of this global energy revolution. As many countries become less enamored with coal and nuclear power, they are embracing an array of clean, renewable energies. Whereas solar energy projects were once small-scale, largely designed for residential use, energy investors are now building utility-scale solar projects. Strides are being made: some of the huge wind farm complexes under construction in China will each produce as much electricity as several nuclear power plants, and an electrified transport system supplemented by the use of bicycles could reshape the way we think about mobility.
Download or read book They Knew written by James Gustave Speth and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A devastating, play-by-play account of the federal government's leading role in bringing about today's climate crisis. In 2015, a group of twenty-one young people sued the federal government for violating their constitutional rights by promoting the climate catastrophe, depriving them of life, liberty, and property without due process of law. They Knew offers evidence for their claims, presenting a devastating, play-by-play account of the federal government's role in bringing about today's climate crisis. James Speth, tapped by the plaintiffs as an expert on climate, documents how administrations from Carter to Trump--despite having information about climate change and the connection to fossil fuels--continued aggressive support of a fossil fuel based energy system. What did the federal government know and when did it know it? Speth asks, echoing another famous cover up. What did the federal government do and what did it not do? They Knew (an updated version of the Expert Report Speth prepared for the lawsuit) presents the most compelling indictment yet of the government's role in the climate crisis, showing a forty-year failure to take action. Since Juliana v. United States was filed, the federal government has repeatedly delayed the case. Yet even in legal limbo, it has helped inspire a generation of youthful climate activists. An Our Children’s Trust Book
Download or read book Presidents of War written by Michael Beschloss and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a preeminent presidential historian comes a “superb and important” (The New York Times Book Review) saga of America’s wartime chief executives “Fascinating and heartbreaking . . . timely . . . Beschloss’s broad scope lets you draw important crosscutting lessons about presidential leadership.”—Bill Gates Widely acclaimed and ten years in the making, Michael Beschloss’s Presidents of War is an intimate and irresistibly readable chronicle of the Chief Executives who took the United States into conflict and mobilized it for victory. From the War of 1812 to Vietnam, we see these leaders considering the difficult decision to send hundreds of thousands of Americans to their deaths; struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. Through Beschloss’s interviews with surviving participants and findings in original letters and once-classified national security documents, we come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war—or were broken by them. Presidents of War combines this sense of immediacy with the overarching context of two centuries of American history, traveling from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race. Praise for Presidents of War "A marvelous narrative. . . . As Beschloss explains, the greatest wartime presidents successfully leaven military action with moral concerns. . . . Beschloss’s writing is clean and concise, and he admirably draws upon new documents. Some of the more titillating tidbits in the book are in the footnotes. . . . There are fascinating nuggets on virtually every page of Presidents of War. It is a superb and important book, superbly rendered.”—Jay Winik, The New York Times Book Review "Sparkle and bite. . . . Valuable and engrossing study of how our chief executives have discharged the most significant of all their duties. . . . Excellent. . . . A fluent narrative that covers two centuries of national conflict.” —Richard Snow, The Wall Street Journal
Download or read book Fool Me Twice written by Shawn Lawrence Otto and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Whenever the people are well informed," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "they can be trusted with their own government." But what happens in a world dominated by complex science? Are the people still well-enough informed to be trusted with their own government? And with less than 2 percent of Congress with any professional background in science, how can our government be trusted to lead us in the right direction? Will the media save us? Don't count on it. In early 2008, of the 2,975 questions asked the candidates for president just six mentioned the words "global warming" or "climate change," the greatest policy challenge facing America. To put that in perspective, three questions mentioned UFOs. Today the world's major unsolved challenges all revolve around science. By the 2012 election cycle, at a time when science is influencing every aspect of modern life, antiscience views from climate-change denial to creationism to vaccine refusal have become mainstream. Faced with the daunting challenges of an environment under siege, an exploding population, a falling economy and an education system slipping behind, our elected leaders are hard at work ... passing resolutions that say climate change is not real and astrology can control the weather. Shawn Lawrence Otto has written a behind-the-scenes look at how the government, our politics, and the media prevent us from finding the real solutions we need. Fool Me Twice is the clever, outraged, and frightening account of America's relationship with science—a relationship that is on the rocks at the very time we need it most.
Download or read book A New Coast written by Jeffrey Peterson and published by . This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More severe storms and rising seas will inexorably push the American coastline inland with profound impact on communities, infrastructure, and natural systems. In A New Coast, Jeffrey Peterson presents the science behind predictions for coastal impacts and explains how current policies fall short of what's needed to prepare for these changes. He outlines a framework of bold, new national policies and funding to support local and state governments. Peterson calls for engagement of citizens, the private sector, as well as local and national leaders in a "campaign for a new coast." This is a forward-looking volume offering new insights for policymakers, planners, business leaders preparing for the changes coming to America's coast.
Download or read book Radiation written by Robert Peter Gale and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2013-01-29 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A forefront radiation expert who consulted during the Chernobyl and Fukushima crises and the author of The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat identify the radioactive fundamentals of the planet while correcting myths to reveal the role of radiation in everyday life and what should and should not raise concern.
Download or read book The Climate War written by Eric Pooley and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2010-06-08 with total page 749 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Climate War, Eric Pooley--deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek--does for global warming what Bob Woodward did for presidents and Lawrence Wright did for terrorists. In this epic tale of an American civil war, Pooley takes us behind the scenes and into the hearts and minds of the most important players in the struggle to cap global warming pollution--a fight in which trillions of dollars and the fate of the planet are at stake. Why has it been so hard for America to come to grips with climate change? Why do so many people believe it isn't really happening? As President Obama's science advisor John Holdren has said, "We're driving in a car with bad brakes in a fog and heading for a cliff. We know for sure that cliff is out there. We just don't know exactly where it is. Prudence would suggest that we should start putting on the brakes." But powerful interests are threatened by the carbon cap that would speed the transition to a clean energy economy, and their agents have worked successfully to deny the problem and delay the solutions. To write this book, Pooley, the former managing editor of Fortune and chief political correspondent for Time, spent three years embedded with an extraordinary cast of characters: from the flamboyant head of one of the nation's largest coal-burning energy companies to the driven environmental leader who made common cause with him, from leading scientists warning of impending catastrophe to professional skeptics disputing almost every aspect of climate science, from radical activists chaining themselves to bulldozers to powerful lobbyists, media gurus, and advisors in Obama's West Wing--and, to top it off, unprecedented access to former Vice President Al Gore and his team of climate activists. Pooley captures the quiet determination and even heroism of climate campaigners who have dedicated their lives to an uphill battle that's still raging today. He asks whether we have what it takes to preserve our planet's habitability, and shows how America's climate war sends shock waves from Bali to Copenhagen. No other reporter enjoys such access to this cast of characters. No other book covers this terrain. From the trenches of a North Carolina power plant to the battlefields of Capitol Hill, Madison Avenue, and Wall Street, The Climate War is the essential read for anyone who wants to understand the players and politics behind the most important issue we face today.
Download or read book The Co Presidency of Bush and Cheney written by Shirley Anne Warshaw and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-14 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This analysis of the Bush administration reveals how the president willingly ceded power to a calculating vice president—with disastrous consequences. Under the relatively inexperienced president George W. Bush, Dick Cheney was perhaps the most powerful vice president in American history. In this excellently documented work, presidential scholar Shirley Anne Warshaw debunks the popular myth that Bush’s authority was hijacked or stolen. Instead, drawing on extensive research as well as personal interviews with White House Staffers and Washington insiders, she demonstrates how Bush and Cheney operated as nothing less than co-presidents. While Bush focused on building what he called a moral and civil society, anchored by a war on science and by the proliferation of faith-based programs, he allowed Cheney to lead in business and foreign policy. Warshaw highlights Cheney’s decades-long career in Washington and his familiarity with its inner workings to present a complete picture of this calculating political powerhouse. From Cheney’s unprecedented merging of presidential and vice-presidential authority to his abhorrence of what he deemed congressional interference, Warshaw paints an intriguing, and at times frightening, portrait.
Download or read book The Oath and the Office A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents written by Corey Brettschneider and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A cleareyed, accessible, and informative primer: vital reading for all Americans." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review Can the president launch a nuclear attack without congressional approval? Is it ever a crime to criticize the president? Can states legally resist a president’s executive order? In today’s fraught political climate, it often seems as if we must become constitutional law scholars just to understand the news from Washington, let alone make a responsible decision at the polls. The Oath and the Office is the book we need, right now and into the future, whether we are voting for or running to become president of the United States. Constitutional law scholar and political science professor Corey Brettschneider guides us through the Constitution and explains the powers—and limits—that it places on the presidency. From the document itself and from American history’s most famous court cases, we learn why certain powers were granted to the presidency, how the Bill of Rights limits those powers, and what “we the people” can do to influence the nation’s highest public office—including, if need be, removing the person in it. In these brief yet deeply researched chapters, we meet founding fathers such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, as well as key figures from historic cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and Korematsu v. United States. Brettschneider breathes new life into the articles and amendments that we once read about in high school civics class, but that have real impact on our lives today. The Oath and the Office offers a compact, comprehensive tour of the Constitution, and empowers all readers, voters, and future presidents with the knowledge and confidence to read and understand one of our nation’s most important founding documents.
Download or read book A Declaration of Energy Independence written by Jay Hakes and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you’ve wondered about how America can break links between oil consumption, terrorism, and the war in Iraq, A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy, and the Environment will show you how our country can gain energy independence and solve its energy crisis. Written by a top energy expert, this book outlines seven economically and politically viable ways America can more efficiently use and produce energy. Find out how carbon fuels negatively impact our lives and understand the political framework of the energy crisis.
Download or read book Conversations with Power written by Brian Michael Till and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fresh out of college, and frustrated with own generation's political apathy, Brian Till set out to interview the former world leaders he most admired. To his surprise, they were eager to talk, and he soon found himself discussing everything from energy to terrorism to nuclear disarmament with the greatest leaders of the last twenty-five years. Here, he distills what they learned in office, their predictions for the future, and their advice for the leaders of tomorrow. Including interviews with: *Bill Clinton *Gro Bruntland *Jimmy Carter *Fernando Henrique Cardoso *Ehud Barak *Vaclav Havel *Mikhail Gorbachev *Pervez Musharraf *F.W. de Klerk *Ricardo Lagos *Helmut Schmidt *Goh Chok Tong *Paul Keating
