Download or read book The Future and Related Nonsense written by Antony Funnell and published by HarperCollins Australia. This book was released on 2012-07-01 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prepare to be completely captivated by this compelling, informative and entertaining look at the world around us and where we're headed - new technologies, new approaches and new ways of thinking. 'So, verily I say unto you, brothers and sisters - cast aside your digital rosary beads and look more closely at the world around you. Or better still, roll up your trouser legs and join me for a paddle through the shallow water at the edge of the future. Be curious, be positive, and embrace your inner sceptic!' Do you really understand the world around you? Do you know how crowdsourcing works, what terraforming does, and what alternative currency is? Do you believe Google is great - or is there a sneaky feeling in the back of your mind that it might know way too much about you? And, by the way, just what happened to the great promises of the future, the paperless offices, the Jetsons-style commutes? Come with guide and host of Radio National's Future tense, Antony Funnell, as he unravels the mysteries of the world we've created, cuts through the mumbo jumbo, warns of the dangers and laughs at the hype. Smart, articulate and refreshingly humorous, tHE FUtURE AND #RELAtED NONSENSE delivers the answers to things you should know - but were too busy or too confused to ask.
Download or read book Nonsense on Stilts written by Massimo Pigliucci and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. More and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link can been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, despite near consensus in the scientific community that manmade climate change is real. Why do people believe bunk? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—not the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis. In the end, Nonsense on Stilts is a timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, it is also ultimately a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will affect the future of our planet.
Download or read book Fashionable Nonsense written by Alan Sokal and published by Picador. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal published an essay in Social Text--an influential academic journal of cultural studies--touting the deep similarities between quantum gravitational theory and postmodern philosophy. Soon thereafter, the essay was revealed as a brilliant parody, a catalog of nonsense written in the cutting-edge but impenetrable lingo of postmodern theorists. The event sparked a furious debate in academic circles and made the headlines of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, Sokal and his fellow physicist Jean Bricmont expand from where the hoax left off. In a delightfully witty and clear voice, the two thoughtfully and thoroughly dismantle the pseudo-scientific writings of some of the most fashionable French and American intellectuals. More generally, they challenge the widespread notion that scientific theories are mere "narrations" or social constructions.
Download or read book Serious Nonsense written by William W. Donner and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2016-05-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Versammlinge—community events filled with songs, performances, speeches, and skits that celebrate Pennsylvania German heritage and culture—are held entirely in the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language. Some, the “groundhog lodges,” feature a ceremony honoring the groundhog, while others do not. These unique meetings, expressions of a distinctive ethnic identity in the context of a rapidly changing society, have become a traditional mainstay among Pennsylvania Germans who have worked to preserve their language and culture into the twenty-first century. Serious Nonsense introduces readers to Pennsylvania German cultural practices that tourists rarely see and that outsiders, including most scholars, rarely learn about. The book explores the origins of the versammlinge and details the practice’s significance since the 1930s, when the first meetings of the Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges were held. Much as they did then, versammlinge today follow a pattern of prayers, patriotism, and speeches extolling values associated with Pennsylvania German identity, as well as theatrical and oral events that humorously contrast a simpler past with a more complex and confusing present. And the groundhog lodges feature one Pennsylvania German tradition that has become familiar in popular culture: groundhog weather prognostication.
Download or read book Sense and Nonsense written by Kevin N. Laland and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2011-04-07 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book asks whether evolution can help us to understand human behaviour and explores diverse evolutionary methods and arguments. It provides a short, readable introduction to the science behind the works of Dawkins, Dennett, Wilson and Pinker. It is widely used in undergraduate courses around the world.
Download or read book Do You Believe in Magic written by Paul A. Offit and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-06-18 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A physician offers an impassioned and meticulously researched exposé of the alternative medicine industry, separating the sense from the nonsense. A half century ago, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, Chinese herbs, Christian exorcisms, dietary supplements, chiropractic manipulations, and ayurvedic remedies were considered on the fringe of medicine. Now these practices—known variably as alternative, complementary, holistic, or integrative medicine—have become mainstream, used by half of all Americans today to treat a variety of conditions, from excess weight to cancer. But alternative medicine is an unregulated industry under no legal obligation to prove its claims or admit its risks, and many popular alternative therapies are ineffective, expensive, or even deadly. In Do You Believe in Magic?, health advocate Dr. Offit debunks the treatments that don’t work and tells us why, and takes on the media celebrities who promote alternative medicine. Using dramatic real-life stories, he separates the sense from the nonsense, explaining why any therapy—alternative or traditional—should be scrutinized. As Dr. Offit explains, some popular therapies are remarkably helpful due to the placebo response, but “there’s no such thing as alternative medicine. There’s only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t.”
Download or read book Nonsense written by Jamie Holmes and published by Crown. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illuminating look at the surprising upside of ambiguity—and how, properly harnessed, it can inspire learning, creativity, even empathy Life today feels more overwhelming and chaotic than ever. Whether it’s a confounding work problem or a faltering relationship or an unclear medical diagnosis, we face constant uncertainty. And we’re continually bombarded with information, much of it contradictory. Managing ambiguity—in our jobs, our relationships, and daily lives—is quickly becoming an essential skill. Yet most of us don’t know where to begin. As Jamie Holmes shows in Nonsense, being confused is unpleasant, so we tend to shutter our minds as we grasp for meaning and stability, especially in stressful circumstances. We’re hard-wired to resolve contradictions quickly and extinguish anomalies. This can be useful, of course. When a tiger is chasing you, you can’t be indecisive. But as Nonsense reveals, our need for closure has its own dangers. It makes us stick to our first answer, which is not always the best, and it makes us search for meaning in the wrong places. When we latch onto fast and easy truths, we lose a vital opportunity to learn something new, solve a hard problem, or see the world from another perspective. In other words, confusion—that uncomfortable mental place—has a hidden upside. We just need to know how to use it. This lively and original book points the way. Over the last few years, new insights from social psychology and cognitive science have deepened our understanding of the role of ambiguity in our lives and Holmes brings this research together for the first time, showing how we can use uncertainty to our advantage. Filled with illuminating stories—from spy games and doomsday cults to Absolut Vodka’s ad campaign and the creation of Mad Libs—Nonsense promises to transform the way we conduct business, educate our children, and make decisions. In an increasingly unpredictable, complex world, it turns out that what matters most isn’t IQ, willpower, or confidence in what we know. It’s how we deal with what we don’t understand.
Download or read book Grammar Nonsense and What To Do about It written by Hugh Dellar and published by Wayzgoose Press. This book was released on with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you hate teaching some aspects of grammar? Do you ever feel frustrated that your students just don’t get it? Well, in Grammar Nonsense, Andrew Walkley and Hugh Dellar argue that you shouldn’t really blame yourself. The fault lies largely with the way grammar rules and methods have been passed down through training and published material and become established as the way of doing things: a straightjacket that we need to escape from. Through an entertaining series of rants and meditations on all things grammatical, from the use of the word grammar to the horror of teaching verb patterns, they aim to pull apart rules which we give without thinking and to question approaches to practice that are seen as a must. Along the way, you’ll not only learn how published materials get written and about ideas such as the transformation fallacy and grammar olives, but you’ll also get plenty of practical suggestions as to what to do about all this nonsense.
Download or read book I m Just No Good at Rhyming written by Chris Harris and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The instant New York Times bestseller featured on NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon! B. J. Novak (bestselling author of The Book With No Pictures) described this groundbreaking poetry collection as "Smart and sweet, wild and wicked, brilliantly funny--it's everything a book for kids should be." Lauded by critics as a worthy heir to such greats as Silverstein, Seuss, Nash and Lear, Harris's hilarious debut molds wit and wordplay, nonsense and oxymoron, and visual and verbal sleight-of-hand in masterful ways that make you look at the world in a whole new wonderfully upside-down way. With enthusiastic endorsements from bestselling luminaries such as Lemony Snicket, Judith Viorst, Andrea Beaty, and many others, this entirely unique collection offers a surprise around every corner. Adding to the fun: Lane Smith, bestselling creator of beloved hits like It's a Book and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, has spectacularly illustrated this extraordinary collection with nearly one hundred pieces of appropriately absurd art. It's a mischievous match made in heaven! "Ridiculous, nonsensical, peculiar, outrageous, possibly deranged--and utterly, totally, absolutely delicious. Read it! Immediately!" --Judith Viorst, bestselling author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Download or read book The Best Australian Science Writing 2013 written by Jane McCredie and published by NewSouth. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Could the dodo make a comeback? What does science tell us about the sex in Fifty Shades of Grey? Is giving up meat really the greenest option? Can you use tweets to spot a psychopath? Do birds make art? What do the Cold War and climate science have in common? And can a psychologist interpret your farts? The Best Australian Science Writing 2013 brings together great writing about life and the universe, including contributions from poets and psychologists, comedians and climate commentators, neuroscientists and novelists, star-gazers and science journalists. With a foreword by superstar comedian, musician and self-confessed science-nerd, Tim Minchin, this provocative collection is chock-full of intrigue, curiosity and controversy. Read this. Your brain will love you for it.
Download or read book A Guide to Learning Independently written by Lorraine Marshall and published by Pearson Higher Education AU. This book was released on 2013-09-16 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Guide to Learning Independently 5e describes techniques to help students succeed in formal education. It helps with learning tasks such as writing assignments, reading textbooks, making notes and concentrating when studying, as well as offering a range of suggestions as to how students can meet the requirements of their teachers and courses. It is also designed to help students discover their own learning goals and how they learn best. The text rests on the premise that it is possible for a person to change the way they approach their learning. It is directed to the individual student because it is the individual who must write the essays and reports, pass the exams and organise themselves in order to be successful in the tertiary education system. As well as offering realistic and well-tested study strategies, this Guide focuses on your reasons for study as you balance the demands of study with the rest of your life. It will help you clarify your particular strengths as a learner and develop a repertoire of independent lifelong learning skills. The comprehensive range of study techniques.
Download or read book Opening Science written by Sönke Bartling and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern information and communication technologies, together with a cultural upheaval within the research community, have profoundly changed research in nearly every aspect. Ranging from sharing and discussing ideas in social networks for scientists to new collaborative environments and novel publication formats, knowledge creation and dissemination as we know it is experiencing a vigorous shift towards increased transparency, collaboration and accessibility. Many assume that research workflows will change more in the next 20 years than they have in the last 200. This book provides researchers, decision makers, and other scientific stakeholders with a snapshot of the basics, the tools, and the underlying visions that drive the current scientific (r)evolution, often called ‘Open Science.’
Download or read book Future Babble written by Dan Gardner and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2010-10-12 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2008, as the price of oil surged above $140 a barrel, experts said it would soon hit $200; a few months later it plunged to $30. In 1967, they said the USSR would have one of the fastest-growing economies in the year 2000; in 2000, the USSR did not exist. In 1911, it was pronounced that there would be no more wars in Europe; we all know how that turned out. Face it, experts are about as accurate as dart-throwing monkeys. And yet every day we ask them to predict the future — everything from the weather to the likelihood of a catastrophic terrorist attack. Future Babble is the first book to examine this phenomenon, showing why our brains yearn for certainty about the future, why we are attracted to those who predict it confidently, and why it’s so easy for us to ignore the trail of outrageously wrong forecasts. In this fast-paced, example-packed, sometimes darkly hilarious book, journalist Dan Gardner shows how seminal research by UC Berkeley professor Philip Tetlock proved that pundits who are more famous are less accurate — and the average expert is no more accurate than a flipped coin. Gardner also draws on current research in cognitive psychology, political science, and behavioral economics to discover something quite reassuring: The future is always uncertain, but the end is not always near.
Download or read book Chiropractic written by George Magner and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-10-28 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This in-depth assessment of chiropractic, with true stories of injuries caused by chiropractors, arms the reader with reliable information to aid in making informed health care choices. Included are chapters on the theory of chiropractic, immunization, pediatric, unproven diagnostics and therapeutics, serious risks, and informed consent. Illustrations.
Download or read book The Europe of Nations and Its Future written by Adam Wielomski and published by Klub Zachowawczo-Monarchistyczny. This book was released on 2017 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The topic of the booklet in front of you is the issue of nationalism as well as Euroscepticism in the European Union and in particular a new phenomenon, which is emerging before our eyes, i.e. nationalism at a European level. European nationalism? This conceptual cluster is only at a first glance internally contradictory. The era when nationalists from one country shot at nationalists from a neighbouring one is a thing of the past. In a globalized world and integrated Europe nationalism perceived in such a way is long gone. It is a historic relic, which could be exhibited in an ideological museum. Its last remaining followers could be dubbed indeed as dinosaurs. Contemporary European nationalists, or as they describe themselves – patriots – do not stare into the past and do not cherish memories of prior conflicts. Euronationalists are not nostalgic, but they are focusing on the future. The ascertainment stated above is the result of our trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, which we took in December of 2015 and our conversations that we had with the members of the European Parliament associated with the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF) consisting of socalled Eurosceptics. The purpose of this work is to examine the origins, the essence and the perspectives of Euro-nationalism.
Download or read book Facing the Future written by Nuel Belnap and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2001-08-02 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is an important new theory of human action, a theory that assumes actions are founded on choices made by agents who face an open future. It is a theory that makes indeterminism not only intelligible but illuminating. Tools from philosophy of language and philosophical logic help generate a full-scale account of agents "seeing to it that." The authors then proceed to clarify a variety of action-related topics such as determinism vs. indeterminism, imperatives, promises, strategies, joint agency, "could have done otherwise," deontic constructions, and assertions about a not yet settled future.
Download or read book The New Stock Market written by Merritt B. Fox and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. stock market has been transformed over the last twenty-five years. Once a market in which human beings traded at human speeds, it is now an electronic market pervaded by algorithmic trading, conducted at speeds nearing that of light. High-frequency traders participate in a large portion of all transactions, and a significant minority of all trade occurs on alternative trading systems known as “dark pools.” These developments have been widely criticized, but there is no consensus on the best regulatory response to these dramatic changes. The New Stock Market offers a comprehensive new look at how these markets work, how they fail, and how they should be regulated. Merritt B. Fox, Lawrence R. Glosten, and Gabriel V. Rauterberg describe stock markets’ institutions and regulatory architecture. They draw on the informational paradigm of microstructure economics to highlight the crucial role of information asymmetries and adverse selection in explaining market behavior, while examining a wide variety of developments in market practices and participants. The result is a compelling account of the stock market’s regulatory framework, fundamental institutions, and economic dynamics, combined with an assessment of its various controversies. The New Stock Market covers a wide range of issues including the practices of high-frequency traders, insider trading, manipulation, short selling, broker-dealer practices, and trading venue fees and rebates. The book illuminates both the existing regulatory structure of our equity trading markets and how we can improve it.
