How Long is Now?

Author: New Scientist
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
ISBN: 1857889541
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
Big or small, there's an answer to every question, and sometimes there are even a few! How long is "now"? The short answer is "somewhere between 2 and 3 seconds." The long answer involves an incredible journey through neuroscience, our subconscious and the time-bending power of meditation. Living in the present may never feel the same. Ready for some more? Okay. Why isn't Pluto a planet? Why are dogs' noses wet? Why do hens cluck more loudly after laying an egg? What happens when one black hole swallows another? Do our fingerprints change as we get older? How young can you die of old age? And what is at the very edge of the universe? Life is full of mind-bending questions, and, as books like What If? and Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? have shown, the route to find each answer can take us on the weirdest and most wonderful journeys. How Long is Now? is a fascinating new collection of questions you never thought to ask, along with answers that will change the way you see everything.

The Clock Of The Long Now

Author: Stewart Brand
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786722924
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Book Description
Using the designing and building of the Clock of the Long Now as a framework, this is a book about the practical use of long time perspective: how to get it, how to use it, how to keep it in and out of sight. Here are the central questions it inspires: How do we make long-term thinking automatic and common instead of difficult and rare? Discipline in thought allows freedom. One needs the space and reliability to predict continuity to have the confidence not to be afraid of revolutions Taking the time to think of the future is more essential now than ever, as culture accelerates beyond its ability to be measured Probable things are vastly outnumbered by countless near-impossible eventualities. Reality is statistically forced to be extraordinary; fiction is not allowed this freedom This is a potent book that combines the chronicling of fantastic technology with equally visionary philosophical inquiry.

A Long Time Until Now

Author: Michael Z. Williamson
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
ISBN: 1625793758
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 672

Book Description
Book 1 in a new series from the creator of the best-selling Freehold Universe series. A military unit is thrust back into Paleolithic times with only their guns and portable hardware. Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth's Paleolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. They discover groups of the similarly displaceImperial Romans, Neolithic Europeans, and a small cadre of East Indian peasants. Despite their technological advantage, the soldiers only have ten people, and know no way home. Then two more time travelers arrive from a future far beyond the present. These time travelers may have the means to get back, but they aren't giving it up. In fact, they may have a treacherous agenda of their own, one that may very well lead to the death of the displaced in a harsh and dangerous era. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About Michael Z. Williamson: _A fast-paced, compulsive readãwill appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.Ó _ Kliatt _Williamson's military expertise is impressive.Ó _SF Reviews

How Long Is Now

Author: Joshua Corey
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781956005035
Category : Biographical fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Book Description
"HOW LONG IS NOW began as a travelogue composed in the now-distant year of 2013-2014, when I was doing a fair bit of traveling in Europe, plus a jaunt to Morocco for the first time; the tales of my travels, only slightly exaggerated (okay: some persons and events were entirely made up) were juxtaposed by an attempt to imagine my parents' courtship in 1960s New York City. I put the project through extensive revisions (Evan Lavender-Smith offered me detailed and useful notes at one point), but the book wasn't quite catching fire for me, so I shelved it. Then calamity intervened: in the summer of 2017 my 73-year-old dad, while visiting my sister in Mill Valley, California, accidentally drove her car over a cliff. A tortuous year followed as he tried to recover from the paralysis that had struck--he made a brave effort but it proved to be too much for him, and he died a little more than a year later, the day after Independence Day"--

The Art of the Long View

Author: Peter Schwartz
Publisher: Currency
ISBN: 0385267320
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
What increasingly affects all of us, whether professional planners or individuals preparing for a better future, is not the tangibles of life—bottom-line numbers, for instance—but the intangibles: our hopes and fears, our beliefs and dreams. Only stories—scenarios—and our ability to visualize different kinds of futures adequately capture these intangibles. In The Art of the Long View, now for the first time in paperback and with the addition of an all-new User's Guide, Peter Schwartz outlines the "scenaric" approach, giving you the tools for developing a strategic vision within your business. Schwartz describes the new techniques, originally developed within Royal/Dutch Shell, based on many of his firsthand scenario exercises with the world's leading institutions and companies, including the White House, EPA, BellSouth, PG&E, and the International Stock Exchange.

Timefulness

Author: Marcia Bjornerud
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069120263X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Book Description
Explains why an awareness of Earth's temporal rhythms is critical to planetary survival and offers suggestions for how to create a more time-literate society.

The First 20 Hours

Author: Josh Kaufman
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101623047
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of practicing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By completing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the methods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard keyboard, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the simple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Figure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcomponents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accurate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chainsaws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

Long Life Now

Author: Lee Hitchcox
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780890877630
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Book Description
Discusses how to slow the biological aging process; achieve immunity from nursing home institutionalization; reduce the risk of degenerative disease; purge pesticides from our food supply and environment; convert our economy from petrochemical-based to plant-based; and transform government from lobby-centered to people-centered. Covers dietary components, such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, additives, dairy products, seafoods, and vitamins; the history of the American diet; the food guide pyramid; weight control; exercise; biological age; various nutrition-related illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, etc.

The Science of Time 2016

Author: Elisa Felicitas Arias
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319599097
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Book Description
The uses of time in astronomy - from pointing telescopes, coordinating and processing observations, predicting ephemerides, cultures, religious practices, history, businesses, determining Earth orientation, analyzing time-series data and in many other ways - represent a broad sample of how time is used throughout human society and in space. Time and its reciprocal, frequency, is the most accurately measurable quantity and often an important path to the frontiers of science. But the future of timekeeping is changing with the development of optical frequency standards and the resulting challenges of distributing time at ever higher precision, with the possibility of timescales based on pulsars, and with the inclusion of higher-order relativistic effects. The definition of the second will likely be changed before the end of this decade, and its realization will increase in accuracy; the definition of the day is no longer obvious. The variability of the Earth's rotation presents challenges of understanding and prediction. In this symposium speakers took a closer look at time in astronomy, other sciences, cultures, and business as a defining element of modern civilization. The symposium aimed to set the stage for future timekeeping standards, infrastructure, and engineering best practices for astronomers and the broader society. At the same time the program was cognizant of the rich history from Harrison's chronometer to today's atomic clocks and pulsar observations. The theoreticians and engineers of time were brought together with the educators and historians of science, enriching the understanding of time among both experts and the public.

1177 B.C.

Author: Eric H. Cline
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691168385
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
A bold reassessment of what caused the Late Bronze Age collapse In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age—and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece.