An Elegant Defense

Author: Matt Richtel
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062698508
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446

Book Description
National Bestseller "Gives you all the context you need to understand the science of immunity. ... An Elegant Defense left me with [a] sense of awe.” —Bill Gates, Gates Notes Summer Reading List The Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist "explicates for the lay reader the intricate biology of our immune system" (Jerome Groopman, MD, New York Review of Books) From New York Times science journalist Matt Richtel, An Elegant Defense is an acclaimed and definitive exploration of the immune system and the secrets of health. Interweaving cutting-edge science with the intimate stories of four individual patients, this epic, first-of-its-kind book “give[s] lay readers a means of understanding what’s known so far about the intricate biology of our immune systems” (The Week). The immune system is our body’s essential defense network, a guardian vigilantly fighting illness, healing wounds, maintaining order and balance, and keeping us alive. It has been honed by evolution over millennia to face an almost infinite array of threats. For all its astonishing complexity, however, the immune system can be easily compromised by fatigue, stress, toxins, advanced age, and poor nutrition—hallmarks of modern life—and even by excessive hygiene. Paradoxically, it is a fragile wonder weapon that can turn on our own bodies with startling results, leading today to epidemic levels of autoimmune disorders. An Elegant Defense effortlessly guides readers on a scientific detective tale winding from the Black Plague to twentieth-century breakthroughs in vaccination and antibiotics, to today’s laboratories that are revolutionizing immunology—perhaps the most extraordinary and consequential medical story of our time. Drawing on extensive new interviews with dozens of world-renowned scientists, Richtel has produced a landmark book, equally an investigation into the deepest riddles of survival and a profoundly human tale that is movingly brought to life through the eyes of his four main characters, each of whom illuminates an essential facet of our “elegant defense.”

A Deadly Wandering

Author: Matt Richtel
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062284088
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
"Deserves a spot next to Fast Food Nation and To Kill a Mockingbird in America’s high school curriculums. To say it may save lives is self-evident.” —New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: San Francisco Chronicle, Chrisitian Science Monitor, Kirkus, Winnipeg Free Press One of the decade's most original and masterfully reported books, A Deadly Wandering by Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist Matt Richtel interweaves the cutting-edge science of attention with the tensely plotted story of a mysterious car accident and its aftermath to answer some of the defining questions of our time: What is technology doing to us? Can our minds keep up with the pace of change? How can we find balance? On the last day of summer, an ordinary Utah college student named Reggie Shaw fatally struck two rocket scientists while texting and driving along a majestic stretch of highway bordering the Rocky Mountains. A Deadly Wandering follows Reggie from the moment of the tragedy, through the police investigation, the state's groundbreaking prosecution, and ultimately, Reggie's wrenching admission of responsibility. Richtel parallels Reggie's journey with leading-edge scientific findings on the impact technology has on our brains, showing how these devices play to our deepest social instincts. A propulsive read filled with surprising scientific detail, riveting narrative tension, and rare emotional depth, A Deadly Wandering is a book that can change—and save—lives.

To Steal a Book Is an Elegant Offense

Author: William P. Alford
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804729603
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Book Description
This sweeping study examines the law of intellectual property in Chinese civilization from imperial days to the present. It uses materials drawn from law, the arts and other fields as well as extensive interviews with Chinese and foreign officials, business people, lawyers, and perpetrators and victims of "piracy."

Inspired

Author: Matt Richtel
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063025558
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
"Remarkable. This profound volume informs and inspires." —PW, STARRED review From the Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times science reporter acclaimed for “bring[ing] scientific concepts to life” (Bill Gates), a pathbreaking new investigation into the mysteries of human creativity How does creativity work? Where does inspiration come from? What are the secrets of our most revered creators? How can we maximize our creative potential? THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW WE CREATE. Creativity defines the human experience. It sparks achievement and innovation in art, science, technology, business, sports, and virtually every activity. It has fueled human progress on a global level, but it equally is the source of profound personal satisfaction for individual creators. And yet the origins of creative inspiration and the methods by which great creators tap into it have long been a source of mystery, spoken of in esoteric terms, our rational understanding shrouded in complex jargon. Until now. Inspired is a book about the science of creativity, distilling an explosion of exciting new research from across the world. Through narrative storytelling, Richtel marries these findings with timeless insight from some of the world’s great creators as he deconstructs the authentic nature of creativity, its biological and evolutionary origins, its deep connection to religion and spirituality, the way it bubbles in each of us, urgent and essential, waiting to be tapped. Many of the questions Richtel addresses are practical: What are the traits of successful creators? Under which conditions does creativity thrive? How can we move past creative blocks? The ultimate message of Inspired is that creativity is more accessible than many might imagine, as necessary, beautiful, and fulfilling as any essential part of human nature.

Dead On Arrival

Author: Matt Richtel
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062443291
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Book Description
“MICHAEL CRICHTON meets STEPHEN KING at their finest … with the creepiest opening I’ve ever read.” — Lisa Gardner * “Joins the ranks of classic paranoid thrillers about human achievement run amok, with STEPHEN KING’s The Stand and Michael Crichton’s Terminal Man.” — Joseph Finder * “A heart-stopping thriller. … a must-read for MICHAEL CRICHTON fans.” — Dallas Morning News * “Similar in atmosphere and style to MICHAEL CRICHTON and STEPHEN KING. ... A race-against-the-clock thriller.” — Booklist FLIGHT 194 LANDED. SOMETHING LETHAL AWAITS OUTSIDE. THIS IS DEAD ON ARRIVAL. An airplane touches down at a desolate airport in a remote Colorado ski town. Shortly after landing, Dr. Lyle Martin, a world-class infectious disease specialist, is brusquely awakened to shocking news: Everyone not on the plane appears to be dead. The world has gone dark. While they were in the air, a lethal new kind of virus surfaced, threatening mankind's survival, and now Martin—one of the most sought-after virologists on the planet until his career took a precipitous slide—is at the center of the investigation. Moving at lightning pace from the snowbound Rockies to the secret campus of Google X, where unlimited budgets may be producing wonders beyond our capacity to control, Dead on Arrival is a brilliantly imaginative, intricately plotted thriller that draws on Matt Richtel's years of science and technology reporting for the New York Times, and establishes him as one of the premier thriller writers working today.

FIRE

Author: Dan Ward
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062301918
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 162

Book Description
Noted military technology expert Dan Ward's manifesto for creating great products and projects using the methods of rapid innovation. Why do some programs deliver their product under cost, while others bust their budget? Why do some deliver ahead of schedule, while others experience endless delays? Which products work better—the quick and thrifty or the slow and expensive? Which situation leads to superior equipment? With nearly two decades as an engineering officer in the U. S. Air Force, Dan Ward explored these questions during tours of duty at military research laboratories, the Air Force Institute of Technology, an intelligence agency, the Pentagon and Afghanistan. The pattern he noticed revealed that the most successful project leaders in both the public and private sectors delivered top-shelf products with a skeleton crew, a shoestring budget, and a cannonball schedule. Excessive investment of time, money, or complexity actually reduced innovation. He concluded the secret to innovation is to be fast, inexpensive, simple, and small. FIRE presents an entertaining and practical framework for pursuing rapid, frugal innovation. A story-filled blend of pop culture and engineering insight, FIRE has something for everyone: strategic concepts leaders can use as they cast a vision, actionable principles for managers as they make business decisions, and practical tools for workers as they design, build, assess and test new products.

Words to Eat By

Author: Karen Koenig
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1684425107
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Book Description
This book will teach you how to use word power rather than willpower to increase your motivation and overcome your struggles with eating and body care. It explains how self-talk ties thought to action or inaction and how what we say to ourselves is shaped—for better or worse—by our families, culture and personal history. It illustrates how unconscious, unhealthy self-talk leads to poor decision-making around eating, fitness and general self-care and how conscious, healthy self-talk promotes a positive relationship with food, body and mind. Words to Eat By details key elements of constructive, smart self-talk. You’ll learn how to distinguish trash thoughts from treasure thoughts, why external motivators don’t work long-term, and which internal motivators will fast track you to success. It includes hundreds of examples of exactly what to say and not say to yourself in challenging food situations—eating alone, with family, friends, dates and mates, at parties, restaurants and buffets—and how to get and keep your body moving. Reflective questions help you zero in on which self-talk you want to change, while case studies illustrate how other troubled eaters have transformed their self-talk and their lives. Written by a national expert, award-winning, international author and seasoned clinician who is also half-a-lifetime recovered from weight-loss dieting and binge-eating, this book introduces you to the nitty gritty of your eating and self-care problems and teaches you how to speak to yourself with the love, compassion, encouragement and hope needed to jump start or sustain your recovery.

Devil's Plaything

Author: Matt Richtel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781590588871
Category : Conspiracies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"Lily Idle carries a secret. But she can't remember it. She's in her 80s and suffers from dementia. That's too bad because one of the secrets she carries around inside her head is so dangerous that, unless it's exposed, it could change the world--much for the worse. Her grandson, Nate Idle, is a thirty-something investigative medical journalist, smart and witty but rough around the edges. Now he faces his toughest assignment ever: figuring out the secret inside his grandmother's head before a conspiracy goes deadly wrong."--Jacket.

The Beautiful Cure

Author: Daniel M. Davis
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022637114X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
“A terrific book by a consummate storyteller and scientific expert considers the past and future of the body’s ability to fight disease and heal itself.” —Adam Rutherford, The Guardian The immune system holds the key to human health. In The Beautiful Cure, leading immunologist Daniel M. Davis describes how the scientific quest to understand how the immune system works—and how it is affected by stress, sleep, age, and our state of mind—is now unlocking a revolutionary new approach to medicine and well-being. The body’s ability to fight disease and heal itself is one of the great mysteries and marvels of nature. But in recent years, painstaking research has resulted in major advances in our grasp of this breathtakingly beautiful inner world: a vast and intricate network of specialist cells, regulatory proteins, and dedicated genes that are continually protecting our bodies. Far more powerful than any medicine ever invented, the immune system plays a crucial role in our daily lives. We have found ways to harness these natural defenses to create breakthrough drugs and so-called immunotherapies that help us fight cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and many age-related diseases, and we are starting to understand whether activities such as mindfulness might play a role in enhancing our physical resilience. Written by a researcher at the forefront of this adventure, The Beautiful Cure tells a dramatic story of scientific detective work and discovery, of puzzles solved and mysteries that linger, of lives sacrificed and saved. With expertise and eloquence, Davis introduces us to this revelatory new understanding of the human body and what it takes to be healthy. “Visceral.” —The Wall Street Journal “Illuminating.” —Publishers Weekly “Heroic.” —Science

Defending Humanity

Author: George P. Fletcher
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0195183088
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Book Description
Recoge: Murder among nations -- How to talk about self-defense -- A theory of legitimate defense -- The six elements of legitimate defense -- Excusing international aggression -- Humanitarian intervention -- Preemptive and preventitive wars -- The collective dimension of war.