Big Bangs

Author: Howard Goodall
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446484548
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The dramatic story of five key turning points in a thousand years of Western music - discoveries that changed the course of history. Who first invented 'Doh Re Mi...'? What do we mean by "in tune"? Looking back down the corridor of a thousand years, Howard Goodall guides us through the stories of five seismic developments in the history of Western music. His "big bangs" may not be the ones we expect - some are surprising and some are so obvious we overlook them - but all have had an extraordinary impact. Goodall starts with the invention of notation by an 11th-century Italian monk, which removed the creation of music from the hands of the players to the pens of the composers; moves on to the first opera; then to the invention of the piano, and ends with the story of the first recording made in history. Howard Goodall has the gift of making these complicated musical advances both clear and utterly fascinating. Racy and vivid in a narrative full of colourful characters and graphic illustrations of technical processes, he also gives a wonderful sense of the culture of trial and error and competition, be it in 11th-century Italy or 19th-century America, in which all progress takes place. Big Bangs opens a window on the crucial moments in our musical culture - discoveries that made possible everything from Bach to the Beatles - and tells us a riveting story of a millennium of endeavour.

Three Big Bangs

Author: Holmes Rolston III
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231526849
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
By dividing the creation of matter, energy, life, and mind into three big bangs, Holmes Rolston III brings into focus a history of the universe that respects both scientific discovery and the potential presence of an underlying intelligence. Matter-energy appears, initially in simpler forms but with a remarkable capacity for generating heavier elements. The size and expansion rate of the universe, the nature of electromagnetism, gravity, and nuclear forces enable the the explosion of life on Earth. DNA discovers, stores, and transfers information generating billions of species. Cognitive capacities escalate, and with neural sentience this results in human genius. A massive singularity, the human mind gives birth to language and culture, increasing the brain's complexity and promoting the spread of ideas. Ideas generate ideals, which lead life to take on spirit. The nature of matter-energy, genes, and their genesis therefore encourages humans to wonder where they are, who they are, and what they should do.

The Three Big Bangs

Author: Philip M. Dauber
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Longman
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
Scientists identify three "Big Bangs" crucial to the creation of the universe, beginning with the dinosaur-killing collision of Earth and a comet, to a massive thermo-nuclear star explosion and finally the original Bang believed to have started it all.

Big Bang Disruption

Author: Larry Downes
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698143388
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Book Description
It used to take years or even decades for disruptive innovations to dethrone dominant products and services. But now any business can be devastated virtually overnight by something better and cheaper. How can executives protect themselves and harness the power of Big Bang Disruption? Just a few years ago, drivers happily spent more than $200 for a GPS unit. But as smartphones exploded in popularity, free navigation apps exceeded the performance of stand-alone devices. Eighteen months after the debut of the navigation apps, leading GPS manufacturers had lost 85 percent of their market value. Consumer electronics and computer makers have long struggled in a world of exponential technology improvements and short product life spans. But until recently, hotels, taxi services, doctors, and energy companies had little to fear from the information revolution. Those days are gone forever. Software-based products are replacing physical goods. And every service provider must compete with cloud-based tools that offer customers a better way to interact. Today, start-ups with minimal experience and no capital can unravel your strategy before you even begin to grasp what’s happening. Never mind the “innovator’s dilemma”—this is the innovator’s disaster. And it’s happening in nearly every industry. Worse, Big Bang Disruptors may not even see you as competition. They don’t share your approach to customer service, and they’re not sizing up your product line to offer better prices. You may simply be collateral damage in their efforts to win completely different markets. The good news is that any business can master the strategy of the start-ups. Larry Downes and Paul Nunes analyze the origins, economics, and anatomy of Big Bang Disruption. They identify four key stages of the new innovation life cycle, helping you spot potential disruptors in time. And they offer twelve rules for defending your markets, launching disruptors of your own, and getting out while there’s still time. Based on extensive research by the Accenture Institute for High Performance and in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs, investors, and executives from more than thirty industries, Big Bang Disruption will arm you with strategies and insights to thrive in this brave new world.

Before the Big Bang

Author: Laura Mersini-Houghton
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 1328557146
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
"A riveting tour of the cosmos from one of the brightest minds in astrophysics." —The Washington Post A revolutionary new account of our universe’s creation—and a breathtaking exploration of the landscape from which we sprang—from one of the world’s most celebrated cosmologists What came before the Big Bang, and what exists outside of the universe it created? Until recently, scientists could only guess at what lay past the edge of space-time. However, as pioneering theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton explains, new scientific tools are now giving us the ability to peer beyond the limits of our universe and to test our theories about what is there. And what we are finding is upending everything we thought we knew about the cosmos and our place in it. Mersini-Houghton is no stranger to boundaries—or to pushing through them. As a child growing up in Communist Albania, she discovered a universe beyond her walled-off world through the study of math and science, and through music. As a female cosmologist in a male-dominated field, she transcended the limits that society and her profession tried to place on her. And as a trailblazing researcher, she helped to revolutionize the study of our universe by revealing that, far from living in a cosmic Albania, with a world that ends at its borders, we are part of a larger family of universes—a multiverse—that holds wonders we are only beginning to unlock. Mersini-Houghton’s groundbreaking research suggests that we sit in a quantum landscape whose peaks and valleys hide a multitude of other universes, and even hold the secret to the origins of existence itself. Recent evidence has revealed the signatures of such sibling universes in our own night sky, confirming Mersini-Houghton’s theoretical work and offering humbling evidence that our universe is just one member of an unending cosmic family. The incredible scientific saga of one woman’s mind-expanding journey through the multiverse, Before the Big Bang will reshape our understanding of humanity’s place in the unfathomable vastness of the cosmos.

Leadership in the Big Bangs of European Integration

Author: D. Beach
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230599648
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Book Description
This book presents the first comprehensive analysis of the major treaty reforms over the past two decades, to consider whether the path from the Single European Act in 1985 to the present Constitutional Treaty has been pushed by the Franco-German tandem, or has been the result of leadership provided the Commission or smaller member states.

The Brain

Author: Rob DeSalle
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300183569
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 531

Book Description
“An engaging and complex examination of the development of the human brain throughout its evolutionary history” (Publishers Weekly). After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system. Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss • The development and uniqueness of human consciousness • How human and nonhuman brains work • The roles of different nerve cells • The importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history—an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags—that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.

Yes, My Accent Is Real

Author: Kunal Nayyar
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476761825
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
An anthology of humorous, autobiographical essays by the actor best known as Raj from "The Big Bang Theory" traces his journey from a child in New Delhi to a celebrity in Los Angeles, describing his relationships with the family members and friends who inspired his achievements.

The Bigger Bang

Author: James E. Lidsey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781139441056
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Book Description
In the last few years, scientists have begun to answer some of the most fundamental questions about the origin and early evolution of the universe. In a fresh, engaging, and highly readable introduction to these ideas, James Lidsey deftly steers us along a journey back in time to the very origin of the universe. We are introduced to the fascinating ideas scientists are currently developing to explain what happened in the first billion, billion, billion, billionth of a second - the 'inflationary' epoch. Along the way we stop off to review the latest ideas on superstrings, parallel universes and the ultimate fate of our universe. Lucid analogies, clear and concise prose and straightforward language make this book a delight to read. It makes accessible to the general reader some of the most profound and complex ideas about the origin of our universe currently challenging the world's best scientists.

The Story of Music

Author: Howard Goodall
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1639361219
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 471

Book Description
Why did prehistoric people start making music? What does every postwar pop song have in common? A “masterful” tour of music through the ages (Booklist, starred review). Music is an intrinsic part of everyday life, and yet the history of its development from single notes to multi-layered orchestration can seem bewilderingly specialized and complex. In his dynamic tour through 40,000 years of music, from prehistoric instruments to modern-day pop, Howard Goodall does away with stuffy biographies, unhelpful labels, and tired terminology. Instead, he leads us through the story of music as it happened, idea by idea, so that each musical innovation—harmony, notation, sung theater, the orchestra, dance music, recording, broadcasting—strikes us with its original force. He focuses on what changed when and why, picking out the discoveries that revolutionized man-made sound and bringing to life musical visionaries from the little-known Pérotin to the colossus of Wagner. Along the way, he also gives refreshingly clear descriptions of what music is and how it works: what scales are all about, why some chords sound discordant, and what all post-war pop songs have in common. The story of music is the story of our urge to invent, connect, rebel—and entertain. Howard Goodall's beautifully clear and compelling account is both a hymn to human endeavor and a groundbreaking map of our musical journey.