Points Unknown

Author: David Roberts
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393050004
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 616

Book Description
Stories of courage, endurance, and passion that define adventure. From Robert Falcon Scott's final journal entry to Jon Krakauer's reckless solo climb of the Devil's Thumb to Tom Wolfe's brilliant portrayal of Chuck Yeager shattering the sound barrier in The Right Stuff, David Roberts and the editors of Outside have gathered the most enduring adventure literature of the century into one heart-stopping volume. A frigid winter ascent of Mount McKinley; the vastness of Arabia's Empty Quarter; the impossibly thin air at Everest's summit; the deadly black pressure of an underwater cave; a desperate escape through a Norwegian winter--these and thirty-six other stories recount the minutes, hours, and days of lives pushed to the brink. But there is more to adventure than hair-breadth escapes. By turns charming and tragic, whimsical and nerve-racking, this extraordinary collection gets to the heart of why adventure stories enthrall us. Includes works by Edward Abbey, Tim Cahill, Edward Hoagland, Sebastian Junger, Eric Newby, Ernest Shackleton, Freya Stark, and Wilfred Thesiger. For nearly thirty years, award-winning Outside magazine has been bringing together the best in adventure travel, sports, nature writing, and photography. Now, W.W. Norton and Outside come together to bring that same excellence to an exciting new line of books.

Outside Books Points Unknown

Author: David Roberts
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393323788
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 612

Book Description
From Robert Falcon Scott's final journal entry to Jon Krakauer's reckless solo climb of the Devil's Thumb, Roberts and the editors of Outside have gathered the mostenduring adventure literature of the century into one heart-stopping volume. By turns charming and tragic, whimsical and nerve-racking, this extraordinary collection getsto the heart of why adventure stories enthral us. It includes works by Sebastian Junger, Jon Krakauer, Edward Abbey, Tim Cahill, Edward Hoagland, Ernest Shackleton, Freya Stark and Wilfred Thesiger.

Taming the Unknown

Author: Victor J. Katz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691204071
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 502

Book Description
What is algebra? For some, it is an abstract language of x's and y’s. For mathematics majors and professional mathematicians, it is a world of axiomatically defined constructs like groups, rings, and fields. Taming the Unknown considers how these two seemingly different types of algebra evolved and how they relate. Victor Katz and Karen Parshall explore the history of algebra, from its roots in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and India, through its development in the medieval Islamic world and medieval and early modern Europe, to its modern form in the early twentieth century. Defining algebra originally as a collection of techniques for determining unknowns, the authors trace the development of these techniques from geometric beginnings in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and classical Greece. They show how similar problems were tackled in Alexandrian Greece, in China, and in India, then look at how medieval Islamic scholars shifted to an algorithmic stage, which was further developed by medieval and early modern European mathematicians. With the introduction of a flexible and operative symbolism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, algebra entered into a dynamic period characterized by the analytic geometry that could evaluate curves represented by equations in two variables, thereby solving problems in the physics of motion. This new symbolism freed mathematicians to study equations of degrees higher than two and three, ultimately leading to the present abstract era. Taming the Unknown follows algebra’s remarkable growth through different epochs around the globe.

Unknown Quantity

Author: John Derbyshire
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030909657X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Book Description
Prime Obsession taught us not to be afraid to put the math in a math book. Unknown Quantity heeds the lesson well. So grab your graphing calculators, slip out the slide rules, and buckle up! John Derbyshire is introducing us to algebra through the ages-and it promises to be just what his die-hard fans have been waiting for. "Here is the story of algebra." With this deceptively simple introduction, we begin our journey. Flanked by formulae, shadowed by roots and radicals, escorted by an expert who navigates unerringly on our behalf, we are guaranteed safe passage through even the most treacherous mathematical terrain. Our first encounter with algebraic arithmetic takes us back 38 centuries to the time of Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, Ur and Haran, Sodom and Gomorrah. Moving deftly from Abel's proof to the higher levels of abstraction developed by Galois, we are eventually introduced to what algebraists have been focusing on during the last century. As we travel through the ages, it becomes apparent that the invention of algebra was more than the start of a specific discipline of mathematics-it was also the birth of a new way of thinking that clarified both basic numeric concepts as well as our perception of the world around us. Algebraists broke new ground when they discarded the simple search for solutions to equations and concentrated instead on abstract groups. This dramatic shift in thinking revolutionized mathematics. Written for those among us who are unencumbered by a fear of formulae, Unknown Quantity delivers on its promise to present a history of algebra. Astonishing in its bold presentation of the math and graced with narrative authority, our journey through the world of algebra is at once intellectually satisfying and pleasantly challenging.

The Federal Reporter

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law reports, digests, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 2136

Book Description
Includes cases argued and determined in the District Courts of the United States and, Mar./May 1880-Oct./Nov. 1912, the Circuit Courts of the United States; Sept./Dec. 1891-Sept./Nov. 1924, the Circuit Courts of Appeals of the United States; Aug./Oct. 1911-Jan./Feb. 1914, the Commerce Court of the United States; Sept./Oct. 1919-Sept./Nov. 1924, the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.

Proceedings

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 582

Book Description

The Month

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christianity
Languages : en
Pages : 680

Book Description

The Book of Unknown Americans

Author: Cristina Henríquez
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385350856
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 251

Book Description
A stunning novel of hopes and dreams, guilt and love—a book that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American and "illuminates the lives behind the current debates about Latino immigration" (The New York Times Book Review). When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved. Here Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America.

The Living Age

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 868

Book Description

Southern Reporter

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law reports, digests, etc
Languages : en
Pages : 1160

Book Description
Includes the decisions of the Supreme Courts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the Appellate Courts of Alabama and, Sept. 1928/Jan. 1929-Jan./Mar. 1941, the Courts of Appeal of Louisiana.