Blindsight

Author: Peter Watts
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429955198
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
Hugo and Shirley Jackson award-winning Peter Watts stands on the cutting edge of hard SF with his acclaimed novel, Blindsight Two months since the stars fell... Two months of silence, while a world held its breath. Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route. So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met? You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there. Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Revenge of the X-Bots!

Author: Anthony McGowan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780195570137
Category : Readers
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Book Description
Team X is an outstanding addition to the Oxford Literacy series and has been developed for the whole school - for the early years through to Year 6. Team X has been extensively researched and trialled in schools to make absolutely sure that it's what kids want! Team X builds fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Fluency and vocabulary are important skills and are both crucial stepping stones to comprehension, which for any reader may be considered the main goal of reading. Step 1: Listen to the audio bookAn adult mentor with a particular area of expertise (the eXpert) introduces themselves and relates the cluster theme to their own experience. The mentor reads all or some sections of the book. Step 2: Read the bookThe student then reads the book, either in a guided reading or independent reading situation. Step 3: Write your responses to the question on the activity cardFor all levels, there are two writing activities related to the content or theme of the book, often scaffolded, with a graphic organiser. There are also two additional activities that link to other curriculum learning areas.

Albion's Seed

Author: David Hackett Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019974369X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 981

Book Description
This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

Science And Human Behavior

Author: B.F Skinner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476716153
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 484

Book Description
The psychology classic—a detailed study of scientific theories of human nature and the possible ways in which human behavior can be predicted and controlled—from one of the most influential behaviorists of the twentieth century and the author of Walden Two. “This is an important book, exceptionally well written, and logically consistent with the basic premise of the unitary nature of science. Many students of society and culture would take violent issue with most of the things that Skinner has to say, but even those who disagree most will find this a stimulating book.” —Samuel M. Strong, The American Journal of Sociology “This is a remarkable book—remarkable in that it presents a strong, consistent, and all but exhaustive case for a natural science of human behavior…It ought to be…valuable for those whose preferences lie with, as well as those whose preferences stand against, a behavioristic approach to human activity.” —Harry Prosch, Ethics

Project X Origins: Grey Book Band, Oxford Level 13: Shocking Science: X-Bot Reboot

Author: Anthony McGowan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780198393924
Category : Children's stories
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Book Description
When Ant discovers a room full of X-bots in 'X-bot Reboot', he is sure he can use them for good. Will his plan succeed? Or will the robots rise again? This book is part of Project X Origins, a ground-breaking guided reading programme for the whole school.

Class

Author: Paul Fussell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671792253
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
This book describes the living-room artifacts, clothing styles, and intellectual proclivities of American classes from top to bottom.

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Second Edition

Author: James Paul Gee
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466886420
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
Cognitive Development in a Digital Age James Paul Gee begins his classic book with "I want to talk about video games–yes, even violent video games–and say some positive things about them." With this simple but explosive statement, one of America's most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. This revised edition expands beyond mere gaming, introducing readers to fresh perspectives based on games like World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2. It delves deeper into cognitive development, discussing how video games can shape our understanding of the world. An undisputed must-read for those interested in the intersection of education, technology, and pop culture, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy challenges traditional norms, examines the educational potential of video games, and opens up a discussion on the far-reaching impacts of this ubiquitous aspect of modern life.

All that is Solid Melts Into Air

Author: Marshall Berman
Publisher: Verso
ISBN: 9780860917854
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.

Project X Origins: Grey Book Band, Oxford Level 13: Great Escapes: Guided reading notes

Author: Jo Tregenza
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780198303114
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

Book Description
Part of Project X Origins, a ground-breaking guided reading programme for the whole school, these notes offer step-by-step teaching support for each book with guidance about phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, spelling, grammar, punctuation and writing. Each set of notes has in-built assessment and is fully correlated to all UK curricula.

The Craft of Research, 2nd edition

Author: Wayne C. Booth
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226065693
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Book Description
Since 1995, more than 150,000 students and researchers have turned to The Craft of Research for clear and helpful guidance on how to conduct research and report it effectively . Now, master teachers Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams present a completely revised and updated version of their classic handbook. Like its predecessor, this new edition reflects the way researchers actually work: in a complex circuit of thinking, writing, revising, and rethinking. It shows how each part of this process influences the others and how a successful research report is an orchestrated conversation between a researcher and a reader. Along with many other topics, The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of thoughtful yet critical readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, "So what?" Celebrated by reviewers for its logic and clarity, this popular book retains its five-part structure. Part 1 provides an orientation to the research process and begins the discussion of what motivates researchers and their readers. Part 2 focuses on finding a topic, planning the project, and locating appropriate sources. This section is brought up to date with new information on the role of the Internet in research, including how to find and evaluate sources, avoid their misuse, and test their reliability. Part 3 explains the art of making an argument and supporting it. The authors have extensively revised this section to present the structure of an argument in clearer and more accessible terms than in the first edition. New distinctions are made among reasons, evidence, and reports of evidence. The concepts of qualifications and rebuttals are recast as acknowledgment and response. Part 4 covers drafting and revising, and offers new information on the visual representation of data. Part 5 concludes the book with an updated discussion of the ethics of research, as well as an expanded bibliography that includes many electronic sources. The new edition retains the accessibility, insights, and directness that have made The Craft of Research an indispensable guide for anyone doing research, from students in high school through advanced graduate study to businesspeople and government employees. The authors demonstrate convincingly that researching and reporting skills can be learned and used by all who undertake research projects. New to this edition: Extensive coverage of how to do research on the internet, including how to evaluate and test the reliability of sources New information on the visual representation of data Expanded bibliography with many electronic sources