Showing results by narrator "Chris Sorensen" in All Categories

This book covers the history of 12 important diseases and addresses public health responses and societal upheavals.

After a disastrous planet-wide war, Earth is nothing more than an elite graveyard—but Fletcher Carson is venturing back in search of a vital bounty. Fletcher, a former artist, is joined by a sentient machine, an ancient, powerful robot, and a treasure-seeking beauty. They soon discover that Earth harbors more than the carefully groomed tombstones. In the wild land beyond the cemetery there are dangerous machines, mutant creatures, and even humans who never left their home planet.

Ever since his father went missing, Eddie Edison has suspected that Lake Mohawk held dark secrets. But when he and his friends fish a strange, mechanical device from its murky depths, Eddie’s suspicions are confirmed. Pursuing the device’s origin, Eddie stumbles upon a mysterious, fantastical stranger who might have answers about his father’s disappearance as well as his own remarkable connection to the long lost Mad Scientists of New Jersey. With the imagination of Rick Riordan and the zaniness of Roal Dahl, this tale is sure to please.

Iran and the United States have been at odds for forty years, locked in a cold war that has run the gamut. In Republics of Myth, Hussein Banai, Malcolm Byrne, and John Tirman argue that a major contributing factor to this tenacious enmity is how each nation views itself. Their often-deadly confrontation derives from the very different national narratives that shape their politics, actions, and vision of their own destiny in the world.

Sex Ed for Grown-Ups is an open and honest guide that empowers adults to talk to young people about all things sex and relationships.

We are what we read, according to Robert DiYanni. Reading may delight us or move us; we may read for instruction or inspiration. But more than this, in reading we discover ourselves. We gain access to the lives of others, explore the limitless possibilities of human existence, develop our understanding of the world around us, and find respite from the hectic demands of everyday life. In You Are What You Read, DiYanni provides a practical guide that shows how we can increase the benefits and pleasures of reading literature by becoming more skillful and engaged readers.

Peter Bandettini covers the essentials of fMRI, providing insight and perspective from his nearly three decades of research. He describes other brain imaging and assessment methods; the sources of fMRI contrasts; the basic methodology, from hardware to pulse sequences; brain activation experiment design strategies; and data and image processing. A unique, stand-alone chapter addresses major controversies in the field, outlining 26 challenges that have helped shape fMRI research.

In the new essays collected here, an interdisciplinary group of scholars asks age-old questions about the nature and well-being of humans in the context of a revolutionary new biotechnology - one that has the potential to change the genetic make-up of both existing people and future generations. Welcoming listeners who study related issues and those not yet familiar with the formal study of bioethics, the authors of these essays open up a conversation about the ethics of gene editing.

The Hiddenness of God addresses the problem of divine hiddenness which concerns the ambiguity of evidence for God's existence, the elusiveness of God's comforting presence, the palpable and devastating experience of divine absence and abandonment, and more; phenomena which are hard to reconcile with the idea, central to the Jewish and Christian scriptures, that there exists a God who is deeply and lovingly concerned with the lives of humans. Michael C. Rea argues that divine hiddenness is not a problem to be explained away but rather a consequence of the nature of God himself.

The marvelous complexity of the universe emerges from several deep laws and a handful of fundamental constants that fix its shape, scale, and destiny. Where did these laws and these constants come from? And why are the laws so fruitful when written in the language of mathematics? Author Peter Atkins considers the minimum effort needed to equip the universe with its laws and its constants. He explores the origin of the conservation of energy, of electromagnetism, of classical and quantum mechanics, and of thermodynamics, showing how all these laws spring from deep symmetries.

Employees are your company's most important asset. Attracting the best, getting them to do their best work, and keeping them in the organization are critical to your company's success. 1,001 Ways to Engage Employees gives you all the powerful tools you need.

Getting your employees to do their best work has never been easy. But it is a particular challenge for knowledge workers, who must attend to many different tasks and whose to-do list is often ambiguous, requiring outside-the-box thinking. Lists of dos and don'ts are rarely effective. Instead, your best bet is to align their interests with your own - the heart of motivation - and set them free to use their own drive and creativity on their, and your, behalf.

Does life exist on Mars? The question has captivated humans for centuries, but today it has taken on new urgency. NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars orbit by the 2030s. SpaceX wants to go by 2024, while Mars One wants to land a permanent settlement there in 2032. As we gear up for missions like these, we have a responsibility to think deeply about what kinds of life may already inhabit the planet - and whether we have the right to invite ourselves in.

Fascinating and highly listenable, Digital Resilience opens with the infamous 2013 Target attack, which compromised the credit card information of 40 million customers. In hindsight, the hack (like most today) was preventable. Data theft. Downed servers. Malware. Even human error can trigger cyber events anytime from anywhere around the globe. This powerful guide provides the resilience-building strategies you need to prevail - no matter what strikes.

Michael Hawk is shocked and enraged when an old friend becomes the victim of a professional hit team. His investigation into the grisly death leads him from the sultry Caribbean to the air conditioned towers of big business and the danger-filled dreamworld of Hollywood sets. Along the way he discovers a monstrous corporate cover-up - and a hot-blooded lady V.P. who loves mixing business with pleasure. Michael Hawk is an investigative journalist with a knack for getting the scoop.

Otis the faithful farm tractor is frolicking in the meadow with his animal friends when an approaching tornado darkens the sky and threatens the farm. Rousing the animals for another game of follow-the-leader, Otis calmly guides them to the safety of a protected valley. But as the twister turns toward the barn, Otis hears the frantic bellowing of the bull, still locked in his pen.

On the farm where Otis the tractor lives, it hasn't rained in a long time, and farmers all over the valley have grown anxious, with water in such short supply. One hot afternoon, when Otis and his friends are resting beneath the shade of the apple tree, Otis spots something moving down in the valley: an orange tabby cat headed straight for the old barn. But then Otis sees something else that causes his engine to sputter...a swirl of smoke coming from the same barn. A fire!

Loren Long - recipient of two Golden Kite Awards - delivers a whimsical story of friendship and perseverance. Otis is a kind, hardworking farm tractor who befriends a motherless calf. After work, he and his pal love frolicking together in the fields - until one day Otis is replaced by a new tractor. Left to rust in the weeds, he feels useless and no longer wants to play. But when the calf gets in trouble - and firemen can’t even help - Otis revs up to rescue his friend.

Built of titanium and a chrome-nickel alloy known as Inconel X, the X-15 was the fastest plane ever built, streaking through the lower reaches of outer space even before the first space capsules reached orbit. First tested in 1959, the X-15 proved to be a crucial testing ground for the astronauts and hardware in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and even the Space Shuttle programs. Celebrated reporter Richard Tregaskis spent time with the pilots, engineers, and other key personnel involved in the project.

When my father said work, he meant work. I dug post holes every morning, slamming that digger into the ground until I had tough calluses on my hands. I had hated hole digging, but it seemed to release some knot inside me, as if the anger I felt went driving into the earth, and I slowly started to feel I could get through this rotten time.