# kb

id: natural-history-pliny-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Pliny)-7.md
category: reference
title: Natural History (Pliny)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Pliny)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:49.227740+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: natural-history-pliny-20260505-0
summary:
L330) Volume I. Books 1–2 L352) Volume II. Books 3–7 L353) Volume III. Books 8–11 L370) Volume IV. Books 12–16 L371) Volume V. Books 17–19 L392) Volume VI. Books 20–23 L393) Volume VII. Books 24–27. Index of Plants L418) Volume VIII. Books 28–32. Index of Fishes L394) Volume IX. Books 33–35 L419) Volume X. Books 36–37 Collection Budé (Latin and French): Livre I: Vue d'ensemble des 36 livres Livre II: Cosmologie, astronomie et géologie Livre III: Géographie des mondes connus: Italie, Espagne, Narbonnaise Pline l'Ancien; Silberman, Alain; Zehnacker, Hubert (28 February 2015). Histoire naturelle. Livre IV: Géographie de l'Europe, suite (in French and Latin). Paris: Les Belles Lettres. ISBN 9782251014692. (This was the most recently published edition, finally completing the collection) Livre V, 1re partie: Géographie: L'Afrique du Nord Livre VI, 2e partie: L'Asie centrale et orientale. L'Inde Livre VI, 4e partie: L'Asie africaine sauf l'Egypte. Les dimensions et les climats du monde habité Livre VII: De l'homme Livre VIII: Des animaux terrestres Livre IX: Des Animaux marins Livre X: Des Animaux ailés Livre XI: Des Insectes. Des Parties du corps Ernout, Alfred (1947). Histoire naturelle. Livre XI: Des Insectes. Des Parties du corps (in French and Latin). Paris: Les


id: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne-0.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:50.488013+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-0
summary:
The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, or just The Natural History of Selborne is a book by English parson-naturalist Gilbert White (1720–1793). It was first published in 1789 by his brother Benjamin. It has been continuously in print since then, with nearly 300 editions up to 2007. The book was published late in White's life, compiled from a mixture of his letters to other naturalists—Thomas Pennant and Daines Barrington; a 'Naturalist's Calendar' (in the second edition) comparing phenology observations made by White and William Markwick of the first appearances in the year of different animals and plants; and observations of natural history organized more or less systematically by species and group. A second volume, less often reprinted, covered the antiquities of Selborne. Some of the letters were never posted, and were written for the book. White's Natural History was at once well received by contemporary critics and the public, and continued to be admired by a diverse range of nineteenth and twentieth century literary figures. His work has been seen as an early contribution to ecology and in particular to phenology. The book has been enjoyed for its charm and apparent simplicity, and the way that it creates a


id: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne-1.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:50.488013+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-0
summary:
There are 44 letters to White's friend Thomas Pennant (1726–1798), of which the first nine were never posted and are thus undated. Of those that were posted, the first, Letter 10 giving an overview of Selborne, is dated 4 August 1767; the last, Letter 44 on wood pigeons, is dated 30 November 1780. It is not known how the men became friends, or even if they ever met; White writes repeatedly that he would like to meet "to have a little conversation face to face after we have corresponded so freely for several years" so it is certain they did not meet for long periods, and possible they never met at all. The letters are edited from the form in which they were actually posted; for example, Letter 10 as posted had a cringing introductory paragraph of thanks to Pennant which White edited out of the published version. ==== Letters to the Hon. Daines Barrington ==== There are 66 letters to the lawyer Daines Barrington (1727–1800), occupying half the book. Letter 1, on summer birds of passage, is dated 30 June 1769; Letter 66, on thunderstorms, is dated 25 June 1787. The Barrington letters therefore largely overlap the time frame


id: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne-2.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:50.488013+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-0
summary:
=== The Antiquities of Selborne === This section, often omitted from later editions, consists like the Natural History of 26 "Letters", none of them posted, and without even the fiction of being addressed to Pennant or Barrington. Letter 1 begins "It is reasonable to suppose that in remote ages this woody and mountainous district was inhabited only by bears and wolves." Letter 2 discusses Selborne in Saxon times; Selborne was according to White a royal manor, belonging to Editha, queen to Edward the Confessor. Letter 3 describes the village's church, which "has no pretensions to antiquity, and is, as I suppose, of no earlier date than the beginning of the reign of Henry VII." Letter 5 describes the ancient Yew tree in the churchyard. Letter 7 describes the (ruined) priory. Letter 11 discusses the properties of the Knights Templar in and near the village. Letter 14 describes the visit of bishop William of Wykeham in 1373, to correct the scandalous "particular abuses" in the religious houses in the parish. He orders the canons of Selborne priory (Item 5th) "to take care that the doors of their church and priory be so attended to that no suspected and disorderly females, suspectae


id: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne-3.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:50.488013+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-0
summary:
[T]he sequestered retreat of the naturalist still remains ... inaccessible to all the improved knowledge and refinement which belong to these enlightened and virtuous times. It has been excluded from the blessings of increasing commerce and population, from factories and filiations, manufactures and Methodism, genius and gin, prosperity and pauperism. The book was widely admired by contemporary writers. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it a "sweet, delightful book"; John Clare imitated its style of natural history letters. Thomas Carlyle wrote that "It is one of our most excellent books; White, a quiet country Parson, has preached a better sermon here than all the loud Bishops that then were". Charles Darwin is said to have been delighted by it. Circa 1862, the retired surgeon and zoologist Thomas Bell moved to The Wakes. He devoted his time to studying White's work, and editing new edition of the book. === Edwardian era === The 1907–1921 Cambridge History of English and American Literature begins its essay on White's Selborne with the words: Gilbert White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789) holds a unique position in English literature as the solitary classic of natural history. It is not easy to give, in a few words,


id: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne-4.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_and_Antiquities_of_Selborne
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:50.488013+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-and-antiquities-of-selborne-20260505-0
summary:
== Legacy == Thomas Bewick, in the first volume (Land Birds) of his A History of British Birds (1797), presents a phenological list of 19 birds which are "chiefly selected from Mr. White's Natural History of Selborne, and are arranged nearly in the order of their appearing". The list begins with the wryneck ("Middle of March"), places the cuckoo in the middle of April, and ends with the flycatcher in the middle of May. Charles Darwin read the Natural History as a young man, inspiring him to take "much pleasure in watching the habits of birds" and to wonder "why every gentleman did not become an ornithologist". Sara Losh, too, read the Natural History as part of her "wonderful, varied and advanced [home] education for a young girl". White's Natural History has been continuously in print since its first publication. It was long held ("apocryphally", according to White's biographer, Richard Mabey) to be the fourth-most published book in the English language after the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. White's frequent accounts in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne of his tortoise Timothy, inherited from his aunt, form the basis for a variety of


id: the-natural-history-of-aleppo-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_of_Aleppo-0.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History of Aleppo
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_of_Aleppo
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:51.632320+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-of-aleppo-20260505-0
summary:
The Natural History of Aleppo is a 1756 book by naturalist Alexander Russell on the natural history of Aleppo. In 1794 his half-brother, Patrick Russell, revised and expanded the text in a second edition. The book is significant for its quality, the contemporary interest it attracted, and for being a product of the Scottish Enlightenment. When the book was published it was immediately an important European record and perspective on the state of contemporary science in Syria. The book contains the earliest known description of the Syrian hamster. == References == == External links == The Natural History of Aleppo at Internet Archive 2008 sale of book by Christie's


id: the-natural-history-of-iceland-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_of_Iceland-0.md
category: reference
title: The Natural History of Iceland
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_History_of_Iceland
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:52.781546+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-natural-history-of-iceland-20260505-0
summary:
The Natural History of Iceland (Danish: Tilforladelige efterretninger om Island) is a natural history of Iceland by Danish lawyer Niels Horrebow. It was published in Danish in 1752, with an English translation in 1758. == History of the work == The book was intended to correct errors in past natural histories of Iceland, particularly the work of Hamburg mayor Johann Anderson, who had written about the island without ever actually visiting it. Anderson had relied entirely on accounts from German and Dutch sea captains, but Horrebow lived in Iceland for two years, studying the animals, plants, weather, and geological features. He also made note of the cultural practices of the Icelandic people. Horrebow's resulting work was published in Danish in 1752, then translated into German (1753), Dutch (1754), English (1758) and French (1764). == "Concerning Snakes" == The Natural History of Iceland is often noted for its seventy-second chapter, "Concerning Snakes", which, in its English translation, consists solely of one sentence: No snakes of any kind are to be met with throughout the whole island. Several works of English literature make light of this brief passage. For example, James Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791) relates how Samuel Johnson bragged to


id: natural-history-of-the-canary-islands-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_of_the_Canary_Islands-0.md
category: reference
title: Natural History of the Canary Islands
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_of_the_Canary_Islands
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:53.962391+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: natural-history-of-the-canary-islands-20260505-0
summary:
Natural History of the Canary Islands (French: Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries) is an illustrated reference work of the natural history of the Canary Islands. It was written by the English botanist Philip Barker-Webb and the French naturalist and ethnologist Sabin Berthelot, in cooperation with several other scientists. It was published in Paris between 1836 and 1850. The work is considered the most important 19th century text about the Canary Islands in the field of natural sciences. The work consists of three main parts and nine volumes: Volume 1-1: ethnography and the annals of conquest Volume 1-2: Canarian miscellany (travel, excursions, various observations etc.) Volume 2-1: geography, statistics and geology Volume 2-2: zoology Volume 3-1: botanical geography Volume 3-2: Canarian phytography (in 4 volumes) Most of the work is written in French, except the phytography part, which consists of scientific descriptions of plants in Latin. == References == == External links == Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries full text at Biodiversity Heritage Library


id: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons-0.md
category: reference
title: The Naturalist on the River Amazons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:55.173131+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
summary:
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, subtitled A Record of the Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature under the Equator, during Eleven Years of Travel, is an 1863 book by the British naturalist Henry Walter Bates about his expedition to the Amazon basin. Bates and his friend Alfred Russel Wallace set out to obtain new species and new evidence for evolution by natural selection, as well as exotic specimens to sell. He explored thousands of miles of the Amazon and its tributaries, and collected over 14,000 species, of which 8,000 were new to science. His observations of the coloration of butterflies led him to discover Batesian mimicry. The book contains an evenly distributed mixture of natural history, travel, and observation of human societies, including the towns with their Catholic processions. Only the most remarkable discoveries of animals and plants are described, and theories such as evolution and mimicry are barely mentioned. Bates remarks that finding a new species is only the start; he also describes animal behaviour, sometimes in detail, as for the army ants. He constantly relates the wildlife to the people, explaining how the people hunt, what they eat and


id: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons-1.md
category: reference
title: The Naturalist on the River Amazons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:55.173131+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
summary:
There are 39 illustrations, some of animals and plants, some of human topics such as the "Masked-dance and wedding-feast of Tucuna Indians", which is signed by Josiah Wood Whymper. Some illustrations including "Turtle Fishing and Adventure with Alligator" are by the German illustrator Johann Baptist Zwecker; some, such as "Bird-Killing Spider (Mygale Avicularia) Attacking Finches" are by E.W. Robinson; others by the zoological artist Joseph Wolf. == Chapters == The structure of the readable, cut-down second edition of 1864 is as follows: 1 Pará — arrival, aspect of the country, etc. (now the city of Belém) Bates arrives, and at once starts learning about the country's peoples and natural history. The impressions received during this first walk can never wholly fade from my mind... Amongst them were several handsome women, dressed in a slovenly manner, barefoot or shod in loose slippers; but wearing richly-decorated ear-rings, and around their necks strings of very large gold beads. They had dark expressive eyes, and remarkably rich heads of hair. It was a mere fancy, but I thought the mingled squalor, luxuriance and beauty of these women were pointedly in harmony with the rest of the scene; so striking, in the view, was the


id: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons-2.md
category: reference
title: The Naturalist on the River Amazons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:55.173131+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
summary:
He describes Santarem and the customs of its people. He goes on short "excursions" around the little town. The pure "Indians" choose to build light open shelters, resting inside in hammocks, whereas those of mixed or African origin build more substantial mud huts. He enjoys watching small pale green Bembex and other kinds of sand wasps. He regrets that the people cut down the Oenocarpus distichus palm to harvest its fruits, which yield a milky, nutty beverage. He describes some potter wasps and mason bees. He meets a "feiticeira" or witch who knows the uses of many plants, but remarks that "the Indian men all become sceptics after a little intercourse with the whites" and that her witchcraft "was of a very weak quality" though others have more dangerous tricks. 9 Voyage up the Tapajos Bates hires a boat made of stonewood for a three month trip up the Tapajos river. He prepares for the trip by salting meat, grinding coffee, and placing all the food in tin boxes to keep insects and damp out. He buys trade-goods such as fishhooks, axes, knives and beads. He witnesses poison-fishing using lianas of Paullinia pinnata. At Point Cajetuba he finds a line


id: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons-3.md
category: reference
title: The Naturalist on the River Amazons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:55.173131+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Charles Darwin ==== Charles Darwin, having encouraged Bates to publish an account of his travels, read The Naturalist on the River Amazons with great pleasure, writing to Bates on 18 April 1863 that My criticisms may be condensed into a single sentence, namely that it is the best book of Natural History Travels ever published in England. Your style seems to me admirable. Nothing can be better than the discussion on the struggle for existence & nothing better than the descriptions on the Forest scenery. It is a grand book, & whether or not it sells quickly it will last. You have spoken out boldly on Species; & boldness on this subject seems to get rarer & rarer.— How beautifully illustrated it is. The cut on the back is most tasteful. I heartily congratulate you on its publication. Darwin noted in his letter that Athenaeum magazine reviewed the book coldly and insolently, while the Reader received it warmly. Darwin published An Appreciation of the book in the Natural History Review in 1863, in which he notes that Bates sent back "a mass of specimens" of "no less than 14,712 species" (mostly of insects), of which 8000 were new to


id: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons-4.md
category: reference
title: The Naturalist on the River Amazons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:55.173131+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Joseph F. James ==== An unabridged edition was reviewed by botanist and geologist Joseph F. James (1857-1897) in Science in 1893. James was reviewing a book which was at that time already a 30-year-old classic that had been reprinted at least four times. He compared it to Gilbert White's 1789 The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, and Alfred Russel Wallace's The Malay Archipelago, writing that No one can err, we believe, in placing Bates's "Naturalist on the River Amazons" among the foremost books of travel of this age; and no one who has read it, but recalls its graphic pages with delight. James notes that "on the appearance of the book in 1868 it met with cordial praise from all quarters". Despite his professed liking for Bates's "direct and concise" style, he quotes at length Bates' description of the tropics, with the whirring of cicadas, the shrill stridulation of a vast number and variety of field-crickets and grasshoppers, each species sounding its peculiar note; the plaintive hootings of tree-frogs,- all blended together in one continuous ringing sound, - the audible expression of the teeming profusion of nature." James spends much space in his


id: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons-5.md
category: reference
title: The Naturalist on the River Amazons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naturalist_on_the_River_Amazons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:55.173131+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-naturalist-on-the-river-amazons-20260505-0
summary:
==== In science, education, and literature ==== Bates's book is cited in papers for its accurate early observations, such as of the urticating hairs of tarantulas, the puddle drinking habits of butterflies, or of the rich insect fauna in the tropics. The book and Bates' Amazon trip are covered in lecture courses on evolution by professors such as Anne E. Magurran and Maria Dornelas. The warm reception of Bates's Naturalist was not confined to scientists. The novelists D.H. Lawrence and George Orwell both wrote admiringly of the book. Lawrence wrote to his friend S. S. Koteliansky "I should like, from the Everyman Library Bates' – Naturalist on the Amazon... because I intend some day to go to South America – to Peru or Ecuador, not the Amazon. But I know Bates is good." == See also == The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace, 1869 == Notes == == References == === Primary === === Secondary === == Bibliography == Bates, H. W. (1863). The naturalist on the River Amazons, a record of adventures, habits of animals, sketches of Brazilian and Indian life and aspects of nature under the Equator during eleven years of travel. London: J. Murray. (First edition.)


id: nature-studies-manuscript-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Studies_(manuscript)-0.md
category: reference
title: Nature Studies (manuscript)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Studies_(manuscript)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:56.338528+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nature-studies-manuscript-20260505-0
summary:
Nature Studies is an album or codex containing 170 drawings dating principally from the 16th century made by various artists. The drawings are naturalistic depictions of plants, birds, animals, insects, fish and landscape vedute. The album was compiled in the beginning of the 17th century and was originally in the collection of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. It is currently in the collection of the National Library of Austria in Vienna. == Physical description and provenance == The codex is made of parchment and measures 48.7 x 36.1 centimeters. The drawings on paper of a smaller scale are glued onto the parchment pages. The drawings are executed in various techniques such as pen and ink, watercolor, opaque white and tempera painting and some with gold highlights. The parchment pages are bound in green leather. The album passed from the possession of Emperor Rudolf II to the Imperial Treasury, from where it became part of the Imperial Court Library in 1783. The Imperial Court Library later became the National Library of Austria in Vienna. == Contents == The drawings are grouped thematically and include plants, birds, mammals, insects, fish, and natural landscapes. The technique they display is extremely varied, ranging


id: new-naturalist-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Naturalist-0.md
category: reference
title: New Naturalist
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Naturalist
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:57.529402+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: new-naturalist-20260505-0
summary:
The New Naturalist Library (also known as The New Naturalists) is a series of books published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of natural history topics relevant to the British Isles. The aim of the series at the start was: "To interest the general reader in the wild life of Britain by recapturing the inquiring spirit of the old naturalists." An editors' preface to a 1952 monograph says: "An object of the New Naturalist series is the recognition of the many-sidedness of British natural history, and the encouragement of unusual and original developments of its forgotten or neglected facets." == History == The first volume to appear was E. B. Ford's Butterflies in 1945. The authors of this series are usually eminent experts, often professional scientists. This gives the series authority, and many are or have been authoritative introductory textbooks on a subject for some years. The books are written in scientific style, but are intended to be readable by the non-specialist, and are an early example of popular science in the media. The books of the series have had considerable influence on many students who later became professional biologists, such as W. D. Hamilton and Mike


id: next-of-kin-fouts-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_of_Kin_(Fouts_book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Next of Kin (Fouts book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_of_Kin_(Fouts_book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:49:58.686320+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: next-of-kin-fouts-book-20260505-0
summary:
Next of Kin is a 1997 book by Roger Fouts combining his experiences with Washoe and other chimpanzees who learned American Sign Language, and a polemic in favor of great ape personhood. == References == Next of Kin: what chimpanzees have taught me about who we are. written by Roger Fouts. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1997. ISBN 0-688-14862-X


id: on-jungle-trails-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Jungle_Trails-0.md
category: reference
title: On Jungle Trails
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Jungle_Trails
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:00.413259+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: on-jungle-trails-20260505-0
summary:
On Jungle Trails is a book-length compilation of Frank Buck’s stories describing how he captures wild animals. For many years, this book was a fifth grade reader in the Texas public schools, approved for state-wide use. Some of the facts Buck relates are observational, such as his description of the pangolin, a scaly anteater, getting his fill of red ants. Among the other accounts: Buck describes the capture of a man-eating tiger (the only one, he explains, which was ever brought to America, the Man-eater of Johore); Buck traps a rare clouded leopard when, contrary to the usual leopard habit, the cat takes refuge in a tree; Buck writes of trapping elephants and crocodiles; Buck tells of seizing of "the largest orangutan ever captured alive." Buck brought these animals back to America; but when he obtained several tiny Malaysian mouse deer, the smallest deer in the world, weighing two pounds, and made pets of them, a quarantine against ruminating animals made it impossible to bring them into the United States. Buck's writes of his jungle camp and his methods for feeding and caring for his animals. At the end of the book there is a partial list of animals which


id: overshoot-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Overshoot (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:01.637199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: overshoot-book-20260505-0
summary:
Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change is a book by American sociologist William R. Catton Jr. The book is a critical work that many consider one of the most essential yet overlooked books of the 20th century. The book discusses how humanity's overexploitation of Earth's resources has led to a situation where our consumption exceeds the planet's capacity for regeneration. It is divided into several parts, each addressing different aspects of ecological overshoot. It covers the historical development of human society, our dependence on unsustainable practices, and the need for a new environmental perspective. Catton emphasizes that humanity must recognize and adapt to the limits imposed by nature to avoid catastrophic consequences. Catton urges humanity to adopt a more realistic and sustainable way of life on Earth. He warns that ignoring these ecological limits will have severe repercussions, and only by understanding and respecting them can we hope to create a viable future for ourselves and future generations. == Background == William Catton came of age in sociology when the major debates were about social-only theoretical orientations (structural functionalism or consensus theory versus Marxism or conflict theory) and methodology (quantitative versus qualitative). His primary contribution was articulating an environmental


id: overshoot-book-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)-1.md
category: reference
title: Overshoot (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:01.637199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: overshoot-book-20260505-0
summary:
The book emphasizes the need for a new perspective on the unsustainable exploitation of resources, which threatens future generations’ well-being. It stresses the importance of questioning old ways of thinking and putting more emphasis on being aware of the environment. The book highlights what the author calls “the tragic story of human success,” a period of rapid population growth and technological innovation, which led to an overshoot of the planet’s carrying capacity. The myth of limitlessness, distorted by technological advancements and exploitation of new lands, has exacerbated the environmental crisis. The book also discusses the culture of abundance, which led to a belief in human exemption from natural constraints. The book calls for a shift in perspective, acknowledging the ecological reality of finite resources and adapting to them. Abundance and liberty, once supported by ecological prerequisites, are under threat as living standards decline. The decline from what the author calls “the Age of Exuberance” has led to environmental changes and an overshoot crisis, causing declining living standards and political instability. Humans must acknowledge their role in altering their habitats and the interconnectedness of all life forms. The rapid growth and mechanization of agriculture have amplified this impact, suggesting a shift


id: overshoot-book-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)-2.md
category: reference
title: Overshoot (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:01.637199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: overshoot-book-20260505-0
summary:
In 1995, Derrick Jensen similarly chose to highlight Catton's generosity of soul—despite the dark certainty of humanity's future. In his book Listening to the Land, Jensen chose to introduce his interview with Catton by way of this pull quote from Catton's book Overshoot: In a future that is as unavoidable as it will be unwelcome, survival and sanity may depend upon our ability to cherish rather than to disparage the concept of human dignity. In 2008, the introductory paper (by Richard York) for the "Symposium on Catton and Dunlap’s Foundational Work Establishing an Ecological Paradigm" concluded: The effect of Catton and Dunlap’s work has been profound, since it opened up a large swath of new terrain to sociological inquiry. It made possible the growing body of research in sociology that examines both human effects on the environment and the effects of the environment on society.York listed as "foundational" to the field not only the 1978 "New Paradigm" collaboration by Catton and Dunlap but also their coauthored papers published in the Annual Review of Sociology in 1979 and American Behavioral Scientist in 1980. Together, these provided "an explicit intellectual grounding for environmental sociology—defined as the study of societal-environmental interactions." In an


id: overshoot-book-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)-3.md
category: reference
title: Overshoot (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overshoot_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:01.637199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: overshoot-book-20260505-0
summary:
In his 2015 obituary for Catton, John Michael Greer put this ecological term into its activist context: The core of Overshoot, which is also the core of the entire world of appropriate technology and green alternatives that got shot through the head and shoved into an unmarked grave in the Reagan years, is the recognition that the principles of ecology apply to industrial society just as much as they do to other communities of living things. The manuscript itself attracted an icon of the environmental movement, former U.S. Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. To write the book's foreword was a sign of the popular (and activist) reach the book would garner. That reach included wilderness advocate Dave Foreman, a cofounder of Earth First! and of Wild Earth magazine. In a reflection upon Catton's death, Foreman wrote:William Catton's Overshoot is one of the most important books I've ever read, and Bill was one of my greatest teachers." Catton attributed his own wilderness experiences in national parks of the USA as the source of his drive to understand ecological systems and ecological limits — including the fundamental ecological principle of carrying capacity.In a 2021 guest post titled "Overshoot: Where We Now Stand," Michael


id: peterson-field-guides-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides-0.md
category: reference
title: Peterson Field Guides
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:02.800825+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: peterson-field-guides-20260505-0
summary:
The Peterson Field Guides (PFG) are a popular and influential series of American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by renowned ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (1908–1996). His inaugural volume was the classic 1934 book A Field Guide to the Birds, published (as were all subsequent volumes) by the Houghton Mifflin Company. The PFG series utilized what became known as the Peterson Identification System, a practical method for field identification which highlights readily noticed visual features rather than focusing on the technical features of interest to scientists. The series both reflected and contributed to awareness of the emerging environmental movement. Most books in this series use a section of plates of drawings (usually reduced from commissioned paintings) rather than photographs of the subject species, grouped at the center of the book. This allows for idealized portraits that highlight the identifying "field marks" of each species; such field marks are often indicated by arrows or straight lines in the plate illustrations. However, in several books in this series, the plates consist of photographs (usually without such arrows or indicators), such as in the guides for


id: peterson-field-guides-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides-1.md
category: reference
title: Peterson Field Guides
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:02.800825+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: peterson-field-guides-20260505-0
summary:
== The Peterson Field Guides == PFG 1: A Field Guide to the Birds (1934), by Roger Tory Peterson Second edition (1939): A Field Guide to the Birds Third edition (1947): A Field Guide to the Birds Fourth edition (1980): A Field Guide to the Birds: A Completely New Guide to All the Birds of Eastern and Central North America Fifth edition (2002): A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America Sixth edition (2010): Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America, ISBN 9780547152462 Seventh edition (2020): Field Guide to Birds of Eastern & Central North America, ISBN 9781328771438 PFG ??: Field Guide to Birds of North America (2008), ISBN 9780618966141 Second edition (2020): Field Guide to Birds of North America, ISBN 9781328771445 PFG 1A: Bird Songs (Eastern) (1990)[CD] by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology PFG 2: A Field Guide to Western Birds: Field Marks of All Species Found in North America West of the 100th Meridian, with a Section on the Birds of the Hawaiian Islands (1941), by Roger Tory Peterson and Virginia Marie Peterson Second edition (1961): A Field Guide to Western Birds: Field Marks of All Species Found in North America


id: peterson-field-guides-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides-2.md
category: reference
title: Peterson Field Guides
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:02.800825+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: peterson-field-guides-20260505-0
summary:
PFG 19: A Field Guide to the Insects of America North of Mexico (1970), by Donald J. Borror and Richard E. White PFG 20: Mexican Birds: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador (1973), by Roger Tory Peterson and Edward L. Chalif PFG 21: Eastern Birds' Nests: The United States East of the Mississippi River (1975), by Hal H. Harrison, Mada Harrison and Ned Smith PFG 22: A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Pacific States (1976), by Niehaus and Ripper PFG 23: A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America (1977), by Lee Allen Peterson; Illustrated by Lee Allen Peterson and Roger Tory Peterson; Photos by Lee Allen Peterson PFG 24: A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore: Invertebrates and Seaweeds of the Atlantic Coast from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras (1978), by Kenneth L. Gosner; Illustrations by Kenneth L. Gosner PFG 25: Western Birds' Nests: The United States West of the Mississippi River (1979), by Harrison PFG 26: A Field Guide to the Atmosphere (1981), by Vincent J. Schaefer and John A. Day; Illustrated by Christy E. Day PFG 27: A Field Guide to Coral Reefs of the Caribbean and Florida: A


id: peterson-field-guides-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides-3.md
category: reference
title: Peterson Field Guides
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Field_Guides
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:02.800825+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: peterson-field-guides-20260505-0
summary:
=== Unnumbered volumes === PFG ??: Revision of (part of) Fourth edition of PFG 1 as: A Field Guide to Feeder Birds: Eastern and Central North America (2000), by Roger Tory Peterson, Virginia Marie Peterson, and Noble Proctor PFG ??: A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America (2001), by Sheri L. Williamson PFG ??: A Field Guide to the North American Prairie (2004), by Ruth Carol Cushman and Stephen R. Jones PFG ??: Mammals of Britain and Europe (1968, 1986), by F. H. van den Brink PFG ??: Peterson Reference Guide to Birding by Impression: A Different Approach to Knowing and Identifying Birds (2015), by Kevin T. Karlson and Dale Rosselet PFG ??: Peterson Field Guide to Finding Mammals in North America (2015), by Vladimir Dinets PFG ??: Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean (2015), by Scott Weidensaul PFG ??: Peterson Reference Guide to Woodpeckers of North America (2016), by Stephen Shunk PFG ??: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America (2016), by Jesse Fagan and Robert Dean; Illustrated by Robert Dean and Peter Burke PFG ??: Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America (2017), by Nathan Pieplow ==


id: physica-curiosa-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physica_Curiosa-0.md
category: reference
title: Physica Curiosa
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physica_Curiosa
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:04.026147+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physica-curiosa-20260505-0
summary:
Physica Curiosa written by the German scholar, Jesuit priest and scientist Gaspar Schott is a seventeenth century encyclopedia, published first in 1662, is divided into twelve books and has been richly illustrated with prints of copper engravings. It is the first part of a two-volume work, the other being Technica Curiosa, published in 1664. Schott primarily used works by well-known scholars and naturalists as his sources, including Ulisse Aldrovandi, Conrad Gesner, John Jonston, Conrad Lycosthenes, and Ambroise Paré. There is an emphasis on the illustrations of monsters and so-called "freaks" (deformed people). The first volume covers the miracles attributed to both angels and demons. The 11th volume is devoted entirely to the study of meteorites. == Publication == Schott compiled his volumes from previously published and widely known works of authors, scholars and naturalists such as Conrad Gesner, Ulisse Aldrovandi, Joannes Jonstonus, Ambroise Paré, Conrad Lycosthenes and many others, including many of the immensely popular illustrations of monsters and physical deformities. Schott summarized: ...what was either left out in the Magia and other works, was published later by learned men, or has only recently reached me. For his own research he extensively relied on the libraries and Jesuit universities of


id: pliny-on-mammals-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_on_mammals-0.md
category: reference
title: Pliny on mammals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_on_mammals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:05.193405+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pliny-on-mammals-20260505-0
summary:
Book VIII of Pliny the Elder's Natural History centres around the concept of zoology, and mainly that which pertains to terrestrial animals, including mammals, amphibians, reptiles, as well as some birds and insects. Pliny discusses these animals as being a part of specific categories, firstly starting with those he considers to be wild, including, but not limited to, elephants, snakes, lions, giraffes, rhinoceroses, lynxes, camels, leopards, hyenas, foxes, rabbits, skinks, beavers, frogs, seals, geckoes, chameleons, deer, reindeer, jackals, porcupines, bears, hedgehogs, squirrels, snails, crocodiles, and lizards. He then goes on to cover those he considers to be domesticated, such as dogs, horses, donkeys, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, and pigs. Following this, he mentions animals that are “half-wild," or what he considers to be wild varieties of commonly domesticated animals, including boars, chamoises, ibexes, oryxes, antelopes, monkeys, and hares, as well as those that are “neither wild nor tame but of a character intermediate between each," such as swallows, bees, dolphins, and mice. Lastly, on various occasions he mentions animals that would be considered mythological, such as unicorns, pegasi, basilisks, and werewolves, of which he considers only the existence of werewolves to be obviously improbable. Pliny describes the anatomical traits of


id: pliny-on-mammals-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_on_mammals-1.md
category: reference
title: Pliny on mammals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_on_mammals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:05.193405+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pliny-on-mammals-20260505-0
summary:
=== Emotional competence === Pliny the Elder describes elephants as not only exhibiting impressive brilliance with regards to their memory, learning, and methods of survival, but also with their capacity to feel emotions. Pliny outlines the ability of elephants to shame, such that in battle they offer their conqueror leaves and dirt, and their predilection towards modesty which forces them to mate only in secret. Additionally, Pliny also comments on their morality by putting forward that elephants never engage in adultery or any of the intermale competition "that is so disastrous to the other animals." However, Pliny specifies that this is not due to a lack of emotion, and provides several examples of elephants falling in love with humans, and in one instance so intensely that the elephant refused to eat without the presence of its preferred person. Pliny repeatedly refers to the distinct behavioural phenomena of animals feeling gratitude and respect towards humans. For example, he recounts the tale of a lion who, after having a painful bone pulled from its teeth, always brought any game it caught to its saviour, a female panther who guides a man out of the desert after he rescues her cubs from a


id: pliny-on-mammals-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_on_mammals-2.md
category: reference
title: Pliny on mammals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_on_mammals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:05.193405+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pliny-on-mammals-20260505-0
summary:
=== Historical influence === The Roman perspective and Stoicism were two major ideologies that likely informed Pliny’s manner of observing mammals, and thus how he contextualized them within the work of Natural History. The Roman consciousness held an idea of anthropocentricity, in which man was perceived to be the highest level of physical beings and that “the rest of creation existed to serve his needs." Thereby, Pliny may have been influenced to write about animals by highlighting their benefit to humans, such as in his numerous points on medicinal properties, companionship, and domestication. Stoicism encompassed ethical ideals involving “independence of mind” and “devotion to duty," which possibly affected Pliny’s opinions on the cognitive capabilities of animals, such as their consciousness and loyalty. Further to this, in his analyzing the narrative structure of Pliny, Thorsten Fögen asserts that the way that Pliny describes elephants is akin to the virtuosity of "good Roman citizens," and that elephants could serve as a representative for how humans should behave. Fögen also highlights how Pliny's aim in composing Natural History seemed to be centred around communicating the ethical components of animal behaviour through the discussion, as well as many examples, of their moral qualities and


id: protogaea-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protogaea-0.md
category: reference
title: Protogaea
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protogaea
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:06.382494+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: protogaea-20260505-0
summary:
Protogaea is a work by Gottfried Leibniz on geology and natural history. Unpublished in his lifetime, but made known by Johann Georg von Eckhart in 1719, it was conceived as a preface to his incomplete history of the House of Brunswick. == Life == Protogaea is a history of the Earth written in conjectural terms; it was composed by Leibniz in the period from 1691 to 1693. A summary in Latin was published in 1693 in the Leipzig Acta Eruditorum. The text was first published in full at Göttingen in 1749, shortly after Benoît de Maillet's more far-reaching ideas on the origin of the Earth, circulated in manuscript, had been printed. == Views == Protogaea built on, and criticized, the natural philosophy of René Descartes, as expressed in his Principia Philosophiae. Leibniz in the work adopted the Cartesian theory of the Earth as a sun crusted over with sunspots. He relied on the authority of Agostino Scilla writing about fossils to discredit the speculations of Athanasius Kircher and Johann Joachim Becher; he had met Scilla in Rome a few years earlier. He took up suggestions of Nicolaus Steno that argued for the forms of fossils being prior to their inclusion


id: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal-0.md
category: reference
title: Le Règne Animal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:07.544009+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-0
summary:
Le Règne Animal (lit. 'The Animal Kingdom') is the most famous work of the French naturalist Georges Cuvier. It sets out to describe the natural structure of the whole of the animal kingdom based on comparative anatomy, and its natural history. Cuvier divided the animals into four embranchements ("Branches", roughly corresponding to phyla), namely vertebrates, molluscs, articulated animals (arthropods and annelids), and zoophytes (cnidaria and other phyla). The work appeared in four octavo volumes in December 1816 (although it has "1817" on the title pages); a second edition in five volumes was brought out in 1829–1830 and a third, written by twelve "disciples" of Cuvier, in 1836–1849. In this classic work, Cuvier presented the results of his life's research into the structure of living and fossil animals. With the exception of the section on insects, in which he was assisted by his friend Pierre André Latreille, the whole of the work was his own. It was translated into English many times, often with substantial notes and supplementary material updating the book in accordance with the expansion of knowledge. It was also translated into German, Italian and other languages, and abridged in versions for children. Le Règne Animal was influential in


id: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal-1.md
category: reference
title: Le Règne Animal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:07.544009+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-0
summary:
=== Translations === Le Règne Animal was translated into languages including English, German and Italian. Many English translations and abridged versions were published and reprinted in the nineteenth century; records may be for the entire work or individual volumes, which were not necessarily dated, while old translations were often brought out in "new" editions by other publishers, making for a complex publication history. A translation by Edward Griffith (with assistance by Edward Pidgeon for some volumes and other specialists for other volumes) was published in 44 parts by G.B. Whittaker and partners from 1824 to 1835 and many times reprinted (up to 2012 and eBook format); another by G. Henderson in 1834–1837. A translation was made and published by the ornithologist William MacGillivray in Edinburgh in 1839–1840. Another version by Edward Blyth and others was published by William S. Orr and Co. in 1840. An abridged version by an "experienced teacher" was published by Longman, Brown, Green and Longman in London, and by Stephen Knapp in Coventry, in 1844. Kraus published an edition in New York in 1969. Other editions were brought out by H.G. Bohn in 1851 and W. Orr in 1854. An "easy introduction to the study of


id: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal-2.md
category: reference
title: Le Règne Animal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:07.544009+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-0
summary:
I. Vertébrés. (Vertebrates) Mammifères (Mammals): 1. Bimanes, 2. Quadrumanes, 3. Carnassiers (Carnivores), 4. Rongeurs (Rodents), 5. Édentés (Edentates), 6. Pachydermes (Pachyderms), 7. Ruminants (Ruminants), 8. Cétacés (Cetaceans). Oiseaux (Birds): 1. Oiseaux de proie (Birds of prey), 2. Passereaux (Passerines), 3. Grimpeurs (Piciformes), 4. Gallinacés (Gallinaceous birds), 5. Échassiers (Waders), 6. Palmipèdes (Anseriformes). Reptiles (Reptiles, inc. Amphibians): 1. Chéloniens (Chelonii), 2. Sauriens (Lizards), 3. Ophidiens (Snakes), 4. Batraciens (Amphibians). Poissons (Fishes): 1. Chrondroptérygiens à branchies fixes (Chondrichthyes), 2. Sturioniens ou Chrondroptérygiens à branchies libres (Sturgeons), 3. Plectognates (Tetraodontiformes), 4. Lophobranches (Syngnathidae), 5. Malacoptérygiens abdominaux, 6. Malacoptérygiens subbrachiens, 7. Malacoptérygiens apodes, 8. Acanthoptérygiens (Acanthopterygians). II. Mollusques. (Molluscs) Céphalopodes. (Cephalopods) Ptéropodes. (Pteropods) Gastéropodes (Gastropods): 1. Nudibranches (Nudibranchs), 2. Inférobranches, 3. Tectibranches, 4. Pulmonés (Pulmonata), 5. Pectinibranches, 6. Scutibranches, 7. Cyclobranches. Acéphales: 1. Testacés (Bivalves), 2. Sans coquilles (Tunicates). Brachiopodes. (Brachiopods, now a separate phylum) Cirrhopodes. (Barnacles, now in Crustacea) III. Articulés. (Articulated animals: now Arthropods and Annelids) Annélides (Annelids): 1. Tubicoles, 2. Dorsibranches, 3. Abranches. Crustacés (Crustaceans): 1. Décapodes (Decapods), 2. Stomapodes (Stomatopods), 3. Amphipodes (Amphipods), 4. Isopodes (Isopods), 5. Branchiopodes (Branchiopods). Arachnides (Arachnids): 1. Pulmonaires, 2. Trachéennes. Insectes (Insects, inc. Myriapods): 1. Myriapodes, 2. Thysanoures (Thysanura), 3. Parasites, 4. Suceurs, 5. Coléoptères


id: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal-3.md
category: reference
title: Le Règne Animal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Règne_Animal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:07.544009+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-r-gne-animal-20260505-0
summary:
The entomologist William Sharp Macleay, in his 1821 book Horae Entomologicae which put forward the short-lived "Quinarian" system of classification into 5 groups, each of 5 subgroups, etc., asserted that in the Règne Animal "Cuvier was notoriously deficient in the power of legitimate and intuitive generalization in arranging the animal series". The zoologist William Swainson, also a Quinarian, added that "no person of such transcendent talents and ingenuity, ever made so little use of his observations towards a natural arrangement as M. Cuvier." The Magazine of Natural History of 1829 expressed surprise at the long interval between the first and second editions, surmising that there were too few scientific readers in France, apart from those in Paris itself; it notes that while the first volume was little changed, the treatment of fish was considerably altered in volume II, while the section on the Articulata was greatly enlarged (to two volumes, IV and V) and written by M. Latreille. It also expressed the hope that there would be an English equivalent of Cuvier's work, given the popularity of natural history resulting from the works of Thomas Bewick (A History of British Birds 1797–1804) and George Montagu (Ornithological Dictionary, 1802). The same


id: the-sixth-extinction-an-unnatural-history-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Extinction:_An_Unnatural_History-0.md
category: reference
title: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Extinction:_An_Unnatural_History
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:08.763215+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-sixth-extinction-an-unnatural-history-20260505-0
summary:
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is a 2014 nonfiction book written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by Henry Holt and Company. The book argues that the Earth is in the midst of a modern, man-made, sixth extinction. In the book, Kolbert chronicles previous mass extinction events, and compares them to the accelerated, widespread extinctions during our present time. She also describes specific species extinguished by humans, as well as the ecologies surrounding prehistoric and near-present extinction events. The author received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for the book in 2015. The target audience is the general reader, and scientific descriptions are rendered in understandable prose. The writing blends explanations of her treks to remote areas with interviews of scientists, researchers, and guides, without advocating a position, in pursuit of objectivity. Hence, the sixth mass extinction theme is applied to flora and fauna existing in diverse habitats, such as the Panamanian rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef, the Andes, Bikini Atoll, city zoos, and the author's own backyard. The book also applies this theme to a number of other habitats and organisms throughout the world. After researching the current mainstream view of the relevant peer-reviewed science, Kolbert estimates flora and


id: the-sixth-extinction-an-unnatural-history-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Extinction:_An_Unnatural_History-1.md
category: reference
title: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Extinction:_An_Unnatural_History
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:08.763215+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-sixth-extinction-an-unnatural-history-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 3: The Original Penguin === The great auk was a large flightless bird that lived in the Northern Hemisphere. It had a large, intricately grooved beak. When the first settlers arrived in Iceland, the auk population was probably in the millions. However, the settlers found the auks to be “very good and nourishing meat.” They also used their oily bodies for fuel and fish bait, and their feathers for stuffing mattresses. Despite attempts at protecting the species, by 1844, the last auks were killed. Kolbert uses the great auk as a symbol of how human overexploitation of resources is another important mechanism of extinction. === Chapter 4: The Luck of the Ammonites === Kolbert explains that the main cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was not the impact of the asteroid itself. It was the dust created by the impact. The debris from the impact incinerated anything in its path. She states that it is impossible to estimate the full extent of the various species that died out due to this catastrophe. However, one class of animals we know did die out because of the effects of the asteroid's impact, are the ammonites. Kolbert explains that, even though


id: the-sixth-extinction-an-unnatural-history-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Extinction:_An_Unnatural_History-2.md
category: reference
title: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Extinction:_An_Unnatural_History
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:08.763215+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-sixth-extinction-an-unnatural-history-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 10: The New Pangea === Kolbert points out that there is an evolutionary arms race, in which each species must be equipped to defend against their potential predators and need to be more fit than their competition. A species has no defense if it encounters a new fungus, virus, or bacterium. This can be extremely deadly, as it was in the case of the American bats killed by the psychrophilic fungus Geomyces destructans. Another example of this occurred in the 1800s. The American chestnut was the dominant deciduous tree in eastern American forests. Then, a fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) started to cause chestnut blight. It was nearly 100 percent lethal. This fungus was unintentionally imported to the US by humans. Kolbert then explains that global trade and travel are creating a virtual "Pangaea", in which species of all kinds are being redistributed beyond historical geographic barriers. This furthers the first chapter's idea that invasive species are a mechanism of extinction. === Chapter 11: The Rhino Gets an Ultrasound === The Sumatran Rhino was once so abundant in numbers it was considered an agricultural pest. However, as Southeast Asia's forests were cut down, the rhino's habitat became fragmented. In the


id: suites-buffon-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suites_à_Buffon-0.md
category: reference
title: Suites à Buffon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suites_à_Buffon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:09.936874+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: suites-buffon-20260505-0
summary:
Les Suites à Buffon is a French 19th-century scientific publication. Les Suites à Buffon carries the complete title Suites à Buffon formant avec les œuvres de cet auteur un cours complet d'histoire naturelle embrassant les trois règnes de la nature, confié aux plus célèbres naturalistes et habiles écrivains (Sequels to Buffon Constituting a Complete Course of Natural History Encompassing the Three Reigns of Nature, Entrusted to the Most Famous Naturalists and to Skillful Writers). The three reigns or kingdoms are Botany, Zoology and Geology. This work constitutes a vast realization in 89 volumes edited and published by the Parisian editor Nicolas Roret. Published between 1834 and 1890, it appears in many forms and is often extracted, sometimes under the titles Nouvelles Suites à Buffon, Suites à Buffon, and Nouvelles Suites à Buffon. An example of a Suites à Buffon title is Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc, Histoire Naturelle des Coquilles,contenant leur description, les moeurs des animaux qui les habitant et leurs usages in 5 vols. 2nd ed. Paris, Verdière, 1824. Several new species of shells are described in this rather rare work which included a long "table alphabétique de toutes les espèces mentionnées dans ces ouvrages avec les synonymes de Lamarck".


id: tableau-encyclop-dique-et-m-thodique-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_encyclopédique_et_méthodique-0.md
category: reference
title: Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_encyclopédique_et_méthodique
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:11.116230+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: tableau-encyclop-dique-et-m-thodique-20260505-0
summary:
The Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois regnes de la nature was an illustrated encyclopedia of plants, animals and minerals, notable for including the first scientific descriptions of many species, and for its attractive engravings. It was published in Paris by Charles Joseph Panckoucke, from 1788 on. Although its several volumes can be considered a part of the greater Encyclopédie méthodique, they were titled and issued separately. Contributors: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (plants, taxonomy) Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (cetaceans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects) Louis Pierre Vieillot (birds, second volume) Jean Guillaume Bruguière (invertebrates) == External links == Cambridge University Library account Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine == References == Christabel P. Braunrot & Kathleen Hardesty Doig, 1995 The Encyclopédie méthodique: an introduction, Studies in Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 327 (1995): 1–152. Robert Darnton, 1979 The business of Enlightenment: a publishing history of the Encyclopédie Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press. George B. Watts,1965 "Thomas Jefferson, the 'Encyclopedie' and the Encyclopedie methodique French Review 38:318-25.


id: the-ocean-s-menagerie-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ocean's_Menagerie-0.md
category: reference
title: The Ocean's Menagerie
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ocean's_Menagerie
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:12.223279+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-ocean-s-menagerie-20260505-0
summary:
The Ocean's Menagerie: How Earth's Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life is a 2025 non-fiction book by marine biologist Drew Harvell, It was published by Viking Press. The book explores the evolution of invertebrate marine life and the environmental threats facing the marine ecosystem. == Reception == The book received positive reviews from critics. Kirkus Reviews referred to the book as "a good read about bizarre creatures", while The Times referred to it as "a deep dive into the strange kingdom of the ocean". George I. Matsumoto, in a review for Oceanography, described the book as "a true marvel". Publishers Weekly noted ow "Harvell emphasizes invertebrates’ outsize influence on their ecosystems, describing how giant clams filter pathogenic bacteria from water and how coral provide protection from waves and erosion for the crustaceans, fish, and other creatures that live on reefs." Claudia De Luca of Earth.org wrote that "Harvell leads readers in her underwater adventures, from a submarine lab in the Caribbean to Fiji’s Great Sea Reef, guiding them through overlooked marvels and biological adaptations that, through her storytelling, become actual superpowers." == References ==


id: wild-animals-i-have-known-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Animals_I_Have_Known-0.md
category: reference
title: Wild Animals I Have Known
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Animals_I_Have_Known
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:13.381143+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: wild-animals-i-have-known-20260505-0
summary:
Wild Animals I Have Known is an 1898 book by naturalist and author Ernest Thompson Seton. The first entry in a new genre of realistic wild-animal fiction, Seton's first collection of short stories quickly became one of the most popular books of its day. "Lobo the King of Currumpaw", the first story in the collection, was based upon Seton's experience hunting wolves in the southwestern United States. It became a classic, setting the tone for his future works that would similarly depict animals—especially predators who were often demonized in literature—as compassionate, individualistic beings. Several years after its publication, Seton and his works came under fire during the nature fakers controversy, which began in 1903 when naturalist John Burroughs published an essay called "Real and Sham Natural History" in The Atlantic Monthly. In particular Burroughs blamed Seton's collection of stories for founding the sentimental animal story genre, which he felt featured fabricated events and wild animal behaviors; he even amended the title of the collection to Wild Animals I Alone Have Known. == Contents == Lobo, the King of Currumpaw Silverspot, the Story of a Crow Raggylug, the Story of a Cottontail Rabbit Bingo, the Story of My Dog The Springfield


id: bicameral-mentality-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality-0.md
category: reference
title: Bicameral mentality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:16.060514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bicameral-mentality-20260505-0
summary:
Bicameral mentality is a psychological hypothesis proposed by American psychologist Julian Jaynes. It suggests that early modern humans experienced thoughts and emotions not as originating within themselves but as commands from external "gods". According to the theory, the human mind once functioned with a division in which one part generated verbal instructions while a second part obeyed, forming a "bicameral mind". The eventual collapse of this mental structure is proposed to have led to the development of self-reflective consciousness in humans. The term was coined by Jaynes, who presented the idea in his 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, wherein he makes the case that a bicameral mentality was the "normal and ubiquitous state" of the human mind as recently as 3,000 years ago, at the end of the Bronze Age. == The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind == Jaynes uses "bicameral" (two chambers) to describe a mental state in which the experiences and memories of the right hemisphere of the brain are transmitted to the left hemisphere via auditory hallucinations. The metaphor is based on the idea of lateralization of brain function, although each half of a


id: bicameral-mentality-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality-1.md
category: reference
title: Bicameral mentality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:16.060514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bicameral-mentality-20260505-0
summary:
=== Jaynes's evidence === Jaynes built a case for this hypothesis that human brains existed in a bicameral state until as recently as 3,000 years ago by citing evidence from many diverse sources, including historical literature. He took an interdisciplinary approach, drawing data from many different fields. Citing Dodds, Snell, and Adkins, Jaynes proposed that until roughly the times written about in Homer's Iliad, humans did not generally have the self-awareness characteristic of consciousness as most people experience it today. Rather, the bicameral individual was guided by mental commands believed to be issued by external "gods"—commands that were recorded in ancient myths, legends, and historical accounts. This is exemplified in not only the commands given to characters in ancient epics but also the very muses of Greek mythology who "sang" the poems. According to Jaynes, the ancients literally heard muses as the direct source of their music and poetry. Jaynes asserts that in the Iliad and sections of the Old Testament, no mention is made of any kind of cognitive processes such as introspection, and there is no apparent indication that the writers were self-aware. Jaynes suggests that the older portions of the Old Testament (such as the Book of


id: bicameral-mentality-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality-2.md
category: reference
title: Bicameral mentality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:16.060514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bicameral-mentality-20260505-0
summary:
=== Popular reception === Early coverage by Sam Keen in the November 1977 issue of Psychology Today considered Jaynes's hypothesis worthy and offered conditional support, arguing the notion deserves further study. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind was a successful work of popular science, selling out the first print run before a second could replace it. It received dozens of positive book reviews, including those by well-known critics such as John Updike in The New Yorker, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in the New York Times, and Marshall McLuhan in the Toronto Globe and Mail. Articles on Jaynes and his ideas appeared in Time in 1977, and in Quest/78 in 1978. The book was nominated for the National Book Award in Contemporary Thought in 1978. Philip K. Dick, Terence McKenna, and David Bowie have all cited the book as an influence. === Scholarly reactions === According to Jaynes, language is a necessary but not sufficient condition for consciousness: Language existed thousands of years earlier, but consciousness did not emerge as soon as language did. The idea that language is a necessary component of subjective consciousness and more abstract forms of thinking has gained the support of proponents including


id: bicameral-mentality-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality-3.md
category: reference
title: Bicameral mentality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:16.060514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bicameral-mentality-20260505-0
summary:
==== Individual scholars' comments ==== Sociologist W. T. Jones asked in 1979, "Why, despite its implausibility, is [Jaynes's] book taken seriously by thoughtful and intelligent people?" Jones agreed with Jaynes that "the language in which talk about consciousness is conducted is metaphorical", but he contradicted the basis of Jaynes's argument – that metaphor creates consciousness – by asserting that "language (and specifically metaphor) does not create, it discovers, the similarities that language marks". Jones also argued that three "cosmological orientations" biased Jaynes's thinking: 1) "hostility to Darwin" and natural selection; 2) a "longing for 'lost bicamerality'" (Jones accused Jaynes of holding that "we would all be better off if 'everyone' were once again schizophrenic"); 3) a "desire for a sweeping, all-inclusive formula that explains everything that has happened". Jones concluded that "those who share these biases ... are likely to find the book convincing; those who do not will reject [Jaynes's] arguments". Walter J. Ong noted that the Homeric Iliad is a structurally oral epic poem so, he asserted, the very different cultural approach of oral culture is sufficient justification for the apparent different mentalities in the poem. Philosopher Daniel Dennett suggested that Jaynes may have been wrong about some


id: bicameral-mentality-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality-4.md
category: reference
title: Bicameral mentality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameral_mentality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:16.060514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bicameral-mentality-20260505-0
summary:
=== Literature === A number of publications discuss and expand on Julian Jaynes's theory, including three books by Brian J. McVeigh (one of Jaynes' graduate students) which expand on Jaynes' theories: Kuijsten, Marcel (2007). Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited. Julian Jaynes Society. ISBN 978-0-9790744-1-7. A collection of essays on consciousness and the bicameral mind theory, with contributors including psychological anthropologist Brian J. McVeigh, psychologists John Limber and Scott Greer, clinical psychologist John Hamilton, philosophers Jan Sleutels and David Stove, and sinologist Michael Carr (see shi "personator"). The book also contains an extensive biography of Julian Jaynes by historian of psychology William Woodward and June Tower, and a foreword by neuroscientist Michael Persinger. Jaynes, Julian (2012). Kuijsten, Marcel (ed.). The Julian Jaynes Collection. Julian Jaynes Society. ISBN 978-0-9790744-2-4. A collection of many of the lectures and articles by Jaynes relevant to his theory (including some that were previously unpublished), along with interviews and question and answer sessions where Jaynes addresses misconceptions about the theory and extends the theory into new areas. Cohn, James (2013). The Minds of the Bible: Speculations on the Cultural Evolution of Human Consciousness. Julian Jaynes Society. Examines the evidence for


id: brain-renaissance-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Renaissance-0.md
category: reference
title: Brain Renaissance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Renaissance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:17.212307+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brain-renaissance-20260505-0
summary:
Brain Renaissance is a book written by Marco Catani and Stefano Sandrone. It was published on the 500th anniversary of the birth and the 450th anniversary of the death of the anatomist Andreas Vesalius. In 2016 Brain Renaissance won the biennial Award for Outstanding Book in the History of the Neurosciences presented by the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences. == Synopsis == The 304-page book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the biography of Andreas Vesalius, one of the greatest anatomists of all time. The second parts provides a modern translation from Latin of Vesalius' original book on the brain, namely the seventh book of De Humani Corporis Fabrica. The third part tells a 500-year story behind some of the most important discoveries in neuroscience, while relating the findings of Vesalius with the subsequent development of neuroscience. In these pages the reader becomes familiar with the ebb and flow of many ideas that had a significant impact in the history of neuroscience. At the end of the book the authors have added an appendix with the figures and captions from the seventh book of the Fabrica. == Reception == Alison Abbott dedicated a


id: brain-rules-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Rules-0.md
category: reference
title: Brain Rules
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Rules
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:18.414265+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brain-rules-20260505-0
summary:
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School is a book written by John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist. The book has tried to explain how the brain works in twelve perspectives: exercise, survival, wiring, attention, short-term memory, long-term memory, sleep, stress, multisensory perception, vision, gender and exploration. Each chapter demonstrates things scientists already know about the brain, and things we as people do that can affect how our brain will develop. == Background == When the author has encountered certain articles and books with startling claims, such as, "Mozart Effect", on how brain functions and how we should teach or do business, he did not find any supporting evidence in brain science literature he was familiar with. He has concluded that all these misconceptions are there because brain scientists have not sufficiently talked to people at other domains, such as teachers, business professionals, education majors, etc. Therefore, he has decided to close this gap by writing this book. In this book, Medina cites only research that has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and that has been successfully replicated. The author has listed all the references he has used here Archived 2018-03-24 at the Wayback Machine.


id: the-brain-that-changes-itself-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_that_Changes_Itself-0.md
category: reference
title: The Brain that Changes Itself
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_that_Changes_Itself
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:19.605319+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-brain-that-changes-itself-20260505-0
summary:
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science is a book on neuroplasticity by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge. == Content == The book is a collection of stories of doctors and patients showing that the human brain is capable of undergoing change, including stories of recovering use of paralyzed body parts, deaf people learning to hear, and others getting relief from pain using exercises to retrain neural pathways. Doidge also covers scientists who first identified neuroplasticity, the subjects of persistent pain, sexual attraction and love, how culture impacts the changing brain, the developing pediatric brain and the preservation of the geriatric brain. The book contains 11 chapters: A Woman Perpetually Falling, Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses Building Herself, a Better Brain A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself Redesigning the Brain, A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems Acquiring Tastes and Loves What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love Midnight Resurrections, Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again Brain Lock Unlocked, Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, Obsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits


id: the-computer-and-the-brain-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_and_the_Brain-0.md
category: reference
title: The Computer and the Brain
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_and_the_Brain
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:20.727911+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-computer-and-the-brain-20260505-0
summary:
The Computer and the Brain is an unfinished book by mathematician John von Neumann, begun shortly before his death and first published in 1958. Von Neumann was an important figure in computer science, and the book discusses how the brain can be viewed as a computing machine. The book is speculative in nature, but von Neumann discusses several important differences between brains and computers of his day (such as processing speed and parallelism), as well as suggesting directions for future research. At only 96 pages, the book was originally intended for Yale's Silliman lectures, but it was published posthumously. The first edition was published in 1958 with a preface by Klara Dan von Neumann. The second edition, published in 2000, contains a foreword by Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland that places von Neumann's views in the context of science at that time. The third edition, published in 2012, features a foreword by Ray Kurzweil. It has the ISBN 9780300181111. == See also == Computational theory of mind == References == == External links == Leydesdorff, Loet (2016). "The Code of Mathematics: John von Neumann's The Computer and the Brain".


id: connectome-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectome_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Connectome (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectome_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:21.954926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: connectome-book-20260505-0
summary:
Connectome: How the Brain's Wiring Makes Us Who We Are (2012) is a book by Sebastian Seung. It introduces basic concepts in neuroscience and then elaborates on the field of connectomics, that is, how to scan, decode, compare, and understand patterns in brain connectivity. The book concludes with musings on cryonics and mind uploading. It was selected by The Wall Street Journal as Top Ten Nonfiction of 2012. == Book outline == === Introduction === Seung frames the idea of connectomics and argues that "You are more than your genes. You are your connectome." === Ch. 1: Genius and Madness === Seung introduces the 19th-century idea of phrenology and its modern-day counterpart, which he calls "neo-phrenology", i.e., the idea that sizes of brain regions play a role in intelligence (e.g., Einstein's enlarged inferior parietal lobule) or mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia and autism). That said, Seung emphasizes that these size correlations only show up for large samples and cannot necessarily predict what will happen in any individual's brain. === Ch. 2: Border Disputes === Seung discusses localization maps of the brain that attempt to confine particular functions to particular regions. For instance, phantom-limb pain is hypothesized to result when brain regions


id: connectome-book-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectome_(book)-1.md
category: reference
title: Connectome (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectome_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:21.954926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: connectome-book-20260505-0
summary:
== Reactions == Abigail Zuger characterized Connectome as a book arguing that we are more than just our genes. She adds: "it is a testament to Dr. Seung's remarkable clarity of exposition that the reader is swept along with his enthusiasm". Terry Sejnowski echoed this sentiment about the book's style: "With the first-person flavour of James Watson's Double Helix—an account of how DNA's structure was discovered—Connectome gives a sense of the excitement on the cutting edge of neuroscience." Susan Okie affirms that "Seung is a clear, lively writer who chooses vivid examples," though she expresses skepticism about the "science-fiction fantasy that, one day, a human being's connectome could be simulated and 'uploaded' onto a computer". Daniel Levitin praised Connectome as "the best lay book on brain science I've ever read." He says it is "witty and exceptionally clear" and includes "the equivalent of a college course on neuroscience". That said, Levitin raised the caveat that a person's connectome by itself is not the whole story of who that person is, because beyond understanding neural wiring, "we also need to know the precise chemical soup du jour in the brain" as well as the update rules for how experiences change brain


id: delusions-of-gender-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusions_of_Gender-0.md
category: reference
title: Delusions of Gender
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusions_of_Gender
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:23.086906+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: delusions-of-gender-20260505-0
summary:
Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference is a 2010 book by Cordelia Fine, written to debunk the idea that men and women are hardwired with different interests. The author criticizes claimed evidence of the existence of innate biological differences between men and women's minds as being faulty and exaggerated, and while taking a position of agnosticism with respect to inherent differences relating to interest/skill in "understanding the world" versus "understanding people", reviews literature demonstrating how cultural and societal beliefs contribute to sex differences. == Contents == In the first part of the book, "'Half Changed World', Half Changed Minds", Fine argues that social and environmental factors strongly influence the mind, challenging a "biology as fallback" view that, since society is equal now for the sexes, persistent inequalities must be due to biology. She also discusses the history and impact of gender stereotypes and the ways that science has been used to justify sexism. In the second part of the book, "Neurosexism", Fine criticizes the current available arguments and studies supporting sex differences in the mind, focusing on methodological weaknesses and implicit assumptions. Within neuroscientific investigations, these include small samples that give rise to unreliable, spurious


id: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals-0.md
category: reference
title: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:24.321203+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-0
summary:
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals is Charles Darwin's third major work of evolutionary theory, following On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). Initially intended as a chapter in Descent of Man, Expression grew in length and was published separately in 1872. Darwin explores the biological aspects of emotional behaviour and the animal origins of human characteristics like smiling and frowning, shrugging shoulders, the lifting of eyebrows in surprise, and the baring of teeth in an angry sneer. Though Expression has never been out of print since its first publication, it has also been described as Darwin's "forgotten masterpiece". Psychologist Paul Ekman has argued that Expression is the foundational text for modern scientific psychology. Before Darwin, human emotional life had posed problems to the traditional philosophical categories of mind and body. Darwin's interest in the subject can be traced to his time as an Edinburgh medical student and the 1824 edition of Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression by Charles Bell, which argued for a spiritual dimension to the subject. In contrast, Darwin's biological approach links emotions to their origins in animal behaviour and allows cultural factors


id: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals-1.md
category: reference
title: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:24.321203+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-0
summary:
=== Universal nature of expression === In the book, Darwin notes the universal nature of expressions: "The young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements." This connection of mental states to the neurological organisation of movement, as suggested by the words motive and emotion, is central to Darwin's understanding of emotion. Darwin displayed several biographical links between his psychological life and locomotion: taking long, solitary walks around Shrewsbury after his mother died in 1817; in his seashore rambles near Edinburgh with the influential Lamarckian thinker Robert Edmond Grant in 1826 and 1827; and in laying out the sandwalk, his "thinking path", at Down House in Kent in 1846. These aspects of Darwin's personal life are discussed in the psychoanalytic biography Charles Darwin, A Biography (1990) by John Bowlby. Darwin contrasts his notion of a shared human and animal ancestry with the ideas of Charles Bell which were aligned with natural theology. Bell claimed that facial muscles were designed to express uniquely human feelings. In the fifth edition of The Anatomy and Philosophy of Expression (1865), Bell stated: "Expression is to passion what language is to


id: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals-2.md
category: reference
title: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:24.321203+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-0
summary:
Because of the limited printing techniques of the 1800s, photographs were usually tipped into the pages of books. This process was expensive and labour-intensive since each photograph had to be printed and tipped in individually. Darwin proposed using heliotype to print the photographs to his publisher—John Murray—believing it would be cheaper. It allowed the illustrations to be bound directly with the pages of text, and the printing plates could be reused, which reduced costs. The printing company Darwin chose for the photographs proved to be expensive. Robert F. Cooke, John Murray III's cousin and partner in his publishing company, expressed concern about the increasing production costs and warned Darwin that including the photographs "will make a terrible hole in the profits of each edition". Darwin proceeded with the printing process, and most of Expression was illustrated by photographic prints—with seven heliotype plates; figures 19–21 were printed using woodcuts. The published book contains the work of several artists: Engravings of the Darwin family's domestic pets by the zoological illustrator T. W. Wood Drawings and sketches by Briton Rivière, A. May, and Joseph Wolf Portraits by the Swedish photographer Oscar Rejlander Anatomical diagrams by Charles Bell and Friedrich Henle Illustrative quotations from


id: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals-3.md
category: reference
title: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expression_of_the_Emotions_in_Man_and_Animals
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:24.321203+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals-20260505-0
summary:
==== Evolutionary psychology ==== William James followed up Darwin's ideas in his What Is An Emotion? (1884). In the James–Lange theory of emotions, James develops Darwin's emphasis on the physical aspects, including the autonomically mediated, visceral components of emotions. In Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage (1915) by Walter Cannon, Cannon introduces the phrase fight-or-flight response, formulating emotions in terms of strategies for interpersonal behaviour and showing how these emotions are amplified in groups or crowds—herd behavior. Psychological theories of emotion have also been set out in the Two-factor theory of emotion put forward by Schachter and Singer, the Papez–Maclean hypothesis, and the theory of constructed emotion. Theories on somatic factors in personality were elaborated by psychiatrist Ernst Kretschmer; by the neurologist Paul Schilder, with his notion of body image in The Image and Appearance of the Human Body (1950); and in the concepts of somatotypology proposed by William Herbert Sheldon in the 1940s—now largely discredited. Zoologist Desmond Morris further explored the biological aspects of human emotions in his extensively illustrated scientific book Manwatching (1978), and recent research has confirmed that while cultural factors are critical to determining gestures, genetic factors are crucial to the formation of facial


id: the-female-brain-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Female_Brain_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: The Female Brain (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Female_Brain_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:25.486349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-female-brain-book-20260505-0
summary:
The Female Brain is a book written by the American neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine in 2006. The main thesis of the book is that women's behavior is different from that of men due, in large measure, to hormonal differences. The book was a commercial success but received mixed reviews due to questions about its scientific validity. The author has been criticized for unsubstantiated claims and irrelevant citations. == Structure == Brizendine's main thesis is that the human female brain is affected by the following hormones: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, oxytocin, neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin), and that there are differences in the architecture of the brain (prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala) that regulate such hormones and neurotransmitters. The book has seven chapters, each one of which is dedicated to a specific part of a woman's life, such as puberty, motherhood, and menopause, or a specific dimension of a women's emotional life, such as feelings, love and trust, and sex. The book also includes three appendices on hormone therapy, postpartum depression, and sexual orientation. == Reception == The book sold well but received mixed reviews because a number of journalists, popular science writers, and scientists questioned the validity of some of the content. Some of the


id: the-gap-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: The Gap (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:26.667538+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-gap-book-20260505-0
summary:
The Gap is a 2013 nonfiction book by Thomas Suddendorf that discusses what cognitive qualities separate humans from other animals, and how they evolved. The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us From Other Animals. Basic Books: New York ISBN 978-0-465-03014-9 == Reviews == Anil Ananthaswamy (27 January 2014). What separates us from other animals? New Scientist Robyn Williams (March 2014). The science of what separates us from other animals. Australian Book Review Joseph Maldonado (2013). The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us from Other Animals. Psych Central. Retrieved on October 5, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-gap-the-science-of-what-separates-us-from-other-animals/00018372 Steven Mithen (3 April 2013). Most of Us Are Part Neanderthal. The New York Review of Books Wray Herbert (10 February 2014). Social Animals - Pondering the limits of anthropomorphism. The Weekly Standard Vol. 19, No. 21. Retrieved on October 5, 2014, from [1] David Barash (15 November 2013). Book Review: 'The Gap' by Thomas Suddendorf - What makes humans unique—tools? Language? Cooking?. The Wall Street Journal Nina Bai (17 October 2013). MIND Reviews: The Gap. Scientific American Mind volume 24 issue 5. Eric Michael Johnson (20 March 2014). The Gap: The Science of What Separates Us From Other Animals, by Thomas Suddendorf. The


id: how-to-create-a-mind-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Mind-0.md
category: reference
title: How to Create a Mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:27.810593+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: how-to-create-a-mind-20260505-0
summary:
How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed is a non-fiction book about brains, both human and artificial, by the inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. First published in hardcover on November 13, 2012 by Viking Press it became a New York Times Best Seller. It has received attention from The Washington Post, The New York Times and The New Yorker. Kurzweil describes a series of thought experiments which suggest to him that the brain contains a hierarchy of pattern recognizers. Based on this he introduces his Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind (PRTM). He says the neocortex contains 300 million very general pattern recognition circuits and argues that they are responsible for most aspects of human thought. He also suggests that the brain is a "recursive probabilistic fractal" whose line of code is represented within the 30-100 million bytes of compressed code in the genome. Kurzweil then explains that a computer version of this design could be used to create an artificial intelligence more capable than the human brain. It would employ techniques such as hidden Markov models and genetic algorithms, strategies Kurzweil used successfully in his years as a commercial developer of speech recognition software. Artificial brains


id: how-to-create-a-mind-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Mind-1.md
category: reference
title: How to Create a Mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:27.810593+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: how-to-create-a-mind-20260505-0
summary:
Kurzweil next writes about creating a digital brain inspired by the biological brain he has been describing. One existing effort he points to is Henry Markram's Blue Brain Project, which is attempting to create a full brain simulation by 2023. Kurzweil says the full molecular modeling they are attempting will be too slow, and that they will have to swap in simplified models to speed up initial self-organization. Kurzweil believes these large scale simulations are valuable, but says a more explicit "functional algorithmic model" will be required to achieve human levels of intelligence. Kurzweil is unimpressed with neural networks and their potential while he's very bullish on vector quantization, hidden Markov models and genetic algorithms since he used all three successfully in his speech recognition work. Kurzweil equates pattern recognizers in the neocortex with statements in the LISP programming language, which is also hierarchical. He also says his approach is similar to Jeff Hawkins' hierarchical temporal memory, although he feels the hierarchical hidden Markov models have an advantage in pattern detection. Kurzweil touches on some modern applications of advanced AI including Google's self-driving cars, IBM's Watson which beat the best human players at the game Jeopardy!, the Siri personal assistant


id: how-to-create-a-mind-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Mind-2.md
category: reference
title: How to Create a Mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Create_a_Mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:27.810593+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: how-to-create-a-mind-20260505-0
summary:
Simson Garfinkel, an entrepreneur and professor of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School, says Kurzweil's pattern recognition theory of mind (PRTM) is misnamed because of the word "theory", he feels it is not a theory since it cannot be tested. Garfinkel rejects Kurzweil's one-algorithm approach instead saying "the brain is likely to have many more secrets and algorithms than the one Kurzweil describes". Garfinkel caricatures Kurzweil's plan for artificial intelligence as "build something that can learn, then give it stuff to learn", which he thinks is hardly the "secret of human thought" promised by the subtitle of the book. Gary Marcus, a research psychologist and professor at New York University, says only the name PRTM is new. He says the basic theory behind PRTM is "in the spirit of" a model of vision known as the neocognitron, introduced in 1980. He also says PRTM even more strongly resembles Hierarchical Temporal Memory promoted by Jeff Hawkins in recent years. Marcus feels any theory like this needs to be proven with an actual working computer model. And to that end he says that "a whole slew" of machines have been programmed with an approach similar to PRTM, and they have often


id: i-of-the-vortex-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_of_the_Vortex-0.md
category: reference
title: I of the Vortex
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_of_the_Vortex
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:28.930745+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: i-of-the-vortex-20260505-0
summary:
I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self is a popular science book by the Colombian neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás, published in February 2002 by MIT Press. and whose Spanish edition features a prologue by his friend, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez. The book is considered a best seller for scientific dissemination and won the "best health book" award at the International Latino Book Award Fair in BookExpo America 2013, in New York, and according to Google Scholar has received more than 1000 citations. == Content == The book traces the history of neuroscience in its search for trying to explain the functioning of the mind and the brain. In addition, the author includes some of his ideas and research, published in international research journals, but prepared for a general public. == See also == Human evolution Neuroscience == References == == External links == NYU Medical Center Rodolfo Llinás Librería Norma The MIT Press: I of the vortex


id: incognito-the-secret-lives-of-the-brain-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incognito:_The_Secret_Lives_of_the_Brain-0.md
category: reference
title: Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incognito:_The_Secret_Lives_of_the_Brain
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:30.074718+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: incognito-the-secret-lives-of-the-brain-20260505-0
summary:
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain is a 2011 New York Times best-selling nonfiction book by American neuroscientist David Eagleman, an adjunct professor at Stanford University. The book explores the juxtaposition of the conscious and the unconscious mind, with Eagleman summing up the text's themes with the question: "If the conscious mind—the part you consider to be you—is just the tip of the iceberg, what is the rest doing?" In Incognito, Eagleman contends that most of the operations of the brain are inaccessible to awareness, such that the conscious mind "is like a stowaway on a transatlantic steam ship, taking credit for the journey without acknowledging the massive engineering underfoot." == Overview == Incognito presents Eagleman's personal neuroscientific beliefs rather than detailed science or philosophy. It offers an enthusiastic exploration of how modern neuroscience reshapes our understanding of human nature and consciousness, focusing on its broader implications as a worldview rather than on technical or philosophical analysis. Eagleman argues that just as past scientific discoveries displaced humankind from the cosmic center, brain science reveals that consciousness is not central to the mind but a small, uncertain part of vast unconscious processes, where most mental activity operates "incognito". == Reception


id: irreducible-mind-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreducible_Mind-0.md
category: reference
title: Irreducible Mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreducible_Mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:31.247137+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: irreducible-mind-20260505-0
summary:
Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century is a 2007 psychological book by Edward Francis Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, Adam Crabtree, Alan Gauld, Michael Grosso, and Bruce Greyson. It attempts to bridge contemporary cognitive psychology and mainstream neuroscience with "rogue phenomena", which the authors argue exist in near-death experiences, psychophysiological influence, automatism, memory, genius, and mystical states. The authors' approach repudiates the conventional theory of human consciousness as a material epiphenomenon that can be fully explained in terms of physical brain processes and advances the mind as an entity independent of the brain or body. They advance an alternative "transmission" or "filter" theory of the mind-brain relationship. In doing so they explain how dualism may be a more fundamental theory that rejects a materialistic perspective of consciousness. == Authors == The authorship of the book is diverse, with representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. The book is interdisciplinary in that the authors also come from various fields of psychology, science studies, and psychical research. Lead author Edward F. Kelly is Professor of Research in the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. == Contents == The book begins by presenting


id: livewired-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livewired-0.md
category: reference
title: Livewired
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livewired
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:32.451499+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: livewired-20260505-0
summary:
Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain is a non-fiction book by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford University. The book explores and extends the phenomenon of brain plasticity, with the term livewired proposed as a term to supersede plastic. As of late 2020, the book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. A Kirkus review described the book as "outstanding popular science," while New Scientist magazine wrote that "Eagleman brings the subject to life in a way I haven’t seen other writers achieve before." Harvard Business Review wrote that Livewired "gets the science right and makes it accessible... completely upending our basic sense of what the brain is in the process." The Wall Street Journal wrote that "since the passing of Isaac Asimov, we haven't had a working scientist like Eagleman, who engages his ideas in such a variety of modes. Livewired reads wonderfully, like what a book would be if it were written by Oliver Sacks and William Gibson, sitting on Carl Sagan's front lawn.” == References == == External links == Livewired website (includes excerpts)


id: the-man-who-tasted-shapes-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Tasted_Shapes-0.md
category: reference
title: The Man Who Tasted Shapes
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Tasted_Shapes
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:33.566909+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-man-who-tasted-shapes-20260505-0
summary:
The Man Who Tasted Shapes is a book by neurologist Richard Cytowic about synesthesia. == Summary == The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, Cytowic describes his chance encounter during a dinner party on February 10, 1980 with MW, the "Man Who Tasted Shapes." Cytowic describes how his host reported that "There aren't enough points on the chicken!" and how this chance comment led to Cytowic's investigations of the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia. Early chapters include background information on how the brain is organized, drawn mainly from Paul D. MacLean's Triune Brain theory. Cytowic describes MW's synesthesia, noting the consistency of his reports, that such experiences are "generic" and consistent over time. Chapters dealing with more scientific theories, data and experimentation are alternated with autobiographical and more personal chapters describing the historical details of Cytowic's investigations into synesthesia. In order to explore the biological basis of synesthesia, Cytowic describes experiments in which he tested how MW's synesthesia was reduced by MW's daily routine of stimulants such as nicotine and caffeine and depressants such as alcohol. In more intensive investigations of the effects of different psychoactive substances, Cytowic notes that stimulants, including a dose of amphetamine, decreased


id: a-mind-of-its-own-how-your-brain-distorts-and-deceives-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mind_of_Its_Own:_How_Your_Brain_Distorts_and_Deceives-0.md
category: reference
title: A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mind_of_Its_Own:_How_Your_Brain_Distorts_and_Deceives
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:37.024502+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: a-mind-of-its-own-how-your-brain-distorts-and-deceives-20260505-0
summary:
A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives is the first book written by Cordelia Fine, published in 2005 by W.W. Norton & Company. It is made of eight chapters that explore how the brain distorts reality and exhibits biased thinking. In The Quarterly Review of Biology, Massimo Pigliucci described the book as "a short and sensible manual for its [the brain's] proper care and usage". Richard Lipkin also reviewed A Mind of Its Own in Scientific American Mind. A Mind of Its Own was longlisted for the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books General Prize in 2007. == References ==


id: the-mind-s-eye-sacks-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind's_Eye_(Sacks_book)-0.md
category: reference
title: The Mind's Eye (Sacks book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mind's_Eye_(Sacks_book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:38.171687+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-mind-s-eye-sacks-book-20260505-0
summary:
The Mind's Eye is a 2010 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks. The book contains case studies of people whose ability to navigate the world visually and communicate with others have been compromised, including the author's own experience with cancer of the eye and his lifelong inability to recognise faces. == Case studies == One of the case studies concerns Susan R. Barry, nicknamed "Stereo Sue," whom Sacks wrote about in 2006. Due to strabismus, she lived without stereoscopic vision for 48 years, but became able to see stereoscopically through vision therapy. Another case study is of the acclaimed concert pianist Lilian Kallir, who suffered from posterior cortical atrophy yet was surprisingly resilient despite the numerous deficits it caused; the effect on her musical abilities was particularly notable. While her memory and personality were intact, she had problems processing visual stimuli, and was no longer able to read words or music, yet for years lived an extremely active life, frequently performing entirely from memory, with no one but her husband knowing she had any problems. Another case study was about a vivacious, social woman named Pat who suffered a stroke that resulted in aphasia; a complete inability to speak or understand


id: musicophilia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicophilia-0.md
category: reference
title: Musicophilia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicophilia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:39.398520+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: musicophilia-20260505-0
summary:
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain is a 2007 book by Oliver Sacks. It explores a range of psychological and physiological ailments and their connections to music. It is divided into four parts, each with a distinctive theme: Haunted by Music examines mysterious onsets of musicality and musicophilia (and musicophobia); A Range of Musicality looks at musical oddities musical synesthesia; parts three and four are entitled Memory, Movement, and Music and Emotion, Identity, and Music. Each part has between six and eight chapters, each of which is in turn dedicated to a particular case study (or several related case studies) that fit the overarching theme of the section. Four case studies from the book are featured in the NOVA program Musical Minds aired on June 30, 2009. == Purpose == According to Sacks, Musicophilia was written in an attempt to widen the general populace's understanding of music and its effects on the brain. As Sacks states at the outset of the book's preface, music is omnipresent, influencing human's everyday lives in how we think and act. However, unlike other animal species (such as birds) whose musical prowess is easier to understand in relation on a biological/evolutionary level, humanity's draw


id: musicophilia-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicophilia-1.md
category: reference
title: Musicophilia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicophilia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:39.398520+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: musicophilia-20260505-0
summary:
=== Behavioral effects === Certain portions of the brain are associated with how we use the brain to interact with music. For example, the cerebellum, a portion that coordinates movement and stores muscle memory, responds well to the introduction of music. For example, an Alzheimer's patient would not be able to recognize his wife, but would still remember how to play the piano because he dedicated this knowledge to muscle memory when he was young. Those memories never fade. Another example is the Putamen. This portion of the brain processes rhythm and regulates body movement and coordination. When introduced to music, if the amount of dopamine in the area is increased, it increases our response to rhythm. By doing this, music has the ability to temporarily stop the symptoms of such diseases as Parkinson's Disease. The music serves as a cane to these patients, and when the music is taken away, the symptoms return. When it comes to which music people respond best to, it is a matter of individual background. In patients with dementia, it is found that most patients respond to music from their youth, rather than relying on a certain rhythm or element. Neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya explains


id: neural-basis-of-self-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_basis_of_self-0.md
category: reference
title: Neural basis of self
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_basis_of_self
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:40.576831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neural-basis-of-self-20260505-0
summary:
The neural basis of self is the idea of using modern concepts of neuroscience to describe and understand the biological processes that underlie humans' perception of self-understanding. The neural basis of self is closely related to the psychology of self with a deeper foundation in neurobiology. == Experimental techniques == In order to understand how the human mind makes the human perception of self, there are different experimental techniques. One of the more common methods of determining brain areas that pertain to different mental processes is by using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), the results of which are often used to determine activation levels in various portions of the brain, since fMRI measures blood flow in the brain. Areas with higher blood flow as shown on fMRI scans are said to be activated. This is due to the assumption that portions of the brain receiving increased blood flow are being used more heavily during the moment of scanning. Positron emission tomography is another method used to study brain activity. == Self-awareness == === Anatomy === Two areas of the brain that are important in retrieving self-knowledge are the medial prefrontal cortex and the medial posterior parietal cortex. The posterior cingulate


id: neural-basis-of-self-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_basis_of_self-1.md
category: reference
title: Neural basis of self
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_basis_of_self
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:40.576831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neural-basis-of-self-20260505-0
summary:
=== Autism === Autism is a disorder which impairs social interactions, communication, and behaviors. A new approach to studying autism is to focus on individuals’ perception of self rather than understanding the individual's social interactions. A common thought is that understanding of the differences between the self and others is impaired. However, the exact biological mechanism of self-understanding in autistic children is currently unknown. It has been found that there are significant differences in brain activation in self and other situations in autistic children when compared to children who do not have autism. In adults who do not have autism, during self-recognition tasks, the inferior frontal gyrus and the inferior parietal lobule in the right hemisphere are activated. Children who do not have autism show activation in these areas when performing face processing tasks for their own faces and those of others. Children with autism, however, only show activation in these areas when recognizing their own faces. The activation in the inferior frontal gyrus is less in children with autism than in those who do not have autism. === Schizophrenia === The cortical midline structure is extremely important in the understanding of the self, especially during the task of self-reflection.


id: organization-of-behavior-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_Behavior-0.md
category: reference
title: Organization of Behavior
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_Behavior
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:42.853121+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: organization-of-behavior-20260505-0
summary:
Organization of Behavior is a 1949 book by the psychologist Donald O. Hebb. One of the main takeaways was that it proposed a theory about learning based on conjunctures on neural networks and synapses being able to strengthen or weaken over time. == Reception == The author Richard Webster identifies Organization of Behavior as the most influential outline of Hebb's postulate. According to Webster, the hypothesis has classic status within science and is supported by recent research. == References == === Bibliography === Books


id: the-organized-mind-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organized_Mind-0.md
category: reference
title: The Organized Mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Organized_Mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:44.073064+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-organized-mind-20260505-0
summary:
The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload is a bestselling popular science book written by the McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, and first published by Dutton Penguin in the United States and Canada in 2014. It is Levitin's 3rd consecutive best-seller, debuting at #2 on the New York Times Best Seller List, #1 on the Canadian best-seller lists, #1 on Amazon, and #5 on The London Times bestseller list. In The Organized Mind, Levitin demonstrates how the Information Age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data, and uses the latest brain science to explain how the brain can organize this flood of information. The book is divided in three parts. The first part focuses on attention. Levitin argues that attention is the most essential mental resource for any organism and describes how the brain's attentional system works: it determines which aspects of the environment an individual will deal with, and what gets passed through to that individual's conscious awareness. The attentional awareness system is the reason one can safely drive or walk to work without noticing most of the buildings or cars one passes by. Additionally, Levitin states that the phrase "paying


id: phantoms-in-the-brain-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantoms_in_the_Brain-0.md
category: reference
title: Phantoms in the Brain
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantoms_in_the_Brain
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:45.266711+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phantoms-in-the-brain-20260505-0
summary:
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind (also published as Phantoms in the Brain: Human Nature and the Architecture of the Mind) is a 1998 popular science book by neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran and New York Times science writer Sandra Blakeslee, discussing neurophysiology and neuropsychology as revealed by case studies of neurological disorders. The book, which began as a lecture presented to the Society for Neuroscience, features a foreword by neuroscientist and author Oliver Sacks. == Synopsis == Ramachandran discusses his work with patients exhibiting phantom limbs, the Capgras delusion, pseudobulbar affect and hemispatial neglect following stroke, and religious experiences associated with epileptic seizure, among other disorders. Ramachandran uses these cases to illustrate the construction of body image, and the functioning of mood, decision-making, self-deception, and artistic skill. In the final chapter of the book, Ramachandran addresses the so-called hard problem of consciousness, discussing qualia and various facets of the self. == Reception == Neurology researcher Michael E. Goldberg, writing for The New York Times, described the book as "enthralling not only for its clear, eloquent descriptions of neurological phenomena, their relationship to physiological mechanisms and their integration with philosophy of mind, but also for its portrait


id: the-primordial-emotions-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Primordial_Emotions-0.md
category: reference
title: The Primordial Emotions
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Primordial_Emotions
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:46.441212+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-primordial-emotions-20260505-0
summary:
The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness is a 2006 book by Australian neuroscientist Derek Denton. == Summary == Denton argues that, if self-awareness and intentionality are intrinsic to consciousness, the primordial emotions such as thirst, hunger and pain (that involve feeling the self and intentionality) are the likely precursors to consciousness; that a kind of non-reflective consciousness evolved along with these feelings and before the emergence of cognition. This opposes the view put by Edelman and others that consciousness emerged after the development of cognitive processes such as the ability to create a scene from diverse sensory inputs. He sees the evolution of consciousness as a gradual, continuous process, beginning in the brain's most primitive regions with non-reflective consciousness of instincts, followed by reflective consciousness of the feelings and impulses associated with these instincts (this subjective experience is what he terms "primordial emotions"), then reflective consciousness of surroundings evolves, followed by the emergence of reflective consciousness of memories and behavioural options. Denton distinguishes between primordial emotions, "imperious states of arousal and compelling intentions to act" (p. 7) driven by activation of interoceptors and involving ancient, lower brain regions such as the medulla, midbrain and hypothalamus, and "classic" emotions, such


id: principles-of-neural-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_Neural_Science-0.md
category: reference
title: Principles of Neural Science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_Neural_Science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:47.618631+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: principles-of-neural-science-20260505-0
summary:
Principles of Neural Science is a neuroscience textbook edited by Columbia University professors Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, and Thomas M. Jessell. First published in 1981 by McGraw-Hill, the original edition was 468 pages, and has now grown to 1,646 pages on the sixth edition. The second edition was published in 1985, third in 1991, fourth in 2000. The fifth was published on October 26, 2012 and included Steven A. Siegelbaum and A. J. Hudspeth as editors. The sixth and latest edition was published on March 8, 2021. == Authors == === Editors === Kandel was one of the recipients of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is currently a professor of biochemistry, molecular biophysics, physiology, cellular biophysics, and psychiatry at Columbia University. He is a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a recipient of the National Medal of Science. Schwartz was a professor of physiology, cellular biophysics, neurology, and psychiatry at Columbia University. Jessell became an editor of the book starting from the third edition. He was a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Hudspeth is a professor of sensory


id: proust-was-a-neuroscientist-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proust_Was_a_Neuroscientist-0.md
category: reference
title: Proust Was a Neuroscientist
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proust_Was_a_Neuroscientist
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:48.758484+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: proust-was-a-neuroscientist-20260505-0
summary:
Proust Was a Neuroscientist is a non-fiction book written by Jonah Lehrer, first published in 2007. In it, Lehrer argues that many 20th and 21st-century discoveries of neuroscience are actually re-discoveries of insights made earlier by various artists, including Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman, Paul Cézanne, Igor Stravinsky, and, as alluded to in the title, Marcel Proust. Lehrer became embroiled in controversy following the publication of his third book, Imagine: How Creativity Works (2012), and his work was subject to charges of plagiarism and fabrication. Though both Imagine and one of his other books, How We Decide, were pulled from publication, Proust Was a Neuroscientist was found by his publisher to be without significant problems and would remain in print. == References ==


id: sleights-of-mind-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleights_of_Mind-0.md
category: reference
title: Sleights of Mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleights_of_Mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:49.893928+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sleights-of-mind-20260505-0
summary:
Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions is a 2010 popular science book, written by neuroscientists Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, with science writer Sandra Blakeslee. Working alongside several magicians, Macknik and Martinez-Conde studied how conjuring techniques trick the brain. Sleights of Mind considers the greater implications of magic and misdirection for clinical conditions such as autism, and for everyday life situations, including choice and trust in personal and business relationships. Sleights of Mind introduces Neuromagic as a new area of scientific endeavor, a discipline aimed to uncover the interaction between brain science and the art of magic. Macknik and Martinez-Conde propose that understanding how the mind perceives magic and illusion will provide a greater understanding of perception and cognition at large. == Synopsis == Macknik and Martinez-Conde say that magic tricks fool us because humans have hardwired processes of attention and awareness that are hackable. Good magicians use our inherent mental and neural limitations against us by leading us to perceive and feel what we are neurologically inclined to. Working with renowned magicians like Apollo Robbins, Teller, Mac King, and James Randi, Macknik and Martinez-Conde research the ways in which the perceptual and


id: the-space-between-our-ears-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Between_Our_Ears-0.md
category: reference
title: The Space Between Our Ears
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Between_Our_Ears
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:51.056850+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-space-between-our-ears-20260505-0
summary:
The Space Between Our Ears: How the Brain Represents Visual Space is a 2001 non-fiction book by Michael J. Morgan, which explores the workings of vision. == Reception == The Space Between Our Ears won the Wellcome Trust Book Prize for science writing. In the Guardian, Steven Rose lauded Morgan's explanations of binocularity and depth perception, but faulted the inclusion of "irrelevant anecdotes, bad poems and even worse jokes". Perception described it as an "intelligent and erudite romp", and commended its appeal to scientists, noting that Morgan sets ideas which (to vision specialists) are of "cosy (...) familiarity" in a "rich context". == References ==


id: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons-0.md
category: reference
title: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:52.249199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-0
summary:
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, also known by its full title The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of The Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery is a science book regarding the brain and its functions by Sam Kean. The Daily Telegraph described it as "A dramatic account of the gruesome accidents that shaped modern neuroscience." == Publication == The book was published in hardback on May 6, 2014 by Little, Brown and Company. == Contents/Synopsis == In The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons, Sam Kean travels through time with stories of startling peculiarity and incredible fascination, stories of neurological curiosities: phantom limbs, cannibalism, Siamese brains and a plethora of other strange, though equally fascinating things. Kean effortlessly ties historical accounts, stories of madness and insanity, with the scientific breakthroughs that often followed. His writing shows that every breakthrough was borne of malady, injury, necessity. === Part I: Gross Anatomy === ==== Introduction ==== Each chapter begins with a rebus, a word puzzle, pertaining to the subject of the chapter. In this introductory section, Kean essentially provides some background information and summarizes how the book will continue. ==== Chapter 1: The Dueling


id: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons-1.md
category: reference
title: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:52.249199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Chapter 3: Wiring and Rewiring ==== Here, Kean introduces the eccentric James Holman. He was a blind explorer, a man who climbed mountains and visited all corners of the globe without sight. He was appointed the Naval Knight of Windsor, which was more illustrious than it sounded. Holman hated being home and often sank into deep bouts of depression when cooped up for too long a time. To get around during his journeys, he carried a cane. He did not use the cane like other blind people did, feeling around with it. He used his cane to strike the ground, causing a click that he could hear. This click, in turn, echoed in his ears, creating what was essentially human echolocation. Kean ties in Holman's use of his cane, to teach his brain to "see", with gray matter and white matter. He also talks extensively about circuits. Circuits essentially make up the brain, every human function being controlled by one. The circuits for breathing and yawning do not have much variation and are extremely simple. In contrast to that, the circuit that connects pictures to words, sounds to pictures (i.e. small children learning to read and associating the word


id: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons-2.md
category: reference
title: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:52.249199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Chapter 5: The Brain's Motor ==== Kean begins the chapter with the sad (fictional) tale of George Dedlow, protagonist of a short story by Silas Weir Mitchell. George Dedlow had fought in the Civil War and in turn had both his arms and both his legs amputated for various reasons. These amputations brought on another neurological phenomenon: phantom limbs. George Dedlow, amongst millions of other war amputees, felt pain in limbs that he did not have. A neuroscientist, Mitchell specialized in examining amputees and was fascinated with them. He examined patients who complained of pain or discomfort in their phantom arms, legs, and genitals. Here, Kean ties the motor and sensory cortexes in. When something is amputated, the respective part of the brain for controlling that part goes black (figuratively). The now obsolete part of the brain is quickly taken over by neighboring brain areas, such as the face or arms. V. S. Ramachandran, a neuroscientist, was also fascinated with amputees and their phantom pains. One of his patients was a man with insistent pain in his arm, an arm that was in fact removed many years prior. Ramachandran proceeded to test out a treatment of his own creation.


id: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons-3.md
category: reference
title: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:52.249199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Chapter 7: Sex and Punishment ==== Harvey Cushing was obsessed with the pituitary gland. He sent his assistant, William Sharp, to retrieve this gland from a giant who had just died, among other things such as the heart, the lungs, and the brain. After retrieving the organs in a hurry, Sharp was brutally yelled at by Cushing because he had forgotten a part he hadn't even known existed. He was later forgiven, as Cushing still had his pituitary. Cushing was absolutely fascinated with the idea of mishaps in the pituitary gland. He often sought out circuses and freak shows in hopes that they would have a giant or a dwarf, and often stopped to talk with them about their lives and their pasts. One such man was one by the name of John who was a giant, a farmer from South Dakota, the man who Cushing's assistant de-organed before his funeral service. The modern study of emotion came about because of James Papez, a neuroanatomist. It is in his chapter that Kean discusses the limbic system of the brain, the hypothalamus, and the amygdala. Kean recalls a story in which a woman named S.M. contracted a rare disease that


id: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons-4.md
category: reference
title: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Dueling_Neurosurgeons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:52.249199+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-tale-of-the-dueling-neurosurgeons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Chapter 10: Honest Lying ==== This chapter covers the mental disorders that afflict those who always lie, compulsively so. It begins with Kean introducing the fact that the Japanese captured 100,000 men, many of whom were British, as prisoners of war. Some British doctors who had been captured noticed that the Japanese were depriving the men of certain nutrients to see the results. The nutrient in question was thiamine, necessary for proper brain function. Without it, many of the prisoners developed beriberi. Korsakoff's Syndrome leads to people lying compulsively, especially brain-damaged alcoholics. Back to before, the brain needs thiamine. Alcohol prevents the intestines from absorbing it, leading to thiamine shortage. Because of this shortage, the brain changes majorly. Another way to lie, other than outright lying, is confabulation. Confabulation is not an outright lie: it happened to the patient at some point, they just cannot recall when. Memories have time stamps, and that time stamp can be corrupted. So a patient might have eaten an exquisite meal twenty years ago on their honeymoon and claimed they ate it yesterday simply because they cannot remember. Confabulation is also a defense mechanism, to protect themselves from embarrassment. When asked how many


id: the-tell-tale-brain-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tell-Tale_Brain-0.md
category: reference
title: The Tell-Tale Brain
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tell-Tale_Brain
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:53.400228+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-tell-tale-brain-20260505-0
summary:
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human is a 2010 nonfiction book by V. S. Ramachandran that explores the uniqueness of human nature from a neurological viewpoint. == Synopsis == Ramachandran discusses seven main concepts which define the human aspect of self and how each may be disrupted by a specific neurological disorder. The concepts are: unity, continuity, embodiment, privacy, social embedding, free will, and self-awareness. In the first chapter, Ramachandran discusses the human ability to change and adapt, illustrating the concept from his work on phantom limbs. The second chapter describes some of his work with visual perception and cognition, addressing the concept of human awareness. In chapter three, he connects ideas about synesthesia to creativity. Chapters four and five talk about mirror neurons, while chapter six discusses human language. Ramachandran proposes "nine laws of aesthetics," which he discusses in chapters seven and eight. The final chapter, chapter nine, "The Ape With A Soul" concerns introspection and human self-awareness. == Reception == Tell-Tale Brain was on the New York Times best-seller list (Number 32 on the Hardcover Nonfiction list). It received mostly positive reviews, with some criticism particularly focusing on Ramachandran's theories about mirror neurons.


id: this-is-your-brain-on-music-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Your_Brain_on_Music-0.md
category: reference
title: This Is Your Brain on Music
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Your_Brain_on_Music
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:54.533539+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: this-is-your-brain-on-music-20260505-0
summary:
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession is a popular science book written by the McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, and first published by Dutton Penguin in the U.S. and Canada in 2006, and updated and released in paperback by Plume/Penguin in 2007. It has been translated into 18 languages and spent more than a year on The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and other bestseller lists, and sold more than one million copies. == Overview == The aim of This Is Your Brain on Music was to make recent findings in neuroscience of music accessible to the educated layperson. Characteristics and theoretical parameters of music are explained alongside scientific findings about how the brain interprets and processes these characteristics. The neuroanatomy of musical expectation, emotion, listening and performance is discussed. This Is Your Brain on Music describes the components of music, such as timbre, rhythm, pitch, and harmony and ties them to neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, cognitive psychology, and evolution, while also making these topics accessible to nonexpert readers by avoiding the use of scientific jargon. One particular focus of the book is on cognitive models of categorization and expectation, and how music


id: up-from-dragons-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_from_Dragons-0.md
category: reference
title: Up from Dragons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_from_Dragons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:55.766972+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: up-from-dragons-20260505-0
summary:
Up from Dragons: The Evolution of Human Intelligence is a 2002 book on human evolution, the human brain, and the origins of human cognition by John Skoyles and Dorion Sagan. The book considers how the brain and genes evolved into their present condition over the course of thousands and millions of years. It was published by McGraw Hill. The book argues that the earlier ape brain had evolved “mindmakers” and that the human mind arose when these were “rewired” by symbols. This new “mindware” was created by the prefrontal cortex in combination with neural plasticity. This “Symbolic capacity is the ‘missing link’ that changed the ape brain into a human and made mindware possible, allowing symbols to structure the brain”. p. 277 Mindware itself has been evolving for the last 120,000 years and as a result kept reshaping human consciousness, thought and culture. Its last chapter speculates upon the future of human cognition. The title relates to Carl Sagan (co-author Dorion Sagan's father) and his 1977 book The Dragons of Eden for which this book provides a 25th-anniversary reappraisal. == Chapters == Cosmic Mirror: The questions of who and what humans are explored in terms of the history of the


id: up-from-dragons-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_from_Dragons-1.md
category: reference
title: Up from Dragons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_from_Dragons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:55.766972+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: up-from-dragons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Gifted environments ==== These are the learning environments humans create. Components of a gifted environment include “a rich variety of representations”, a “stimulating learning environment”, and “’empowering environments’—ones which foster specific paths of development, an opportunity sometimes limited to brief windows of developmental time” It is proposed that such gifted environments are created by adult prefrontal cortex. The potential to create gifted environments predates humans and exists in chimpanzees. But they are limited because as adults chimpanzees lack time, cooperate only weakly and are under constant stress. It was the highly cooperative sociability of humans that allowed gifted environments to arise that could fully support cognitive development. ==== Human change bootstrapping problem ==== Bootstrapping concerns the paradox that the best way for something to occur is for it to already to be established. This problem has been identified in computer and cognitive science as an important obstacle: computers need to load programs to start but this is best done when they have already loaded the program for doing this; reading is easier to acquire once a person can already read. Cognitive development can be interpreted as the process by which cognitive systems sidestep and work around bootstrapping problems that


id: up-from-dragons-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_from_Dragons-2.md
category: reference
title: Up from Dragons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_from_Dragons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:55.766972+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: up-from-dragons-20260505-0
summary:
==== Nonimmediate sociability ==== Two kinds of sociability exist: immediate and nonimmediate. The former depends upon sensory interaction with others such as smell, touch, sound or vision. Nonimmediate depends upon carrying the experience of the group within the head. Such sociability is already present in apes and is due to processes called mindmakers. But due to the modification of these mindmakers with symbolons, sociability in groups has become highly developed in humans. The combination of symbols and mindmakers created social mindware. ==== Mindmakers ==== These are “processes that weave this sense we all have of being a ‘me. .. give existence its animated feel, the feeling of being alive. They are clues to understanding such things as our freedom and the links between the prefrontal cortex’s inner cues and our hidden sociability’”. Mindmakers evolved to enable animals to remain part of a social group when separated. Mindmaker processes are identified in the anterior cingulate cortex (protective attentive envelopes), hippocampus (continuity), orbitofrontal cortex (social right and wrong). Mindmakers are present in other animals but only in humans have they become extensively elaborated. They also provide the neural substrate for cultural symbolism and so the human ability to sustain socially defined groups


id: why-we-sleep-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep-0.md
category: reference
title: Why We Sleep
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:56.918854+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: why-we-sleep-20260505-0
summary:
Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams is a 2017 popular science book about sleep written by Matthew Walker, from England, who is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. In the book, Walker discusses the importance of sleeping, the side effects of failing to do so, and its impact on society. The book asserts that sleep deprivation is linked to numerous fatal diseases, including dementia. Why We Sleep became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. The book received generally positive reviews from mainstream critics, while also garnering criticism from academics for making broad or unfounded claims and alarmism. == Background == According to Walker, who had never written a book at the time, he was motivated to write the book after an encounter with a woman who glanced at his work related to sleep and its benefits for health, stating, "When that comes out, I want to read it". Walker described this encounter as a sincere "independent ratification" that made him write the book. The book took Walker roughly four and a half years to write. Walker and his


id: why-we-sleep-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep-1.md
category: reference
title: Why We Sleep
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:56.918854+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: why-we-sleep-20260505-0
summary:
"Sleep pressure and circadian rhythms", the driving forces and the framework of sleep, are brought up in the book. Other sleep behaviors, such as rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), and the impact sleep has on "synaptic pruning" and the creation of memories during a human's lifespan are also covered. REM and NREM are further explained as the two sleeping basics, with 5 cycles present in a good night sleep. The book mentions "morning types" and "evening types" of people, with Walker writing about how spending less time sleeping benefited human predecessors who slept in groups due to being safer. The book emphasises the significance of having a good night's sleep without a feeling of uneasiness, or guilt of laziness. Walker defines insomnia as a disorder usually related to an overwrought, commiserating nervous system that's usually caused by being anxious. He goes on to address the PTSD victims' nightmares, stating that their dreams' ability to heal them by easing the emotions connected to a distressing memory, is affected by a larger quantity of noradrenaline being created. Walker also believes that dreams carry information regarding fundamental emotions, while admitting that they can be quite apparent, resulting


id: why-we-sleep-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep-2.md
category: reference
title: Why We Sleep
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Sleep
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:56.918854+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: why-we-sleep-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical reception == Why We Sleep has garnered a generally positive reception from critics. The book would go on to make Walker famous in his field of expertise. The book became an international bestseller, including a #1 on the Sunday Times Bestseller in the UK, and a #8 on the New York Times Bestseller. It received numerous other reviews, including the Guardian, BBC, NPR, Financial Times, UC Berkeley and Kirkus Reviews. Critics praised the book for Walker's convincing studies on the importance of sleep and its impact on society. Seithikurippu R. Pandi-Perumal praised Walker's structuring of the book, calling it informative, organised and intelligibly written while noting its informative yet reader-friendly nature. In a review from Bill Gates, he noted that the book teaches about the importance of sleeping, despite some points in the book not being convincing. He also noted that the book aided him in sleeping better, pointing out that it took a longer time to finish the book as he followed Walker's word on putting the book down to go to sleep. Kylie O'Brien's review described the book as "beautifully written" and filled with scientific facts that clarifies the question its title asks. A review by


id: the-yipping-tiger-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yipping_Tiger-0.md
category: reference
title: The Yipping Tiger
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yipping_Tiger
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:50:58.051577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-yipping-tiger-20260505-0
summary:
The Yipping Tiger and Other Tales from the Neuropsychiatric Clinic is a book by neuropsychiatrist Perminder Sachdev, M.D. consisting of ten case studies which explore the relationship between the brain and the mind. The case studies are based on Sachdev's experience in the neuropsychiatric clinic at the Neuropsychiatric Institute, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines a different medical condition, the current research findings related to the condition, and the challenges these conditions pose for the doctor and patient. == Contents == The Yipping Tiger (Golfer's cramps) Shaking hands with Dr Strangelove (The Alien hand syndrome) Swearing like a Spanish sailor (Coprolalia in Tourette's syndrome) The Mozart Complex (Brain enhancement) The mirror always lies (Anorexia nervosa) The dead homunculus (Frontal lobe disorder) Serotonin's seductive song (Major depressive disorder) A chesty problem (Obsessive-compulsive disorder) Lord Nelson's ghost (Phantom limb) Freudian slips and semantic slides (Mild cognitive impairment) == Reception == G. Boucher, ‘Off-putting tales from a yipping yarn’. The Australian 2009 (8 August): http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/off-putting-tales-from-a-yipping-yarn/story-e6frg8no-1225758241816 J. Horder, ‘Medicine: IN BRIEF’. The Times Literary Supplement 2010 (23 July), page 27: S. Hussein, ‘Brains, Minds, Hearts and Souls’. New Matilda 2010 (20 May): https://web.archive.org/web/20110823213551/http://newmatilda.com/2010/05/20/brains-minds-hearts-souls K. Ridel, ‘Book Review: The Hidden Brain and The Yipping Tiger


id: list-of-books-on-popular-physics-concepts-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_on_popular_physics_concepts-0.md
category: reference
title: List of books on popular physics concepts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_on_popular_physics_concepts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:00.750037+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-books-on-popular-physics-concepts-20260505-0
summary:
This is a list of books which talk about things related to current day physics or physics as it would be in the future. There a number of books that have been penned about specific physics concepts, e.g. quantum mechanics or kinematics, and many other books which discuss physics in general, i.e. not focussing on a single topic. There are also books that encourage beginners to enjoy physics by making them look at it from different angles. Capra, Fritjof (1999). The Tao of physics : an exploration of the parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism (4th, updated ed.). Boston: Shambhala. ISBN 1-57062-519-0. Chandrasekhar, S. (1958). An introduction to the study of stellar structure. [Republication]. New York: Dover. ISBN 978-0486604138. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Feynman, Richard P.; Leighton, Robert B.; Sands, Matthew (2009). The Feynman lectures on physics : the definitive and extended edition (2nd ed.). San Francisco, Calif.: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0805390452. — (1997). "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" : adventures of a curious character (1st Norton pbk. ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0393316049. Greene, Brian (2000). The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (1. Vintage Books ed.). New York:


id: the-4-percent-universe-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4_Percent_Universe-0.md
category: reference
title: The 4 Percent Universe
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4_Percent_Universe
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:01.948595+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-4-percent-universe-20260505-0
summary:
The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality is a nonfiction book by writer and professor Richard Panek and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on January 10, 2011. In October 2011, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess, three of the main figures discussed in the book for the primary discovery that is the topic of The 4 Percent Universe. == Content == The book's namesake comes from the scientific confusion over how ordinary matter makes up only four percent of the mass–energy in the universe, with the rest consisting of mysterious dark matter and dark energy that are both invisible and almost impossible to detect. It is due to dark matter that galaxies are able to keep their shape, with the mass of dark matter creating enough gravitational force to hold the stars that make up a galaxy together. Dark energy, however, is a substance or force responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe over time. The significant focus of The 4 Percent Universe is on the developments of astronomical science in the 20th century, including the formation of the expanding


id: alpha-omega-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_&_Omega_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Alpha & Omega (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_&_Omega_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:04.317508+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alpha-omega-book-20260505-0
summary:
Alpha & Omega: The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe is the second non-fiction book by Charles Seife, published by Viking, a division of Penguin Putnam, in 2003. == Background == It is a survey of historic and contemporary efforts at cosmology: to describe the universe, trace the universe back to its origins, including the Big Bang Theory, and to determine the universe's eventual end-state. The books title refers to the Alpha and Omega appellation for Christ, as found in the Book of Revelation. A paperback reprint was published in 2004, also from Penguin. == Table of contents == Preface "The First Cosmology: The Golden Age of the Gods" "The First Cosmological Revolution: The Copernican Theory" "The Second Cosmological Revolution: Hubble and the Big Bang" "The Third Revolution Begins: The Universe Amok" "The Music of the Spheres: The Cosmic Microwave Background" "The Dark Universe: What's the Matter with Matter?" "Darker Still: The Enigma of Exotic Dark Matter" "The Big Bang in Our Backyard: The Birth of Baryons" "The Good Nus: The Exotic Neutrino" "Supersymmetry: Fearlessly Framing the Laws of Matter" "Seeing the Invisible: MACHOs, WIMPs, and Illuminating the Darkest Regions of the Universe" "The Deepest Mystery in


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-0.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
Astronomia nova (English: New Astronomy, full title in original Latin: Astronomia Nova ΑΙΤΙΟΛΟΓΗΤΟΣ seu physica coelestis, tradita commentariis de motibus stellae Martis ex observationibus G.V. Tychonis Brahe) is a book, published in 1609, that contains the results of the astronomer Johannes Kepler's ten-year-long investigation of the motion of Mars. One of the most significant books in the history of astronomy, the Astronomia nova provided strong arguments for heliocentrism and contributed valuable insight into the movement of the planets. This included the first mention of the planets' elliptical paths and the change of their movement to the movement of free floating bodies as opposed to objects on rotating spheres. It is recognized as one of the most important works of the Scientific Revolution. == Background == Prior to Kepler, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed in 1543 that the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun. The Copernican model of the Solar System was regarded as a device to explain the observed positions of the planets rather than a physical description. Kepler sought for and proposed physical causes for planetary motion. His work is primarily based on the research of his mentor, Tycho Brahe. The two, though close in their work, had a tumultuous


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-1.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
=== Part 2 === In part 2, Kepler introduces the vicarious Hypothesis, his first hypothesis to explain the motion of Mars. In chapters 7-10, Kepler tells the story of how he was introduced to the problem of Mars' orbit. Tycho and his assistant had been working on a theory of Mars, but they had failed to accurately account for the observed position of Mars. Tycho's observational data included 12 oppositions of Mars, for which he had determined its position in ecliptic longitude and latitude. They had managed to fit a theory to the observed ecliptic longitudes accurate to within 2 minutes of arc, yet it failed completely to account for the ecliptic latitudes. Kepler was then tasked with determining a more accurate theory to match this observational data. His first step was to establish a precise definition of opposition. Since planets do not orbit in the same plane, in general they never reach precisely 180 ∘ {\textstyle 180\circ } in angular separation. Ptolemy had assumed the planet reaches opposition when its ecliptic longitude is 180 degrees from the mean position of the sun. This definition ignores the ecliptic latitude, so when constructing the table of oppositions, Tycho's assistant suggested a


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-2.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
The actual correction Kepler shows to be less than 1 minute of arc, which is smaller than the error in Tycho's observations, and for practical purposes can be ignored. So, opposition can be defined as the moment when the ecliptic longitude of the sun and Mars are 180 ∘ {\textstyle 180\circ } apart. Although the ecliptic longitude of Mars is the same from the Earth and sun at this point, the same is not true for the ecliptic latitude. In the diagram above G {\textstyle G} is the sun, H {\textstyle H} is the Earth and I {\textstyle I} is Mars. The line G H {\textstyle GH} is in the plane of the ecliptic. The angle β {\textstyle \beta } is the angle that Mars appears above the ecliptic when viewed from Earth; this is the ecliptic latitude. The angle α {\textstyle \alpha } is the ecliptic latitude viewed from the sun, which is smaller than β {\textstyle \beta } . The relation between these angles tells us something about the ratio of the Earth-sun distance G H {\textstyle GH} and the Mars-Sun distance G I {\textstyle GI} . In chapter 11, Kepler attempts to determine the parallax of Mars.


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-3.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
In the diagram above, let A {\textstyle A} be the sun, B {\textstyle B} be the center of the circular orbit, and C {\textstyle C} be the equant point. The points I {\textstyle I} and H {\textstyle H} are the perihelion and aphelion respectively. Let G {\textstyle G} be the position of Mars at a particular observation. The angle ∠ G A H {\textstyle \angle GAH} Kepler refers to as the true anomaly, and the angle ∠ G C H {\textstyle \angle GCH} the mean anomaly. For any observation, the true anomaly could be deduced if we knew the longitude of aphelion, by finding the difference between this and the longitude of the observation. The mean anomaly could be deduced if we knew the time when Mars it at aphelion, and by using the fact the Mars, viewed from the equant, traverses equal angles in equal times. If the true anomaly and the mean anomaly were known, we could likewise determine the location of the point G {\textstyle G} by finding where the lines drawn from B {\textstyle B} and A {\textstyle A} intersect. For the purposes of calculation, we can take the length of the line C A ¯


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-4.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
In chapters 18-21, Kepler compares the theory to observations. First, he compares the longitude of the remaining 8 oppositions and finds that they all fit the predicted position of Mars to within Tycho's observational accuracy of two minutes of arc. This means that the vicarious hypothesis can be taken as an accurate theory for the true anomaly. Despite this remarkable accuracy, however, Kepler shows that the theory is false. He remarks:Who would have thought it possible? This hypothesis, so closely in agreement with the observations, is nevertheless false. Using the latitudes of the opposition and the latitude triangle from figure 1, Kepler is able to find the ratio of the Earth and Mars distances from the sun. The Earth-Sun distances G H {\textstyle GH} are taken from an existing theory given by Tycho Brahe in his Progymnasmata, even though these values are not precisely correct, and the goal of the next part will be to determine a more accurate theory for the Earth's motion. The angles ∠ I H E {\textstyle \angle IHE} are determined by the latitude of the observations, and the angle I G H {\textstyle IGH} is determined from the orbital inclination and the angle between Mars


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-5.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
=== Part 3 === In the third part, Kepler aims to determine an accurate theory for the motion of the Earth, which will be the steppingstone for determining a more accurate theory for Mars in the next section. In chapters 22-27, Kepler shows that the Earth does not move uniformly about the center of its orbit. The primary observations for determining the Earth's motion around the sun are direct observations of the sun; its ecliptic longitude as seen from the Earth is the opposite to that seen from the sun. Remarkably, uniform circular motion can match these observations to within an accuracy of one minute of arc, less than the accuracy of Tycho's observation. Tycho himself determined the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit based on his observations and the assumption of uniform circular motion to be 0.03584 {\textstyle 0.03584} . Using the observations of Mars, Kepler finds several methods to show that the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit calculated, on the basis of uniform circular motion, cannot possibly be correct. One method that Kepler uses is based on the fact that after one complete orbit, Mars returns to exactly the same physical location. Since the orbital period of Mars is


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-6.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
In chapter 40, Kepler gives a method for computing the orbit of the Earth based on these physical hypotheses. Kepler notes the extreme difficulty that arises when trying to compute the speed of the planet as the distance is constantly changing. For this reason, he introduces a shortcut, inspired by Archimedes' method of computing pi. If we break the orbit up into little triangles drawn from the sun, then the distance the planet travels is given by the base of the triangle, and the distance from the sun is given by the height of the triangle. If we choose triangles that divide the planet's motion into equal units of time, then the triangles are shown to have equal area, because as the height decreases, the base must increase by the same amount, as the planet moves faster, and vice versa. Kepler therefore introduces his law of areas, equal areas correspond to equal times. To calculate the orbit from this, we define the mean anomaly as the time since planet has last reached aphelion divided by the orbital period times 360 degrees. The true anomaly is defined as the angle between the planet and aphelion as viewed from the sun, and


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-7.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
In the diagram above, A {\textstyle A} is the sun and B {\textstyle B} is the center of the circle; G {\textstyle G} is aphelion and D {\textstyle D} is the planet. The area of the sector G A D {\textstyle GAD} is the area swept by the line drawn from the planet to the sun. From the area law, this is proportional to the time that the planet has traversed the segment G D {\textstyle GD} in its orbit, and therefore also the mean anomaly. Thus the area G A D {\textstyle GAD} gives the mean anomaly. The eccentric anomaly is defined by the angle ∠ G B D {\textstyle \angle GBD} . Since the angle of a sector, centered on a circle, is always proportional to its area, we can also express this by the area G B D {\textstyle GBD} . The relation between these two areas gives the relation between the mean anomaly (and therefore time) and eccentric anomaly. From the diagram, it is clear that the mean anomaly is simply the eccentric anomaly plus the area of the triangle D A B {\textstyle DAB} . The base of this triangle A B ¯ {\textstyle {\overline


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-8.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
=== Part 4 === In part 4, Kepler develops an accurate theory to account for the motion of Mars based on the observations and the physical hypotheses that were laid out in the previous section. In chapters 41-44, Kepler proves that the orbit of Mars is not a circle. The procedure once again uses the fact that the Earth, sun and Mars form a triangle. The Earth-sun distance can now be calculated accurately from the theory developed in the previous section, and the heliocentric longitude of Mars is determined from the vicarious hypothesis. For any given observation of Mars, the position of Mars can now be plotted accurately using the following procedure: plot the position of Earth using the theory developed in the previous section. Then, draw a line extending from the sun in the direction given by the vicarious hypothesis. Draw a line from the Earth in the direction corresponding to the heliocentric longitude that Mars is observed. The intersection between these two lines is the position of Mars. Finally, a correction is made for the fact that Mars is not in the plane of the ecliptic when observed, by using the latitude determined from the sun. By plotting


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-9.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
I laid [the original equation] aside, and fell back on ellipses, believing that this was quite a different hypothesis, whereas the two, as I shall prove in the next chapter, are one in [sic] the same... Ah, what a foolish bird I have been! === Part 5 === In the final section, Kepler gives an accurate account of the ecliptic latitude of Mars. He also outlines a physical hypothesis to explain why the orbit of planets are not precisely in the same plane. In chapters 61-62, Kepler determines the values for Mars' ascending and descending nodes. Using the distance to Earth and Mars computed from the previous section, and the observed geocentric latitude of Mars, Kepler is able to determine the heliocentric latitude of Mars at any point in its orbit. From this, Kepler determines each of the parameters using the same methods from chapters 11-14. For the ascending node he finds 46 ∘ 32 1 2 ′ {\textstyle 46^{\circ }32{\frac {1}{2}}'} and for the descending nodes 226 ∘ 32 1 2 ′ {\displaystyle 226^{\circ }32{\frac {1}{2}}'} . He also determines the orbital inclination to be 1 ∘ 49 ′ {\displaystyle 1^{\circ }49'} . In chapter 63, Kepler gives a


id: astronomia-nova-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova-10.md
category: reference
title: Astronomia nova
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomia_nova
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:05.564785+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astronomia-nova-20260505-0
summary:
The sphere of the attractive virtue which is in the moon extends as far as the earth, and entices up the waters; but as the moon flies rapidly across the zenith, and the waters cannot follow so quickly, a flow of the ocean is occasioned in the torrid zone towards the westward. If the attractive virtue of the moon extends as far as the earth, it follows with greater reason that the attractive virtue of the earth extends as far as the moon and much farther; and, in short, nothing which consists of earthly substance anyhow constituted although thrown up to any height, can ever escape the powerful operation of this attractive virtue. Kepler also clarifies the concept of lightness in terms of relative density, in opposition to the Aristotelian concept of the absolute nature or quality of lightness as follows. His argument could easily be applied today to something like the flight of a hot air balloon. Nothing which consists of corporeal matter is absolutely light, but that is comparatively lighter which is rarer, either by its own nature, or by accidental heat. And it is not to be thought that light bodies are escaping to the surface of


id: bcs-50-years-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCS:_50_Years-0.md
category: reference
title: BCS: 50 Years
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCS:_50_Years
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:06.722519+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bcs-50-years-20260505-0
summary:
BCS: 50 Years is a review volume on the topic of superconductivity edited by Leon Cooper, a 1972 Nobel Laureate in Physics, and Dmitri Feldman of Brown University, first published in 2010. The book consists of 23 articles written by outstanding physicists, including many Nobel prize-winners, and presents the complete theory of superconductivity - a phenomenon where the electrical resistance of some metallic materials suddenly vanish at temperatures near absolute zero. == Background == In 1957, John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer finally pieced together the puzzle of superconductivity, explaining in detail its mechanism and the associated effects. The BCS theory, named after the three scientists, won Professor Cooper the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972, which he shared with John Robert Schrieffer and his teacher, John Bardeen. == Contents == === Section 1: Historical Perspectives === The first section of the book describes important discoveries which led to the development of BCS theory. Chapter 1: "Remembrance of Superconductivity Past" by Leon N Cooper Chapter 2: "The Road to BCS" by John Robert Schrieffer Chapter 3: "Development of Concepts in Superconductivity" by John Bardeen Chapter 4: "Failed Theories of Superconductivity" by Jörg Schmalian Chapter 5: "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance


id: de-beghinselen-der-weeghconst-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beghinselen_Der_Weeghconst-0.md
category: reference
title: De Beghinselen Der Weeghconst
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Beghinselen_Der_Weeghconst
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:07.980193+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-beghinselen-der-weeghconst-20260505-0
summary:
De Beghinselen der Weeghconst (lit. "The Principles of the Art of Weighing") is a book about statics written by the Flemish physicist Simon Stevin in Dutch. It was published in 1586 in a single volume with De Weeghdaet (lit. "The Act of Weighing"), De Beghinselen des Waterwichts ("The Principles of Hydrostatics") and an Anhang (an appendix). In 1605, there was another edition. == Importance == The importance of the book was summarized by the Encyclopædia Britannica: In De Beghinselen der Weeghconst (1586; “Statics and Hydrostatics”) Stevin published the theorem of the triangle of forces. The knowledge of this triangle of forces, equivalent to the parallelogram diagram of forces, gave a new impetus to the study of statics, which had previously been founded on the theory of the lever. He also discovered that the downward pressure of a liquid is independent of the shape of its vessel and depends only on its height and base. == Contents == The first part consists of two books, together account for 95 pages, here divided into 10 pieces. === Book I === Start: panegyrics, Mission to Rudolf II, Uytspraeck Vande Weerdicheyt of Duytsche Tael, Cortbegryp Bepalinghen and Begheerten (definitions and assumptions) Proposal 1 t


id: beyond-einstein-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Einstein_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Beyond Einstein (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Einstein_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:09.145130+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: beyond-einstein-book-20260505-0
summary:
Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe is a book by Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist from the City College of New York, and Jennifer Trainer Thompson. It focuses on the development of superstring theory, which might become the unified field theory of the strong force, the weak force, electromagnetism and gravity. The book was initially published on February 1, 1987, by Bantam Books. == Overview == Beyond Einstein tries to explain the basics of superstring theory. Michio Kaku analyzes the history of theoretical physics and the struggle to formulate a unified field theory. He posits that the superstring theory might be the only theory that can unite quantum mechanics and general relativity in one theory. == References ==


id: black-body-theory-and-the-quantum-discontinuity-1894-1912-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-Body_Theory_and_the_Quantum_Discontinuity,_1894–1912-0.md
category: reference
title: Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894–1912
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-Body_Theory_and_the_Quantum_Discontinuity,_1894–1912
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:10.340329+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: black-body-theory-and-the-quantum-discontinuity-1894-1912-20260505-0
summary:
Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, 1894–1912 (1978; second edition 1987) is a book by the philosopher Thomas Kuhn, in which the author surveys the development of quantum mechanics. The second edition has a new afterword. == Summary == Kuhn surveys the development of quantum mechanics by Max Planck at the end of the 19th century. He argues that Planck misread his own earlier work. == Reception == Alexander Bird describes Kuhn's book as "masterly", writing that it "differs from traditional history of science less in the kind of explanation offered and more in the vast erudition and scholarly attention to detail displayed." According to philosopher Tim Maudlin, Planck and the Black Body Discontinuity (sic) "is a mixed bag: some good historiography and some poor analysis." == References ==


id: book-of-optics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Optics-0.md
category: reference
title: Book of Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:11.581748+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: book-of-optics-20260505-0
summary:
The Book of Optics (Arabic: كتاب المناظر, romanized: Kitāb al-Manāẓir; Latin: De Aspectibus or Perspectiva; Italian: Deli Aspecti) is a seven-volume treatise on optics and other fields of study composed by the medieval Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham, known in the West as Alhazen or Alhacen (965 – c. 1040 AD). The Book of Optics presented experimentally founded arguments against the widely held extramission theory of vision (as held by Euclid in his Optica), and proposed the modern intromission theory, the now accepted model that vision takes place by light entering the eye. The book is also noted for its early use of the scientific method, its description of the camera obscura, and its formulation of Alhazen's problem. The book extensively affected the development of optics, physics and mathematics in Europe between the 13th and 17th centuries. == Vision theory == Before the Book of Optics was written, two theories of vision existed. The extramission or emission theory was forwarded by the mathematicians Euclid and Ptolemy, who asserted that certain forms of radiation are emitted from the eyes onto the object which is being seen. When these rays reached the object they allowed the viewer to perceive its color, shape and


id: book-of-optics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Optics-1.md
category: reference
title: Book of Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:11.581748+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: book-of-optics-20260505-0
summary:
== Influence == The Book of Optics was most strongly influenced by Ptolemy's Optics, while the description of the anatomy and physiology of the eye was based upon an account by Galen. The Book of Optics was translated into Latin by an unknown scholar at the end of the 12th (or the beginning of the 13th) century. The work was influential during the Middle Ages. It was printed by Friedrich Risner in 1572, as part of his collection Opticae thesaurus. This included a book on twilight falsely attributed to Alhazen, as well as a work on optics by Vitello. == See also == History of optics Ibn Sahl Scientific method == English translations == Sabra, A. I., ed. (1983), The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham, Books I–II–III: On Direct Vision. The Arabic text, edited and with Introduction, Arabic-Latin Glossaries and Concordance Tables, Kuwait: National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters Sabra, A. I., ed. (2002), The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham. Edition of the Arabic Text of Books IV–V: On Reflection and Images Seen by Reflection. 2 vols, Kuwait: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham. Books I–II–III: On Direct Vision. English Translation and Commentary. 2


id: calculating-space-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Space-0.md
category: reference
title: Calculating Space
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Space
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:12.805197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: calculating-space-20260505-0
summary:
Calculating Space (German: Rechnender Raum) is Konrad Zuse's 1969 book on automata theory. He proposed that all processes in the universe are computational. This view is known today as the simulation hypothesis, digital philosophy, digital physics or pancomputationalism. Zuse proposed that the universe is being computed by some sort of cellular automaton or other discrete computing machinery, challenging the long-held view that some physical laws are continuous by nature. He focused on cellular automata as a possible substrate of the computation and pointed out that the classical notions of entropy and its growth do not make sense in deterministically computed universes. == See also == A New Kind of Science Simulated reality == References == == Further reading == Zuse, Konrad (1969). Rechnender Raum [Calculating Space]. Schriften zur Datenverarbeitung (in German). Vol. 1. Braunschweig, Germany: Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn. ISBN 3-528-09609-8. (70+4 pages) Zuse, Konrad (February 1970). "Calculating Space - Translation of: Rechnender Raum" (PDF). MIT Technical Translation. Translated by Aztec School of Languages, Inc. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. AZT-70-164-GEMIT (Project MAC). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2020-03-25. (98 pages); Zuse, Konrad (2012). "Konrad Zuse's Rechnender Raum (Calculating Space)" (PDF). In German, Adrian; Zenil,


id: categories-on-the-beauty-of-physics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categories:_On_the_Beauty_of_Physics-0.md
category: reference
title: Categories: On the Beauty of Physics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categories:_On_the_Beauty_of_Physics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:14.271478+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: categories-on-the-beauty-of-physics-20260505-0
summary:
Categories: On the Beauty of Physics is a non-fiction science and art book edited, co-written, and published by American author Hilary Thayer Hamann in 2006. The book was conceived as a multidisciplinary educational tool that uses art and literature to broaden the reader's understanding of challenging material. Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's Dreams, called Categories "A beautiful synthesis of science and art, pleasing to the mind and to the eye," and Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder and president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, said, "This wonderful book will provoke thought in lovers of science and art alike, and with knowledge comes the inspiration to preserve the beauty of life on Earth." == Author == Hamann is co-writer, creative and editorial director of Categories—On the Beauty of Physics (2006), a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary educational text that uses imagery to facilitate the reader's encounter with challenging material. She worked with physicist Emiliano Seffusati, Ph.D., who wrote the science text, and collage artist John Morse, who created the original artwork. == Overview == Categories is a book about physics that uses literature and art to stimulate the wonder and interest of the reader. It is intended to promote scientific literacy, foster an appreciation of


id: the-character-of-physical-law-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Character_of_Physical_Law-0.md
category: reference
title: The Character of Physical Law
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Character_of_Physical_Law
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:15.394498+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-character-of-physical-law-20260505-0
summary:
The Character of Physical Law is a series of seven lectures by physicist Richard Feynman concerning the nature of the laws of physics. Feynman delivered the lectures in 1964 at Cornell University, as part of the Messenger Lectures series. The BBC recorded the lectures and published a book under the same title the following year; Cornell published the BBC's recordings online in September 2015. In 2017 MIT Press published, with a new foreword by Frank Wilczek, a paperback reprint of the 1965 book. == Topics == The lectures covered the following topics: The law of gravitation, an example of physical law The relation of mathematics and physics The great conservation principles Symmetry in physical law The distinction of past and future Probability and uncertainty – the quantum mechanical view of nature Seeking new laws == Reception == Critical reception has been positive. The journal The Physics Teacher, in recommending it to both scientists and non-scientists alike, gave The Character of Physical Law a favorable review, writing that although the book was initially intended to supplement the recordings, it was "complete in itself and will appeal to a far wider audience". == Selections == "In general we look for a new


category: reference
title: Concise Encyclopedia of Supersymmetry and Noncommutative Structures in Mathematics and Physics
tags: science, encyclopedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:16.652705+00:00
instance: kb-cron
id:
concise-encyclopedia-of-supersymmetry-and-noncommutative-structures-in-mathematics-and-physics-20260505-0

file:
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Supersymmetry_and_Noncommutative_Structures_in_Mathematics_and_Physics-0.md

summary:
Concise Encyclopedia of Supersymmetry and Noncommutative Structures in Mathematics and Physics is a fundamental authoritative text in specialized areas of contemporary mathematics and physics. This is an English language reference work which consists of around 800 original articles by around 280 scientists under the guidance of 23 advisory board members. == Publication history == The first edition was published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2004, when Kluwer was a part of Springer. A second printing with corrections was issued in 2005 by Springer Science & Business Media. == Contents == Concise Encyclopedia of Supersymmetry contains articles devoted to supergravity, M-theory, quantum gravity, quantum groups, noncommutative geometry and other topics related to supersymmetry. The articles are of the following kinds: 1) short review; 2) term/notion definition; 3) biography. The detailed Subject Index consists of 31 four-column oversized pages and is of three level, which makes easier navigation through the volume. A useful list of 116 abbreviations helps to understand special articles on supersymmetry also in other sources. The book can serve as a working instrument for professionals and PhD students. == Editions == Duplij, Steven; Siegel, Warren; Bagger, Jonathan, eds. (2005), Concise Encyclopedia of Supersymmetry: And Noncommutative Structures in Mathematics and

source_url:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Supersymmetry_and_Noncommutative_Structures_in_Mathematics_and_Physics

parent:
concise-encyclopedia-of-supersymmetry-and-noncommutative-structures-in-mathematics-and-physics-20260505-0


id: cosmic-evolution-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Evolution-0.md
category: reference
title: Cosmic Evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:17.866701+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cosmic-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature (2001) is a book by Harvard astrophysicist Eric Chaisson. It examines cosmic evolution which includes the history of natural evolution from the Big Bang to the present from the perspective of the emerging multi-scientific discipline of Big History. It offers an explanation of why simple structures billions of years ago gave way to more complex structures, such as stars, planets, life, and human beings in complex civilizations. It is written for a general audience interested in science. == Overview == Chaisson argues that cosmic history can be examined from the perspective of energy flows. He analyzes the flows of energy through various objects and argues that these flows are relevant to understanding the relative complexity of these objects. He suggests that a key measure for scientific analysis should be energy per second per gram, termed "energy rate density," and that analysis using this yardstick can be used to explain not only human evolution but cosmic evolution. He sees energy as "work per unit time" which he equates with power, and shows how energy rate density in some structures has increased over time. For example, in Chaisson's view, the human brain uses a


id: crc-handbook-of-chemistry-and-physics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics-0.md
category: reference
title: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:19.118897+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: crc-handbook-of-chemistry-and-physics-20260505-0
summary:
The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is a comprehensive one-volume reference resource for science research. First published in 1914, it is currently (as of 2024) in its 105th edition, published in 2024. It is known colloquially among chemists as the "Rubber Bible", as CRC originally stood for "Chemical Rubber Company". As late as the 1962–1963 edition (3604 pages), the Handbook contained myriad information on many branches of science and engineering. Sections in that edition include: Mathematics, Properties and Physical Constants, Chemical Tables, Properties of Matter, Heat, Hygrometric and Barometric Tables, Sound, Quantities and Units, and Miscellaneous. Mathematical Tables from Handbook of Chemistry and Physics was originally published as a supplement to the handbook up to the 9th edition (1952); afterwards, the 10th edition (1956) was published separately as CRC Standard Mathematical Tables. Earlier editions included sections such as "Antidotes of Poisons", "Rules for Naming Organic Compounds", "Surface Tension of Fused Salts", "Percent Composition of Anti-Freeze Solutions", "Spark-gap Voltages", "Greek Alphabet", "Musical Scales", "Pigments and Dyes", "Comparison of Tons and Pounds", "Twist Drill and Steel Wire Gauges" and "Properties of the Earth's Atmosphere at Elevations up to 160 Kilometers". Later editions focus almost exclusively on chemistry and physics topics and


id: critical-mass-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Critical Mass (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:20.286126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: critical-mass-book-20260505-0
summary:
Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another, a non-fiction book by English chemist and physicist Philip Ball originally published in 2004, discusses the concept of a "physics of society". Ball discusses thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, Lewis Mumford, Emyr Hughes, and Gottfried Achenwall who have attempted to apply (or argue against the use of) physics, chemistry, or mathematics in the study of mass social phenomena. He also discusses how the concept relates to recent research, including his own. == Physics of society == The outlines of Ball's Critical Mass, the most popular of his many noted books, beginning in various circa 2001 lectures, talks, and articles focused on what he calls a 'physics of society', similar to the social physics in the Auguste Comte sense, a subject Ball approaches using statistical mechanics viewing people as atoms or molecules that show characteristic behaviours in bulk. The following is an excerpt of his 2003 talk on the physical modeling of society: "There seem to be 'laws' [of] social systems that have at least something of the character of natural physical laws, in that they do not yield easily to planned and arbitrary interventions. Over the past several decades, social, economic and


id: the-dancing-wu-li-masters-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dancing_Wu_Li_Masters-0.md
category: reference
title: The Dancing Wu Li Masters
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dancing_Wu_Li_Masters
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:21.527550+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-dancing-wu-li-masters-20260505-0
summary:
The Dancing Wu Li Masters is a 1979 book by Gary Zukav, a popular science work exploring modern physics, and quantum phenomena in particular. It was awarded a 1980 U.S. National Book Award in category of Science. Although it explores empirical topics in modern physics research, The Dancing Wu Li Masters gained attention for leveraging metaphors taken from eastern spiritual movements, in particular the Huayen school of Buddhism with the monk Fazang's treatise on the Golden Lion, to explain quantum phenomena and has been regarded by some reviewers as a New Age work, although the book is mostly concerned with the work of pioneers in western physics down through the ages. The toneless pinyin phrase Wu Li in the title is most accurately rendered 物理 in Chinese characters, one Chinese translation of the word "physics" (wù lǐ 物理) in the light of the book's subject matter. This becomes somewhat of a pun as there are many other Chinese characters that could be rendered as "wu li" in atonal pinyin, and chapters of the book are each titled with alternative translations of Wu Li, such as "Nonsense" (wú lǐ 無理), "My Way" and "I Clutch My Ideas". Zukav participated as a


id: de-magnete-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Magnete-0.md
category: reference
title: De Magnete
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Magnete
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:22.751224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-magnete-20260505-0
summary:
De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure (On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth) is a scientific work published in 1600 by the English physician and scientist William Gilbert. A highly influential and successful book, it exerted an immediate influence on many contemporary writers, including Francis Godwin and Mark Ridley. == Contents == In De Magnete, Gilbert described many of his experiments with his model Earth called the terrella. Gilbert made the claim that gravity was due to the same force and he believed that this held the Moon in orbit around the Earth. The work then considered static electricity produced by amber. Amber is called elektron in Greek, and electrum in Latin, so Gilbert decided to refer to the phenomenon by the adjective electricus. == Summary == De Magnete consists of six books. === Book 1 === Historical survey of magnetism and theory of Earth's magnetism. The lodestone in antiquity from Plato onwards and the gradual identification of iron ores. The south pole of a lodestone points to the north pole of the Earth and vice versa as the terrestrial globe is magnetic. === Book 2 === Distinction between electricity and


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-0.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
De motu antiquiora ("The Older Writings on Motion"), or simply De Motu, is Galileo Galilei's early written work on motion (not to be confused with Newton's De motu corporum in gyrum, which shares the abbreviated name, De Motu). It was written largely between 1589 and 1592, but was not published in full until 1890. De Motu is known for expressing Galileo's ideas on motion during his Pisan period prior to transferring to Padua. Galileo left the manuscript unfinished and unpublished in his lifetime due to several uncertainties in his understanding and his mathematics. It is unclear whether this book was initially made out to be a book in the form of a dialogue or a more conventional way of writing. The reason for this is that Galileo worked on this book for many years, creating multiple copies of each section. In the last parts of his work, the writing style changes from an essay to a dialogue between two people who strongly uphold his views. Galileo would later incorporate select arguments and examples from his De Motu into his subsequent works Le Mecaniche (On Mechanics), Discorso intorno alle cose che stanno in su l'acqua (Discourse on Floating Bodies), and Discorsi


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-1.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
== Influences and origins of Galileo's Pisan dynamics == Historians have debated the exact influences and development of Galileo’s early dynamics during his Pisan period and whether his early concepts of impressed forces were directly descended from the medieval impetus theory of the 14th century. Pierre Duhem proposed that Galileo’s Pisan dynamics was a continuation of the tradition taught by Jean Buridan and Nicole Oresme, in which Galileo continued to perfect the impetus theory throughout his career, potentially drawing influence from Giambattista Benedetti whose dynamics are generally described as a partisan of the impetus physics. Alexandre Koyré also noted Benedetti's potential influence on Galileo but argued, against Duhem, that Galileo’s Pisan dynamics was an attempt to achieve a coherent mathematical formulation of medieval impetus modeled after Archimedes’ statics, but instead of perfecting it, as suggested by Duhem, Galileo ultimately failed, which led him to abandon the medieval tradition and began anew into his Paduan period. Ernest Moody pointed out that Galileo’s arguments that rejected Aristotle’s explanation for projectile motion were exactly the same as those used by Buridan and Albert of Saxony, and was therefore not original; however, Moody argued against Duhem and Koyré that Galileo’s early dynamics were not


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-2.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 2: Heavy substances are by nature located in a lower place and light substances in a higher place === Galileo assumes a quasi-Aristotelean arrangement of the universe based on the classical elements where things move according to their proper place: earth rests at the center, water is above earth, air is above water, and fire is above air. Based on this arrangement, it appears Galileo assumes a Ptolemaic system that places Earth at the center of the universe, despite his later acknowledgment of Nicolaus Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in Chapter 20. Galileo indicates that Aristotle gave no reason for the arrangement of the classical elements other than that everything must be disposed in some arrangement as provided by divine providence; however, Galileo finds this view unsatisfactory and believes that Aristotle was potentially incorrect in his criticism of the ancient monist and atomist theories. He argues that, if the monists and atomists were correct, it would provide a logical explanation for the arrangement of the elements: heavier bodies would enclose more particles of that matter in a narrower space and would also occupy narrower places, such as those near the center of the universe (Galileo claims that spaces


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-3.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 7: The cause of speed and slowness of natural motion === Differences in speed of motion occur in two ways: either the same body moves in different media, or different bodies move through the same media; furthermore, the case in which different bodies move in different media can be simplified down to these two ways. In both cases, the speed of motion depend upon the same cause: the greater or lesser weight of the media and the moving bodies. In this argument, Galileo focuses on the primary cause of motion rather than any “accidental” (e.g., the shape of the body) or external cause. Aristotle claimed that the same body moves more swiftly in a rarer medium than in a denser medium, and that therefore the cause of slowness of motion is the density of the medium, and the cause of speed is rareness of the medium; however, Galileo points out that Aristotle asserted this claim on the basis of no other reason than from experience (i.e., we see a moving body move more swiftly in air than in water) and that this explanation of the cause to produce this effect is insufficient since there are many moving bodies


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-4.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 8: Different bodies moving in the same medium maintain a ratio of speeds different from what is said by Aristotle === Galileo states that two bodies may differ in two ways: 1) they are of same material but have different size (i.e., volume), and 2) they are of different material but a) they differ in size and weight, b) differ in weight but not size, or c) differ in size but not weight. He then refutes Aristotle’s claims for each situation. Aristotle claims that, in the case of naturally moving bodies that are of the same material, the larger moves more swiftly, such that a large piece of gold would move more swiftly than a small piece, and that the ratio of their speeds is the same as the ratio of their sizes. Galileo asserts that this is ridiculous because this would imply that, for two lead balls, one ball a hundred times larger than the other, both falling from a great height, then the lighter ball would take a hundred times longer to fall than the heavier ball, but this does not happen. Instead, Galileo argues that objects made of the same material, though different in size,


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-5.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
When solids lighter than water are completely submerged in water, they are carried upward with a force measured by the difference between the weight of a volume of water equal to the volume of the submerged body and the weight of the body itself. In other words, Galileo argues that natural motion is based on an object's apparent weight. He concludes that if we wish to know at once the relative speeds of a same body in two different media, we take an amount of each medium equal to the volume of the body, and subtract from the weights of each medium the weight of the body. The numbers found as remainders will be to each other as the speeds of the motions. Similar arguments are then made for the ratios of speeds of two bodies equal in volume but unequal in weight moving the same media in both upward and downward motion. By the end of the chapter, Galileo provides the ratio of the speeds for natural motion made of the same or different material, in the same medium or in different medium, and in natural motion upward or downwards. Galileo ends the chapter claiming that lighter bodies will


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-6.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 9: In view of all the above, bodies moving naturally are reduced to the weights of a balance === Galileo investigates the force responsible for the motions explained in Chapter 8, specifically, the amount of force necessary to hold wood underwater, to which he concludes that wood moves upward with a force measured by the amount by which the weight of a volume of water equals to the wood exceeds the weight of the wood. Similarly, he investigates the force of a lead sphere as it moves downward in water, and he concludes that the sphere moves downward with a force equal to the weight by which it exceeds the weight of an aqueous sphere of the same size. He then revisits the conclusion of the previous chapter: in the case of bodies of different material, provided that they are equal in size, the ratio of the speeds of their natural downward motions is the same as the ratio of their weights–and not their weights as such, but the weights found by weighing them in the medium in which the motion takes place. From this, Galileo recognizes that, when objects occupy a medium and we weigh the object


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-7.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 12: Disproving Aristotle’s claim that absolutely light and absolutely heavy exist; and even if they did, it would not be earth and fire === Aristotle defined that the “absolutely heaviest” are things that lay below everything else and always move towards the center of the universe, and he calls the “absolutely lightest” things that rise above everything else and always move up and never down. Thus, the heaviest is earth, and the lightest is fire. For if fire had heaviness, it would remain below something, which is not observed. Galileo rebuts that Aristotle’s argument is not conclusive, for it is sufficient for fire to be less heavy than everything else, and is not necessarily without weight. Aristotle argues that, if fire had weight, then a large amount of fire would be heavier than a small amount, thus the large amount would rise slower. Similarly, if earth had lightness, then a large amount of earth would fall slower than a small amount. But experience shows the opposite. Galileo rebuts that this is also an invalid argument, for weight of a body is modified by the medium it is in. In other words, fire does not have weight in air.


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-8.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 15: An argument that rectilinear and circular motions have a ratio to each other === Aristotle asserts that circular motion does not have any ratio to rectilinear motion because a straight line is not in any ratio to or comparable to a curve. Galileo rejects this stating that this would be like saying a triangle and a square are not comparable because the triangle has only three angles while the square has four. Even a circle inscribed in a square has some ratio even though the circle has curved edges while the square has straight edges. He further argues that Aristotle failed to see that the lines have a quantitative relation even if they are qualitatively different. Galileo further claims that Aristotle was reckless in asserting that there is no straight line equal to the circumference of a circle–Archimedes was able to prove this in his work On Spirals, where a straight line is found equal to the circumference of the circle around the spiral of first revolution. === Chapter 16: The question of whether circular motion is natural or forced === Galileo offers the question: if the center of a rotating marble sphere (and its center of


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-9.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 17: The agency by which projectiles are moved === Aristotle argues that objects move due to contact with a mover, but since projectiles fly without contact from a mover, then it must be that the rushing of air behind the object is propagating its motion. Galileo raises several objections to this explanation (most of which were recognized much before Galileo): the successive parts of air that push the projectile would always be accelerated, which is contrary to Aristotle’s assumptions; experience shows that arrows fly despite a strong opposing headwind; a ship propelled by oars against a current continues to move forward long after the oars are retracted from the water; iron balls can be flung at a great distance, and yet flaxen fibers fall to the ground sooner than the iron ball; lastly, a marble sphere can spin for a long time without displacing, thus leaving no space for air to push against it, nor is a flame placed underneath the sphere disturbed by any air currents. Instead, Galileo argues that projectile motion results from an impressed force that gives the projectile a self-depleting impetus for its motion (as a side note, according to Drabkin, medieval philosophy historian


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-10.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 19: The cause of acceleration of natural motion towards the end of motion === Galileo admits he struggled to find an explanation as to why objects accelerate toward the end of its motion. Although he states that he was excited to find a solution, the explanation he provides is mostly erroneous. Galileo would later provide a correct description of natural acceleration in his Two New Sciences: interlocutor Salviati, who represents an older Galileo, explicitly states that he would not provide an explanation as to the cause of such acceleration, but the explanation provided here is expressed by the interlocutor, Sagredo, who represents a younger Galileo. Aristotle argued against such acceleration, stating that natural motion is not accelerated by extrusion since that would imply forced motion, but later, the Peripatetics would argue that it was the rushing of air behind the projectile that caused the acceleration. Galileo states that this doesn’t explain why a rhombus-shaped object would accelerate since the rushing air would become split by the edges of the shape and therefore unable to strike the object. Instead, Galileo argues that, since a heavy falling body moves more slowly at the beginning, it follows that the body is


id: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora-11.md
category: reference
title: De motu antiquiora
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_antiquiora
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:23.985272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-antiquiora-20260505-0
summary:
=== Chapter 22: An explanation as to why, at the beginning of their motion, less heavy bodies move more swiftly than heavier ones === Averroes and his followers had proposed a solution to this question that supposed that elements were heavy in their own region, a proposition that Galileo rejected in Chapter 11. They also believed that a wooden sphere contains more air in it than a lead sphere, thus making the wooden sphere move more swiftly; further, it was believed that lead is heavier than iron in air because the lead contained more air than in iron – Galileo states that it’s obvious that this argument contains many complications. Instead, Galileo proposes that, when objects begin their natural motion from rest, it begins with an impressed force that is equal but opposite to their weight (i.e., a hand or some device initially supporting the object provides the impressed force). As a result, heavier bodies begin their motion with a greater contrary force and thus fall more slowly at the beginning of their motion than lighter bodies, but once the contrary force is depleted, the heavier body then falls faster than lighter bodies, as is seen from experience. However, he


id: de-motu-corporum-in-gyrum-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum-0.md
category: reference
title: De motu corporum in gyrum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:25.182996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-corporum-in-gyrum-20260505-0
summary:
De motu corporum in gyrum (from Latin: "On the motion of bodies in an orbit"; abbreviated De Motu) is the presumed title of a manuscript by Isaac Newton sent to Edmond Halley in November 1684. The manuscript was prompted by a visit from Halley earlier that year when he had questioned Newton about problems then occupying the minds of Halley and his scientific circle in London, including Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. This manuscript gave important mathematical derivations relating to the three relations now known as "Kepler's laws of planetary motion" (before Newton's work, these had not been generally regarded as scientific laws). Halley reported the communication from Newton to the Royal Society on 10 December 1684 (Old Style). After further encouragement from Halley, Newton developed the ideas outlined by De Motu into his book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. == Contents == One of the surviving copies of De Motu was made by being entered in the Royal Society's register book, and its (Latin) text is available online. For ease of cross-reference to the contents of De Motu that appeared again in the Principia, there are online sources for the Principia in English translation, as well as in Latin.


id: de-motu-corporum-in-gyrum-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum-1.md
category: reference
title: De motu corporum in gyrum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:25.182996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-corporum-in-gyrum-20260505-0
summary:
=== Theorem 3 === Theorem 3 now evaluates the centripetal force in a non-circular orbit, using another geometrical limit argument, involving ratios of vanishingly small line-segments. The demonstration comes down to evaluating the curvature of the orbit as if it were made of infinitesimal arcs, and the centripetal force at any point is evaluated from the speed and the curvature of the local infinitesimal arc. This subject reappears in the Principia as Proposition 6 of Book 1. A corollary then points out how it is possible in this way to determine the centripetal force for any given shape of orbit and center. Problem 1 then explores the case of a circular orbit, assuming the center of attraction is on the circumference of the circle. A scholium points out that if the orbiting body were to reach such a center, it would then depart along the tangent. (Proposition 7 in the Principia.) Problem 2 explores the case of an ellipse, where the center of attraction is at its center, and finds that the centripetal force to produce motion in that configuration would be directly proportional to the radius vector. (This material becomes Proposition 10, Problem 5 in the Principia.) Problem 3


id: de-motu-corporum-in-gyrum-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum-2.md
category: reference
title: De motu corporum in gyrum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:25.182996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: de-motu-corporum-in-gyrum-20260505-0
summary:
== Commentaries on the contents == At some points in 'De Motu', Newton depends on matters proved being used in practice as a basis for regarding their converses as also proved. This has been seen as especially so in regard to 'Problem 3'. Newton's style of demonstration in all his writings was rather brief in places; he appeared to assume that certain steps would be found self-evident or obvious. In 'De Motu', as in the first edition of the Principia, Newton did not specifically state a basis for extending the proofs to the converse. The proof of the converse here depends on its being apparent that there is a unique relation, i.e., that in any given setup, only one orbit corresponds to one given and specified set of force/velocity/starting position. Newton added a mention of this kind into the second edition of the Principia, as a Corollary to Propositions 11–13, in response to criticism of this sort made during his lifetime. A significant scholarly controversy has existed over the question whether and how far these extensions to the converse, and the associated uniqueness statements, are self-evident and obvious or not. (There is no suggestion that the converses are not true,


id: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems-0.md
category: reference
title: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:26.483495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
summary:
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo) is a 1632 book by Galileo Galilei comparing Nicolaus Copernicus's heliocentric system model with Ptolemy's geocentric model. Written in Italian, it was translated into Latin as Systema cosmicum (Cosmic System) in 1635 by Matthias Bernegger. The book was dedicated to Galileo's patron, Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who received the first printed copy on February 22, 1632. It consists of four Socratic dialogues between the Copernican Salviati, the educated layman Sagredo and the geocentrist Simplicio. They discuss the findings of their "mutual friend the Academician" (Galileo). In the heliocentric system, the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, while in the Ptolemaic system, everything in the Universe circles around the Earth. The Dialogue was published in Florence under a formal license from the Inquisition. In 1633, Galileo was found to be "vehemently suspect of heresy" based on the book, which was then placed on the Index of Forbidden Books, from which it was not removed until 1835 (after the theories it discussed had been permitted in print in 1822). In an action that was not announced at the time, the publication of


id: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems-1.md
category: reference
title: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:26.483495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
summary:
Direct physical argument for the Earth's motion, by means of an explanation of tides. As an account of the causation of tides or a proof of the Earth's motion, it is a failure. The fundamental argument is internally inconsistent and actually leads to the conclusion that tides do not exist. But, Galileo was fond of the argument and devoted the "Fourth Day" of the discussion to it. The degree of its failure is—like nearly anything having to do with Galileo—a matter of controversy. On the one hand, the whole thing has recently been described in print as "cockamamie." On the other hand, Einstein used a rather different description: It was Galileo's longing for a mechanical proof of the motion of the earth which misled him into formulating a wrong theory of the tides. The fascinating arguments in the last conversation would hardly have been accepted as proof by Galileo, had his temperament not got the better of him. [Emphasis added] === Omissions === The Dialogue does not treat the Tychonic system, which was becoming the preferred system of many astronomers at the time of publication and which was ultimately proven incorrect. The Tychonic system is a motionless Earth system but


id: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems-2.md
category: reference
title: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:26.483495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
summary:
=== Day one === Salviati starts with Aristotle's proof of the completeness and perfection of the world (i.e. the universe) because of its three dimensions. Simplicio points out that three was favoured by the Pythagoreans whereas Salviati cannot understand why three legs are better than two or four. He suggests that the numbers were "trifles which later spread among the vulgar" and that their definitions, such as those of straight lines and right angles, were more useful in establishing the dimensions. Simplicio's response was that Aristotle thought that in physical matters mathematical demonstration was not always needed. Salviati attacks Aristotle's definition of the heavens as incorruptible and unchanging whilst only the lunar-bound zone shows change. He points to the changes seen in the skies: the new stars of 1572 and 1604 and sunspots, seen through the new telescope. There is a discussion about Aristotle's use of a priori arguments. Salviati suggests that Aristotle uses Aristotle’s personal experience to choose an appropriate argument to prove just as others do and that Aristotle would change his mind in the present circumstances. Simplicio argues that sunspots could simply be small opaque objects passing in front of the Sun, but Salviati points out that


id: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems-3.md
category: reference
title: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:26.483495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
summary:
They consider three main objections to the motion of the Earth: that a falling body would be left behind by the Earth and thus fall far to the west of its point of release; that a cannonball fired to the west would similarly fly much further than one fired to the east; and that a cannonball fired vertically would also land far to the west. Salviati shows that these do not take account of the impetus of the cannon. He also points out that attempting to prove that the Earth does not move by using vertical fall commits the logical fault of paralogism (assuming what is to be proved), because if the Earth is moving then it is only in appearance that it is falling vertically; in fact it is falling at a slant, as happens with a cannonball rising through the cannon (illustrated). In rebutting a work which claims that a ball falling from the Moon would take six days to arrive, the odd-number rule is introduced: a body falling 1 unit in an interval would fall 3 units in the next interval, 5 units in the subsequent one, etc. This gives rise to the rule by which the


id: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems-4.md
category: reference
title: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:26.483495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
summary:
Copernicus has succeeded in reducing some of the uneven motions of Ptolemy who had to deal with motions that sometimes go fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes backwards, by means of vast epicycles. Mars, above the Sun's sphere, often falls far below it, then soars above it. These anomalies are cured by the annual movement of the Earth. This is explained by a diagram in which the varying motion of Jupiter is shown using the Earth's orbit. Simplicio produces another booklet in which theological arguments are mixed with astronomic, but Salviati refuses to address the issues from Scripture. So he produces the argument that the fixed stars must be at an inconceivable distance with the smallest larger than the whole orbit of the Earth. Salviati explains that this all comes from a misrepresentation of what Copernicus said, resulting in a huge over-calculation of the size of a sixth magnitude star. But many other famous astronomers over-estimated the size of stars by ignoring the brightness factor. Not even Tycho, with his accurate instruments, set himself to measure the size of any star except the Sun and Moon. But Salviati (Galileo) was able to make a reasonable estimate simply by hanging a cord


id: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems-5.md
category: reference
title: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:26.483495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dialogue-concerning-the-two-chief-world-systems-20260505-0
summary:
=== Day four === They are in Sagredo's house in Venice, where tides are an important issue, and Salviati wants to show the effect of the Earth's movement on the tides. He first points out the three periods of the tides: daily (diurnal), generally with intervals of 6 hours of rising and six more of falling; monthly, seemingly from the Moon, which increases or decreases these tides; and annual, leading to different sizes at the equinoxes. He considers first the daily motion. Three varieties are observed: in some places the waters rise and fall without any forward motion; in others they move towards the east and back to the west without rising or falling; in still others there is a combination of both—this happens in Venice where the waters rise on entering and fall on leaving. In the Straits of Messina there are very swift currents between Scylla and Charybdis. In the open Mediterranean the alteration of height is small but the currents are noticeable. Simplicio counters with the peripatetic explanations, which are based on the depths of the sea, and the dominion of the Moon over the water, though this does not explain the risings when the Moon is


id: a-different-universe-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Different_Universe-0.md
category: reference
title: A Different Universe
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Different_Universe
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:27.657885+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: a-different-universe-20260505-0
summary:
A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down is a 2005 physics book by Robert B. Laughlin, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics for the fractional quantum Hall effect. Its title is a play on the P. W. Anderson manifesto More is Different (historically important in claiming that condensed-matter physics deserves greater respect). The book extends his articles "The Middle Way" and "The Theory of Everything", arguing the limits of reductionism. A key concept in Laughlin's works is protectorates, meaning robust physical regimes of behavior that do not depend on (that is, they are protected from the fickle details of) the underlying smaller-scale physics such as quantum noise. Such robust or reliable behavior at macroscopic scales makes possible higher-level entities, from biological life to nanotechnology. The book emphasizes more study of such macroscopic phenomena, sometimes called emergence, over the ever-downward dive into theoretically fundamental ideas such as string theory, which at some point become empirically irrelevant by having no observable consequences in our world. The arguments come full circle with modern dark energy ideas suggesting that spacetime or the vacuum may not be empty, but rather (for all we can observe) a medium, a possibility ironically glimpsed


id: einstein-wrote-back-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_Wrote_Back-0.md
category: reference
title: Einstein Wrote Back
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_Wrote_Back
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:28.913584+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: einstein-wrote-back-20260505-0
summary:
Einstein Wrote Back is a memoir by Canadian physicist John Moffat that documents his encounters with various other famous physicists, including Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Fred Hoyle, Wolfgang Pauli, Paul Dirac, Abdus Salam, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, as well as his work at Imperial College London, Princeton University, CERN, and the University of Toronto. The book's title comes from a series of letters Moffat exchanged with Einstein early in his life, which inspired Moffat to continue studying physics. == Reception == Writing in Physics World, Graham Farmelo described the book as a pleasant read, though some of the anecdotes appeared embellished and historical details were inconsistent. == See also == Reinventing Gravity, 2008 book by Moffat Cracking the Particle Code of the Universe: The Hunt for the Higgs Boson, 2014 book by Moffat == References == == External links == "EINSTEIN WROTE BACK by John Moffat". YouTube. ThomasAllenPublisher. October 19, 2010.


id: an-elementary-treatise-on-electricity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Elementary_Treatise_on_Electricity-0.md
category: reference
title: An Elementary Treatise on Electricity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Elementary_Treatise_on_Electricity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:30.214982+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: an-elementary-treatise-on-electricity-20260505-0
summary:
An Elementary Treatise on Electricity is a posthumously published treatise on electricity by James Clerk Maxwell that was edited by William Garnett. The book was published in 1881 by Oxford University Press two years after Maxwell died in 1879. The editor's note at the beginning of the book states that most of the book's content was written about five years prior to Maxwell's death, some of which was used in the lectures Maxwell gave on electricity to members of the Cavendish Laboratory. == Contents == The book contains thirteen chapters, covering the following topics: Chapter I: [No overall heading; covers basic electrical experiments] Chapter II: 'On the charges of electrified bodies' Chapter III: 'On electrical work and energy' Chapter IV: 'The electric field' Chapter V: 'Faraday's law of lines of induction' Chapter VI: 'Particular cases of electrification' Chapter VII: 'Electrical images' Chapter VIII: 'Capacity' Chapter IX: 'Electric current' Chapter X: 'Phenomena of an electric current which flows through heterogeneous media' Chapter XI: 'Methods of maintaining an electric current' Chapter XII: 'On the measurement of electric resistance' Chapter XIII: 'On the electric resistance of substances' The first eight chapters were complete at the time of Maxwell's death, as were parts of


id: an-elementary-treatise-on-electricity-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Elementary_Treatise_on_Electricity-1.md
category: reference
title: An Elementary Treatise on Electricity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Elementary_Treatise_on_Electricity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:30.214982+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: an-elementary-treatise-on-electricity-20260505-0
summary:
== Maxwell, Faraday and the Elementary Treatise == The book is not merely a re-statement of some parts of A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Maxwell notes thatIn the larger treatise I sometimes made use of methods which I do not think the best in themselves, but without which the student cannot follow the investigations of the founders of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity. I have since become more convinced of the superiority of methods akin to those of Faraday, and have therefore adopted them from the first.This is thought to refer to the use, in A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism of the potentials A and Ψ as fundamental. That Maxwell adopted "methods akin to those of Faraday" "from the first" in the Elementary Treatise gives it an important place in our understanding of what Maxwell might have done with the full mathematical treatment of the second edition of A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. For this reason, and owing to the less technical presentation of the Elementary Treatise, the latter has been called "the final, unfinished expression of the understanding [Maxwell] achieved by studying and extending Faraday's work". Maxwell's relationship with Michael Faraday's work was foundational: as a


id: elements-of-dynamic-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elements_of_Dynamic-0.md
category: reference
title: Elements of Dynamic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elements_of_Dynamic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:31.462570+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: elements-of-dynamic-20260505-0
summary:
Elements of Dynamic is a book published by William Kingdon Clifford in 1878. In 1887 it was supplemented by a fourth part and an appendix. The subtitle is "An introduction to motion and rest in solid and fluid bodies". It was reviewed positively, has remained a standard reference since its appearance, and is now available online as a Historical Math Monograph from Cornell University. On page 95 Clifford deconstructed the quaternion product of William Rowan Hamilton into two separate products of two vectors: vector product and scalar product. This separation of the quaternion product into two was followed by J. W. Gibbs in his development of vector analysis, first in a pamphlet acknowledging Clifford's Kinematic, and later in a textbook published by Yale University, called Vector Analysis. He apparently remained unaware of Clifford's seminal paper on the unification of these two products into what he termed a geometric algebra. Elements of Dynamic was the debut of the term cross-ratio for a four-argument function frequently used in geometry. Clifford uses the term twist to discuss (pages 126 to 131) the screw theory that had recently been introduced by Robert Stawell Ball. The operation on vectors by matrix multiplication was given with


id: the-end-of-the-certain-world-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_the_Certain_World-0.md
category: reference
title: The End of the Certain World
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_the_Certain_World
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:32.665122+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-end-of-the-certain-world-20260505-0
summary:
The End of the Certain World: The Life and Science of Max Born is a biography of Max Born by Nancy Thorndike Greenspan that was initially published in 2005 by Basic Books. It was the first book-length biography of Born, a Nobel laureate and one of the founders of quantum mechanics. The book was critically acclaimed and was reviewed by Publishers Weekly, David C. Cassidy, Kurt Gottfried, Graham Farmelo, and Cathryn Carson, among others. == Background == Max Born played a pivotal role in the development of quantum mechanics, a term that he coined prior to Werner Heisenberg, his assistant, developing matrix mechanics. He is also the author of the classic textbook Principles of Optics. Despite his role in the quantum revolution, however, he received his Nobel Prize in Physics much later than his contemporaries and had never received a book-length biography prior to Greenspan's 2005 work. Heisenberg received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 and, according to the biography, Born felt dejected for not being included in the award. Born was awarded his own Nobel Prize in 1954. == Reception == The book was reviewed by David C. Cassidy, Kurt Gottfried, and Cathryn Carson, among several others. The


id: experiments-and-observations-on-electricity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_and_Observations_on_Electricity-0.md
category: reference
title: Experiments and Observations on Electricity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_and_Observations_on_Electricity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:34.035855+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: experiments-and-observations-on-electricity-20260505-0
summary:
Experiments and Observations on Electricity is a treatise by Benjamin Franklin based on letters that he wrote to Peter Collinson, who communicated Franklin's ideas to the Royal Society. The letters were published as a book in England in 1751, and over the following years the book was reissued in four more editions containing additional material, the last in 1774. Science historian I. Bernard Cohen crafted an edition with historical commentary that was published in 1941. == References == == Further reading == "Experiments and Observations, [April 1751]". Founders Online. National Archives. Original source: Labaree, Leonard W., ed. (1961). The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 4, July 1, 1750, through June 30, 1753. Yale University Press. pp. 125–130. Watson, William (1751). "An Account of Mr. Benjamin Franklin's Treatise, Lately Published, Intituled, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America; By Wm. Watson, F. R. S.". Philosophical Transactions. 47: 202–211. JSTOR 105044. == External links == Experiments and observations on electricity, made at Philadelphia in America (1751), scanned from a copy in Franklin's personal library with his own handwritten notes, at the Internet Archive


id: feynman-s-lost-lecture-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman's_Lost_Lecture-0.md
category: reference
title: Feynman's Lost Lecture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feynman's_Lost_Lecture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:35.280798+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feynman-s-lost-lecture-20260505-0
summary:
Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun is a book based on a lecture by Richard Feynman. Restoration of the lecture notes and conversion into book form was undertaken by Caltech physicist David L. Goodstein and archivist Judith R. Goodstein. Feynman had given the lecture on the motion of bodies at Caltech on March 13, 1964, but the notes and pictures were lost for a number of years and consequently not included in The Feynman Lectures on Physics series. The lecture notes were later found, but without the photographs of his illustrative chalkboard drawings. One of the editors, David L. Goodstein, stated that at first without the photographs, it was very hard to figure out what diagrams he was referring to in the audiotapes, but a later finding of his own private lecture notes made it possible to understand completely the logical framework with which Feynman delivered the lecture. == Overview == You can explain to people who don't know much of the physics, the early history... how Newton discovered... Kepler's Laws, and equal areas, and that means it's toward the sun, and all this stuff. And then the key - they always ask then, "Well, how


id: geshu-bu-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geshu_bu-0.md
category: reference
title: Geshu bu
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geshu_bu
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:36.490564+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geshu-bu-20260505-0
summary:
The Geshu bu (格術補), translated to English as the Supplement to Geometric Optics, Science Updates, or Optic Updates, is a book on optics written by the Chinese Guangdong gentry and intellectual Zou Boqi (1819–1869). The book was written in the late Qing Dynasty period in China. It covers the principles of lenses and is based on mathematical theory. == Background == Zou Boqi wrote two significant works in optics: the Geshu bu and the "Notes on the Mechanism for Capturing Images" (Sheying zhi qi ji). The Geshu bu tackles the Chinese principles on optics and its related literature while the Sheyi zhi qi ji delves more on the results of Zou's experiments as well as principles on photography. The Geshu bu was published in 1874, after Zou Boqi's death. In the late nineteenth century, Western knowledge, especially in optics, began to influence China. Zou's book, Geshu bu, introduced basic concepts of optics and lens, building on earlier Jesuit translations. This work challenged the traditional Mohist views and laid the groundwork for geometrical optics in China. == Contents == Based from one fascicle of the book, published in 1877, it aims to expand on ancient Chinese mathematics. The term geshu highlights


id: harmonice-mundi-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonice_Mundi-0.md
category: reference
title: Harmonice Mundi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonice_Mundi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:37.722025+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: harmonice-mundi-20260505-0
summary:
Harmonice Mundi (Latin: The Harmony of the World, 1619) is a book by Johannes Kepler. In the work, written entirely in Latin, Kepler discusses harmony and congruence in geometrical forms and physical phenomena. The final section of the work relates his discovery of the so-called third law of planetary motion. The full title is Harmonices mundi libri V (The Five Books of The Harmony of the World), which is commonly but ungrammatically shortened to Harmonices mundi. == Background and history == Kepler began working on Harmonice Mundi around 1599, which was the year Kepler sent a letter to Michael Maestlin detailing the mathematical data and proofs that he intended to use for his upcoming text, which he originally planned to name De harmonia mundi. Kepler was aware that the content of Harmonice Mundi closely resembled that of the subject matter for Ptolemy's Harmonica, but was not concerned. The new astronomy Kepler would use (most notably the adoption of elliptic orbits in the Copernican system) allowed him to explore new theorems. Another important development that allowed Kepler to establish his celestial-harmonic relationships was the abandonment of the Pythagorean tuning as the basis for musical consonance and the adoption of geometrically supported


id: harmonice-mundi-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonice_Mundi-1.md
category: reference
title: Harmonice Mundi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonice_Mundi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:37.722025+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: harmonice-mundi-20260505-0
summary:
Accordingly you won't wonder any more that a very excellent order of sounds or pitches in a musical system or scale has been set up by men, since you see that they are doing nothing else in this business except to play the apes of God the Creator and to act out, as it were, a certain drama of the ordination of the celestial movements. Kepler discovers that all but one of the ratios of the maximum and minimum speeds of planets on neighboring orbits approximate musical harmonies within a margin of error of less than a diesis (a 25:24 interval). The orbits of Mars and Jupiter produce the one exception to this rule, creating the inharmonic ratio of 18:19. === Chapter 5 === Chapter 5 includes a long digression on astrology. This is immediately followed by Kepler's third law of planetary motion, which shows a constant proportionality between the cube of the semi-major axis of a planet's orbit and the square of the time of its orbital period. Kepler's previous book, Astronomia nova, related the discovery of the first two principles now known as Kepler's laws. == Recent history == A copy of the 1619 edition was stolen from


id: helgoland-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helgoland_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Helgoland (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helgoland_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:38.907667+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: helgoland-book-20260505-0
summary:
Helgoland is a book by Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli about quantum mechanics and the relational interpretation of it that Rovelli developed. The title refers to Heligoland, an island in the North Sea where Werner Heisenberg secluded himself while developing the basic ideas of quantum mechanics in 1925. The book was first published in Italian in 2020, and an English translation by Erica Segre and Simon Carnell was published the following year. The Persian translation, translated by Samane Noroozi (Chatrang Publisher), was published the following year in Iran. == References ==


id: higgs-discovery-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_Discovery-0.md
category: reference
title: Higgs Discovery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_Discovery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:40.162884+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: higgs-discovery-20260505-0
summary:
Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space is a short non-fiction book by Lisa Randall, in which she concentrates on the ideas discussed in her two previous books. Higgs Discovery was initially published on September 24, 2013 by Ecco Press. == Review == Lisa Randall is a well-known theoretical physicist, Professor at Harvard and author of two previous, chunkier popular books on particle physics, cosmology and their implications. This ebook contains extracts from those books but the main content is a thirty page account of the significance of the discovery and of her personal experience of it (listening to the seminar in a cafe on a Greek Island, doing an interview about it halfway up a rock face...). The style is informal and easygoing; the content is advanced. Randall goes beyond the poetic one-liners and beyond what any single news article could deliver in terms of explaining the significance of the discovery, how it was made, and what might come next. A lot of specialist terms are used, but most are introduced in a way which does not interfere with the impact of the narrative or the big picture Randall summarises. I think it will work well for non-specialists (certainly


id: horologium-oscillatorium-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horologium_Oscillatorium-0.md
category: reference
title: Horologium Oscillatorium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horologium_Oscillatorium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:41.406888+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: horologium-oscillatorium-20260505-0
summary:
Horologium Oscillatorium: Sive de Motu Pendulorum ad Horologia Aptato Demonstrationes Geometricae (English: The Pendulum Clock: or Geometrical Demonstrations Concerning the Motion of Pendula as Applied to Clocks) is a book published by Dutch mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens in 1673 and his major work on pendula and horology. It is regarded as one of the three most important works on mechanics in the 17th century, the other two being Galileo’s Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638) and Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687). Much more than a mere description of clocks, Huygens's Horologium Oscillatorium is the first modern treatise in which a physical problem (the accelerated motion of a falling body) is idealized by a set of parameters then analyzed mathematically and constitutes one of the seminal works of applied mathematics. The book is also known for its strangely worded dedication to Louis XIV. The appearance of the book in 1673 was a political issue, since at that time the Dutch Republic was at war with France; Huygens was anxious to show his allegiance to his patron, which can be seen in the obsequious dedication to Louis XIV. == Overview == The motivation behind Horologium Oscillatorium


id: horologium-oscillatorium-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horologium_Oscillatorium-1.md
category: reference
title: Horologium Oscillatorium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horologium_Oscillatorium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:41.406888+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: horologium-oscillatorium-20260505-0
summary:
If there is no gravity, and the air offers no resistance to the motion of bodies, then any one of these bodies admits of a single motion to be continued with an equal velocity along a straight line. Now truly this motion becomes, under the action of gravity and for whatever the direction of the uniform motion, a motion composed from that constant motion that a body now has or had previously, together with the motion due gravity downwards. Also, either of these motions can be considered separately, neither one to be impeded by the other. He uses these three rules to re-derive geometrically Galileo's original study of falling bodies, including linear fall along inclined planes and fall along a curved path. He then studies constrained fall, culminating with a proof that a body falling along an inverted cycloid reaches the bottom in a fixed amount of time, regardless of the point on the path at which it begins to fall. This in effect shows the solution to the tautochrone problem as given by a cycloid curve. In modern notation: ( π / 2 ) √ ( 2 D / g ) {\displaystyle (\pi /2)\surd (2D/g)} The following propositions are


id: horologium-oscillatorium-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horologium_Oscillatorium-2.md
category: reference
title: Horologium Oscillatorium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horologium_Oscillatorium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:41.406888+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: horologium-oscillatorium-20260505-0
summary:
=== Reception === Initial reviews of Huygens's Horologium Oscillatorium in major research journals at the time were generally positive. An anonymous review in Journal de Sçavans (1674) praised the author of the book for his invention of the pendulum clock "which brings the greatest honor to our century because it is of utmost importance... for astronomy and for navigation" while also noting the elegant, but difficult, mathematics needed to fully understand the book. Another review in the Giornale de' Letterati (1674) repeated many of the same points than the first one, with further elaboration on Huygens's trials at sea. The review in the Philosophical Transactions (1673) likewise praised the author for his invention but mentions other contributors to the clock design, such as William Neile, that in time would lead to a priority dispute. In addition to submitting his work for review, Huygens sent copies of his book to individuals throughout Europe, including statesmen such as Johan De Witt, and mathematicians such as Gilles de Roberval and Gregory of St. Vincent. Their appreciation of the text was due not exclusively on their ability to comprehend it fully but rather as a recognition of Huygens’s intellectual standing, or of his gratitude


id: hydrodynamica-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrodynamica-0.md
category: reference
title: Hydrodynamica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrodynamica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:42.667840+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: hydrodynamica-20260505-0
summary:
Hydrodynamica, sive de Viribus et Motibus Fluidorum Commentarii (Latin for Hydrodynamics, or commentaries on the forces and motions of fluids) is a book published by Daniel Bernoulli in 1738. The title of this book eventually christened the field of fluid mechanics as hydrodynamics. This book introduced the Bernoulli's principle, stating the first form of conservation of energy in fluid dynamics. == Description == The book deals with fluid mechanics and is organized around preliminary versions of the conservation of energy, as received from Christiaan Huygens's formulation of vis viva (Latin for living forces). The book describes the theory of water flowing through a tube and of water flowing from a hole in a container. In doing so, Bernoulli explained the nature of hydrodynamic pressure and discovered the role of loss of vis viva in fluid flow, which would later be known as the Bernoulli principle. The book also discusses hydraulic machines and introduces the notion of work and efficiency of a machine. In the tenth chapter, Bernoulli discussed a primitive version of kinetic theory of gases. Assuming that heat increases the velocity of the gas particles, he first demonstrated that the pressure of air is proportional to kinetic energy of


id: imagining-the-elephant-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagining_the_Elephant-0.md
category: reference
title: Imagining the Elephant
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagining_the_Elephant
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:43.952249+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: imagining-the-elephant-20260505-0
summary:
Imagining the Elephant: A Biography of Allan MacLeod Cormack is a 2008 biography of physicist and Nobel laureate Allan MacLeod Cormack written by biomedical engineer and author Christopher Kit Vaughan and published by Imperial College Press. The book won the University of Cape Town Book Award in 2010, an honour shared with Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee who won the award in 1984 for Waiting for the Barbarians. Cormack shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1979 with Godfrey Hounsfield “for the development of computer assisted tomography.” The book's title is inspired by the parable of six blind men and an elephant, in which the men, by approaching the animal from different angles, imagine it to be an elephant. This is analogous to computed tomography – or CT scan – in which a series of two-dimensional X-rays taken from different angles are used to construct a three-dimensional image of the object. == Overview == The book is divided into nine chapters: (1) From John O'Groats to Jo'burg; (2) On the Slopes of Table Mountain; (3) Physics and Friends at Cambridge; (4) Return to the Fairest Cape; (5) A New Beginning in Boston; (6) Finding Radon and His Transform;


id: landolt-b-rnstein-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landolt–Börnstein-0.md
category: reference
title: Landolt–Börnstein
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landolt–Börnstein
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:45.181501+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: landolt-b-rnstein-20260505-0
summary:
Landolt–Börnstein is a collection of property data in materials science and the closely related fields of chemistry, physics and engineering published by Springer Nature. == History == On July 28, 1882, Dr. Hans Heinrich Landolt and Dr. Richard Börnstein, both professors at the "Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule" (Agricultural College) at Berlin, signed a contract with the publisher Ferdinand Springer on the publication of a collection of tables with physical-chemical data. The title of this book "Physikalisch-chemische Tabellen" (Physical-Chemical Tables) published in 1883 was soon forgotten. Owing to its success the data collection has been known for more than a hundred years by each scientist only as "The Landolt-Börnstein". A total of 1,250 copies of the first edition were printed and sold. The second edition was published in 1894, followed by the third in 1905, the fourth in 1912, and finally the fifth edition in 1923. Supplementary volumes to the fifth edition were printed as late as 1936. New editions introduced major changes, including a large expansion of volumes, an increased number of authors, an updated structure, additional tables, and coverage of new areas in physics and chemistry. The fifth edition was eventually published in 1923 and consisted of two volumes totaling 1,695


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-0.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
Le Mecaniche ("The Mechanics"; sometimes spelled Le Meccaniche in modern Italian) is a short treatise by Galileo Galilei, composed while he was teaching mathematics in Padua. The precise date of its most refined form is difficult, if not impossible, to determine, but it is generally dated around 1600 or earlier, and was unlikely revised after 1608. It was preceded by a brief version written around 1593, Galileo's first full year in Padua. The work was never printed during his lifetime but circulated in manuscript form among his students and colleagues. The treatise examines the theory of simple machines, such as the lever, pulley, winch (i.e., windlass and capstan), screw, and inclined plane, drawing on classical sources such as Aristotle, Archimedes, Pappus, Philoponus, and Jordanus de Nemore, but reformulated through Galileo's mathematical perspective. In the text, Galileo discusses principles of equilibrium, mechanical advantage, virtual velocities (speeds), and the impossibility of "cheating" nature, emphasizing that machines do not create force but only transform and transmit it. Although Galileo's Mechanics is referenced in the Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze (Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (1638)), including a literal citation to the Mecaniche in amendments added


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-1.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical reception == Clavelin argues that the Le Mecaniche combined three distinct trends in statics into an orderly and rational theory of simple machines: the Peripatetic tradition, whose origins are traced back to the Mechanical Problems; the Archimedean tradition; and a 13th century tradition originated by Jordanus Nemorarius, who produced the first proof in statics based expressly on the idea of virtual displacements, and a correct explanation of motion on an inclined plane. The Mechanical Problems of the Peripatetic school provided the earliest known analysis of why small forces can move great weights by means of the lever, treating the problem implicitly as one in statics, using an approach that contained the beginnings of the principle of virtual velocities, but it should be emphasized that the Mechanical Problems never treated virtual displacements but only virtual velocities. It also described the behavior of the wedge, the pulley, the tackle, the forceps, and the nutcracker, reducing each to that of the lever; however, it failed to adduce a systematic theory of simple machines. In the Archimedean tradition, Archimedes set out to transform statics into a demonstrative science, refusing, in his theory of the lever, to treat equilibrium in terms of virtual


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-2.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
=== The beginnings of Galilean momento === Galileo's Mecaniche presents his early adoption and transformation of momento into a technical term. Prior to drafting his Mecaniche, Galileo had made several attempts to correct the deficiencies and contradictions of his De motu, particularly with the system and definitions relating to gravitas, levitas, and his concept of force, virtus impressa; however, he ultimately abandoned the work. Galluzzi indicates that, during the period spanning 1593 through 1600, Galileo consciously dedicated himself to reforming his lexicon, including his use of momento. As Galluzzi notes, the Pasadena and Regensburg versions of the Mecaniche first used momento without definition and only within a few sentences, wherein the term indicated a negligible amount of weight, which reflected the biblical expression momentum staterae. The years 1595-1597 then marked a period of intense research, definition, and introduction of the term that we now find in the definitive version of the text, making Galileo's momento a Paduan achievement. During the academic year of 1597-98, Galileo taught a course dedicated to the pseudo-Aristotelian Questions of Mechanics at the University of Padua. Galluzzi argues that, while preparing for this task, and stimulated by extensive readings of mechanical texts (he would have certainly


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-3.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
the weight to be transferred from one place to another; the force or power that must move the weight; the distance between the beginning and the end of this motion; and the time in which the change must be made (which comes to mean the same as swiftness and speed of its motion, in which to be "swifter" means to pass an equal distance in less time). Given any determined resistance and delimiting any force, noting any distance in its motion, a weight will be driven by a given force to a given distance. Even if the force is small, we can divide the weight into many pieces, each of which is not superior to the force. By transferring these pieces one at a time, the entire weight can eventually be moved to the desired location. In this fashion, we do not say that the whole weight was translated by a small force, but rather that the small force is applied through many repeated motions and spaces, of which the entire weight only traverses but once. From this, it appears that the speed of the force is greater than the resistance of the weight by as many times as the


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-4.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
==== Terms of mechanics ==== Galileo then introduces special terms used for his analysis of mechanics, along with their basic assumptions. Heaviness (gravità) is the tendency of heavy bodies to move downward naturally. In solid bodies, heaviness is caused by the greater or lesser abundance of matter (materia). It is interesting to note that Galileo does not reduce heaviness to weight (peso) or state that it is to be measured by weight. Moment (momento) is the tendency of heavy bodies to move downward caused not just by the heaviness of the mobile but also by the arrangement that different heavy bodies have among themselves. It is through moment that a less heavy body can be seen to counterbalance another of greater heaviness. For example, on the steelyard balance, a small counterweight can lift a very heavy weight, not through its greater heaviness (of which it lacks) but rather by its distance of suspension of the steelyard. This arrangement, in combination with its heaviness, contributes to its moment and impetus (i.e., drive, propensity, or tendency; not to be confused with Buridanist impetus) to go downward, which may exceed the moment of the other heavier weight. Thus, moment is that impetus to


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-5.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
Having established the case of equal moments of the lever, Galileo notes another "probable" truth. As previously established, if we consider a lever balancing unequal weights at inverse distances (i.e., a state of equal moments), but now one side is hypothetically given a minimal moment of heaviness (i.e., an insensible addition of weight capable of breaking equilibrium), this side will now descend, albeit slowly, while the other side rises. Since any minimal (and insensible) heaviness is sufficient to break equilibrium, we can ignore this quantity so that the power that one weight has in sustaining a second weight compared to the power to move the second weight is essentially indistinguishable. In other words, the additional minimal weight is so small and negligible (yet enough to set the system in motion), the ability of the weights to produce static equilibrium on the lever is also the same ability of the same weights to sustain motion on the lever. This arrangement forms the basis of mechanical analysis through virtual displacements and virtual speeds (and later, during the analysis of inclined planes, the principle of virtual work). The analysis using virtual speeds was originally drawn from Aristotle. Now, as one weight descends while


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-6.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
=== Of Pulleys === Galileo asserts that pulleys (i.e., block-and-tackle systems and simple pulleys) are also describable as a lever; however, prior to demonstrating pulleys, he first demonstrates class II levers (prior analysis of levers up until this section were class I levers). Again, Galileo demonstrates the class II lever in terms of moment, and shows that whatever is gained in force is lost in speed. In viewing a single fixed pulley system with a rope hanging about it vertically on both sides of the pulley, Galileo notes that the wheel of the pulley is essentially a lever with equal arms, which amounts to no mechanical advantage. He further notes that Aristotle "childishly deceived himself" into believing that larger pulley wheels provided a greater advantage than smaller pulley wheels. Instead, Galileo asserts that the only advantage that these simple pulleys offer is the convenience of not having to fight against our own bodies when lifting a weight: in lifting a weight with our arms, we must lift the weight itself along with the weight of our own arms; in contrast, the simple pulley allows us to use the weight of our own arms to pull the rope downwards. Thus, the


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-7.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
Galileo begins by stating that the theory he presents was originally attempted by Pappus of Alexandria in the eighth book of his Mathematical Collections; however, he argues that Pappus failed because he assumed that heavy bodies require an applied force in order to be moved along the horizontal, which Galileo asserts is false. In his construction, Galileo relies on a "bent lever" analogy for analyzing the inclined plane. As the bent lever suspending a weight is turned downward, its moment and its impetus to go down decrease as the lever increases its support of the weight along its radius. He then argues that this arrangement would be no different if the weight were instead placed on a circular surface such that the surface supports the weight instead of the radius of the lever – in both cases, the constrained path of the weight is the same. Thus, when the lever is straight (i.e., not bent), the weight exerts its maximum moment and would behave no differently if placed, unsuspended, against a vertical surface. If the lever is bent downward slightly, then the weight is partly sustained by the radius of the lever, or equivalently, partly sustained by the curved surface


id: le-mecaniche-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche-8.md
category: reference
title: Le Mecaniche
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mecaniche
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:46.380111+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: le-mecaniche-20260505-0
summary:
Lastly, Galileo reminds us of the principle that applies to all mechanical instruments: whatever is gained in force is lost in time and speed. He demonstrates this principle with the screw, using an example of a weight raised on an inclined plane. Consider a weight placed on an inclined plane, and connected to the weight via an inextensible cord is a counterweight that hangs vertically over the edge of the plane. If the proportion of the force produced by the counterweight on the vertical to the weight on the incline is the same as the vertical elevation of the plane to the inclined length (here, Galileo is applying the ratio found in the previous section to construct an equilibrium condition for the two weights such that the reduced force of the weight on the inclined plane, which is now determinable from the ratio, is canceled by the equivalent opposing force of the counterweight; as described earlier, this arrangement is reducable to the bent lever analogy in which the counterweight is on one side of a lever while the other, heavier weight is on the bent side, such that the ratio of weights are inverse ratio to their horizontal distances from


id: lecture-notes-in-physics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecture_Notes_in_Physics-0.md
category: reference
title: Lecture Notes in Physics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecture_Notes_in_Physics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:47.617778+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lecture-notes-in-physics-20260505-0
summary:
Lecture Notes in Physics (LNP) is a book series published by Springer Science+Business Media in the field of physics, including articles related to both research and teaching. It was established in 1969. == See also == Lecture Notes in Computer Science Lecture Notes in Mathematics == External links == Official website


id: list-of-publications-in-physics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_publications_in_physics-0.md
category: reference
title: List of publications in physics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_publications_in_physics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:48.844414+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-publications-in-physics-20260505-0
summary:
This is a list of publications in physics, organized by type. == General audience == List of books on popular physics concepts == Textbooks == List of textbooks on classical mechanics and quantum mechanics List of textbooks in electromagnetism List of textbooks on relativity List of textbooks in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics == Bibliographies by author == Max Born Albert Einstein John von Neumann Emmy Noether == Journals == List of physics journals List of fluid mechanics journals List of materials science journals List of mathematical physics journals


id: list-of-textbooks-on-relativity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_textbooks_on_relativity-0.md
category: reference
title: List of textbooks on relativity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_textbooks_on_relativity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:50.091729+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-textbooks-on-relativity-20260505-0
summary:
Textbooks on the theory of relativity have been published by several notable physicists and mathematicians: == Special relativity == The primary sources section of the latter article in particular contains many additional (early) publications of importance in the field. Lorentz, Hendrik (1892). "De relatieve beweging van de aarde en den aether". Zittingsverlag Akad. (in Dutch). 5 (1): 74–79. :For a translation see: s:Translation:The Relative Motion of the Earth and the Aether. Hendrik Lorentz was a major influence on Einstein's theory of special relativity. Lorentz laid the fundamentals for the work by Einstein and the theory was originally called the Lorentz-Einstein theory. After 1905 Lorentz wrote several papers on what he called "Einstein's principle of relativity". Einstein, Albert (1905-06-30). "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper" [On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies]. Annalen der Physik (in German). 17 (10): 891–921. Bibcode:1905AnP...322..891E. doi:10.1002/andp.19053221004. "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". Translation by George Barker Jeffery and Wilfrid Perrett in The Principle of Relativity, London: Methuen and Company, Ltd. (1923) "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". Translation by Megh Nad Saha in The Principle of Relativity: Original Papers by A. Einstein and H. Minkowski, University of Calcutta, 1920, pp. 1–34: :Introduced the special theory of relativity. Reconciled


id: the-meaning-of-relativity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meaning_of_Relativity-0.md
category: reference
title: The Meaning of Relativity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meaning_of_Relativity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:51.346439+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-meaning-of-relativity-20260505-0
summary:
The Meaning of Relativity: Four Lectures Delivered at Princeton University, May 1921 is a book published by Princeton University Press in 1922 that compiled the 1921 Stafford Little Lectures at Princeton University, given by Albert Einstein. The lectures were translated into English by Edwin Plimpton Adams. The lectures and the subsequent book were Einstein's last attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of his theory of relativity and is his only book that provides an accessible overview of the physics and mathematics of general relativity. Einstein explained his goal in the preface of the book's German edition by stating he "wanted to summarize the principal thoughts and mathematical methods of relativity theory" and that his "principal aim was to let the fundamentals in the entire train of thought of the theory emerge clearly". Among other reviews, the lectures were the subject of the 2017 book The Formative Years of Relativity: The History and Meaning of Einstein's Princeton Lectures by Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn. == Background == The book contains four of Einstein's Stafford Little Lectures that were given at Princeton University in 1921. The lectures follow a series of 1915 publications by Einstein developing the theory of general relativity. During


id: m-canique-analytique-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mécanique_analytique-0.md
category: reference
title: Mécanique analytique
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mécanique_analytique
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:52.609931+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: m-canique-analytique-20260505-0
summary:
Mécanique analytique (1788–89) is a two volume French treatise on analytical mechanics, written by Joseph-Louis Lagrange, and published 101 years after Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. == Treatise == It consolidated into one unified and harmonious system, the scattered developments of contributors such as Alexis Clairaut, Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Pierre-Simon Laplace, Leonhard Euler, and Johann and Jacob Bernoulli in the historical transition from geometrical methods, as presented in Newton's Principia, to the methods of the calculus. The treatise expounds a great labor-saving and thought-saving general analytical method by which every mechanical question may be stated in a single differential equation. Lagrange wrote that this work was entirely new and that his intent was to reduce the theory and the art of solving mechanics problems to general formulae, providing all the equations necessary for the solution of each problem. He stated that:No diagrams will be found in this work. The methods that I explain require neither geometrical, nor mechanical, constructions or reasoning, but only algebraical operations in accordance with regular and uniform procedure. Those who love Analysis will see with pleasure that Mechanics has become a branch of it, and will be grateful to me for having thus extended


id: metamaterials-handbook-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamaterials_Handbook-0.md
category: reference
title: Metamaterials Handbook
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamaterials_Handbook
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:53.868225+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metamaterials-handbook-20260505-0
summary:
Metamaterials Handbook is a two-volume handbook on metamaterials edited by Filippo Capolino professor of electrical engineering in University of California. The series is designed to cover all theory and application topics related to electromagnetic metamaterials. Disciplines have combined to study, and develop electromagnetic metamaterials. Some of these disciplines are optics, physics, electromagnetic theory (including computational methods) microfabrication, microwaves, nanofabrication, nanotechnology, and nanochemistry. == Theory and Phenomena of Metamaterials == Theory and Phenomena of Metamaterials is the first volume of the Metamaterials Handbook. It contains contributions from researchers (scientists) who have produced accepted results in the field of metamaterials. Most of the contributors are associated with Metamorphose VI AISBL, a non-profit, European organization that focuses on artificial electromagnetic materials and metamaterials. Metamorphose provided access to the network of contributors (researchers) who work in a variety of scientific disciplines, involved with metamaterials This book is in an article review format, covering prior work in metamaterials. It focuses on theories underpinning metamaterial research along with the properties of metamaterials. The text covers all areas of metamaterial research. == Applications of Metamaterials == Applications of Metamaterials is the second volume of the Metamaterials Handbook. This book derives its organization for discussion of its topics


id: metamaterials-physics-and-engineering-explorations-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamaterials:_Physics_and_Engineering_Explorations-0.md
category: reference
title: Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering Explorations
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamaterials:_Physics_and_Engineering_Explorations
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:55.065823+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metamaterials-physics-and-engineering-explorations-20260505-0
summary:
Metamaterials: Physics and Engineering Explorations is a book length introduction to the fundamental research and advancements in electromagnetic composite substances known as electromagnetic metamaterials. The discussion encompasses examination of the physics of metamaterial interactions, the designs, and the perspectives of engineering regarding these materials. Also included throughout the book are potential applications, which are discussed at various points in each section of each chapter. The book encompasses a variety of theoretical, numerical, and experimental perspectives. This book has been cited by a few hundred other peer-reviewed research efforts, mostly peer-reviewed science articles. == Authors == Nader Engheta received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (with a minor in Physics), in 1982 from the California Institute of Technology. Currently he is a Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering, and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. His current research activities include metamaterials, plasmonics, nano-optics, nanophotonics, bio-inspired sensing and imaging, miniaturized antennas and nanoantennas. Richard W. Ziolkowski received both his M.S. and Ph.D. in physics, in 1975 and 1980, respectively from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently he has a dual appointment at the University of Arizona. He is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a Professor of the


id: mit-radiation-laboratory-series-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Radiation_Laboratory_Series-0.md
category: reference
title: MIT Radiation Laboratory Series
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Radiation_Laboratory_Series
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:56.302812+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mit-radiation-laboratory-series-20260505-0
summary:
The MIT Radiation Laboratory Series is a 28-volume collection of technical books on microwave electronics and radar technology, published by McGraw-Hill between 1947 and 1951. Produced under the general editorship of Louis Ridenour, more than fifty volume editors, and hundreds of contributing authors and technical staff, the series documented research conducted at the MIT Radiation Laboratory during World War II. The volumes became foundational texts for postwar electronics, influencing the development of microwave engineering, control systems engineering, and semiconductor physics. Because the Series was produced with federal funds, its publication contract returned royalties to the United States Treasury and limited McGraw-Hill's copyright to ten years per volume, after which the content entered the public domain. The series is credited with disseminating wartime radar technology to academic and industrial researchers who would otherwise have lacked access to it. == Background == The MIT Radiation Laboratory, established in 1940, was the principal center for Allied microwave radar development during World War II. Over five years, the laboratory grew to employ nearly 4,000 people working on several continents. Half of all radar systems deployed by the U.S. military during the war were designed there, comprising over 100 different systems. MIT became the largest


id: mit-radiation-laboratory-series-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Radiation_Laboratory_Series-1.md
category: reference
title: MIT Radiation Laboratory Series
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Radiation_Laboratory_Series
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:56.302812+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mit-radiation-laboratory-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Microwave technology === The series served as what Robert Buderi termed "the occupational bible for at least a generation of physicists and engineers studying microwave electronics." Writing fifty years after their publication, historian Louis Brown observed that volumes "would be found on the bookshelves of almost every electronics engineer and experimental physicist for more than a generation, indeed some are found there today and not just as mementos." Pierce's review praised the volume on klystrons and microwave triodes for including "valuable material, both experimental and theoretical, which is unavailable elsewhere," including treatments of close-spaced amplifiers and noise sidebands in reflex oscillators. The volume on microwave duplexers was noted as "surprisingly rich in material of general interest on waveguides and resonators." Buderi credits the series with preventing the concentration of wartime microwave knowledge within a single corporate laboratory and democratizing access to radar technology for academic, industrial, and government researchers. The techniques documented in the series found applications in postwar microwave spectroscopy and radio astronomy as well as continued radar development. === Control systems engineering === The volume Theory of Servomechanisms (1947) by Hubert M. James, Nathaniel B. Nichols, and Ralph S. Phillips became particularly influential in establishing control systems


id: opticks-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opticks-0.md
category: reference
title: Opticks
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opticks
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:57.483127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: opticks-20260505-0
summary:
Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light is a collection of three books by Isaac Newton that was published in English in 1704 (a scholarly Latin translation appeared in 1706). The treatise analyses the fundamental nature of light by means of the refraction of light with prisms and lenses, the diffraction of light by closely spaced sheets of glass, and the behaviour of colour mixtures with spectral lights or pigment powders. Opticks was Newton's second major work on physical science and it is considered one of the three major works on optics during the Scientific Revolution (alongside Johannes Kepler's Astronomiae Pars Optica and Christiaan Huygens' Treatise on Light). == Overview == The publication of Opticks represented a major contribution to science, different from but in some ways rivalling the Principia, yet Newton's name did not appear on the cover page of the first edition. Opticks is largely a record of experiments and the deductions made from them, covering a wide range of topics in what was later to be known as physical optics. That is, this work is not a geometric discussion of catoptrics or dioptrics, the traditional subjects of reflection of light by


id: opticks-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opticks-1.md
category: reference
title: Opticks
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opticks
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:57.483127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: opticks-20260505-0
summary:
Newton originally considered to write four books, but he dropped the last book on action at a distance. Instead he concluded Opticks with a set of unanswered questions and positive assertions referred to as queries in Book III. The first set of queries were brief, but the later ones became short essays, filling many pages. In the first edition, these were sixteen such queries; that number was increased to 23 in the Latin edition, published in 1706, and then in the revised English edition, published in 1717–18. In the fourth edition of 1730, there were 31 queries. These queries, especially the later ones, deal with a wide range of physical phenomena that go beyond the topic of optics. The queries concern the nature and transmission of heat; the possible cause of gravity; electrical phenomena; the nature of chemical action; the way in which God created matter; the proper way to do science; and even the ethical conduct of human beings. These queries are not really questions in the ordinary sense. These queries are almost all posed in the negative, as rhetorical questions. That is, Newton does not ask whether light "is" or "may be" a "body." Rather, he declares: "Is


id: the-order-of-time-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Order_of_Time_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: The Order of Time (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Order_of_Time_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:58.697289+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-order-of-time-book-20260505-0
summary:
The Order of Time (Italian: L'ordine del tempo) is a book by Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, a specialist in quantum gravity research, about time in physics. An audiobook, four hours and nineteen minutes long, was read by Benedict Cumberbatch. == Contents == The Order of Time is divided into three sections, covering the theory of relativity, space-time, loop quantum gravity, and thermodynamics. The first section, The Crumbling of Time, opens with Rovelli explaining time, which is considered as a fourth dimension in space-time. He then discusses Ludwig Boltzmann's concept of entropy, which never decreases, and its role in thermodynamics and Bayesian probability theory, which Rovelli described as "the only equation of fundamental physics that knows any difference between past and future", and concluded that the direction of time is lost. In the second part, The World without Time, Rovelli writes that events constitute the universe instead of particles, and introduces the concept of quanta of time in loop quantum gravity. The final section, The Sources of Time, proposes that the apparent flow of time is due to the inability to observe all the microscopic details of the world. == Reception == Writing for The Guardian, Ian Thomson praised the "lucid"


id: phase-transitions-and-critical-phenomena-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_Transitions_and_Critical_Phenomena-0.md
category: reference
title: Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_Transitions_and_Critical_Phenomena
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:51:59.922655+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phase-transitions-and-critical-phenomena-20260505-0
summary:
Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena is a 20-volume series of books, comprising review articles on phase transitions and critical phenomena, published during 1972-2001. It is "considered the most authoritative series on the topic". Volumes 1-6 were edited by Cyril Domb and Melville S. Green, and after Green's death, volumes 7-20 were edited by Domb and Joel Lebowitz. Volume 4 was never published. Volume 5 was published in two volumes, as 5A and 5B. The first volume was praised for its coherent approach. While praised for its sound theoretical approach, the first volume remained at considerable distance from being able to explain experimental results in things like structural phase transitions. The second volume was praised for being well written, and was suggested as a standard reference. The third volume was also suggested as an index for researchers. == Contents == Volume 1: Exact Results (1972) ISBN 0122203011 'Introductory Note on Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena', by C.N. Yang. 'Rigorous Results and Theorems', by R.B. Griffiths. 'Dilute Quantum Systems', by J. Ginibre. 'The C*-Algebraic Approach to Phase Transitions', by G.G. Emch. 'One-dimensional Models — Short Range Forces', by C.J. Thompson 'Two-dimensional Ising Models', by H.N.V. Temperley. 'Transformation of Ising Models', by I.


id: photometria-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photometria-0.md
category: reference
title: Photometria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photometria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:02.445282+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: photometria-20260505-0
summary:
Photometria is a book on the measurement of light by Johann Heinrich Lambert published in 1760. It established a complete system of photometric quantities and principles; using them to measure the optical properties of materials, quantify aspects of vision, and calculate illumination. == Content of Photometria == Written in Latin, the title of the book is a word Lambert devised from Ancient Greek: φῶς, φωτος (transliterated phôs, photos) = light, and μετρια (transliterated metria) = measure. Lambert’s word has found its way into European languages as photometry, photometrie, and fotometria. Photometria was the first work to accurately identify most fundamental photometric concepts, assemble them into a coherent system of photometric quantities, define these quantities with a precision sufficient for mathematical statements, and build from them a system of photometric principles. These concepts, quantities, and principles are still in use today. Lambert began with two simple axioms: light travels in a straight line in a uniform medium and rays that cross do not interact. Like Kepler before him, he recognized that "laws" of photometry are simply consequences and follow directly from these two assumptions. In this way Photometria demonstrated (rather than assumed) that Illuminance varies inversely as the square of the


id: photometria-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photometria-1.md
category: reference
title: Photometria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photometria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:02.445282+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: photometria-20260505-0
summary:
== Nature of Photometria == Lambert's book is fundamentally experimental. The forty experiments described in Photometria were conducted by Lambert between 1755 and 1760, after he decided to write a treatise on light measurement. His interest in acquiring experimental data spanned several fields: optics, thermometry, pyrometry, hydrometry, and magnetics. This interest in experimental data and its analysis, so evident in Photometria, is also present in other articles and books Lambert produced. For his optics work, extremely limited equipment sufficed: a few panes of glass, convex and concave lenses, mirrors, prisms, paper and cardboard, pigments, candles, and the means to measure distances and angles. Lambert's book is also mathematical. Though he knew that the physical nature of light was unknown (it would be 150 years before the wave-particle duality was established) he was certain that light's interaction with materials and its effect on vision could be quantified. Mathematics was for Lambert not only indispensable for this quantification but also the indisputable sign of rigor. He used linear algebra and calculus extensively with matter-of-fact confidence that was uncommon in optical works of the time. On this basis, Photometria is certainly uncharacteristic of mid-18th century works. == Writing and publishing of Photometria ==


id: physica-speculatio-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physica_speculatio-0.md
category: reference
title: Physica speculatio
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physica_speculatio
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:03.680995+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physica-speculatio-20260505-0
summary:
Physica speculatio is a text of scientific character written by Alonso de la Vera Cruz in 1557 in the capital of New Spain. It was the first published work in the American continent that specifically addressed the study of physics, and was written to teach the students of the Real University of Mexico. It introduced the main theoretical concepts of geocentric astronomy and references the heliocentric model. Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz published in the capital of New Spain a Course of Arts, constituted in three volumes in Latin. The first form in 1553 under the title of Recognitio Summularum, that had like purpose help to the students of the Real University of Mexico to understand the philosophy by means of the understanding of the formal logic. A year afterwards appeared the second called Dialectica Resolutio, that was a continuation of the previous. The last was Physica speculatio. They did four editions, the last 3 of which were for use of the salmantino students and were abbreviated versions of the Mexican one. == Subjects == The Physica speculatio has by object the study or "investigation" -speculatio- and the exhibition, in general, of subjects of physics on the nature -Physica-,


id: the-physical-principles-of-the-quantum-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physical_Principles_of_the_Quantum_Theory-0.md
category: reference
title: The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physical_Principles_of_the_Quantum_Theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:04.847312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-physical-principles-of-the-quantum-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory (German: Physikalischen Prinzipien der Quantentheorie publisher: S. Hirzel Verlag, 1930) by Nobel laureate (1932) Werner Heisenberg and subsequently translated by Carl Eckart and Frank C. Hoyt. The book was first published in 1930 by University of Chicago Press. Then in 1949, according to its copyright page, Dover Publications reprinted the "unabridged and unaltered" 1930's version. The book is collection of 1929 university lectures delivered at the University of Chicago by Heisenberg but with more detailed mathematics. The book discusses quantum mechanics and one 1931 review states that this is a "less technical and less involved account of the theor[y]". This book has been cited more than 2,000 times. In the book, after briefly discussing various theories, including quantum theory, Heisenberg discusses the basis for the fundamental concepts of quantum theory. Also by this time Heisenberg has stated, "the interaction between observer and object causes uncontrollable and large changes in the [atomic] system being observed...". In this work Heisenberg also discusses his uncertainty principle or uncertainty relations. == About the author == Werner Heisenberg (b. 1901 - d. 1976) was a renowned German theoretical physicist whose work pioneered and advanced quantum mechanics. He received


id: the-physics-of-blown-sand-and-desert-dunes-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physics_of_Blown_Sand_and_Desert_Dunes-0.md
category: reference
title: The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physics_of_Blown_Sand_and_Desert_Dunes
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:06.005728+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-physics-of-blown-sand-and-desert-dunes-20260505-0
summary:
The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes is a scientific book written by Ralph A. Bagnold. The book laid the foundations of the scientific investigation of the transport of sand by wind. It also discusses the formation and movement of sand dunes in the Libyan Desert. During his expeditions into the Libyan Desert, Bagnold had been fascinated by the shapes of the sand dunes, and after returning to England he built a wind tunnel and conducted the experiments which are the basis of the book. Bagnold finished writing the book in 1939, and it was first published on 26 June 1941. A reprinted version, with minor revisions by Bagnold, was published by Chapman and Hall in 1953, and reprinted again in 1971. The book was reissued by Dover Publications in 2005. The book explores the movement of sand in desert environments, with a particular emphasis on how wind affects the formation and movement of dunes and ripples. Bagnold's interest in this subject was spurred by his extensive desert expeditions, during which he observed various sand storms. One pivotal observation was that the movement of sand, unlike that of dust, predominantly occurs near the ground, within a height of one


id: plastic-fantastic-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_Fantastic-0.md
category: reference
title: Plastic Fantastic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_Fantastic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:07.283385+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: plastic-fantastic-20260505-0
summary:
Plastic Fantastic: How the Biggest Fraud in Physics Shook the Scientific World is a 2009 book by U.S.-based science reporter Eugenie Samuel Reich. == Plot == In Plastic Fantastic, Reich investigates how Jan Hendrik Schön, a young physicist working in the field of advanced microelectronics at Bell Labs, was able to repeatedly fabricate scientific results to mislead his collaborators, journal editors, and the scientific community. The book is based on interviews with 126 scientists. The book carries ISBN 978-0-230-22467-4, and was initially published by Palgrave MacMillan. == See also == List of books about the politics of science The Great Betrayal: Fraud In Science Scientific misconduct == References ==


id: progress-in-optics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_in_Optics-0.md
category: reference
title: Progress in Optics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_in_Optics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:09.717700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: progress-in-optics-20260505-0
summary:
Progress in Optics are a series of books published by Elsevier. Edited by Emil Wolf until his death in 2018, the series is now edited by Taco D. Visser. They consist of collections of already published review articles deemed to be representative of the advances made in the fields of optics. The series was established in 1962. == References == == External links == Official website


id: qed-the-strange-theory-of-light-and-matter-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QED:_The_Strange_Theory_of_Light_and_Matter-0.md
category: reference
title: QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QED:_The_Strange_Theory_of_Light_and_Matter
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:10.876978+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: qed-the-strange-theory-of-light-and-matter-20260505-0
summary:
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter is an adaptation for the general reader of four lectures on quantum electrodynamics (QED) published in 1985 by American physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman. QED was designed to be a popular science book, written in a witty style, and containing just enough quantum-mechanical mathematics to allow the solving of very basic problems in quantum electrodynamics by an educated lay audience. It is unusual for a popular science book in the level of mathematical detail it goes into, actually allowing the reader to solve simple optics problems, as might be found in an actual textbook. But unlike in a typical textbook, the mathematics is taught in very simple terms, with no attempt to solve problems efficiently, use standard terminology, or facilitate further advancement in the field. The focus instead is on nurturing a basic conceptual understanding of what is really going on in such calculations. Complex numbers are taught, for instance, by asking the reader to imagine that there are tiny clocks attached to subatomic particles. The book was first published in 1985 by the Princeton University Press. == The book == In an acknowledgement Feynman wrote: This book purports to be


id: the-radiation-belt-and-magnetosphere-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Radiation_Belt_and_Magnetosphere-0.md
category: reference
title: The Radiation Belt and Magnetosphere
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Radiation_Belt_and_Magnetosphere
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:12.063654+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-radiation-belt-and-magnetosphere-20260505-0
summary:
The Radiation Belt and Magnetosphere is a book written by Wilmot Hess in 1968. The intention of the book is to amalgamate and sift through some 2500 articles, written since 1960, on this topic. == See also == Magnetosphere Van Allen radiation belt == Notes ==


id: radium-and-other-radioactive-substances-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium,_and_Other_Radioactive_Substances-0.md
category: reference
title: Radium, and Other Radioactive Substances
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium,_and_Other_Radioactive_Substances
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:13.256026+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: radium-and-other-radioactive-substances-20260505-0
summary:
Radium, and Other Radio-active Substances; Polonium, Actinium, and Thorium is a book published in 1903 by William Joseph Hammer, when he was about 50 years old. The book is the text of a lecture delivered at a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The title of the lecture was "Radium and other radioactive substances with a consideration of phosphorescent and fluorescent substances. The properties and applications of selenium and the treatment of disease by the ultra violet light". The lecture was augmented by 38 lantern slides, which are reproduced in the book. == Subjects == === Radioactivity === In addition to the matters implied by the title of the lecture (radium, polonium, actinium and thorium), Hammer discusses: The work of Pierre and Marie Curie, Dewar, Roentgen, Henri Becquerel, Rutherford, J. J. Thomson and Kelvin Uranium Ores of various radioactive materials Alpha, beta, gamma and X-rays forms of radiation, including radiographs of mice made by the latter, and experiments into the lethal effects of X-rays and radioactive sources === Selenium === There are 21 pages devoted to "The properties and applications of selenium", including the use of its changing electrical resistance in different light levels. A quantitative measurement of


id: reflections-on-the-motive-power-of-fire-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflections_on_the_Motive_Power_of_Fire-0.md
category: reference
title: Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflections_on_the_Motive_Power_of_Fire
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:14.402767+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: reflections-on-the-motive-power-of-fire-20260505-0
summary:
Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power (French: Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance) is a scientific treatise written by the French military engineer Sadi Carnot. Published in 1824 in French, the short book (118 pages in the original) sought to advance a rational theory of heat engines. At the time, heat engines had acquired great technological and economic importance, but very little was understood about them from the point of view of physics. Carnot's Reflections is now widely regarded as a key document in the development of modern thermodynamics, and Carnot himself (who published nothing else during his lifetime) has often been identified as the "father of thermodynamics". The book introduced such concepts as thermodynamic efficiency, reversible processes, the thermodynamic cycle, and Carnot's theorem. == Overview == The book is considered the founding work of thermodynamics. It contains the preliminary outline of the second law of thermodynamics. Carnot stated that motive power is due to the fall of caloric (chute de calorique) from a hot to a cold body, which he analogized to the work done by a water wheel due


id: the-strangest-man-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strangest_Man-0.md
category: reference
title: The Strangest Man
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strangest_Man
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:16.685981+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-strangest-man-20260505-0
summary:
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius is a 2009 biography of quantum physicist Paul Dirac written by British physicist and author, Graham Farmelo, and published by Faber and Faber. The book won the Biography Award at the 2009 Costa Book Awards, and the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology. The title is based on a comment by physicist Niels Bohr four years before his death that of all the scientists who had visited his institute, Dirac was "the strangest man". == Overview == Farmelo charts Dirac's life from his upbringing in early 20th-century Bristol, through his years in Cambridge, Göttingen and Princeton up until his death in 1984, and that of his wife 18 years later. Throughout the book, Dirac's work and his unusual personality is explored, with his reservedness, apparent lack of empathy, and relentless literal-mindedness leading way to several humorous anecdotes. For example, when approached by two graduate students, while on a brief visit to Berkeley, Dirac sat through a brief presentation about their work on quantum field theory, bracing themselves for his perceptive comments, there was a long silence, after which Dirac asked them "Where is the post


id: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours-0.md
category: reference
title: Theory of Colours
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:17.896676+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
summary:
Theory of Colours (German: Zur Farbenlehre, lit. 'On color theory') is a book by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe about the poet's views on the nature of colours and how they are perceived by humans. It was published in German in 1810 and in English in 1840. The book contains detailed descriptions of phenomena such as coloured shadows, refraction, and chromatic aberration. The book is a successor to two short essays titled "Contributions to Optics" (German: Beiträge zur Optik). The work originated in Goethe's occupation with painting and primarily had its influence in the arts, with painters such as (Philipp Otto Runge, J. M. W. Turner, the Pre-Raphaelites, Hilma af Klint, and Wassily Kandinsky). Although Goethe's work was rejected by some physicists, a number of philosophers and physicists have concerned themselves with it, including Thomas Johann Seebeck, Arthur Schopenhauer (see: On Vision and Colors), Hermann von Helmholtz, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Werner Heisenberg, Kurt Gödel, and Mitchell Feigenbaum. Goethe's book provides a catalogue of how colour is perceived in a wide variety of circumstances, and considers Isaac Newton's observations to be special cases. Unlike Newton, Goethe's concern was not so much with the analytic treatment of colour, as with the qualities of how


id: theory-of-colours-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours-1.md
category: reference
title: Theory of Colours
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:17.896676+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
summary:
== Goethe's theory == Goethe's theory of the constitution of colours of the spectrum has not proved to be an unsatisfactory theory, rather it really isn't a theory at all. Nothing can be predicted with it. It is, rather a vague schematic outline of the sort we find in James's psychology. Nor is there any experimentum crucis which could decide for or against the theory. It is hard to present Goethe's "theory", since he refrains from setting up any actual theory; he says, "its intention is to portray rather than explain" (Scientific Studies). Instead of setting up models and explanations, Goethe collected specimens—he was responsible for the meteorological collections of Jena University. By the time of his death, he had amassed over 17,800 minerals in his personal collection—the largest in all of Europe. He took the same approach to colour—instead of narrowing and isolating things to a single 'experimentum crucis' (or critical experiment that would prove or disprove his theory), he sought to gain as much breadth for his understanding as possible by developing a wide-ranging exposition through which is revealed the essential character of colour—without having to resort to explanations and theories about perceived phenomena such as 'wavelengths' or


id: theory-of-colours-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours-2.md
category: reference
title: Theory of Colours
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:17.896676+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
summary:
The highest degree of light, such as that of the sun... is for the most part colourless. This light, however, seen through a medium but very slightly thickened, appears to us yellow. If the density of such a medium be increased, or if its volume become greater, we shall see the light gradually assume a yellow-red hue, which at last deepens to a ruby colour. If on the other hand darkness is seen through a semi-transparent medium, which is itself illumined by a light striking on it, a blue colour appears: this becomes lighter and paler as the density of the medium is increased, but on the contrary appears darker and deeper the more transparent the medium becomes: in the least degree of dimness short of absolute transparence, always supposing a perfectly colourless medium, this deep blue approaches the most beautiful violet. He then proceeds with numerous experiments, systematically observing the effects of rarefied mediums such as dust, air, and moisture on the perception of colour. === Boundary conditions === When viewed through a prism, the orientation of a light–dark boundary with respect to the prism's axis is significant. With white above a dark boundary, we observe the light extending


id: theory-of-colours-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours-3.md
category: reference
title: Theory of Colours
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:17.896676+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
summary:
It is not clear how Goethe's Rot, Purpur (explicitly named as the complementary to green), and Schön (one of the six colour sectors) are related between themselves and to the red tip of the visible spectrum. The text about interference from the "physical" chapter does not consider Rot and Purpur synonymous. Also, Purpur is certainly distinct from Blaurot, because Purpur is named as a colour which lies somewhere between Blaurot and Gelbrot (, paragraph 476), although possibly not adjacent to the latter. This article uses the English translations from the above table. == Newton and Goethe == Ernst Lehrs writes, "In point of fact, the essential difference between Goethe's theory of colour and the theory which has prevailed in science (despite all modifications) since Newton's day, lies in this: While the theory of Newton and his successors was based on excluding the colour-seeing faculty of the eye, Goethe founded his theory on the eye's experience of colour." "The renouncing of life and immediacy, which was the premise for the progress of natural science since Newton, formed the real basis for the bitter struggle which Goethe waged against the physical optics of Newton. It would be superficial to dismiss this struggle


id: theory-of-colours-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours-4.md
category: reference
title: Theory of Colours
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:17.896676+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
summary:
=== Influence on philosophers === In the nineteenth century Goethe's Theory was taken up by Schopenhauer in On Vision and Colors, who developed it into a kind of arithmetical physiology of the action of the retina, much in keeping with his own representative idealism ["The world is my representation or idea"]. In the twentieth century the theory was transmitted to philosophy via Ludwig Wittgenstein, who devoted a series of remarks to the subject at the end of his life. These remarks are collected as Remarks on Colour, (Wittgenstein, 1977). Someone who agrees with Goethe finds that Goethe correctly recognized the nature of colour. And here ‘nature’ does not mean a sum of experiences with respect to colours, but it is to be found in the concept of colour. Wittgenstein was interested in the fact that some propositions about colour are apparently neither empirical nor exactly a priori, but something in between: phenomenology, according to Goethe. However, Wittgenstein took the line that 'There is no such thing as phenomenology, though there are phenomenological problems.' He was content to regard Goethe's observations as a kind of logic or geometry. Wittgenstein took his examples from the Runge letter included in the "Farbenlehre", e.g.


id: theory-of-colours-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours-5.md
category: reference
title: Theory of Colours
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Colours
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:17.896676+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: theory-of-colours-20260505-0
summary:
=== Current status === "Newton believed that with the help of his prism experiments, he could prove that sunlight was composed of variously coloured rays of light. Goethe showed that this step from observation to theory is more problematic than Newton wanted to admit. By insisting that the step to theory is not forced upon us by the phenomena, Goethe revealed our own free, creative contribution to theory construction. And Goethe's insight is surprisingly significant, because he correctly claimed that all of the results of Newton's prism experiments fit a theoretical alternative equally well.. a century before Duhem and Quine's famous arguments for Underdetermination." "Goethe's critique of Newton was not an attack on reason or science, though it has often been portrayed that way.. The critique maintained that Newton had mistaken mathematical imagining as the pure evidence of the senses.. Goethe tried to define the scientific function of imagination: to interrelate phenomena once they have been meticulously produced, described, and organized... Newton had introduced dogma.. into color science by claiming that color could be reduced to a function of rays." (Dennis L. Sepper, 2009) Goethe started out by accepting Newton's physical theory. He soon abandoned it... finding modification to be


id: trait-de-m-canique-c-leste-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traité_de_mécanique_céleste-0.md
category: reference
title: Traité de mécanique céleste
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traité_de_mécanique_céleste
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:19.106731+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: trait-de-m-canique-c-leste-20260505-0
summary:
Traité de mécanique céleste (transl. "Treatise of celestial mechanics") is a five-volume treatise on celestial mechanics written by Pierre-Simon Laplace and published from 1798 to 1825 with a second edition in 1829. In 1842, the government of Louis Philippe gave a grant of 40,000 francs for a 7-volume national edition of the Oeuvres de Laplace (1843–1847); the Traité de mécanique céleste with its four supplements occupies the first 5 volumes. Newton laid the foundations of Celestial Mechanics, at the close of the seventeenth century, by the discovery of the principle of universal gravitation. Even in his own hands, this discovery led to important consequences, but it has required a century and a half, and a regular succession of intellects the most powerful, to fill up the outline sketched by him. Of these, Laplace himself was the last, and, perhaps after Newton, the greatest; and the task commenced in the Principia of the former, is completed in the Mécanique Céleste of the latter. In this last named work, the illustrious author has proposed to himself his object, to unite all the theories scattered throughout the various channels of publication, employed by his predecessors, to reduce them to one common method, and


id: trait-de-m-canique-c-leste-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traité_de_mécanique_céleste-1.md
category: reference
title: Traité de mécanique céleste
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traité_de_mécanique_céleste
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:19.106731+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: trait-de-m-canique-c-leste-20260505-0
summary:
The first four volumes of Dr. Bowditch's Translation and Commentary were published successively, in 1828, 1832, 1834, and 1839, at the sacrifice of one quarter of his whole property. The expense was largely increased by the voluminous commentary. This was really of the nature of an original work, and was rendered necessary by the frequent gaps which Laplace had left in his own publication. Mr. N. I. Bowditch says, in his biography of his father, that Dr. Bowditch was accustomed to remark, "Whenever I meet in Laplace with the words, Thus it plainly appears, I am sure that hours, and perhaps days, of hard study will alone enable me to discover how it plainly appears." Bowditch's translation of the first four volumes of Laplace's Traité de mécanique céleste was completed by 1818 but he would not publish it for many years. Almost certainly the cost of publication caused the delay, but Bowditch did not just put the work on one side after 1818 but continued to improve it over the succeeding years. Bowditch was helped by Benjamin Peirce in this project and his commentaries doubled the length of the book. His purpose was more than just an English translation. He


id: a-treatise-on-electricity-and-magnetism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism-0.md
category: reference
title: A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:20.339919+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: a-treatise-on-electricity-and-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism is a two-volume treatise on electromagnetism written by James Clerk Maxwell in 1873. Maxwell was revising the Treatise for a second edition when he died in 1879. The revision was completed by William Davidson Niven for publication in 1881. A third edition was prepared by J. J. Thomson for publication in 1892. The treatise is said to be notoriously hard to read, containing plenty of ideas but lacking both the clear focus and orderliness that may have allowed it catch on more easily. It was noted by one historian of science that Maxwell's attempt at a comprehensive treatise on all of electrical science tended to bury the important results of his work under "long accounts of miscellaneous phenomena discussed from several points of view". He goes on to say that, outside the treatment of the Faraday effect, Maxwell failed to expound on his earlier work, especially the generation of electromagnetic waves and the derivation of the laws governing reflection and refraction. Maxwell introduced the use of vector fields, and his labels have been perpetuated: A (vector potential), B (magnetic induction), C (electric current), D (displacement), E (electric field – Maxwell's electromotive intensity), F (mechanical


id: a-treatise-on-electricity-and-magnetism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism-1.md
category: reference
title: A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:20.339919+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: a-treatise-on-electricity-and-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
Hermann von Helmholtz (1881): "Now that the mathematical interpretations of Faraday's conceptions regarding the nature of electric and magnetic force has been given by Clerk Maxwell, we see how great a degree of exactness and precision was really hidden behind Faraday's words...it is astonishing in the highest to see what a large number of general theories, the mechanical deduction of which requires the highest powers of mathematical analysis, he has found by a kind of intuition, with the security of instinct, without the help of a single mathematical formula." Oliver Heaviside (1893):”What is Maxwell's theory? The first approximation is to say: There is Maxwell's book as he wrote it; there is his text, and there are his equations: together they make his theory. But when we come to examine it closely, we find that this answer is unsatisfactory. To begin with, it is sufficient to refer to papers by physicists, written say during the first twelve years following the first publication of Maxwell's treatise to see that there may be much difference of opinion as to what his theory is. It may be, and has been, differently interpreted by different men, which is a sign that is not set forth


id: a-treatise-on-electricity-and-magnetism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism-2.md
category: reference
title: A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:20.339919+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: a-treatise-on-electricity-and-magnetism-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Achard, F. (1 January 2005), Grattan-Guinness, I.; Cooke, Roger; Corry, Leo; Crépel, Pierre (eds.), "Chapter 44 - James Clerk Maxwell, A treatise on electricity and magnetism, first edition (1873)", Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, pp. 564–587, ISBN 978-0-444-50871-3, retrieved 12 October 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link) Levin, M. L.; Miller, M. A. (30 November 1981). "Maxwell's "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism"". Soviet Physics Uspekhi. 24 (11): 904. doi:10.1070/PU1981v024n11ABEH004793. ISSN 0038-5670. Chrystal, G. (January 1882). "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism An Elementary Treatise on Electricity". Nature. 25 (637): 237–240. Bibcode:1882Natur..25..237C. doi:10.1038/025237a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 41145395. == External links == Media related to A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism at Wikimedia Commons Reprint from Dover Publications (ISBN 0-486-60636-8) A Treatise on Electricity And Magnetism – Volume 1 – 1873 – Posner Memorial Collection – Carnegie Mellon University. Volume 2 A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism at Internet Archive 1st edition 1873 Volume 1, Volume 2 2nd edition 1881 Volume 1, Volume 2 3rd edition 1892 (ed. J. J. Thomson) Volume 1, Volume 2 3rd edition 1892 (Dover reprint 1954) Volume 1, Volume 2 Original Maxwell Equations – Maxwell's 20 Equations


id: treatise-on-light-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Light-0.md
category: reference
title: Treatise on Light
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Light
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:21.570998+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: treatise-on-light-20260505-0
summary:
Treatise on Light: In Which Are Explained the Causes of That Which Occurs in Reflection & Refraction (French: Traité de la Lumière: Où sont expliquées les causes de ce qui luy arrive dans la reflexion & dans la refraction) is a book written by Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens that was published in French in 1690. The book describes Huygens's conception of the nature of light propagation which makes it possible to explain the laws of geometrical optics shown in Descartes's La Dioptrique, which Huygens aimed to replace. Unlike Newton's corpuscular theory, which was presented in the Opticks, Huygens conceived of light as an irregular series of shock waves which proceeds with very great, but finite, velocity through the ether, similar to sound waves. Moreover, he proposed that each point of a wavefront is itself the origin of a secondary spherical wave, a principle known today as the Huygens–Fresnel principle. The book is considered a pioneering work of theoretical and mathematical physics and the first mechanistic account of an unobservable physical phenomenon. == Overview == Huygens worked on the mathematics of light rays and the properties of refraction in his work Dioptrica, which began in 1652 but remained unpublished, and which


id: treatise-on-light-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Light-1.md
category: reference
title: Treatise on Light
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Light
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:21.570998+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: treatise-on-light-20260505-0
summary:
=== Remainder of the book === Chapter two briefly treats reflection while chapters three and four explore refraction. Huygens carefully explains the differences between transparent and opaque media in terms of their particulate composition, specifically exploring atmospheric refraction. Chapter five addresses the strange refraction of the Iceland crystal. Huygens cuts a piece of the crystal and studies the geometry of light propagation inside it before guiding the reader through a series of step-by-step empirical investigations. His explanation of strange refraction is based on the properties of the ordinary ray and the extraordinary ray. The ordinary ray has a spherical wavefront due to a constant refractive index, which is independent of the propagation direction inside the crystal, having the same velocity in all directions. The extraordinary ray, on the other hand, has an ellipsoidal wavefront due to its refractive index, which varies with the propagation direction within the crystal, leading to different velocities in different directions. Thus, when light travels through the crystal, it breaks into two wave surfaces that follow distinct paths within it, resulting in two refracted rays being observed. The series of step-by-step investigations that follow were meant to corroborate Huygens' explanation of strange refraction. They were prompted


id: treatise-on-natural-philosophy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Natural_Philosophy-0.md
category: reference
title: Treatise on Natural Philosophy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Natural_Philosophy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:22.745473+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: treatise-on-natural-philosophy-20260505-0
summary:
Treatise on Natural Philosophy was an 1867 text book by William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) and Peter Guthrie Tait, published by Oxford University Press. The Treatise was often referred to as T {\displaystyle T} and T 1 {\displaystyle T^{1}} , as explained by Alexander Macfarlane: Maxwell had facetiously referred to Thomson as T {\displaystyle T} and Tait as T 1 {\displaystyle T^{1}} . Hence the Treatise on Natural Philosophy came to be commonly referred to as T {\displaystyle T} and T 1 {\displaystyle T^{1}} in conversation with mathematicians. == Reception == The first volume was received by an enthusiastic review in Saturday Review: The grand result of all concurrent research in modern times has been to confirm what was but perhaps a dream of genius, or an instinct of the keen Greek intellect, that all the operations of nature are rooted and grounded in number and figure. The Treatise was also reviewed as Elements of Natural Philosophy (1873). Thomson & Tait's Treatise on Natural Philosophy was reviewed by J. C. Maxwell in Nature of 3 July 1879 indicating the importance given to kinematics: "The guiding idea … is that geometry itself is part of the science of motion." In 1892


id: treatise-on-radioactivity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Radioactivity-0.md
category: reference
title: Treatise on Radioactivity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatise_on_Radioactivity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:23.941632+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: treatise-on-radioactivity-20260505-0
summary:
Treatise on Radioactivity (French: Traité de Radioactivité) is a two-volume 1910 book written by the Polish scientist Marie Curie as a survey on the subject of radioactivity. She was awarded her second Nobel Prize in the following year after the publication of the book. The book, which was dedicated to her newly deceased collaborator and husband Pierre Curie, has been described as "a classic synthesis of current research on radioactivity by scientists of the early 20th century." It was published by the Paris publisher Gauthier-Villars. == References == == External links ==


id: the-trouble-with-gravity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Gravity-0.md
category: reference
title: The Trouble with Gravity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Gravity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:25.231213+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-trouble-with-gravity-20260505-0
summary:
The Trouble with Gravity: Solving the Mystery Beneath Our Feet is a nonfiction popular science book by Richard Panek and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on July 9, 2019. == Content == The book begins its first chapter by discussing ancient history and old beliefs regarding gravity and what lies above. This includes a discussion of belief in gods and how those religious views were shaped by the existence of gravity and its prevalence on living beings and all matter. The topics of Mount Olympus and stories among Aboriginal cultures in Australia are discussed in how the sky is believed to be separate from the earth and creates a separation between humans and the divine. The book points out that gravity was often seen in such context as something that only affects people on Earth and not as a universal force. Authors and those more on the philosophical end of the topic are also considered, including Dante Alighieri and Ernst Mach. The second chapter investigates how gravity formed from the beginning of the universe and also how the Big Bang may have created a large number of parallel universes and that gravity is not sourced in our universe, but is


id: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences-0.md
category: reference
title: Two New Sciences
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:26.487700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
summary:
The Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences (Italian: Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze pronounced [diˈskorsi e ddimostratˈtsjoːni mateˈmaːtike inˈtorno a dˈduːe ˈnwɔːve ʃˈʃɛntse]) published in 1638 was Galileo Galilei's final book and a scientific testament covering much of his work in physics over the preceding thirty years. It was written partly in Italian and partly in Latin. After his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, the Roman Inquisition had banned the publication of any of Galileo's works, including any he might write in the future. After the failure of his initial attempts to publish Two New Sciences in France, Germany, and Poland, it was published by Lodewijk Elzevir who was working in Leiden, South Holland, where the writ of the Inquisition was of less consequence (see House of Elzevir). Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio, the official theologian of the Republic of Venice, had initially offered to help Galileo publish the new work there, but he pointed out that publishing the Two New Sciences in Venice might cause Galileo unnecessary trouble; thus, the book was eventually published in Holland. Galileo did not seem to suffer any harm from the Inquisition for publishing this book since


id: two-new-sciences-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences-1.md
category: reference
title: Two New Sciences
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:26.487700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
summary:
=== Day one: Resistance of bodies to separation === [50] Preliminary discussions. Sagredo (taken to be the younger Galileo) cannot understand why with machines one cannot argue from the small to the large: "I do not see that the properties of circles, triangles and...solid figures should change with their size". Salviati (speaking for Galileo) says the common opinion is wrong. Scale matters: a horse falling from a height of 3 or 4 cubits will break its bones whereas a cat falling from twice the height won't, nor will a grasshopper falling from a tower. [56] The first example is a hemp rope which is constructed from small fibres which bind together in the same way as a rope round a windlass to produce something much stronger. Then the vacuum that prevents two highly polished plates from separating even though they slide easily gives rise to an experiment to test whether water can be expanded or whether a vacuum is caused. In fact, Sagredo had observed that a suction pump could not lift more than 18 cubits of water and Salviati observes that the weight of this is the amount of resistance to a void. The discussion turns to the strength


id: two-new-sciences-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences-2.md
category: reference
title: Two New Sciences
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:26.487700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
summary:
=== Day three: Naturally accelerated motion === [191] He first defines uniform (steady) motion and shows the relationship between speed, time and distance. He then defines uniformly accelerated motion where the speed increases by the same amount in increments of time. Falling bodies start very slowly and he sets out to show that their velocity increases in simple proportionality to time, not to distance which he shows is impossible. [208] He shows that the distance travelled in naturally accelerated motion is proportional to the square of the time. He describes an experiment in which a steel ball was rolled down a groove in a piece of wooden moulding 12 cubits long (about 5.5m) with one end raised by one or two cubits. This was repeated, measuring times by accurately weighing the amount of water that came out of a thin pipe in a jet from the bottom of a large jug of water. By this means he was able to verify the uniformly accelerated motion. He then shows that whatever the inclination of the plane, the square of the time taken to fall a given vertical height is proportional to the inclined distance. [221] He next considers descent along the


id: two-new-sciences-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences-3.md
category: reference
title: Two New Sciences
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:26.487700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
summary:
=== The motion of objects === Galileo expresses clearly for the first time the constant acceleration of a falling body which he was able to measure accurately by slowing it down using an inclined plane. In Two New Sciences, Galileo (Salviati speaks for him) used a wood molding, "12 cubits long, half a cubit wide and three finger-breadths thick" as a ramp with a straight, smooth, polished groove to study rolling balls ("a hard, smooth and very round bronze ball"). He lined the groove with "parchment, also smooth and polished as possible". He inclined the ramp at various angles, effectively slowing down the acceleration enough so that he could measure the elapsed time. He would let the ball roll a known distance down the ramp, and use a water clock to measure the time taken to move the known distance. This clock was a large vessel of water placed in an elevated position; to the bottom of this vessel was soldered a pipe of small diameter giving a thin jet of water, which we collected in a small glass during the time of each descent, whether for the whole length of the channel or for a part of its length.


id: two-new-sciences-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences-4.md
category: reference
title: Two New Sciences
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:26.487700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
summary:
Yet at the outset we said there are many more numbers than squares, since the larger portion of them are not squares. Not only so, but the proportionate number of squares diminishes as we pass to larger numbers. (In modern language, there is a bijection between the set of positive integers N and the set of squares S, and S is a proper subset of N of density zero.) He resolves the contradiction by denying the possibility of comparing infinite numbers (and of comparing infinite and finite numbers): We can only infer that the totality of all numbers is infinite, that the number of squares is infinite, and that the number of their roots is infinite; neither is the number of squares less than the totality of all numbers, nor the latter greater than the former; and finally the attributes "equal", greater", and "less", are not applicable to infinite, but only to finite, quantities. This conclusion, that ascribing sizes to infinite sets should be ruled impossible, owing to the contradictory results obtained from these two ostensibly natural ways of attempting to do so, is a resolution to the problem that is consistent with, but less powerful than, the methods used


id: two-new-sciences-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences-5.md
category: reference
title: Two New Sciences
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_New_Sciences
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:26.487700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: two-new-sciences-20260505-0
summary:
== References == Drake, Stillman, translator (1974). Two New Sciences, University of Wisconsin Press, 1974. ISBN 0-299-06404-2. A new translation including sections on centers of gravity and the force of percussion. Drake, Stillman (1978). Galileo At Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-16226-3. Henry Crew and Alfonso de Salvio, translators, [1914] (1954). Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, Dover Publications Inc., New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-486-60099-4. The classic source in English, originally published by McMillan (1914). Jones, Howard, "Gassendi's Defense of Galileo: The Politics of Discretion", Medieval Renaissance Texts and Studies 58, 1988. Titles of the first editions taken from Leonard C. Bruno 1989, The Landmarks of Science: from the Collections of the Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8160-2137-6 Q125.B87 Galileo Galilei, Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno a due nuove scienze attinenti la meccanica e i movimenti locali (pag.664, of Claudio Pierini) publication Cierre, Simeoni Arti Grafiche, Verona, 2011, ISBN 9788895351049. Wallace, Willian, A. Galileo and Reasoning Ex Suppositione: The Methodology of the Two New Sciences. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vol. 1974, (1974), pp. 79–104 Salvia, Stafano (2014). "'Galileo's Machine': Late Notes on Free Fall, Projectile Motion, and the Force of Percussion (ca.


id: what-is-life-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life-0.md
category: reference
title: What Is Life?
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life?
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:27.710753+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: what-is-life-20260505-0
summary:
What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell is a 1944 science book written for the lay reader by the physicist Erwin Schrödinger. The book was based on a course of public lectures delivered by Schrödinger in February 1943, under the auspices of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, where he was Director of Theoretical Physics, at Trinity College, Dublin. The lectures attracted an audience of about 400, who were warned "that the subject-matter was a difficult one and that the lectures could not be termed popular, even though the physicist’s most dreaded weapon, mathematical deduction, would hardly be utilized." Schrödinger's lecture focused on one important question: "how can the events in space and time which take place within the spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for by physics and chemistry?" In the book, Schrödinger introduced the idea of an "aperiodic solid" that contained genetic information in its configuration of covalent chemical bonds. In the 1940s, this idea stimulated enthusiasm for discovering the chemical basis of genetic inheritance. Although the existence of some form of hereditary information had been hypothesized since 1869, its role in reproduction and its helical shape were still unknown at the time


id: what-is-life-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life-1.md
category: reference
title: What Is Life?
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life?
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:27.710753+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: what-is-life-20260505-0
summary:
The lectures may be regarded as “the most important and exciting thing to happen in Trinity in all of the six dark years of wartime.” Time magazine reported that “Only in the precarious peace of Eire could Europe today provide such a spectacle. At Dublin’s Trinity College last month crowds were turned away from a jampacked scientific lecture. Cabinet ministers, diplomats, scholars and socialites loudly applauded a slight, Vienna-born professor of physics. Erwin Schrödinger was speaking on the subject ‘What Is Life?’.” Trinity College now commemorates the lectures in various ways: an annual “What is Life?” Lecture (inaugurated in 1995) and usually delivered in the Physics Lecture Theatre honours the 1943 series; in 2018 the 75th-anniversary conference “Schrödinger at 75: The Future of Biology” was organised. The Trinity Library also produced an exhibition celebrating Schrödinger’s Dublin years and the impact of the lectures. == Background == Max Delbrück's thinking about the physical basis of life was an important influence on Schrödinger. However, long before the publication of What is Life?, the American geneticist Hermann J. Muller, who would later win a Nobel Prize in 1946, had in his 1922 article "Variation due to Change in the Individual Gene" already laid


id: what-is-life-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life-2.md
category: reference
title: What Is Life?
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Life?
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:27.710753+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: what-is-life-20260505-0
summary:
Schrödinger concludes this chapter and the book with philosophical speculations on determinism, free will, and the mystery of human consciousness. He attempts to "see whether we cannot draw the correct non-contradictory conclusion from the following two premises: (1) My body functions as a pure mechanism according to Laws of Nature; and (2) Yet I know, by incontrovertible direct experience, that I am directing its motions, of which I foresee the effects, that may be fateful and all-important, in which case I feel and take full responsibility for them. The only possible inference from these two facts is, I think, that I – I in the widest meaning of the word, that is to say, every conscious mind that has ever said or felt 'I' – am the person, if any, who controls the 'motion of the atoms' according to the Laws of Nature". Schrödinger then states that this insight is not new and that the Upanishads considered this insight of "ATMAN = BRAHMAN" to "represent quintessence of deepest insights into the happenings of the world." Schrödinger rejects the idea that the source of consciousness should perish with the body because he finds the idea "distasteful". He also rejects the idea


id: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life-0.md
category: reference
title: 12 Rules for Life
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:30.445868+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-0
summary:
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is a 2018 self-help book by the Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. It provides life advice through essays in abstract ethical principles, psychology, mythology, religion, and personal anecdotes. The book topped bestseller lists in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and had sold over ten million copies worldwide, as of May 2023. Peterson went on a world tour to promote the book, receiving much attention following an interview with Channel 4 News. The book is written in a more accessible style than his previous academic book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief (1999). A sequel, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, was published in March 2021. == Overview == === Background === Peterson's interest in writing the book grew out of a personal hobby of answering questions posted on Quora. One such question being "What are the most valuable things everyone should know?", to which his answer comprised 42 rules. The early vision and promotion of the book aimed to include all rules, with the title "42". Peterson stated that it "isn't only written for other people. It's a warning to me." === Rules === The book is


id: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life-1.md
category: reference
title: 12 Rules for Life
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:30.445868+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-0
summary:
To promote the book, Peterson went on a world tour, initially from January 14, 2018, to February 17, 2018, including events in England, Canada, and the United States. The sold-out venues included 1,000-seat conference hall Emmanuel Centre in London, and 2,000-seat Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The February 11 event at Citadel Theatre in Edmonton was cancelled by the theatre's board of directors and management, for which they later apologized, and instead was held at a sold-out Hyatt Place. The second part included three sold-out events in March in Australia, continuing at Beacon Theatre in New York, and the third part held between early May and June initially numbering ten events in the US and Canada and one in the UK. Until June, the tour visited 45 cities in North America, Europe and Australia, reaching an audience of over 100,000 people. According to Peterson, nearly 200,000 people attended the live events until late July. As part of the tour, Peterson had an interview on Channel 4 News that went viral, receiving considerable attention and nearly 49 million views on YouTube. He also appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC's HARDtalk; LBC's Maajid Nawaz radio show; Fox & Friends and


id: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life-2.md
category: reference
title: 12 Rules for Life
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:30.445868+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-0
summary:
The book was received with mixed reviews. Melanie Reid, for The Times, said the book is "aimed at teenagers, millennials and young parents...If you peel back the verbiage, the cerebral preening, you are left with a hardline self-help manual of self-reliance, good behaviour, self-betterment and individualism that probably reflects [Peterson's] childhood in rural Canada in the 1960s." Bryan Appleyard, also in The Times, describes it as "a less dense and more practical version of Maps of Meaning...a baggy, aggressive, in-your-face, get-real book that, ultimately, is an attempt to lead us back to what Peterson sees as the true, the beautiful and the good – i.e., God." Hari Kunzru of The Guardian said it collates advice from Peterson's clinical practice with anecdotes, accounts of his academic work as a psychologist and "a lot of intellectual history of the 'great books' variety", but the essays are explained in an overcomplicated style. Kunzru called Peterson sincere, but found the book irritating because he considers Peterson failed to follow his own rules. In an interview with Peterson for The Guardian, Tim Lott called the book atypical of the self-help genre. For The Scotsman, Bill Jamieson praised it as "richly illustrated and packed with excellent


id: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life-3.md
category: reference
title: 12 Rules for Life
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rules_for_Life
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:30.445868+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 12-rules-for-life-20260505-0
summary:
some of his critics might be surprised to find much of the advice he offers unobjectionable, if old-fashioned: he wants young men to be better fathers, better husbands, better community members. In this way, he might be seen as an heir to older gurus of manhood like Elbert Hubbard, who in 1899 published a stern and wildly popular homily called A Message to Garcia ... At times, Peterson emphasizes his interest in empirical knowledge and scientific research—although these tend to be the least convincing parts of 12 Rules for Life. David French of National Review called the book a "beacon of light" for the current time, with a simple but profound purpose "to help a person look in the mirror and respect the person he or she sees." Some critics, such as National Review's Heather Wilhelm and Toronto Star's James Grainger, were critical of negative reviews they believed had misinterpreted Peterson. In September 2018, Peterson threatened to sue Cornell University philosopher Kate Manne for defamation after she called his work misogynistic in an interview with Vox. Manne called Peterson's threat an attempt to chill free speech. Vox considered the threat baseless and ignored it. In a critique often shared by


id: 50-signs-of-mental-illness-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Signs_of_Mental_Illness-0.md
category: reference
title: 50 Signs of Mental Illness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Signs_of_Mental_Illness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:31.594207+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 50-signs-of-mental-illness-20260505-0
summary:
50 Signs of Mental Illness: A Guide to Understanding Mental Health is a 2005 book by psychiatrist James Whitney Hicks published by Yale University Press. The book is designed as an accessible psychiatric reference for non-professionals that describes symptoms, treatments and strategies for understanding mental health. == List of signs == The 50 signs covered in the book are: == Reception == A review in the American Journal of Psychiatry commended Hicks's phrasing of acceptable ways to speak about mental illness. A review in The National Medical Journal of India likewise applauded the book's accessibility to non-experts, though it criticized Hicks's choice of symptoms and suggested "It would be difficult for an Indian to relate to the book" due to the examples he uses. The book also received attention from Health, Library Journal, The Baltimore Sun, and The Washington Post. == References == == Further reading == Bardi, C. A. (2005). The Promise And Perils Of Psychological Self-Help. PsycCRITIQUES, 50(51). doi:10.1037/05200711 American Psychiatric Association (July, 2018) "Warning Signs of Mental Illness". www.psychiatry.org. Retrieved 2021-06-19. == External links == Official site Archived 2014-01-07 at the Wayback Machine Yale University Press


id: der-alkoholismus-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Alkoholismus-0.md
category: reference
title: Der Alkoholismus
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Alkoholismus
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:32.768761+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: der-alkoholismus-20260505-0
summary:
Der Alkoholismus: Einführung in ein soziales Problem (English: The Alcoholism: Introduction to a Social Problem) is a 1908 book published by Austrian Catholic sociologist Anton Orel (1881-1959). Its goal was to reduce alcohol consumption and bring attention to the Alkoholfrage (English: The alcohol question). The book contains 25 sections that deal with different alcohol issues, ranging from the explanation of the alcohol question, to an elucidation of the alcohol's devastating health consequences and to the general economic impact of alcohol in the 20th century. Orel primarily aims to establish an abstinence movement against the existing drinking customs in order to save society from the devastating consequences. He frequently quotes experts' opinions on health and economic consequences in order to underline his statements. He particularly appeals to the youth as representing the basis for the planned revolutionary movement against the widespread alcoholism. == Context == After studying law, Anton Orel became redactor of several magazines, among others Arbeiterjugend and Unserer Jugend. Famous for his anti-capitalistic views, Anton Orel founded the Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend in 1905, which was known as Verband der christlichen Jugend Österreichs from 1907 onwards. Orel values the possible impact youth can have on society; his book Der


id: the-anatomy-of-dependence-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Dependence-0.md
category: reference
title: The Anatomy of Dependence
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Dependence
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:34.017383+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-anatomy-of-dependence-20260505-0
summary:
The Anatomy of Dependence (甘えの構造, Amae no Kōzō) is a 1971 book by Japanese psychoanalyst Takeo Doi, discussing at length Doi's concept of amae, which he describes as a uniquely Japanese need to be in good favor with, and be able to depend on, the people around oneself. He likens this to behaving childishly in the assumption that parents will indulge you (Doi 2001:16), and claims that the ideal relationship is that of the parent–child, and all other relationships should strive for this degree of closeness (Doi 2001:39). == Main concept == Amae (甘え) is the nominal form of the verb amaeru (甘える), which Doi uses to describe the behavior of a person attempting to induce an authority figure, such as a parent, spouse, teacher, or supervisor, to take care of them. The word is rarely used of oneself, but rather is applied descriptively to the behavior of other people. The person who is carrying out amae may beg or plead, or alternatively act selfishly while secure in the knowledge that the caregiver will indulge them. The behavior of children towards their parents is perhaps the most common example of amae, but Doi argued that child-rearing practices in the Western


id: angewandte-psychologie-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angewandte_Psychologie-0.md
category: reference
title: Angewandte Psychologie
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angewandte_Psychologie
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:35.185758+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: angewandte-psychologie-20260505-0
summary:
The book Angewandte Psychologie (English: Applied Psychology), by the Swiss-Austrian psychologist and philosopher Theodor Paul Erismann, was published in 1917 in Berlin and Leipzig. It discusses major topics concerning school, work, law and their connections to psychology. The book aims at giving a short overview of how psychology can be applied to important areas in life. Erismann uses many applicable tests and describes them in great detail, thus providing a practical guideline on how to use the findings of psychology in different fields. == Context == The book was published during the First World War. The war is not mentioned in the book and there are no references that could be linked to the war. Angewandte Psychologie happens to be a book for a layman person who is eager to learn something about the latest contributions of psychology to different areas in life. Erismann was greatly influenced by Wilhelm Wundt and his experimental approach to psychology. During Erismann's time, psychology was a fairly new topic itself. Psychology gained popularity through Wilhelm Wundt who is also called "the father of experimental psychology" and founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. Thus, Erismann adapted techniques and


id: animal-spirits-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Spirits_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Animal Spirits (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Spirits_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:36.346610+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: animal-spirits-book-20260505-0
summary:
Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism (2009) is a book by economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller written to promote the understanding of the role played by emotions in influencing economic decision making. According to the authors, economists have tended to de-emphasize the importance of emotional factors, as the effects of emotions are difficult to model and quantify. The book asserts that a variety of otherwise puzzling questions can be answered once one allows for the effect that emotional drives, or "animal spirits," have on economic factors. Akerlof and Shiller began writing the book in 2003. While finishing the work after the 2008 financial crisis, the authors set themselves the additional aim of promoting a much more aggressive US government intervention to alleviate the crises than has been seen as of February 2009. They repeatedly stress the need for decisive action targeted at restoring credit flows, and that the overall stimulus from the government needs to be much larger than would otherwise be the case due to very low levels of confidence about short and medium term economic prospects. == Synopsis == The Preface recalls economist John Maynard Keynes's use of


id: animal-spirits-book-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Spirits_(book)-1.md
category: reference
title: Animal Spirits (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Spirits_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:36.346610+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: animal-spirits-book-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical reception == Reviewing the book for the Financial Times, Clive Crook write "it is a fine book at exactly the right time.... Animal Spirits carries its ambition lightly—but is ambitious nonetheless. Economists will see it as a kind of manifesto." Andrew Rosenblum from The New York Observer says "Animal Spirits is most compelling when the authors summon all the key behavioral patterns to explain vast, complex phenomena such as the Great Depression.... Animal Spirits...is aimed squarely at the general reader, and rightly so: Macroeconomics is now everybody's business—the banks are playing with our money." An exception to the numerous glowing reviews the book received was a lengthy critique published in The New Republic by the Judge Richard Posner. The authors responded to Posner's criticisms in an article published a few weeks later in the same periodical. And, on the same day and in the same periodical, Posner replied to the authors' response. Animal Spirits was shortlisted for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. The book has been translated into more than 20 languages including German, Chinese, Dutch, Persian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and French. == See also == Behavioral economics Keynesian economics


id: apple-sex-drugs-motherhood-and-the-recovery-of-the-feminine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple:_Sex,_Drugs,_Motherhood_and_the_Recovery_of_the_Feminine-0.md
category: reference
title: Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple:_Sex,_Drugs,_Motherhood_and_the_Recovery_of_the_Feminine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:37.716314+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: apple-sex-drugs-motherhood-and-the-recovery-of-the-feminine-20260505-0
summary:
Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine is a 2022 non-fiction, semi-autobiographical cultural analysis of the 20th and 21st centuries through the prism of obstetric practice, written by Australian author and journalist Antonella Gambotto-Burke. It made the front page of the Australian national paper, which also published a 3000-word excerpt. Reader's Digest described Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine as "a major cultural event" and stated that it was "the first time" a connection had been made between "a wide range of personal and social issues — from drug addictions and mental illness to the breakdown of relationships — to the manner in which women are treated during pregnancy and labour." == Summary == === Biographical section === Gambotto-Burke opens the book with memories of her childhood on North Shore (Sydney) and the systemic sexism that penetrated every level of her existence. With this, she introduces the questions that unfold her argument, ending on her traumatic birth experience in a Sydney hospital. Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine took "years to write", Gambotto-Burke told an interviewer: "Maybe three years of reading, years of experience, discussion and observation, and then


id: the-art-of-listening-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Listening-0.md
category: reference
title: The Art of Listening
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Listening
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:38.909668+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-art-of-listening-20260505-0
summary:
The Art of Listening is a 1994 book on psychology by the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm. In the work, Fromm elucidates his therapeutic method of dealing with the psychological sufferings of people in contemporary society. Fromm's work contains a great deal of clinical reflections of the psychoanalyst. In The Art of Listening, Fromm studies the communication between analyst and analysand in which the analyst offers himself as a human being specially trained in the "art of listening." The art of therapy is the art of listening. In The Art of Listening, Fromm suggests that a person's character orientation results from socialization into shared psychic attitudes of a particular society. == References ==


id: the-art-of-loving-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving-0.md
category: reference
title: The Art of Loving
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:40.080123+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-art-of-loving-20260505-0
summary:
The Art of Loving is a 1956 book by psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm. It was originally published as part of the World Perspectives series edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. In this work, Fromm develops his perspective on human nature from his earlier works, Escape from Freedom and Man for Himself – principles which he revisits in many of his other major works. He criticizes the popular conception of love and asserts that "love is the only provision for a sane and satisfying human existence". == Background == In 1930, Fromm was recruited to the Frankfurt School by Max Horkheimer. Fromm played a central role in the early development of the school. He left the school in the late 1930s, following a "bitter and contentious" deterioration in his relationship with Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. In 1956, the year The Art of Loving was released, Fromm's relationship with Herbert Marcuse, also a member of the Frankfurt School, also deteriorated. Dissent published a debate between the two, and though later scholars would come to view Marcuse's arguments as being weaker than Fromm's, Marcuse's were better received within their lifetimes, and Fromm's reputation and in leftist circles was permanently damaged. The book


id: the-art-of-loving-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving-1.md
category: reference
title: The Art of Loving
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:40.080123+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-art-of-loving-20260505-0
summary:
==== 1. Love, the Answer to the Problem of Human Existence ==== Fromm opens this chapter by stating that "Any theory of love must begin with a theory of man, of human existence." For Fromm, a person's key trait is their ability to reason. Prior to humans developing the ability to reason, we were part of the animal kingdom and in a state of harmony. To recover this state of harmony it is impossible for us to regress to the idyll of the animal kingdom, but rather humanity must progress to a new harmony by developing their ability to reason. This ability to reason makes humanity "life being aware of itself", and separates us from all other creatures. This separation is, for Fromm, "the source of all anxiety". He says that by understanding the story of Adam and Eve, people can understand the barriers to loving connection. For Fromm, when man and woman develop awareness of their difference from each other, they remain strangers, and this is the source of shame, guilt, and anxiety, and it is reunion through love which allows people to overcome this feeling of difference. For Fromm the fundamental question facing mankind is "the question of


id: the-art-of-loving-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving-2.md
category: reference
title: The Art of Loving
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:40.080123+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-art-of-loving-20260505-0
summary:
==== 2. Love Between Parents and Child ==== Fromm opens this section by hypothesizing on love through the eyes of a baby in relation to its mother. In this dynamic, the child intuits that "I am loved for what I am", or rather "I am loved because I am". This love is unconditional: "it need not be acquired, it need not be deserved." The unconditional aspect of motherly love, a blessing if present, produces a problem of its own: if this love is absent, there is nothing the child can do to create it. Before growing to the age of between eight and a half to ten, Fromm considers that children experience being loved, but do not themselves begin to love. At this point a child may begin to practice love, for example, by giving a gift to one of their parents. Fromm states that it takes many years for this form of love to develop into mature love. He contrasts the difference, the primary one being that someone who loves maturely believes that loving is more pleasurable than receiving love. Through practicing love, and thus producing love, the individual overcomes the dependence on being loved, having to be "good"


id: the-art-of-loving-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving-3.md
category: reference
title: The Art of Loving
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Loving
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:40.080123+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-art-of-loving-20260505-0
summary:
===== (d) Self-Love ===== Fromm begins this section by criticising the "widespread" belief in Western thought that "while it is virtuous to love others, it is sinful to love oneself." He critiques the conclusions of John Calvin and Freud in particular, and states that self-love ought not be confused with either narcissism or the turning inwards of the libido. Fromm claims that it is a logical fallacy to love one's neighbour for the sake of their humanity and not also love one's self for the same reason. Fromm states that "love of others and love of ourselves are not alternatives. On the contrary, an attitude of love towards themselves will be found in all those who are capable of loving others. Love, in principle, is indivisible as far as the connection between 'objects' and one's own self is concerned. Genuine love is an expression of productiveness and implies care, respect, responsibility and knowledge." By this token, he classifies love as "an active striving for the growth and happiness of the loved person", and so classifies such action as virtuous. Fromm contends that "love of man" (which is to say the love that one holds for a given individual for the


id: attitude-reconstruction-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_Reconstruction-0.md
category: reference
title: Attitude Reconstruction
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_Reconstruction
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:41.284447+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attitude-reconstruction-20260505-0
summary:
Attitude Reconstruction: A Blueprint for Building a Better Life is a book written by American author and psychotherapist Jude Bijou. The book was 2012 Winner of ForeWord Review in both psychology and self-help, the 2012 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award in self-help, and the 2012 Nautilus Silver Award in personal growth/psychology. It proposes that unexpressed sadness, anger, and fear are the root causes of all negative attitudes and perceived problems. The author, daughter of pioneer behavioral child psychologist Sidney W. Bijou, blends eastern philosophy with western innovation to create a holistic system of human behavior. == Synopsis == Bijou asserts that humans have only six emotions, existing in three opposing pairs – sadness and joy, anger and love, fear and peace. Attitude Reconstruction correlates these six emotions with predictable feelings, thoughts, communication, and actions. The author proposes that emotions are nothing but energy, or pure physical sensations in the body; when we do not release sadness, anger, and fear from hurts and losses, we revert to predictable destructive attitudes. When not in the grip of these three emotions, the author states our attitudes embody the other three emotions – joy, love, and peace. Bijou's central methodology incorporates physically and constructively releasing


id: autism-explaining-the-enigma-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism:_Explaining_the_Enigma-0.md
category: reference
title: Autism: Explaining the Enigma
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism:_Explaining_the_Enigma
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:42.560014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: autism-explaining-the-enigma-20260505-0
summary:
Autism: Explaining the Enigma is a non-fiction book by developmental psychologist Uta Frith, first published by Basil Blackwell in 1989, that surveys research on autism through a cognitive and neuropsychological lens. A substantially updated second edition was published in 2003. == Overview == In the book, Frith synthesises research on autism and discusses cognitive accounts that were influential in late-20th-century autism research, including difficulties in understanding other people's mental states (often discussed in relation to theory of mind) and atypical integration of information (commonly discussed under the term weak central coherence). The second edition adds discussion of subsequent developments and includes expanded coverage of neuropsychological and neuroscience research that emerged after the first edition. == See also == Cognitive psychology == References == == External links == List of the editions on Google Books Leekam, Susan R. (May 1991). "Book Review: Autism: Explaining the Enigma". The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 43 (2): 301–302. doi:10.1080/14640749108400972. S2CID 149418391. Frith, Uta (October 2014). "Autism - are we any closer to explaining the enigma?". The Psychologist. Vol. 27. British Psychological Society. pp. 744–745.


id: becoming-cliterate-why-orgasm-equality-matters-and-how-to-get-it-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becoming_Cliterate:_Why_Orgasm_Equality_Matters—And_How_to_Get_It-0.md
category: reference
title: Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters—And How to Get It
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becoming_Cliterate:_Why_Orgasm_Equality_Matters—And_How_to_Get_It
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:43.809473+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: becoming-cliterate-why-orgasm-equality-matters-and-how-to-get-it-20260505-0
summary:
Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters—And How to Get It is a non-fiction book by psychologist and sex educator Laurie Mintz, published in 2017. The book was published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins, on May 9, 2017. == Recognition == Becoming Cliterate received the 2019 Consumer Book Award from the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. == Summary == Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters—and How to Get includes a detailed section on female anatomy, a review of misconceptions about the female orgasm, and practical techniques aimed at improving sexual experiences. The book advocates for a more informed and equitable approach to sexual intimacy, aiming to shift both individual behaviors and broader societal attitudes. Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters—and How to Get It received positive reviews for its accessible and research-based approach to female sexuality. == References ==


id: being-you-a-new-science-of-consciousness-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_You:_A_New_Science_of_Consciousness-0.md
category: reference
title: Being You: A New Science of Consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_You:_A_New_Science_of_Consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:45.009003+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: being-you-a-new-science-of-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
Being You: A New Science of Consciousness is a 2021 non-fiction book by neuroscientist Anil Seth, published by Faber and Faber. The book explores the author's theory of consciousness and the self. Seth also looks at the relationship between humans, animals, and the potential for machines to have consciousness. The writing process took Seth three years, with support from the Wellcome Trust. The ideas in the book come from Seth's long-standing interest in understanding the mind, combined with research and discussions with his team in Sussex. The book was well-received by major publications and was awarded Best Book of 2021 from Bloomberg and The Economist and Best Science Book of 2021 by The Guardian and the Financial Times. Critics praised the book for being rigorous and meticulous in its research, and Seth's writing style. However, some reviewers pointed out concerns with the language and approach towards solving consciousness used in the book. == Context == Anil Seth is a neuroscientist based out of Sussex, England. Having been interested in consciousness since childhood, and after finding Tononi's 1998 paper compelling, he developed his theory of "causal density" with a different mathematical foundation. In an interview with The Guardian, Seth stated he


id: being-you-a-new-science-of-consciousness-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_You:_A_New_Science_of_Consciousness-1.md
category: reference
title: Being You: A New Science of Consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_You:_A_New_Science_of_Consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:45.009003+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: being-you-a-new-science-of-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
=== Scientific === The neuroscientist Felix Haas in his review published in World Literature Today believes Seth's position on the hard problem of consciousness to fall in the middle between the two positions of either finding the hard problem to be meaningful or meaningless; rather, Haas states Seth's view is "not think[ing] that the hard problem is inherently meaningless" while also finding direct confrontation to it to be unproductive. In his view, Seth instead wants to focus on the "real" problem of consciousness which is “why a particular pattern of brain activity ... maps to a particular kind of conscious experience", which Haas claimed is a "pivotal role" in Seth's thought process. Haas found Seth's description of error minimisation, which results in the brain receiving controlled hallucinations, to have magnitude, though whether it is for the field of neuroscience or to world in general is left unclear in his review. The book has the same issues of many other introductory texts, Haas claims, such as it contains detail that would be "exciting to the researcher" but "frustrating to the novice" and the author defending their own school of philosophy, but Haas praises the book as being "more careful yet bolder


id: beyond-order-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Order-0.md
category: reference
title: Beyond Order
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Order
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:46.179108+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: beyond-order-20260505-0
summary:
Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life is a 2021 self-help book by Canadian clinical psychologist, YouTube personality, and psychology professor Jordan Peterson, as a sequel to his 2018 book 12 Rules for Life. == Overview == === Background === Peterson's original interest in writing his last book, 12 Rules for Life, grew out of a personal hobby of answering questions posted on Quora; one such question being, "What are the most valuable things everyone should know?", to which his answer comprised 42 rules. Essentially psychological in their intention, the rules in both books are told using particular episodes of Peterson's clinical experience. Moreover, Peterson has stated that these rules were "explicitly formulated to aid in the development of the individual," though they may also prove useful at "levels of social organisation that incorporate the individual." Peterson states that both books are predicated on the notion that chaos and order are "the two fundamental elements of reality", and that "people find meaning in optimally balancing them". The difference between the two books, according to Peterson, is that the first focuses "more on the dangers of an excess of chaos", while the second is more concerned "with the dangers of too


id: blink-the-power-of-thinking-without-thinking-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking-0.md
category: reference
title: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:47.385178+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blink-the-power-of-thinking-without-thinking-20260505-0
summary:
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005) is Canadian writer Malcolm Gladwell's second book. It presents in popular science format research from psychology and behavioral economics on the adaptive unconscious: mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information. It considers both the strengths of the adaptive unconscious, for instance in expert judgment, and its pitfalls, such as prejudice and stereotypes. == Summary == The author describes the main subject of his book as "thin-slicing": our ability to use limited information from a very narrow period of experience to come to a conclusion. This idea suggests that spontaneous decisions are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones. To reinforce his ideas, Gladwell draws from a wide range of examples from science and medicine (including malpractice suits), sales and advertising, gambling, speed dating (and predicting divorce), tennis, military war games, and movies and popular music. Gladwell also uses many examples of regular people's experiences with "thin-slicing," including our instinctive ability to read minds, which is how we can get to know a person's emotions just by looking at his or her face. Gladwell explains how an expert's ability to "thin slice" can be corrupted


id: blink-the-power-of-thinking-without-thinking-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking-1.md
category: reference
title: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:47.385178+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blink-the-power-of-thinking-without-thinking-20260505-0
summary:
== Research and examples == The book begins with the story of the Getty kouros, which was a statue brought to the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. It was thought by many experts to be legitimate, but when others first looked at it, their initial responses were skeptical. For example, George Despinis, head of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, said "Anyone who has ever seen a sculpture coming out of the ground could tell that that thing has never been in the ground". Gradually, the argument for the legitimacy of the kouros' provenance fell apart. The letters tracing its history turned out to be fakes, referencing postal codes and bank accounts that did not exist until after the letters were supposedly written. However, experts to this day are unsure whether the kouros is authentic or not. The museum notes that "anomalies of the Getty kouros may be due more to our limited knowledge of Greek sculpture in this period rather than to mistakes on the part of a forger." John Gottman is a researcher on marital relationships whose work is explored in Blink. After analyzing a normal conversation between a husband and wife for an hour, Gottman can predict


id: blueprint-plomin-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueprint_(Plomin_book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Blueprint (Plomin book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueprint_(Plomin_book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:48.517843+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blueprint-plomin-book-20260505-0
summary:
Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are is a book by behavioral geneticist Robert Plomin, first published in 2018 by the MIT Press and Allen Lane. The book argues that genetic factors, and specifically variations in individuals' DNA, have a large effect on human psychological traits, accounting for approximately half of all variation in such traits. The book also claims that genes play a more important role in people's personalities than does the environment. In Blueprint, Plomin argues that environmental effects on human psychological differences, although they exist, are "...mostly random – unsystematic and unstable – which means that we cannot do much about them." == Reviews == Science journalist Matt Ridley praised Blueprint as "a hugely important book." Behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden criticized the book for overstating the importance of genes for the development of human traits, writing, "Insisting that DNA matters is scientifically accurate; insisting that it is the only thing that matters is scientifically outlandish." Steven Mithen gave the book a mixed review in the Guardian, in which he wrote, "I am happy to bow to Plomin as a psychologist and a geneticist, but I found his sociology rather lacking, in fact quite baffling." Nathaniel


id: bodies-under-siege-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_Under_Siege-0.md
category: reference
title: Bodies Under Siege
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodies_Under_Siege
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:49.685731+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bodies-under-siege-20260505-0
summary:
Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation in Culture and Psychiatry is a book written by psychiatrist Dr. Armando Favazza, and published in 1987. Bodies Under Siege is a psychiatric book on self-harm. The second edition (1996) was subtitled Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry. Favazza's classification divides self-harm behaviors into two major categories, namely Culturally Sanctioned and Deviant. The subtypes of the former are practices and rituals. Practices often are faddish and include tattoos and body piercing. Ritual body modification behaviors are traditional and reflect the history, spiritualism, and beliefs of a society. They are culturally and psychologically embedded in profound, elemental experiences especially connected to healing, spirituality, and social orderliness. Understanding body modification rituals sheds light on Deviant behaviors which, in Favazza's classification, include Major, Stereotypic, Compulsive, and Impulsive. Each subtype is usually associated with specific mental disorders. The Major type, for example, exemplified by self-castration or eye-enucleation, is usually associated with psychosis, transsexualism, and/or substance intoxication. The most common type is the Impulsive, as exemplified by skin-cutting and burning, and is associated with a broad variety of disorders including generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and antisocial, histrionic, and borderline personality disorder. One aspect of body modification discussed by


id: bounded-choice-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_Choice-0.md
category: reference
title: Bounded Choice
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_Choice
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:50.865156+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bounded-choice-20260505-0
summary:
Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults is a 2004 psychology and sociology book on cults by Janja Lalich. It was published by University of California Press. Lalich had previously studied Heaven's Gate and the Democratic Workers Party (DWP) for her doctoral dissertation titled "Bounded Choice: The Fusion of Personal Freedom and Self-Renunciation in Two Transcendent Groups", and that research was incorporated into the book. Lalich's methodologies were influenced by the work of Anthony Giddens, Herbert Simon and Robert Lifton. Heaven's Gate, a UFO religion, was used as a model for analyzing the cult structure. According to Rubina Ramji's review, Lalich identifies four structures to cults: charismatic authority, a transcendent belief system, systems of control, and systems of influence. They interlock to create "true believers" who end up in a state of "bounded choice" in the cult. == Reception == Marion Harmon wrote "Lalich's research culminated in a new theory to explain how the combination of ideology, social structure, and commitment constrains the choice of true believers." Richard Erik Ocejo in Contemporary Sociology compliments Lalich's research as "extensive". He writes that her work avoids being a "quasi auto-ethnography" despite the DWP being fairly unknown to academia. Ocejo believes the work


id: brainwashing-the-science-of-thought-control-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing:_The_Science_of_Thought_Control-0.md
category: reference
title: Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing:_The_Science_of_Thought_Control
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:52.069152+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brainwashing-the-science-of-thought-control-20260505-0
summary:
Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control is a 2004 popular science book explaining brainwashing, mind control, thought reform, and coercive persuasion by neuroscientist and physiologist Kathleen Taylor. It explains the neurological basis for reasoning and cognition in the brain, and proposes that the self is changeable, and describes the physiology of neurological pathways. It reviews case studies including Patty Hearst, Charles Manson, and the mass murder/suicide of members of Peoples Temple at Jonestown, and compares the techniques of influence used by cults to those of totalitarian and communist societies. It lays out a model FACET – Freedom, Agency, Complexity, Ends-not-means, and Thinking – which she believes can be used to negate the influence of brainwashing techniques. == Contents == Taylor provides background on the development of the term brainwashing, from its use in 1950 by journalist Edward Hunter and its later usage as applied to the spheres of cults, marketing, influence, thought reform, torture, and re-education. She references psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton's work Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism as a resource throughout the book. Lifton based his research on interviews he conducted with prisoners of war who had been subjected to indoctrination and torture during the Korean War.


id: brainwashing-the-science-of-thought-control-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing:_The_Science_of_Thought_Control-1.md
category: reference
title: Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwashing:_The_Science_of_Thought_Control
date_saved: 2026-05-05T08:52:52.069152+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brainwashing-the-science-of-thought-control-20260505-0
summary:
== Reception == Brainwashing was first published in hardcover format on 16 December 2004 by Oxford University Press, and again in paperback format on 24 August 2006. The book was "highly commended" and runner-up in the 2005 Times Higher Education Supplement Young Academic Author Award, and also made it to the shortlist for the 2005 MIND "Book of the Year Award". The book also made it to the longlist of the 2005 Aventis "Science Book Prize", where it was described as containing "elegant and accessible prose". PD Smith gave the book a positive review in The Guardian, and concluded: "Her ambitious and well-written study celebrates human freedom through a history of attempts to destroy it." Joseph Szimhart reviewed the book for Skeptical Inquirer, and wrote: "I enjoyed the book as a challenge to think about a sorely neglected topic." Szimhart concluded: "Taylor's concern is with any human venture (be it science, religion, or politics) that restricts brain function from creative 'stop and think' activity, and which becomes little more than another exclusive cult." In a review of the book for The Daily Telegraph, British doctor and science writer James Le Fanu was critical, and commented that Taylor did not acknowledge


