May 10, 2006
Now with snakebots:
technica q&a: cy tymony (sneakier uses for everyday things)
technica q&a: giles slade (made to break)
technical q&a: david nye (technology matters)
signed editions: edge city
linus pauling memorial lecture series: dr. louis bucciarelli
origami sale
history of science
new arrivals
calendar of events
doug brown's factoid
bestsellers
May in Portland is famously sunny and warm, which makes it difficult for
us Tech store employees to work indoors. We gaze longingly at the carefree Frisbee
players across the street. Customers come in with sunburned shoulders. Fup makes
her rounds around the store more frequently. Collier, however, knows how to get
past this spring ennui thing. "Pretend that it's cold and rainy outside, and
you'll be fine," he says, buttoning up his flannel shirt. "Don't go outside;
it'll only make it worse."
If
you ever get lost in the woods, you'd better bring Sneakier
Uses for Everyday Things with you. Author Cy Tymony's newest book is essential
reading for any MacGyver wannabe. Got a magazine lying around? Cy tells you how
to make ten useful tools with it. He loves "devising and collecting resourceful
tricks to inspire creativity in people." In this Technica Q&A, you'll read
about his favorite childhood book, why he admires Lex Luthor, and the things
he finds in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. For a limited time, save
30% on Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things.
America's
obsession with the new is an old tradition, writes Giles Slade, author of Made
to Break. The Industrial Age ushered in the throwaway era. Packaging, marketing,
advertising, and social pressure all contribute to our collective desire to have
the newest cell phone, computer, or car, explains Slade. "E[lectronic] waste
is a threat to every living thing, but for some reason it hides under our cultural
radar." In his Q&A, Slade laments the death of pinball, reveals
his best road trip ever, and explains why quitting high school isn't always the
worst thing. Save 30% off the cover price on Made to Break.
David
E. Nye, recipient of last year's Leonardo Da Vinci Medal, asks important questions
in his latest book, Technology
Matters. Can we define technology? With our iPods, are we becoming drones?
Nye believes that "we are deeply encapsulated in a cocoon of technological conveniences,
but we still want to use new machines to get closer to nature." In his Q&A,
Nye champions solar energy, admires Henry Adams, and tells us what he thinks
about the Red Sox. Order Technology Matters and save 30%.
As
cities increasingly sprawl beyond their borders, the suburbs become "edge cities," new
developments of retail, business, and industry where the automobile is king.
Are they a terrible lack of urban planning, or just an inevitability of modern
life in America? Click here for your own signed
copy of Joel Garreau's classic study of this twentieth-century phenomenon —
at 15% off the cover price.
Dr.
Louis Bucciarelli, professor of Engineering and Technology Studies at MIT, is
the author of many books, including Designing Engineers.
His lecture, "Engineering Philosophy: Values and Design," will focus on the value
systems of engineers, and how through their designs they express "values and
norms that allow for particular kinds of use, social discourse and exchange...
and limit, if not rule out, other kinds." Bucciarelli believes that designing
is ultimately an imperfect science, and that's why engineering values matter.
To see Dr. Bucciarelli in person on May 18th, click
here and use the password "Dicovery" to
get tickets at 25% off.
On May 10, 1879, a 774-pound meteor (the largest
on record) fell near Estherville, Iowa. This report from the Davenport Daily
Gazette reads like something from Wisconsin
Death Trip:
The meteor that created such an excitement east of Des Moines a
few days since, came to the ground in Emmett county, this State, not far from
the Minnesota line. A portion of it weighing 455 lbs. has been exhumed and taken
to St. Paul. When it struck it buried itself in the ground 15 feet. The recovered
portion is strongly impregnated with iron and has some trace of silver.
Are
you feeling crafty? Indulge your tactile inner child by checking out our discounted
origami books; you'll rediscover how much fun it is to create animals, boats,
hats, and fantastical creatures out of paper. These books are a welcome respite
from the electronic babysitter.
Our
favorite physicist, Richard Feynman, was
born on May 11, 1918. When he wasn't busy being a genius, writing QED:
The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, or lecturing about physics to Caltech
students, Feynman enjoyed adventures. He cracked safes at Los Alamos for fun,
played bongo drums, hung out in bars just for the conversation, experimented
with LSD, and, of course, picked up a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He died
in 1988. His last words? "This dying is boring."
New
to our shelves: American Prometheus: The Triumph
and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin,
won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for biography and is now out in paperback. Ian Stewart's Letters
to a Young Mathematician is an insightful and lively exploration of why mathematics
matter ("compelling reading," raves Publishers Weekly). And in The
View from the Center of the Universe, Joel Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams
present a new picture of the universe for readers, even those without a scientific
background. Check out more new arrivals in our aisles.
Get
your math hats on. Author Tim
Wescott, author of Applied
Control Theory for Embedded Systems, will be at Powell's Technical Books
on Wednesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. Come for the lecture, and stay for the signing
to follow. May 26 is Health Professional and Student Appreciation Day! Come visit
us to receive a 20% discount on all our medical and nursing reference titles.
Register to win great prizes, including a travel voucher for Southwest Airlines.
(Discount will be extended to all medical professionals and students with ID
at register.)
On May 11, 1950, Evelyn Trent was feeding her rabbits
in her backyard near McMinnville, Oregon, when she saw a UFO floating in the
sky. She yelled for her husband, Paul, who, quick on the draw, managed to take
two photos of it before it flew away. After the local newspaper published them,
a media storm hit the sleepy Yamhill town like nothing since. To this day, no
experts have been able to prove or disprove the authenticity of the Trent photos.
I tend to believe that they really did see a UFO and didn't make it up for personal
gain. Why? Because they waited until they finished the roll of film before they
got it processed at a photo lab. Now that's what a thrifty farmer would do.
A
few years ago researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center completed a new generation
of robots possibly destined for exploring alien worlds. While many robots resemble
insects, this group of scientists chose a more noble animal model: snakes. Snakebots
can move through terrains that bulkier robots would get stuck in, or be unable
to navigate because of their wheels. When asked why snakes make a good robot
model, the head of NASA's Serpentine Robotics Project said, "Because they've
already fallen down." (I for one am looking forward to seeing footage from Mars
or Europa, via the SnakebotCam.)
1. Boost Your Brain Power Week by Week by Bill
Lucas (Self Help)
2. Perl Pocket Reference by Johan Vromans (Nutshell)
3. Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman
(Software Engineering)
4. Mini House by Alejandro Bahamon (Home Construction)
5. sed and awk Pocket Reference by Arnold Robbins
(Nutshell)
6. Ajax Hacks by Bruce Perry (Computer Languages)
7. Agile Web Development with Rails by David
Thomas (Computer Languages)
8. Make #5 by Mark Frauenfelder (Featured Titles
in Tech)
9. Google Maps Hacks by Rich Gibson (Internet)
10. Head Rush Ajax by Brett McLaughlin (Computer
Languages)
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