Small Things Considered

Download or read book Small Things Considered written by Henry Petroski and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why has the durable paper shopping bag been largely replaced by its flimsy plastic counterpart? What circuitous chain of improvements led to such innovations as the automobile cup holder and the swiveling vegetable peeler? With the same relentless curiosity and lucid, witty prose he brought to his earlier books, Henry Petroski looks at some of our most familiar objects and reveals that they are, in fact, works in progress. For there can never be an end to the quest for the perfect design. To illustrate his thesis, Petroski tells the story of the paper drinking cup, which owes its popularity to the discovery that water glasses could carry germs. He pays tribute to the little plastic tripod that keeps pizza from sticking to the box and analyzes the numerical layouts of telephones and handheld calculators. Small Things Considered is Petroski at his most trenchant and provocative, casting his eye not only on everyday artifacts but on their users as well.

Download or read book In the Company of Microbes written by Moselio Schaechter and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-07-10 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at the amazing, groovy world of microbes With more than 1,000 posts and 2 million views, the esteemed blog Small Things Considered has been sparking the imagination of microbiologists for an entire decade. Throughout the years, Elio Schaechter and his team of dedicated bloggers have shared exciting, unexpected, and unusual stories from the microbial world. In the Company of Microbes is a carefully selected treasure chest of wise, amusing, and even profound statements about the ubiquity and relevance of the microbial world. Schaechter, past ASM Presidents, and distinguished microbiologists from around the globe reflect on personal, sometimes historic interactions with microbes and unexpected discoveries, each essay conveying the excitement and sense of surprise that microbiology holds for them. This is the reason that Small Things Considered is a scientific and social media phenomenon that has impacted scientists at every stage of their careers and shared the magical of microbes with world. Join Schaechter in discovering a never-ending pageant of astounding variations on the theme of microbial life. Enjoy!

Download or read book Life at the Edge of Sight written by Scott Chimileski and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-25 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This stunning photographic essay opens a new frontier for readers to explore through words and images. Microbial studies have clarified life’s origins on Earth, explained the functioning of ecosystems, and improved both crop yields and human health. Scott Chimileski and Roberto Kolter are expert guides to an invisible world waiting in plain sight.

Download or read book March of the Microbes written by John L. Ingraham and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-07 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Renowned microbiologist John Ingraham rescues the supremely important and ubiquitous microorganisms from their unwonted obscurity by showing us how we can, in fact, see and appreciate them.

Download or read book Small Things Like These written by Claire Keegan and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller • Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century "A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." —Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. An international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.

Download or read book The Power of Plagues written by Irwin W. Sherman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-07-02 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Power of Plagues presents a rogues' gallery of epidemic- causing microorganisms placed in the context of world history. Author Irwin W. Sherman introduces the microbes that caused these epidemics and the people who sought (and still seek) to understand how diseases and epidemics are managed. What makes this book especially fascinating are the many threads that Sherman weaves together as he explains how plagues past and present have shaped the outcome of wars and altered the course of medicine, religion, education, feudalism, and science. Cholera gave birth to the field of epidemiology. The bubonic plague epidemic that began in 1346 led to the formation of universities in cities far from the major centers of learning (and hot spots of the Black Death) at that time. And the Anopheles mosquito and malaria aided General George Washington during the American Revolution. Sadly, when microbes have inflicted death and suffering, people have sometimes responded by invoking discrimination, scapegoating, and quarantine, often unfairly, against races or classes of people presumed to be the cause of the epidemic. Pathogens are not the only stars of this book. Many scientists and physicians who toiled to understand, treat, and prevent these plagues are also featured. Sherman tells engaging tales of the development of vaccines, anesthesia, antiseptics, and antibiotics. This arsenal has dramatically reduced the suffering and death caused by infectious diseases, but these plague protectors are imperfect, due to their side effects or attenuation and because microbes almost invariably develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs. The Power of Plagues provides a sobering reminder that plagues are not a thing of the past. Along with the persistence of tuberculosis, malaria, river blindness, and AIDS, emerging and remerging epidemics continue to confound global and national public health efforts. West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and Ebola and Zika viruses are just some of the newest rogues to plague humans. The argument that civilization has been shaped to a significant degree by the power of plagues is compelling, and The Power of Plagues makes the case in an engaging and informative way that will be satisfying to scientists and non-scientists alike.

Download or read book The Book of (More) Delights written by Ross Gay and published by Algonquin Books. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From bestselling author of The Book of Delights and award-winning poet, a book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us. In Ross Gay’s new collection of small, daily wonders, again written over the course of a year, one of America’s most original voices continues his ongoing investigation of delight. For Gay, what delights us is what connects us, what gives us meaning, from the joy of hearing a nostalgic song blasting from a passing car to the pleasure of refusing the “nefarious” scannable QR code menus, from the tiny dog he fell hard for to his mother baking a dozen kinds of cookies for her grandchildren. As always, Gay revels in the natural world—sweet potatoes being harvested, a hummingbird carousing in the beebalm, a sunflower growing out of a wall around the cemetery, the shared bounty from a neighbor’s fig tree—and the trillion mysterious ways this glorious earth delights us. The Book of (More) Delights is a volume to savor and share.