by Rick Smolan & Jennifer Erwitt & developed by Marcolina Design Inc. & Against All Odds Productions ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 4, 2012
A fun look at the next step of tech evolution but one that could have taken a more skeptical look at the risks.
A colorful, upbeat overview of the ways massive amounts of data can influence everything from medicine to law enforcement to consumer behavior.
Petabyte is a word that appears often in this app, a companion to the coffee-table book of the same title by the producers of the Day in the Life series. A petabyte is 1,000 terabytes—too huge for any one computer to store but representative of the wealth of data that can now be accessed to provide new insight into human behavior. The app is broken up into essays that precede multimedia-rich features on “big data” trends. For example, in a feature on how computer pioneer Gordon Bell obsessively digitizes nearly every activity, readers can click through a slideshow of images and hear him discuss them. A feature on Major League Baseball’s data-capture process is built around an animation showing the many quantifiable events that occur during a single pitch. And a feature on how laptop motion sensors can be collectively leveraged to detect earthquakes invites users to shake the iPad to learn earthquake facts. Most of the multimedia elements aren’t quite so clever—many just point to related online videos—but the presentation is consistently inviting, rooted in splashy, rich photography, entertaining infographics and clean writing. (One of the more entertaining essays comes from stunt memoirist A.J. Jacobs, who writes about how personal data collection has improved his health.) The app’s chief flaw has more to do with philosophy than with design. Some essays hint at big data’s serious downsides—particularly loss of privacy, hackers and the power of software coders to manipulate consumers—yet these concerns lack sexy infographics of their own and are given little more than lip service.
A fun look at the next step of tech evolution but one that could have taken a more skeptical look at the risks.Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Against All Odds Productions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
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by Richard Rhodes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1986
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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by Neil deGrasse Tyson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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