Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions

These are books and media new to the library and cataloged by the Inyo County Free Library.

Additional information about each title can be found in the catalog (click on the title). For older acquisition lists choose from Select another list. To request any of these titles please contact your local library branch.

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The science before science: a guide to thinking in the 21st century

By Rizzi, Anthony

Publishing Date: c2004

Classification: 500

Call Number: 501 RIZ

What is the key to the truth and power of science? Would a theory of everything disprove the soul? Is matter all there is? Can I keep science and my common sense? Can we travel back in time? Is it evolution or creation or …? Will scientists ever make a man? Will we ever create artificial intelligence? If so, what does that say about my worth? What is the ultimate source of our intellectual malaise?Anthony Rizzi, a distinguished physicist, answers these questions and more. --Amazon

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Planck: driven by vision, broken by war

By Brown, Brandon R.

Publishing Date: [2015]

Classification: 500

Call Number: 530.092 BRO

"Planck's Law, an equation used by physicists to determine the radiation leaking from any object in the universe, was described by Albert Einstein as 'the basis of all twentieth-century physics.' Max Planck is credited with being the father of quantum theory, and his work laid the foundation for our modern understanding of matter and energetic processes. But Planck's story is not well known, especially in the United States. A German physicist working during the first half of the twentieth century, his library, personal journals, notebooks, and letters were all destroyed with his home in World War II. What remains, other than his contributions to science, are handwritten letters in German shorthand, and tributes from other scientists of the time, including his close friend Albert Einstein. In Planck : Driven by Vision, Broken by War, Brandon R. Brown interweaves the voices and writings of Planck, his family, and his contemporaries--with many passages appearing in English for the first time--to create a portrait of a groundbreaking physicist working in the midst of war. Planck spent much of his adult life grappling with the identity crisis of being an influential German with ideas that ran counter to his government. During the later part of his life, he survived bombings and battlefields, surgeries and blood transfusions, all the while performing his influential work amidst a violent and crumbling Nazi bureaucracy. When his son was accused of treason related to a bombing, Planck tried to use his standing as a German 'national treasure,' and wrote direct letters to Hitler to spare his son's life. Brown tells the story of Planck's friendship with the far more outspoken Albert Einstein, and shows how his work fits within the explosion of technology and science that occurred during his life. The story of a brilliant man living in a dangerous time, Brandon Brown gives Max Planck his rightful place in the history of science, and shows how war-torn Germany deeply impacted his life and work"--

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The perfect theory: a century of geniuses and the battle over general relativity

By Ferreira, Pedro G.

Publishing Date: 2014

Classification: 500

Call Number: 530.11 FER

"At the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity are a set of equations that explain the relationship among gravity, space, and time--possibly the most perfect intellectual achievement of modern physics. For over a century, physicists have been exploring, debating, and at times neglecting Einstein's theory in their quest to uncover the history of the universe, the origin of time, and the evolution of solar systems, stars, and galaxies. In this sweeping narrative of science and culture, Pedro Ferreira explains the theory through the human drama surrounding it: the personal feuds and intellectual battles of the biggest names in twentieth-century physics, from Einstein and Eddington to Hawking and Penrose. We are in the midst of a momentous transformation in modern physics. As scientists look farther and more clearly into space than ever before, The Perfect Theory engagingly reveals the greater relevance of general relativity, showing us where it started, where it has led, and where it can still take us"--

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Thunder & lightning: weather past, present, future

By Redniss, Lauren

Publishing Date: [2015]

Classification: 500

Call Number: 551.6 RED

Focusing on the intricate nature of the world around us, as well as the personal relationship we all have to the weather, a National Book Award finalist and visionary writer combining personal stories with history, interviews, scientific research and full-color photos explores the transformative power of weather.--

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The Last rain forests: a world conservation atlas

Publishing Date: 1990

Classification: 500

Call Number: 577.34

Lists and illustrates over fifty of the world's rain forests, provides information on the problems facing them, and offers suggestions for their survival - (Baker & Taylor)

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Bird sense: what it's like to be a bird

By Birkhead, T. R.

Publishing Date: 2012

Classification: 500

Call Number: 598 BIR

Looks at the adaptive significance of bird behavior. A lifetime spent in ornithological research and old-fashioned bird-watching has convinced the author that "we have consistently underestimated what goes on in a bird's head." He describes how using the latest available tools, neurobiologists have uncovered new aspects of bird perception--e.g., the fact that female birds that see in the ultraviolet range chose mates on the basis of characteristics we can't directly perceive such as plumage markings. Even more fascinating, Birkhead explains that some birds "tend to use their right eye for close-up activities like feeding and the left eye for more distant activities such as scanning for predators." Another unexpected discovery which he hopes may prove relevant to the treatment of neuro-degenerative brain disease in humans is the plasticity of the brains of birds that live in temperate regions.

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Ornithology

By Gill, Frank B.

Publishing Date: c2007

Classification: 500

Call Number: 598 GIL

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Birds of the Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, southern California & southern Nevada

By Rappole, John H.

Publishing Date: c2000

Classification: 500

Call Number: 598.0979 RAP

Birds of the Southwest provides detailed information on identification, habitat preferences, voice, seasonal occurrence, and abundance of more than 450 species of birds found in the southwest deserts, coasts and mountains of Arizona, New Mexico, southern California and southern Nevada. Each species description is accompanied by a may showing the rand and distribution of that species , and color photographs aid in identification. In addition, directions are provided for more than four hundred localities where species can be found. With its complete coverage of avian abundance and distribution in all habitats of the Southwest and its unique listing and description of major birding localities, including photographs of fifty sites, Birds of the Southwest will be an important reference for the beginner and the experienced birder alike.- (Texas A & M Univ)

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Into the nest: intimate views of the courting, parenting, and family lives of familiar birds

By Erickson, Laura

Publishing Date: [2015]

Classification: 500

Call Number: 598.15 ERI

The intimate lives of familiar birds as never before seen! Spectacular, stunning, and beautiful close-up photography documents the family lives of more than 30 birds, from the first song of the courting male to the first flight of the fledglings. You'll find images of the male and female, nest construction, the eggs, the parents on the nest, nestlings, feeding time, fledglings taking their first leap, and more. The featured birds include songbirds, urban birds such as raptors and pigeons, water birds, and owls, all of them common to North America.- (Workman Press.)

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