Understanding how the shape of a three dimensional object may be recovered from shading in a two-dimensional image of the object is one of the most important -- and still unresolved -- problems in mac
A garden classic, The Genius of the Place reveals that the history of landscapegardening is much more than a history of design and style; it opens up a wide perspective of Englishcultural history, sho
In this rich examination of how we inherit and transform myths, Hans Blumenbergcontinues his study of the philosophical roots of the modern world. Work on Myth is in five parts.The first two analyze t
This new edition of On Adam's House in Paradise (first published by the Museum of Modern Art) incorporates all the original illustrations and several new ones, as well as additional text by the autho
Life in the Universe documents the largest gathering to date of experts in the exciting new field of exobiology. In 29 chapters, the book explores the whole question of the nature and distribution of
"In these days everything is a 'trust'-and denounced as a conspiracy." What Charles Francis Adams observed in 1888 is even truer since the late 1960s. Big business has come under intense attack, with
This critical evaluation of the efforts by the federal government to reduce poverty and alleviate inequality in the inner cities during the past decade is the work of two urban scholars who were thems
This is the fourth volume in the series on the Guayana Project of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. The book opens with a brief
By the time Goethe's Theory of Colours appeared in 1810, the wavelength theory of light and color had been firmly established. To Goethe, the theory was the result of mistaking an incidental result f
When Philip Morse was promoted to Professor Emeritus of Physics at M.I.T. in 1969, he already had behind him at least three full professional careers-in Quantum physics, in acoustics, and in what Juli
Beginning with a detailed analysis of all aspects of Sino-Soviet relations from November 1963 through November 1965, this summary takes up where the author's The Sino-Soviet Rift left off and, like it
As the planet warms and the polar ice caps melt, naturally occurring cold is a resource of growing scarcity. At the same time, energy-intensive cooling technologies are widely used as a means of prese
Drones are changing the conduct of war. Deployed at presidential discretion, they can be used in regular war zones or to kill people in such countries as Yemen and Somalia, where the United States is
Historically, "queer" was the slur used against those who were perceived to be or made to feel abnormal. Beginning in the 1980s, "queer" was reappropriated and embr
Is there a cultural logic of what we have come to call the information age? Have the technologies and techniques centered on the computer provided not only tools but also the metaphors through which w
We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electrici
"Big Data" is on the covers of Science, Nature, the Economist, andWired magazines, on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and theNew York Times. But despite the media hyperbol
The promise of America has long been conceived as the promise of happiness. BeingAmerican is all about the opportunity to pursue one's own bliss. But what is the good life, and arewe getting closer to
Although they may disavow politics as such, civic-minded young people use every meansand media at their disposal to carry out the basic tasks of citizenship. Through a mix offace-to-face and digital m
Every day, hundreds of millions of people around the world play video games -- on smart phones, on computers, on consoles -- and most of them will experience failure at some point in the game; they wi
In "No Medium," Craig Dworkin looks at works that are blank, erased, clear, or silent, writing critically and substantively about works for which there would seem to be not only nothing to see but not
Why do we feel insulted or exasperated when our friends and family don't answer theirmobile phones? If the Internet has allowed us to broaden our social world into a virtual friend-net,the mobile phon
China is on the verge of a design revolution. A "third generation" of thePeople's Republic of China that came of age during China's "opening up" period of the1980s now strives for fame, fortune, and s
The world is made up of structures too small to see with the naked eye, too small tosee even with an electron microscope. Einstein established the reality of atoms and molecules in theearly 1900s. How
This book is a passionate call for citizen action to uphold the rule of law when government does not. Arguing that post-9/11 legislation and foreign policy severed the executive branch from the will
How a virtual journalist in the virtual world of online gaming landed on the real-world front page of the New York Times and how his virtual newspaper chronicled the emergence of the next generation
In 1984 philosopher Irving Singer published the first volume of what would become a classic and much-acclaimed trilogy, The Nature of Love. In this new book, he maps the trajectory of his thinking on
In Big Box Reuse, Julia Christensen shows us how ten communities have addressed the problem of empty big box stores, turning vacated Wal-Marts and Kmarts into something else: a church, a library, a sc
In this pithy and provocative book, the noted economist Daniel Cohen offers his analysis of the global shift to a post-industrial era. If it was once natural to speak of industrial society, Cohen wri
The artist's relationship to landscape was once invoked by a canvas on an easel in a picturesque vista. No more. In the 1960s, the Earth Artists started focusing on natural systems and entropy; in th
How a virtual journalist in the virtual world of online gaming landed on the real-world front page of the New York Times and how his virtual newspaper chronicled the emergence of the next generation
Children ask, "Why is the sky blue?" but the question also puzzled Plato, Leonardo, and even Newton, who unlocked so many other secrets. The search for an answer continued for centuries; in 1862 Sir J
We experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening. We can navigate a roomin the dark, and "hear" the emptiness of a house without furniture. Our experience of music in aconcert hall depend
"Mathematics can be as effortless as humming a tune, if you know the tune," writes Gareth Loy. In Musimathics, Loy teaches us the tune, providing a friendly and spirited tour of the mathematics of mus
Since the Reagan and Thatcher revolutions of the 1980s, there has been little consensus on what welfare ought to do or how it ought to function. At the same time, post-Wall continental Europe searches
What if modern society put a priority on the material security of its citizens and the ecological integrity of its resource base? What if it took ecological constraint as a given, not a hindrance but
Any analysis of the syntax of time is based on a paradox: it must include asyntax-based theory of both tense construal and event construal. Yet while time is undimensional,events have a complex spatio
The bicycle is almost unique among human-powered machines in that it uses human muscles in a near-optimum way. This new edition of the bible of bicycle builders and bicyclists provides just about ever
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874?1927) is considered by many to be the firstAmerican dadaist as well as the mother of dada. An innovator in poetic form and an early creator ofjunk sculpture, "the Ba
Difficult to learn and awkward to use, today's information systems often change our activities in ways that we do not need or want. The problem lies in the software development process. In this book J
