A Guide to Wider Horizons

by Kevin Krisciunas

Overview

This is a book by an astronomer, but it is not primarily about astronomy...

A Guide to Wider Horizons also discusses physics, mathematics, biology, statistics, linguistics, ethics, history, economics, and literature. Its purpose is to introduce the reader to a large number of interesting ideas, and other books to read. It should appeal to any avid reader who wants to expand his or her horizons. As a result, it could be used as supplementary reading in any college class for non-science majors. Even if you only have 5 or 10 spare minutes a day to read (such as on a bus to work), this is a book that can help you connect to many things that are new and interesting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781465238948
Publisher:	Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
Publication date:	12/30/2013
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	134
Product dimensions:	7.14(w) x 9.08(h) x 0.33(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction

2 Women Runners are 11 Percent Slower than Men

3 The Energy Budget

Kinetic Energy and Potential Energy

The World Record in the Pole Vault

Collision of a Small Asteroid with the Earth

The Lifetime of the Sun

4 Some Curious Words, Many of Which We Know

5 The Good, the Bad, and the Obsessive

The Most Brilliant Ph.D. Thesis Ever Written in Astronomy

The Most Egotistical Book in the History of Astronomy

Not for the Thin-Skinned

6 How Long Do Astronomers Live?

7 Astronomical Measurements without a Telescope

8 Improvements in Astronomical Imaging

9 The Constellations

10 The Importance of the Trial of Galileo

11 A Mathematical Sampler

Integration for People Who Dont Know Calculus

Drawing Figures with a Ruler and Compass

Some Fun with Angles

Three Mathematical Geniuses

Ramanujan

Euler

Gauss

12 At What Distance Can the Human Eye Detect a Candle Flame?

13 Eponyms

14 A Breed Apart

15 How to Get People to Tell the Truth

16 Famous First Words

17 Books with a Moral Angle

18 Lost Books

19 A Novel Concept

20 Recommended Nonfiction

Asking Some of the Right Questions

The Moral Animal

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations

Cant We All Get Along?

Final Recommendations