This book is about my own personal favourite puzzles & conundrums in science all of which have famously been referred to as paradoxes but which turn out not to be paradoxes at all when considered carefully & viewed from the right angle. A true paradox is a statement that leads to a circular & self-contradictory argument or one that describes a logically impossible situation. Our subject is perceived paradoxes
- questions or thought-experiments that on first encounter seem impossible to answer but which science has been able to solve. Our tour of these mind-expanding puzzles will take us through some of the greatest hits of science
- from Einsteins theories about space & time to the latest ideas of how the quantum world works. Some of our paradoxes may be familiar such as Schrodingers famous cat which is seemingly alive & dead at the same time; or the Grandfather Paradox
- if you travelled back in time & killed your grandfather you would not have been born & would not therefore have killed your grandfather. Other paradoxes will be new to you but no less bizarre & fascinating. We will ask such questions as: how does the fact that it gets dark at night prove the Universe must have started with a big bang? Where are all the aliens? & why does the length of a piece of string vary depending on how fast it is moving? In resolving our paradoxes we will have to travel to the furthest reaches of the Universe & explore the very essence of space & time. Hold on tight.


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Kristin Hersh was a preternaturally bright teenager starting university at fifteen & with her band Throwing Muses playing rock clubs she was too young to frequent. By the age of seventeen she was living in her car unable to sleep for the torment of strange songs swimming around her head
- the songs for which she is now known. But just as her band was taking off Hersh was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Paradoxical Undressing chronicles the unraveling of a young womans personality culminating in a suicide attempt; & then her arduous yet inspiring recovery her unplanned pregnancy at the age of 19 & the birth of her first son. Playful vivid & wonderfully warm this is a visceral & brave memoir by a truly original performer told in a truly original voice.
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Create a home tweet home" for this colorful lively bird This plain-English guide helps readers find the right parakeet & offers expert advice on feathering his nest from setting up the cage & selecting foods to keeping messes at bay. Readers will discover how to groom a parakeet recognize the symptoms of illness & keep a parakeet safe from other pets. They will also see how to teach a parakeet to talk understand parakeet behavior & find an avian veterinarian." ...

These eight stories by leading 20th century French writers offer fascinating insights into French life & literature & are accompanied by a parallel English text making them valuable for both French & English language students. Among the diverse & entertaining stories in the collection are the wistful masterpiece Green Tobacco" by Clair Sainte-Soline; the exuberant tale of " The Ants" by the post-war king of cafe society Boris Vian & a suspense in the nineteenth-century erotic tradition from Andre de Mandiargues." ...

From the bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible" Michio Kaku's " Parallel Worlds" takes us to the frontiers of scientific knowledge to explain the extraordinary nature
- & future
- of our universe. Imagine a future where we are not alone
- where our universe is just one of countless parallel worlds some strangely familiar some almost unimaginable. & that when planet earth finally runs down to a cold dark wasteland we will be able to escape into these new worlds & start again. Michio Kaku's thrilling guide to the galaxy shows us how it could happen sooner than we think
- & the future for intelligent life is one of endless possibilities. " This book is absolutely impossible to put down.. .if & when we do find out what the universe is & how it was created it's going to be absolutely mind-blowing". (" Independent on Sunday"). " One of the gurus of modern physics". (" Financial Times"). " An exhilarating read.. .nobody who reads this book can be anything less than amazed by the possibilities it presents". (" Scotland on Sunday"). " The journey he takes the reader on is so picturesque & the conclusions so startling that you are gripped". (" Sunday Telegraph"). Michio Kaku is a leading theoretical physicist & one of the founders of string theory widely regarded as the strongest candidate for the 'theory of everything'. He is also one of the most gifted popularizers of science of his generation. His books published by Penguin include " Parallel Worlds" " The Physics of the Future" & " The Physics of the Impossible". He holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York where he has taught for over twenty-five years."



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For much of the twentieth century polio inspired terror as the 'morning paralysis' which could break into any home & disable or kill a previously healthy person. The cruelty of the disease is epitomised by the iconic images of the crippled child & the iron lung. This story of mankind's struggle against polio is compelling exciting & full of twists & pardoxes. One of the grand challenges of modern medicine it was a battleground between good & bad science. Some research won Nobel Prizes; other work was flawed or fraudulent holding up progress & endangering patients' lives. Gareth Williams takes an original view of the journey to understanding & defeating polio exploring the profoundly moving experiences of victims alongside the medical & scientific landmarks in the history of the disease. ...

Around the world by ambulance. Paramedico is a brilliant collection of adventures by Australian paramedic Benjamin Gilmour as he works & volunteers on ambulances around the world. From England to Mexico & Iceland to Pakistan Gilmour takes us on an extraordinary thrill-ride with his wild coworkers. Along the way he learns a few things too & shows us not only how precious life truly is but how to passionately embrace it. Now an acclaimed feature-length documentary movie. ...

Paramotoring is the ultimate form of personal powered flight. This is the aviation sport for everyone with a tight budget but a thirst to fly. A paramotor outfit doesnt demand airfields & hangars. It will fit in its owners car & can be flown from fields smaller than football pitches. In many countries including Britain no licence is required. ...

Few people have the opportunity to change the face of modern medicine. However Raymond Moody achieved precisely this with the publication in 1975 of Life After Life" which introduced the phrase 'near death experience' (NDE) into popular use. In that bestseller Dr. Moody researched what happens when we die including the amazing stories of those who have had out-of-body experiences & witnessed the afterlife for themselves. & he has remained at the forefront of investigations into the paranormal ever since. Now at long last he has decided to share his discoveries & the story of his own unusual life in this gripping account. Searingly honest & extremely engaging in " Paranormal" Dr. Moody recalls his pioneering research into NDEs reincarnation & ghosts. He also exorcises many of his own demons revealing the trials & tribulations that have beset him personally
- nearly driving him to suicide. The autobiography of a truly extraordinary life " Paranormal" makes for compulsive reading."
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The Paranormal Caught on Film" is a mysterious & mesmerizing collection of photographs depicting ghosts & other extraordinary phenomena from around the world. Believers will marvel at the range of unexplained activity captured on camera & sceptics will not be able to resist debating the provenance of these enigmatic images. Five chapters cover everything from the unfathomable to the downright spooky: mediums & spiritualists producing bizarre phenomena eery lights fogs & auras astonishing appearances levitating children & flying objects. Each compelling picture is accompanied by illuminating commentary from ghost expert & psychical investigator Dr Melvyn Willin." ...