Koncocoo

Best Professional Engineering

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Vance spent over 40 hours in conversation with Musk and interviewed close to 300 people to tell the tumultuous stories of Musk's world-changing companies: PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity, and to characterize a man who has renewed American industry and sparked new levels of innovation while making plenty of enemies along the way. "Ashlee Vance's new book, 'Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,' is a tremendous look into arguably the world's most important entrepreneur. Vance paints an unforgettable picture of Musk's unique personality, insatiable drive and ability to thrive through hardship." "Vance's lively book yields all manner of fascinating insights about Musk's companies, his vision, and his personal life." - Whitney Tilson Founder, Kase Capital Management There are few industrialists in history who could match Elon Musk's relentless drive and ingenious vision. A modern alloy of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs, Musk is the man behind PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity, each of which has sent shock waves throughout American business and industry. More than any other executive today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as a science fiction fantasy. In this lively, investigative account, veteran technology journalist Ashlee Vance offers an unprecedented look into the remarkable life and times of Silicon Valley's most audacious businessman. Written with exclusive access to Musk, his family, and his friends, the book traces his journey from his difficult upbringing in South Africa to his ascent to the pinnacle of the global business world. In 1992, Elon Musk arrived in the United States as a ferociously driven immigrant bent on realizing his wildest dreams. After being forced out of PayPal, fending off a life-threatening case of malaria, and dealing with the death of his infant son, Musk abandoned Silicon Valley for Los Angeles. At a time when many American companies are more interested in chasing easy money than in taking bold risks on radical new technology, Musk stands out as the only businessman with enough dynamism and vision to tackle--and even revolutionize--three industries at once. Vance makes the case that Musk's success heralds a return to the original ambition and invention that made America an economic and intellectual powerhouse.
Reviews
"2 pages in, I decided I was in this for the long haul and sat on the floor, right there in the middle of the store. Because as you experience the story, as you see the challenges Musk went through to reach the pinnacle he's at today, the question nags at you. Musk isn't soft-spoken, or easy on his employees, or a man who kicks his legs up on his desk and snoozes while his companies mill around him. Vance shows how Musk is both the CEO and an employee of his companies, simultaneously the teacher and student. Vance takes you deep into the details, from Musk's childhood and lineage in South Africa, all the way to Canada and the United States, where the bulk of the story unfolds. When Musk looks at big businesses, he sees unmovable behemoths that refuse to change their methodologies. So we follow Musk's journey from his small start-ups, Zip2 and X.com, and move into his larger, more permanent ventures, namely SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Did you know SpaceX tested these rockets on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and would fix problems they encountered in a matter of days, as compared to months by standard companies? I'm going to reread this book in a few weeks (probably after the scheduled June 19th third Falcon 9 landing attempt, this time on solid ground, as opposed to a barge). Anyone who wants a ridiculously thorough insight into Elon Musk's life and companies should read this book. This is an incredibly inspiring book, a important look into a game-changing business strategy, and a valuable lesson to the world."
"I loved the insight into Musk and how he operates, and you get a very broad and complete picture of Musk as a driven visionary that is absolutely set on delivering some of the most aspirational goals of any human in history. You also get some great insight into the overall ecosystem around Musk - his companies (SpaceX and Tesla primarily), relationships with other companies and gov entities, as well as the important people around him."
"This willingness to commit all his resources, sacrificing family time, risking bankruptcy is the necessary driver to striking it rich and making a lasting mark on history. But his true gift is shown in recognizing future trends, motivating people to work like slaves and like Steve Jobs a fanatical attention to detail and making the little things better."
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The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. " Radium Girls spares us nothing of their suffering; though at times the foreshadowing reads more like a true-crime story, Moore is intent on making the reader viscerally understand the pain in which these young women were living, and through which they had to fight in order to get their problems recognized...The story of real women at the mercy of businesses who see them only as a potential risk to the bottom line is haunting precisely because of how little has changed; the glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still." "Moore's well-researched narrative is written with clarity and a sympathetic voice that brings these figures and their struggles to life...a must-read for anyone interested in American and women's history, as well as topics of law, health, and industrial safety." "Carefully researched, the work will stun readers with its descriptions of the glittering artisans who, oblivious to health dangers, twirled camel-hair brushes to fine points using their mouths, a technique called lip-pointing...Moore details what was a 'ground-breaking, law-changing, and life-saving accomplishment' for worker's rights." "Like Da a Sobel's The Glass Universe and Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures, Kate Moore's The Radium Girls tells the story of a cohort of women who made history by entering the workforce at the dawn of a new scientific era. But the young women--many of them just teenagers--who learned the skill of painting glow-in-the-dark numbers on clock faces and aeronautical gauges early in the twentieth century paid a stiff price for their part in this breakthrough involving the deadly element, radium. "...[A] fascinating social history – one that significantly reflects on the class and gender of those involved – [is] Catherine Cookson meets Mad Men...The importance of the brave and blighted dial-painters cannot be overstated."
Reviews
"In The Radium Girls Kate Moore tells the story of these young women, seemingly so fortunate, who were poisoned by the jobs they felt so lucky to have. After some of the women died and more became ill the companies making large profits on radium rushed to dismiss any hint that the work was unsafe. Eventually publicity stemming from lawsuits filed by some of the victims (using their own scanty resources) focused enough attention on the problem that governments felt compelled to set safety standards and regulations. The safety regulations and restrictions which were finally put into place hardly seem adequate, and the Epilogue and Postscript giving details of the women's later lives, as well as an account of another industry that made careless use of radium as late as the 1970s, are especially harrowing."
"This is one these books that will stay with you long after you finished reading it."
"One of the best books I have read in a long time!"
"The job paid above average wages to women, and even when it was realized that coworkers were developing horrible health problems, some women continued to work because their families needed money the job provided."
"I just got through reading Radium Girls based the the true story of the girls and women employed to paint watch dials in the early twentieth century with an exciting and new product, radium. Every girl wanted in on the work as it was good pay and radium was said to be good for your health."
"I thank these women for eventually shutting the US Radium Corp down. Never forget these strong women that finally shook a nation off its lazy, corrupt ass to FINALLY be a beacon for for justice and Fairplay towards the working (WO) man."
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Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
New York Times Best Seller How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology—and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. “Original, accessible, and provocative….Tegmark successfully gives clarity to the many faces of AI, creating a highly readable book that complements The Second Machine Age ’s economic perspective on the near-term implications of recent accomplishments in AI and the more detailed analysis of how we might get from where we are today to AGI and even the superhuman AI in Superintelligence …. Enjoy the ride, and you will come out the other end with a greater appreciation of where people might take technology and themselves in the years ahead.” —Science “This is a compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence and consciousness—on Earth and beyond.” —Elon Musk, Founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX and co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors “All of us—not only scientists, industrialists and generals—should ask ourselves what can we do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits of future AI and avoiding the risks. This is the most important conversation of our time, and Tegmark’s thought-provoking book will help you join it.” —Professor Stephen Hawking, Director of Research, Cambridge Centre for Theoretical Cosmology “Tegmark’s new book is a deeply thoughtful guide to the most important conversation of our time, about how to create a benevolent future civilization as we merge our biological thinking with an even greater intelligence of our own creation.” —Ray Kurzweil, Inventor, Author and Futurist, author of The Singularity is Near and How to Create a Mind. “Being an eminent physicist and the leader of the Future of Life Institute has given Max Tegmark a unique vantage point from which to give the reader an inside scoop on the most important issue of our time, in a way that is approachable without being dumbed down.” —Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype “This is an exhilarating book that will change the way we think about AI, intelligence, and the future of humanity.” —Bart Selman, Professor of Computer Science, Cornell University “The unprecedented power unleashed by artificial intelligence means the next decade could be humanity’s best—or worst. Though the topics he covers—AI, cosmology, values, even the nature of conscious experience—can be fairly challenging, he presents them in an unintimidating manner that invites the reader to form her own opinions.” —Nick Bostrom, Founder of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, author of Superintelligence. "Tegmark’s book, along with Nick Bostrom’s Superintelligence, stands out among the current books about our possible AI futures....Tegmark explains brilliantly many concepts in fields from computing to cosmology, writes with intellectual modesty and subtlety, does the reader the important service of defining his terms clearly, and rightly pays homage to the creative minds of science-fiction writers who were, of course, addressing these kinds of questions more than half a century ago.
Reviews
"Much more quickly than many anticipated, machine learning (a subset of AI) systems have defeated the best human Go players, are piloting self-driving cars, usefully if imperfectly translating documents, labeling your photos, understanding your speech, and so on. But he’s also got a lifetime of experience thinking carefully, rigorously, generally (and entertainingly to boot) about the “big picture” of what is possible, and what is not, over long timescales and cosmic distances (see his last book!). Finally, he's played an active and very key role (as you can read about in the book’s epilogue) in actually creating conversation and research about the impacts and safety of AI in the long-term. Chapter 1 lays out why AI is suddenly on everyone’s radar, and very likely to be extremely important over the coming decades, situating present-day as a crucial point within the wider sweep of human and evolutionary history on Earth. This raises a lot of rich, important, and extremely difficult questions that not that many people have thought through carefully (another in-print example is the excellent book by Bostrom). Chapter 6 exhibits Tegmark’s unique talent for tackling the big questions, looking at the *ultimate* limits and promise of intelligent life in the universe, and how stupefyingly high the stakes might be fore getting the next few decades right. (And I should also mention the prologue, which gives an fictional but less *science*fictional depiction of an artificial superintelligence being used by a small group to seize control of human society. It’s possible that real, general artificial intelligence (AGI) is 100 or more years away, a problem for the next generation, with large but manageable effects of “narrow” AI to deal with over a span of decades."
"The problem is indeed for some far out future, it is currently an unsolved problem, however its best that we make at least some effort to understand the complex nature of the problem."
"This should be the best book in year 2017, it is not about AI, it is about us, it is about human life, and our very existence and purpose, we are reaching the stage that our ancestors’ Technology accumulationes reached the exponential growth after 10s of thousands of years of civilization, we are slowly cracking the the code, very exciting and also very dangerous, it is the first time that we all believe we could and will make something, a thing or a being who are super smart and super capable than us, that could initially benefit us, but could also ultimately extinguish us if we are not too careful, or we ultimately are too comfortable and lose life’s purpose and drift away, afterall how do we know that we are the first round of human civilization in the billions of years of the earth’s life, or not... this book is very deep and very thourough, discussing all the possibilities starting from what we already have, and ultimately it could be...and emphasize why it is so neccessary to starting AI safety reasearch at this early stage, Professor Tegmark and along with Elon Musk are the visionaries of our time in our human race, a must read for everyone."
"Super mind-opening, a little too dense in the middle."
"The great mind-opened work!"
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Best Automotive Engineering

Life in the Fast Lane: 20th Anniversary Special Edition
Over the last twenty years Life in the Fast Lane has become a staple of Formula 1 literature. In essence a monthly diary of a Benetton grand prix mechanic, this essential book gives a behind-the-scenes account of daily life in the trenches of F1, each page written throughout the tragic and turbulent 1994 season.
Reviews
"It's like receiving a tour of a great art museum not from a weary docent but a renowned painter who goes on to reveal the secret techniques of brushstroke and color choice over a couple of pints at your favorite local."
"It's written from an often forgotten perspective of the F1 mechanics, ironic in that they are the ones closest to the action after the driver. A particularly poignant passage involves the great Michael Schumacher leading the Spanish GP while he is managing the race strategy via radio transmission so that his team, Benetton, can get their second driver in the points, all while fending off a hard charging Williams challenging for second."
"I enjoy Steve Matchett’s books very much, if you like Formula 1, motorsports he is a must read."
"From pre season testing through an intensely personal perspective of the terrible events at Imola on through the end of Michael Schumacher's 1st World Championship, it was riveting."
"After hearing much insightful information from Steve over his years of Formula 1 televisión broadcasting, it was refreshing to read this insider’s view of the 1994 season."
"Insightful look at Formula one and the dedicated people not behind the wheel."
"Great insight into the behind the scenes aspect of F1."
"BTW, my wife has the Amazon acct and purchased them for me, for Christmas, and she did a damn fine job..lol."
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Best Chemical Engineering

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
Deemed "the best history of oil ever written" by Business Week and with more than 300,000 copies in print, Daniel Yergin’s Pulitzer Prize–winning account of the global pursuit of oil, money, and power has been extensively updated to address the current energy crisis. Following on from there, The Prize , winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Energy consultant Yergin limns oil's central role in most of the wars and many international crises of the 20th century.
Reviews
"It focuses on the effects of oil on the economies of both consuming and producing nations as well how access to oil affects the political power of nations."
"It makes no sense to export a precious finite resource, and it makes a lot of sense to use our enemy's supply first."
"This is the third copy of this book that I have purchased."
"The sentiments of various people and groups towards oil (good or bad) were negligible in the book which gave it almost a sterile feel. I now have a much stronger understanding of just how oil plays its enormous role in the global society. I can't say enough about how well this book informs its reader in an enjoyable and insightful way. It may at points be dry material, but in no way did i feel like this book was written over my head."
"Fascinating story from the time of ancient people using oil, oil tar, to drilling in Pennsylvania, drilling in the Near and Far East, etc."
"This is a long book, but if you want to write a comprehensive story of oil and its impact on the economy spanning more than a century, it's going to be long."
"This is one of the best histories of the Oil Business."
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Best Civil Engineering

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
Vance spent over 40 hours in conversation with Musk and interviewed close to 300 people to tell the tumultuous stories of Musk's world-changing companies: PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity, and to characterize a man who has renewed American industry and sparked new levels of innovation while making plenty of enemies along the way. "Ashlee Vance's new book, 'Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,' is a tremendous look into arguably the world's most important entrepreneur. Vance paints an unforgettable picture of Musk's unique personality, insatiable drive and ability to thrive through hardship." "Vance's lively book yields all manner of fascinating insights about Musk's companies, his vision, and his personal life." - Whitney Tilson Founder, Kase Capital Management There are few industrialists in history who could match Elon Musk's relentless drive and ingenious vision. A modern alloy of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs, Musk is the man behind PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and SolarCity, each of which has sent shock waves throughout American business and industry. More than any other executive today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as a science fiction fantasy. In this lively, investigative account, veteran technology journalist Ashlee Vance offers an unprecedented look into the remarkable life and times of Silicon Valley's most audacious businessman. Written with exclusive access to Musk, his family, and his friends, the book traces his journey from his difficult upbringing in South Africa to his ascent to the pinnacle of the global business world. In 1992, Elon Musk arrived in the United States as a ferociously driven immigrant bent on realizing his wildest dreams. After being forced out of PayPal, fending off a life-threatening case of malaria, and dealing with the death of his infant son, Musk abandoned Silicon Valley for Los Angeles. At a time when many American companies are more interested in chasing easy money than in taking bold risks on radical new technology, Musk stands out as the only businessman with enough dynamism and vision to tackle--and even revolutionize--three industries at once. Vance makes the case that Musk's success heralds a return to the original ambition and invention that made America an economic and intellectual powerhouse.
Reviews
"2 pages in, I decided I was in this for the long haul and sat on the floor, right there in the middle of the store. Because as you experience the story, as you see the challenges Musk went through to reach the pinnacle he's at today, the question nags at you. Musk isn't soft-spoken, or easy on his employees, or a man who kicks his legs up on his desk and snoozes while his companies mill around him. Vance shows how Musk is both the CEO and an employee of his companies, simultaneously the teacher and student. Vance takes you deep into the details, from Musk's childhood and lineage in South Africa, all the way to Canada and the United States, where the bulk of the story unfolds. When Musk looks at big businesses, he sees unmovable behemoths that refuse to change their methodologies. So we follow Musk's journey from his small start-ups, Zip2 and X.com, and move into his larger, more permanent ventures, namely SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Did you know SpaceX tested these rockets on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and would fix problems they encountered in a matter of days, as compared to months by standard companies? I'm going to reread this book in a few weeks (probably after the scheduled June 19th third Falcon 9 landing attempt, this time on solid ground, as opposed to a barge). Anyone who wants a ridiculously thorough insight into Elon Musk's life and companies should read this book. This is an incredibly inspiring book, a important look into a game-changing business strategy, and a valuable lesson to the world."
"I loved the insight into Musk and how he operates, and you get a very broad and complete picture of Musk as a driven visionary that is absolutely set on delivering some of the most aspirational goals of any human in history. You also get some great insight into the overall ecosystem around Musk - his companies (SpaceX and Tesla primarily), relationships with other companies and gov entities, as well as the important people around him."
"Solid, well researched book about Musk's early life, early companies (Zip2 and PayPal), and current companies (Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity). Throughout the book, Vance doesn't just let a startling assertion or quote stand still, he researches events to give the reader a balanced view of what transpired."
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Best Computer Technology

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
Digital technologies—with hardware, software, and networks at their core—will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than doctors can, apply enormous data sets to transform retailing, and accomplish many tasks once considered uniquely human. These include revamping education so that it prepares people for the next economy instead of the last one, designing new collaborations that pair brute processing power with human ingenuity, and embracing policies that make sense in a radically transformed landscape. “Offers important insights into how digital technologies are transforming our economy, a process that has only just begun.”. - Reid Hoffman, cofounder/chairman of LinkedIn and coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Start-up of You. I’ll encourage all of our entrepreneurs to read it, and hope their competitors don’t.”. - Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz. Long after the financial crisis and great recession have receded, the issues raised in this important book will be central to our lives and our politics.”. - Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University.
Reviews
"The Second Machine Age gives many examples of specific technologies like robots, AI and autonomous cars, and also lots of data showing how the economy is being transformed. The authors also make a strong argument that the way economists measure things, especially in terms of GDP, no longer does a good job of capturing what prosperity really means in the information age. There are lots of policy suggestions including reforming education to pay teachers more but also make them accountable, jump starting entrepreneurship, better job matching technologies, investing more in basic scientific research, upgrading national infrastructure, expanding skilled immigration, implementing smarter taxes, expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC), etc."
"There'll be nothing earth-shattering here for readers who follow technology trends or even who read WIRED magazine, but the book looks at all these things through a somewhat different lens (its impact on human work) than the tech press usually does, and I didn't find myself skimming even when they were covering developments with which I'm already very familiar. Their short-term prescriptions are sensible enough (basically: take steps to encourage general economic growth) but, as the authors themselves point out, these won't address the underlying problem, identified by Keynes among others, of technological change outpacing the ability of large segments of the workforce to retrain for new jobs."
"That said if you have never read "Race" this book is just as good as the other."
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Best Electrical & Electronics

The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual
Use with ARRL s online Exam Review for Ham Radio. Welcome to Amateur Radio. Radio and Signals Fundamentals. Electricity, Components, and Circuits. Propagation, Antennas, and Feed Lines. Amateur Radio Equipment. Communicating With Other Hams. Licensing Regulations. Operating Regulations. Safety. As you complete each chapter of this book, use ARRL's online Exam Review for Ham Radio to help prepare you for exam day. Once you've finished this book, use the online service to take practice exams with the same number and variety of questions that you'll encounter on exam day.
Reviews
"Some of the other books that I see concentrate more on passing the test by learning the test questions than actually teaching the material."
"After the training material, there is an excellent glossary, the complete exam question pool (with correct answers indicated), as well as a supplementary chapter on choosing a ham radio. Excellent graphics -- lots of tables, charts, photographs, and line drawings. As much as I love my e-Ink Kindle, this is the sort of book that is better in paper and in a large format. Table of Contents for the course material -- Radio and Signals Fundamentals; Electricity, Components, and Circuits; Propagation, Antennas, and Feed Lines; Amateur Radio Equipment; Communicating With Other Hams; Licensing Regulations; Operating Regulations; and Safety."
"Even though you could simply memorize the questions from the FCC test bank, you'll be missing out on a great amount of information that's useful to the new ham operator."
"As a test preparation guide and desktop reference, its a good book to own."
"I passed my license after going through the multiple choice questions in the back.."
"I'm new to this HAM radio but am confident that this will be the reference that stays on my shelf as I get my first license level."
"This is a nicely laid out book that takes you through all of the material for the license exam."
"My only issue with the electronic format is that the images could be more readable inline with the text. This results in needing to zoom almost every image, where most of them could be otherwise read inline with the text."
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Best Industrial Engineering

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the "wonder" substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. "Kate Moore's new book will move, shock and anger you" -- The Big Issue Kate Moore is a Sunday Times bestselling writer with more than a decade's experience in writing across varying genres, including memoir and biography and history.
Reviews
"In The Radium Girls Kate Moore tells the story of these young women, seemingly so fortunate, who were poisoned by the jobs they felt so lucky to have. After some of the women died and more became ill the companies making large profits on radium rushed to dismiss any hint that the work was unsafe. Eventually publicity stemming from lawsuits filed by some of the victims (using their own scanty resources) focused enough attention on the problem that governments felt compelled to set safety standards and regulations. The safety regulations and restrictions which were finally put into place hardly seem adequate, and the Epilogue and Postscript giving details of the women's later lives, as well as an account of another industry that made careless use of radium as late as the 1970s, are especially harrowing."
"This is one these books that will stay with you long after you finished reading it."
"One of the best books I have read in a long time!"
"I learned so much from this book."
"This was such a heartfelt story bringing to life the stories of such brave women and their suffering."
"This a book that should be read by people of all ages and occupation."
"Awesome book could not stop thinking about it for weeks such a long fight these woman had n some did not make it sadly."
"I have not read many of these types of books about real life stories about history and I found this fascinating."
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Best Materials Science

Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
Miodownik studies objects as ordinary as an envelope and as unexpected as concrete cloth, uncovering the fascinating secrets that hold together our physical world. " Stuff Matters is about hidden wonders, the astonishing properties of materials we think boring, banal, and unworthy of attention...It's possible this science and these stories have been told elsewhere, but like the best chocolatiers, Miodownik gets the blend right." University professor Miodownik accomplishes a bit of a miracle here by making a discussion of materials science not only accessible but witty as well.
Reviews
"I purchased this book because it's my first year teaching 5th-grade science and I wanted to flesh out my curriculum with some interesting facts. The chapter on chocolate is nothing short of a love letter to one of mankind's most sophisticated and delicious engineering achievements (make sure you have some on hand while you're reading—trust me)."
"The author has the ability to use simple language and illustrations to explain the incredible complexity of the materials aound us with which we interact on a daily basis."
"I'm rounding up perhaps half a star."
"Author Mark Miodownik has written an enjoyable, clear, and very informative book on a potentially very dry subject - material science."
"The reason is that sunlight does not have enough energy to dislocate the atoms in glass but ultra violet light does. That is the reason can't get a tan thru a window."
"It gave me a whole to appreciation for the things around me, so much so that I later bought The Elements by Theodore Gray which does an exceptional job of visually exploring all the atoms in the universe so you can better appreciate the Periodic Table as a layperson."
"A amazing tale of materials that have shaped our modern world."
"Lots of stuff happened since my college years. This book provides some of the new stuff I missed or misunderstood reading the Science Section of the New York Times."
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Best Engineering Measurement

How to Install Kodi on Firestick: The Ultimate User Guide How to Install Kodi on Amazon Fire Stick (the 2017 updated user guide, tips and tricks, home ... (user guides, fire stick, amazon)
What is Kodi and some history of this open-sourced program Description and information for the Amazon Fire TV devices Installing Kodi Media Center on the Amazon Fire TV devices (using the wizards and manually) Navigating the Kodi website Common Kodi features and how they are used Popular Kodi add-ons Using XML files to customize certain Kodi features Content Sources available to load content into Kodi Troubleshooting, Tips and Suggestions for using the media center with the Fire TV devices, as well as other devices. Kodi, Kindle OwnersAmazon Prime, how to install to Kodi, Amazon fire tv stick, free TV Series,Fire Stick, tips and tricks, streaming, Amazon Fire TV Stick User Guide, smart device, beginners guide, main functions, personal control, step-by-step guide, quick guide, Fire Stick benefits, Fire Stick functions, Fire TV, Movies, TV, Apps, Games & More, install Kodi with ES File Explorer, from Newbie to Expert, Best Kindle Fire HD Apps, free Movie.
Reviews
"I like this book this book has proper guidence about how to install kodi on firestick.I have not proper knowledge before reading this about kodi.This book help me so much about getting the proper knowledge about the service.Very informative book for me to maintain my tv services."
"Very interesting book."
"Lots of very useful and helpful info re Kodi, but to do the install I had to go to a couple of Kodi websites to get up-to-date detailed instructions, so deducted one star."
"Good information."
"it is just what i needed."
"Easy to understand and works great."
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Best Mechanical Engineering

The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
Digital technologies—with hardware, software, and networks at their core—will in the near future diagnose diseases more accurately than doctors can, apply enormous data sets to transform retailing, and accomplish many tasks once considered uniquely human. These include revamping education so that it prepares people for the next economy instead of the last one, designing new collaborations that pair brute processing power with human ingenuity, and embracing policies that make sense in a radically transformed landscape. “Offers important insights into how digital technologies are transforming our economy, a process that has only just begun.”. - Reid Hoffman, cofounder/chairman of LinkedIn and coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Start-up of You. I’ll encourage all of our entrepreneurs to read it, and hope their competitors don’t.”. - Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz. Long after the financial crisis and great recession have receded, the issues raised in this important book will be central to our lives and our politics.”. - Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University.
Reviews
"The Second Machine Age gives many examples of specific technologies like robots, AI and autonomous cars, and also lots of data showing how the economy is being transformed. The authors also make a strong argument that the way economists measure things, especially in terms of GDP, no longer does a good job of capturing what prosperity really means in the information age. There are lots of policy suggestions including reforming education to pay teachers more but also make them accountable, jump starting entrepreneurship, better job matching technologies, investing more in basic scientific research, upgrading national infrastructure, expanding skilled immigration, implementing smarter taxes, expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC), etc."
"There'll be nothing earth-shattering here for readers who follow technology trends or even who read WIRED magazine, but the book looks at all these things through a somewhat different lens (its impact on human work) than the tech press usually does, and I didn't find myself skimming even when they were covering developments with which I'm already very familiar. Their short-term prescriptions are sensible enough (basically: take steps to encourage general economic growth) but, as the authors themselves point out, these won't address the underlying problem, identified by Keynes among others, of technological change outpacing the ability of large segments of the workforce to retrain for new jobs."
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Best Nuclear Engineering

Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters: From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
Mahaffey, a long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy, looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns. Although his latest work focuses mostly on radioactivity’s dark side, from its discovery in 1896 to its role in the recent Fukushima meltdown, Mahaffey nonetheless does argue persuasively that, by closely investigating its shortcomings, nuclear power can be made safer. Mahaffey guides us through more than a century of atomic research, includingmisadventures with radioactive elixirs ("The radium water worked fine until hisjaw came off," reads a 1932 headline) and long-forgotten accidents atenrichment plants...The compelling tales unravel like slow-motion horror stories,spiraling towards disasters we know are coming.PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (Starred Review) - 13 January 2014. Mahaffey, a former senior researchscientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, employs his extensiveknowledge of nuclear engineering to produce a volume that is by turns alarming,thought-provoking, humorous, and always fascinating.KIRKUS (Starred Review) - 6 February 2014.
Reviews
"I think the biggest general takeaway from this is the surprisingly small impact from these accidents relative to other industrial accidents and the public perception of nuclear power."
"Public concerns are considered simplistic, but nothing critical is said about these high-tech dangerous systems sometimes being run as casually as a local car repair shop. Then after the spill Bob and I had to think fast, so we mopped up the nuclear waste and dumped it out back where it won't bother anybody."
"Really great read; lots of info, well written."
"This book is a better read than Chuck Hansen's Us Nuclear Weapons the Secret History which was way to technical and not for the laymen."
"A good, if technical, overview of the history of nuclear power and reactor design flaws and accidents."
"One learns a lot about nuclear physics."
"The author managed to explain the complex chains of events that lead to each of the failures detailed within quite clearly, I never felt this book was talking down to the audience or dumbing things down excessively."
"Finally, the author wraps up with a discussion on the future of the nuclear industry and what he believes are smart choices on nuclear alternatives (not non-nuclear alternatives, but alternate approaches to nuclear fission/fusion)."
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Best Petroleum

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power
Deemed "the best history of oil ever written" by Business Week and with more than 300,000 copies in print, Daniel Yergin’s Pulitzer Prize–winning account of the global pursuit of oil, money, and power has been extensively updated to address the current energy crisis. Following on from there, The Prize , winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Energy consultant Yergin limns oil's central role in most of the wars and many international crises of the 20th century.
Reviews
"It focuses on the effects of oil on the economies of both consuming and producing nations as well how access to oil affects the political power of nations."
"It makes no sense to export a precious finite resource, and it makes a lot of sense to use our enemy's supply first."
"This is the third copy of this book that I have purchased."
"The sentiments of various people and groups towards oil (good or bad) were negligible in the book which gave it almost a sterile feel. I now have a much stronger understanding of just how oil plays its enormous role in the global society. I can't say enough about how well this book informs its reader in an enjoyable and insightful way. It may at points be dry material, but in no way did i feel like this book was written over my head."
"Although concentrated on the oil industry, this book is really an incredible history of the twentieth century, which makes a lot of sense considering the paramount of oil to that era and now."
"This is a long book, but if you want to write a comprehensive story of oil and its impact on the economy spanning more than a century, it's going to be long."
"This is one of the best histories of the Oil Business."
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Best Reference Engineering

The ARRL General Class License Manual
Upgrading to a General license--which conveys extensive HF privileges—only requires passing a written examination. Procedures and Practices. Rules and Regulations. Components and Circuits. Radio Signals and Equipment. Digital Modes. Antennas. Propagation. Electrical and RF Safety. ARRL's mission is based on five pillars: Public Service, Advocacy, Education, Technology, and Membership.
Reviews
"Using this process with a clean copy of the pool questions I got to mostly "blue" and a couple of "greens"...and easily passed the three test."
"Great information laid out in a plain to understand method that logically moves you through the subject matter in a way that you actually learn."
"I already have the Tech book and I used that and the practice exams on line to pass my Tech exam."
"Hypertext jumps from the subject to questions and answers was flawless."
"Excellent book."
"The book was so simple and easy to follow. This book will go over various topics and then at the end of the chapter it will just say, "Please review questions in section etc, etc, etc before continuing to the next chapter" I hate flipping back and forth between reading material and question pools in the back of the book. In the end this book will work and some of you might just say I have a different way of learning than others which is true."
"Very comprehensive and clear."
"Brand new and is current..."
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Best Telecommunications

The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual
Use with ARRL s online Exam Review for Ham Radio. Welcome to Amateur Radio. Radio and Signals Fundamentals. Electricity, Components, and Circuits. Propagation, Antennas, and Feed Lines. Amateur Radio Equipment. Communicating With Other Hams. Licensing Regulations. Operating Regulations. Safety. As you complete each chapter of this book, use ARRL's online Exam Review for Ham Radio to help prepare you for exam day. Once you've finished this book, use the online service to take practice exams with the same number and variety of questions that you'll encounter on exam day.
Reviews
"Some of the other books that I see concentrate more on passing the test by learning the test questions than actually teaching the material."
"After the training material, there is an excellent glossary, the complete exam question pool (with correct answers indicated), as well as a supplementary chapter on choosing a ham radio. Excellent graphics -- lots of tables, charts, photographs, and line drawings. As much as I love my e-Ink Kindle, this is the sort of book that is better in paper and in a large format. Table of Contents for the course material -- Radio and Signals Fundamentals; Electricity, Components, and Circuits; Propagation, Antennas, and Feed Lines; Amateur Radio Equipment; Communicating With Other Hams; Licensing Regulations; Operating Regulations; and Safety."
"Even though you could simply memorize the questions from the FCC test bank, you'll be missing out on a great amount of information that's useful to the new ham operator."
"As a test preparation guide and desktop reference, its a good book to own."
"I'm new to this HAM radio but am confident that this will be the reference that stays on my shelf as I get my first license level."
"This is a nicely laid out book that takes you through all of the material for the license exam."
"My only issue with the electronic format is that the images could be more readable inline with the text. This results in needing to zoom almost every image, where most of them could be otherwise read inline with the text."
"This manual takes a complex and fascinating hobby and renders it boring."
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Best Central American History

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
The National Book Award–winning epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal, a first-rate drama of the bold and brilliant engineering feat that was filled with both tragedy and triumph, told by master historian David McCullough. On December 31, 1999, after nearly a century of rule, the United States officially ceded ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. A wave of fortune seekers descended on Panama from Europe and the eastern United States, seeking quick passage on California-bound ships in the Pacific, and the Panama Railroad, built to serve that traffic, was soon the highest-priced stock listed on the New York Exchange.
Reviews
"Because the French effort was publicly financed most of the detail concerns all the financial schemes needed to keep this project moving ahead. While this was important information to know as the basis for the subsequent American effort I do believe that it was vastly overdone and could have benefited from serious editing. In the history of this canal you have innovative people from a variety of disciplines from medicine to engineering, from management to human resources and it was fascinating to read about their problems and the solutions they devised to solve them. But I will grant that much of the fascination a reader could have had from this book was diluted by the cumbersome length and depth of detail."
"And I just want to say, in my opinion, Godin de Lepinay is really the unsung hero of the Panama Canal, the true genius behind the construction of the Canal. But in my going through the Canal the greatest engineering feature that struck me, was the one de Lepinay was the first to propose. I had no idea until I read the book who was the first to come up with the idea, but the book did mention it, and it was de Lepinay."
"My only complaint was it was a very long book but with that being said I enjoyed all the detail, relationships, antagonisms, bureaucracy, pitfalls (numerous), data, weather complications, Panamanian lifestyle, and tragically the loss of life."
"Incredible story of brave people, engineering and construction, exploration, health and sanitation. As between finance, politics and engineering, the latter is key to successful completion of a real-world project; the former two are also necessary and were poured in abundantly by French and Americans. A few slow spots are bogged by excessive detail, but the story is thoroughly researched and documented and oh so real and alive."
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