492 results for advanced

In Things That Make Us Smart, Donald A. Norman explores the complex interaction between human thought and the technology it creates, arguing for the development of machines that fit our minds, rather than minds that must conform to the machine.Humans have always worked with objects to extend our cognitive powers, from counting on our fingers…

At a time when women have more tools than ever before to help them break through the glass ceiling, including the government's Glass Ceiling Initiative and the 1991 Civil Rights Act, far too many remain trapped beneath it. Based on the ground-breaking three-year study of female executives that brought the glass ceiling to national attention,…

"The reader must have noted in the favorite magazines of the practicing pianist how often the same troubled queries reappear: How can memorizing be made easier and more secure? How can the fourth and fifth fingers be strengthened? What produces musicianship? These and many others are perennial questions of the greatest practical importance to student,…

The story of the Declaration of Independence--its genesis, drafting, ratification, and influence--is as complex as any great vision and realization. Did it merely sum up the prevailing thought of its day, or was it an advanced expression of uniquely American ideals? Were its signers aware of the Declaration's full revolutionary significance, or did they see…

The Evolution of Weapons and Warfare is not only a historical study of mankind's most time-honored enterprise--war--but an excellent way to understand the potentiality of modern weapons, techniques, and technologies, and to realistically forecast how they will be applied in future wars. In this absorbing chronicle of the art of war, Colonel Dupuy examines the…

In their long, continuing struggle for equality, American women have had to rely primarily on their own resources, which have been considerable. Yet many men have helped advance their cause. Perhaps foremost among them was the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass. According to the women of the time, Douglass was their preeminent male supporter. As Elizabeth…

"John Bell Hood's Advance and Retreat is a passionate book by an officer who experienced both triumph and tragedy in full measure. A prominent participant throughout the conflict, Hood wrote an account of enduring importance for readers interested in Civil War military campaigns or postwar controversies among former Confederates."--Gary W. GallagherWhen John Bell Hood entered…

"Without fuss, this stimulating book enlarges the ways in which we can look at and listen to the screen."--Foster Hirsch, from his introductionHere at last is an introduction to film theory and its history without the jargon. Noted film scholar V. F. Perkins presents criteria for expanding our understanding and enjoyment of movies. He employs…

"There are books which change you just in the reading, and Roy Wilkins has written such a book. Spanning more than a century, it's as much the story of a movement as of a man. . . . With an extraordinary blend of passion and restraint, he chronicles the slow, unfinished process of America's emergence…

Packed with case histories and profiles of history's most infamous secret agents, plus a comprehensive glossary, The Guinness Book of Espionage will appeal to armchair spies everywhere.The Guinness Book of Espionage looks at the real world of spies and spying-military, political, and commercial-and charts the story of subterfuge throughout history. It contains fascinating details on:…

"Among the most gifted and fair-minded participants who wrote about the Civil War, Jacob Cox provides modern readers with an excellent account of the final campaigns in Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee."--Gary W. GallagherIntroduction by Brooks D. SimpsonOften hailed as a stroke of military genius, General William T. Sherman's decision to divide his command and…

During World War I 370,000 African Americans labored, fought, and died to make the world safe for a democracy that refused them equal citizenship at home. The irony was made more bitter as black troops struggled with the racist policies of the American military itself. The overwhelming majority were assigned to labor companies; those selected…

This anthology of essays, interviews, and autobiographical pieces provides an invaluable overview of the evolution of contemporary music—from chromaticism, serialism, and indeterminacy to jazz, vernacular, electronic, and non-Western influences. Featuring classic essays by Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and Reich, as well as writings by lesser-known but equally innovative composers such as Jack Beeson, Richard Maxfield, and T.…

For the Allies, D day was only the beginning. Having succeeded in that epic venture, they faced the prospect of moving beyond the beaches of France.For the Germans who had failed to halt the Allies at the water's edge, the question was how to stop the enemy from further advance before it was too late.Martin…

Henry VIII's sisters, neglected by generations of historians, affected the lives of their contemporaries much more forcefully than did any of their brother's famous six wives. In The Sisters of Henry VIII, Maria Perry brings history alive by examining the lives of these extraordinary women and their influence on Europe in the Tudor Age. Margaret…

A Rum Affair is an absorbing tale of scientific chicanery and academic intrigue—critically acclaimed and a finalist for the Los Angeles TimesBook Prize. In the 1940s, the eminent British botanist John Heslop Harrison proposed a controversial theory: Species of plants on the islands off the west coast of Scotland, he said, had survived the last…

When he left his Spanish base one spring day in 218 B.C. with his 100,000-man army of mercenaries, officers, and elephants, Hannibal was launching not just the main offensive of the Second Punic War but also one of the great military journeys in ancient history. His masterful advance through rough terrain and fierce Celtic tribes…

Monte Cassino opens in the cold Italian winter of 1943-44. Germany would lose the war, but they still held much of Italy, leaving the Allies to fight their way north to capture Rome -- a route no army had taken since Hannibal traversed the Alps to avoid it. And overlooking the only possible passage stood…

For many centuries, the job of everyday soldiers, the "grunts," was the same-"see the hill, take the hill." But the combat role of today's U.S. soldier has undergone a radical change. The recent revolution in the art of soldiering in America emphasizes a smaller, but more highly specialized and technologically equipped, armed force. Now, even…

Suddenly, popular music resembles an alien landscape. The great common ground of 45s, LPs, and even compact discs is rapidly falling by the wayside to be replaced by binary bits of sound. In the 21st century, radical advances in music technology threaten to overshadow the music itself. Indeed, today the generations divide over how they…

In this highly original work, one of the world's most distinguished child psychiatrists together with a philosopher at the forefront of ape and child language research present a startling hypothesis-that the development of our higher-level symbolic thinking, language, and social skills cannot be explained by genes and natural selection, but depend on cultural practices learned…

Beliefs in mysterious underworlds are as old as humanity. But the idea that the earth has a hollow interior was first proposed as a scientific theory in 1691 by Sir Edmond Halley (of comet fame), who suggested that there might be life down there as well. Hollow Earth traces the surprising, marvelous, and just plain…

A tantalizing account of the triumphs and travails of the U.S. men's soccer team in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, set within the historical context of American soccer on the global stage The U.S. men's soccer team was a huge disappointment at the World Cup in 2006, but a newly…

Even Steve Jobs didn't know what he had on his hands when he announced the original iPhone as a combination of a mere "three revolutionary products"--an iPod, a cell phone, and a keyboard-less handheld computer. Once Apple introduced the App Store and opened it up to outside developers, however, the iPhone became capable of serving…