You Are Here: From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves by Hiawatha Bray

The story of the rise of modern navigation technology, from radio location to GPS—and the consequent decline of privacy

Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream by Joshua Davis

 Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one robot-building contest . . . and a major motion picture

In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to much—but two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot.

Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why by Scott Weems

An entertaining tour of the science of humor and laughter

Vitamania: Our Obsessive Quest For Nutritional Perfection by Catherine Price

Should I take a multivitamin? Does vitamin C really prevent colds? Can I get enough vitamin D from the sun? Are dietary supplements safe? How much of each vitamin do I need?

Data-ism: The Revolution Transforming Decision Making, Consumer Behavior, and Almost Everything Else by Steve Lohr

Steve Lohr, a technology reporter for the New York Times, chronicles the rise of Big Data, addressing cutting-edge business strategies and examining the dark side of a data-driven world.

Coal, iron ore, and oil were the key productive assets that fueled the Industrial Revolution. Today, Data is the vital raw material of the information economy. The explosive abundance of this digital asset, more than doubling every two years, is creating a new world of opportunity and challenge.

This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress by John Brockman

The bestselling editor of This Explains Everything brings together 175 of the world’s most brilliant minds to tackle Edge.org’s 2014 question: What scientific idea has become a relic blocking human progress?

Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying) by Bill Gifford

Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective - Kevin P. Murphy

Today's Web-enabled deluge of electronic data calls for automated methods of data analysis. Machine learning provides these, developing methods that can automatically detect patterns in data and then use the uncovered patterns to predict future data. This textbook offers a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the field of machine learning, based on a unified, probabilistic approach. The coverage combines breadth and depth, offering necessary background material on such topics as probability, optimization, and linear algebra as well as discussion of recent developments in the field, including conditional random fields, L1 regularization, and deep learning. The book is written in an informal, accessible style, complete with pseudo-code for the most important algorithms. All topics are copiously illustrated with color images and worked examples drawn from such application domains as biology, text processing, computer vision, and robotics. Rather than providing a cookbook of different heuristic methods, the book stresses a principled model-based approach, often using the language of graphical models to specify models in a concise and intuitive way. Almost all the models described have been implemented in a MATLAB software package--PMTK (probabilistic modeling toolkit)--that is freely available online. The book is suitable for upper-level undergraduates with an introductory-level college math background and beginning graduate students.

 

On Intelligence - Jeff Hawkins & Sandra Blakeslee

From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself.

Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines.

Likeable Social Media, Revised and Expanded - Dave Kerpen

The NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller—updated with today’s hottest sites!
A friend’s recommendation is more powerful than any advertisement. In the world of Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, and beyond, that recommendation can travel farther and faster than ever before. Packed with brand-new case studies from today’s emerging social sites, this updated edition of Likeable Social Media helps you harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing to transform your business. Listen to your customers and prospects. Deliver value, excitement, and surprise. And most important, learn how to truly engage your customers and help them spread the word.
Read what the experts are saying about Likeable Social Media:

“Dave Kerpen’s insights and clear how-to instructions on building brand popularity by truly engaging with customers on Facebook, Twitter, and the many other social media platforms are nothing short of brilliant.”