House salad with the dressing on the side, please:
powells.com interview: steven pinker (the stuff of thought)
technica q&a: helen r. quinn and yossi nir (the mystery of the missing antimatter)
original essay: mike hansell (built by animals)
win a nikon D40 camera!
isepp lecture series
how do I work this thing?
new arrivals
doug brown's factoid
bestsellers
Every holiday season, a favorite customer sends us a giant box filled with greasy goodness — we pounce on it like hungry jackals. Corie likes the butter flavored Styrofoam-y puffs, and the caramel corn disappears fast. The top favorite is the neon-orange "cheez kurls," which are delicious, but are dangerous to eat while pricing books (orange residue and paper don't mix). By January, there are only a few crumbs left in the box, and we all eat a lot more salads from Whole Foods up the street. January is for penance.
POWELLS.COM INTERVIEW: STEVEN PINKER
An evolutionary psychologist with a focus on language, Steven Pinker is the author of several bestselling books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate. He teaches at Harvard and is an active researcher as well as a popular public lecturer. Pinker's latest book is The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, which Wired calls "a fascinating look at how language provides a window into the deepest functioning of the human brain." On a rainy day in September 2007, Dr. Pinker discussed causality, the concept of concepts, how to swear in several languages, and how irregular verbs can lead to romance. Enjoy our exclusive interview with Pinker and save 30% on The Stuff of Thought.
TECHNICA Q&A: HELEN R. QUINN AND YOSSI NIR
The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter is at once a history of ideas and an exploration of modern science and the frontiers of human knowledge. This exciting, accessible book reveals how the interplay of theory and experimentation advances our understanding and redefines the questions we ask about our universe. In this Technica Q&A, authors Helen R. Quinn and Yossi Nir reveal their favorite childhood teachers and their best subjects in high school. And The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter is on sale for a limited time at 30% off the cover price.
ORIGINAL ESSAY: MIKE HANSELL
Do you remember watching dung beetles roll their own giant ball of dung on PBS? How does a little beetle know how to build his own house like that? Author Mike Hansell explores this world of animal engineering in his latest book, Built by Animals. Read his fascinating original essay featuring amoeba and termite architecture and save 30% on Built by Animals.
Aaron "Bunny" Lapin, inventor of whipped cream in a spray can, was born in St. Louis on January 5, 1914. When aerosol canisters became commercially available in the 1940s, Lapin used them to dispense a mixture of cream and vegetable fat, calling his invention "Reddi-wip." He quickly became a millionaire; the local newspaper dubbed him the Whipped Cream King; and, he lived in Gloria Swanson's former mansion. Famed engineer Henry Petroski described Reddi-wip as "a little luxury...that all of us find indispensible once it is marketed."
WIN A NIKON D40 CAMERA!
"It only takes one ticket to win," my Mom always said. This turned out to
be true when she won a free trip to Hawaii from the local IGA grocery store. However, there's no need to flood our offices with multiple ballot slips. All you have to do to get a chance to win this nifty Nikon D40 digital camera is subscribe to Technica, the newsletter you are enjoying right now! Just enter your email address for a chance to win and we will make sure you don't get more than one newsletter. Check out all the official rules here.
ISEPP LECTURE SERIES
The word is out about this season's exciting Linus Pauling Memorial Lecture Series. On Thursday, January 31, Dr. Bart Kosko presents his lecture, "What Is Noise? What Is Signal?" at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 7:00 P.M. Come early to purchase books and get them signed by Dr. Kosko before the lecture. Save 15% on your ticket price by mentioning Technica when you order through the ISEPP office: 503-232-2300. Partial season tickets to this lecture series are also still available; visit ISEPP's website for the scoop.
HOW DO I WORK THIS THING?
Hurrah! You've been very good this year, and Santa brought you the coveted items you've been itching to own for months. The only trouble is, the manual that came with it doesn't actually tell you how to work anything. Don't worry — we have lots of books to help you bond with your new toys. For a limited time, save 30% off these new titles and put those new gadgets to work!
The Far Side cartoon began national syndication on January 1, 1980. Cartoonist Gary Larson famously ran a controversial strip that featured an ape grooming her mate, finding a hair, and commenting, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Goodall tramp?" Interestingly, an ape named Frodo at the Jane Goodall Institute attacked Larson when he paid a visit. Jane Goodall quipped, "He managed to get news of the cartoon."
NEW ARRIVALS
January means a fresh new stack of books we want to read. Cy Tymony's Sneaky series concludes (or does it?) with the release of Sneakiest Uses for Everyday Things. The Five-Second Rule and Other Myths about Germs by Anne Maczulak is fascinating to read, but you'll feel dirty afterwards. Erik Ringmar, author of A Blogger's Manifesto, knows of what he speaks: He was fired from his job after they learned of his blogging habits. And David Blume's book on alternative car fuel, Alcohol Can Be a Gas!, is back in stock. Treat yourself and order a copy
before they all fly off our shelves.
DOUG BROWN'S FACTOID
Amphibians include frogs, salamanders, and a group of worm-like critters called caecilians. Amphibians are different from reptiles in part by not having dermal scales, so their skin is prone to desiccation. They also do not have shelled eggs, and so must lay their eggs in an aqueous environment. The name amphibian is a reference to this practice, from amphi- (two) and bios (life). Most amphibians have two lives: one in water as eggs and larvae, one on land as adults. Related word trivia: the Hollywood Bowl is a theater, not an amphitheater. An amphitheater is two theaters stuck together (amphi- meaning two), like the Roman Colosseum and most football arenas.
POWELL'S TECHNICAL BOOKS BESTSELLERS
1. Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue (Macintosh)
2. Transit Maps of the World by Mark Ovenden (Travel)
3. HTML, XHTML, and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide by Elizabeth Castro (HTML)
4. InDesign CS3 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide by Sandee
Cohen (Desktop Publishing)
5. Google SketchUp for Dummies by Aidan Chopra (Graphics)
6. Make: Technology on Your Time #10 by Mark Frauenfelder (Hobby)
7. Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things by Cy Tymony (Reference)
8. Islamic Design: A Genius for Geometry by Daud Sutton (Style and Design)
9. Beautiful Evidence by Edward R. Tufte (Graphics)
10. In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing by Walter Murch
(Film Production)
Technica
By Carole R.
