Amazon.com

Open the mummy-shaped box.... Smell the must of the tomb.... Reveal the secrets within.... Included among these secrets are a 24-page booklet all about real-life mummies and the people who study them, a 10-inch plastic-model body, and four carved heads of gods to protect the Canopic jars where you'll store the plastic organs found inside the body--both lungs in a single jar, please! Find the hidden drawer containing the gauze wrappings, headdress, scarabs, and a cardboard cat you can mummify to accompany your Pharaoh in the afterlife. Wrap your mummy from head to toe, place lucky amulets in the gauze, and bury it in the back yard (soak the gauze in brine first for a more realistic mummy experience). Don't forget to seal the tomb with your "Curse of the Mummy" sticker ... and to warn your parents, so when they rent the expensive tiller to dig up the garden, they don't break the blades on your ultracool mummy.

This kit introduces curious kids to the mummies of many different cultures, such as those of ancient Egypt and South America, and to all the types of mummies, including shrunken heads, bog mummies, and ice mummies. Slightly creepy good fun. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

One of the best kits ever
I bought this for my 9-year-old nephew. He was having problems in school, and I struggled to find a present that would help him see that learning is fun. I was amazed at the hit this was! He knows now that learning isn't all boring, and all my other neices and nephews were amazed by this kit. Even us adults found ourselves playing with the kids and learning about mummies...the kit even has guts for you to "maintain"! What a buy!

Great Fun!
I bought this for a nine-year-old and we both enjoyed it thoroughly. It "unwraps" the mystery of mummies which was fun and educational for both of us! Most kids become fascinated by mummies and this gives them a broader perspective, making the whole thing clearer. I highly recommend this as a great gift item.

Great Book and Activity for Kids
I did not look at the ages when I ordered it but was pleasantly suprised when I received it. My children are taking up an interest in some of the wierd stuff I like and this will be a GREAT project for them.

Wonderful. Very entertaining and full of usefull info.
This book was very enjoyable for me to read and I found plenty of useful information I was able to use on my school project. The mummy was so much fun to make and admire. This is such a good book, I can't imagine not reading. I've learned so many things about mummies that I never even thought about before. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Recall the old saying about all work and no play making Jack a dull boy? World-class companies today need play--serious play--if they want to make truly innovative products, argues Michael Schrage, an MIT Media Lab fellow and Fortune magazine columnist. In Serious Play he writes, "When talented innovators innovate, you don't listen to the specs they quote. You look at the models they've created." Whether it's a spreadsheet that tests a new financial model or a foam prototype of a calculator, what interests Schrage is not the model itself, but the behavior that play--be it modeling, prototyping, or simulation--inspires.

Schrage examines the approaches to successful prototyping at companies such as AT&T, Boeing, Microsoft, and DaimlerChrysler and describes the kind of culture that's needed for encouraging innovation. In the last chapter, he lays out the 10 rules of serious play, including: Be willing to fail early and often; know when the costs outweigh the benefits; know who wins and who loses from an innovation; build a prototype that engages customers, vendors, and colleagues; create markets around prototypes; and simulate the customer experience. Well-written and inspiring, Serious Play, is a first-rate user's guide for managers, project leaders, and other innovators. --Dan Ring ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Serious Play is Serious Fun
Prototypes, simulations, beta versions, these, according to author Michael Schrage, are the stuff of Serious Play.

Serious Play is a book that I found myself taking very seriously in deed. Its well-researched, highly readable pages gave me a framework for understanding so much of my own experiences, both in the development of games and the development of technography, that I found myself having genuinely serious fun reading and rereading this remarkably intelligent little book.

The subtitle, "how the world's best companies simulate to innovate," explains a great deal of the power of Schrage's vision. His is a deep, and firmly rooted understanding of the emergence of a key practice for doing business in the new economy. He draws his insights from Microsoft and Disney, Boeing and Shell, top design firms and winners of the America's Cup.

Designing games, I learned over and over again the value of a good prototype. No matter how clear my vision or how carefully sketched and documented the game might be, the only way I could successfully communicate the concept was by giving people something they could actually play with. At Ideal Toys, the toy and game designers worked next to the model making group. At Mattel Multimedia we had a whole division of people who spent their days creating storyboards or prototyping our ideas in Director. The more detailed and functional the prototype, the more successfully I was able to engage my programmers, my designers, my marketers, my bosses, my salespeople, and my audiences in the design and development of a truly innovative game.

"Prototypes," explains Schrage, "should turn customers, clients, colleagues and vendors into collaborators...That's why such invitations should emphasize play...errors can be captured before they become obstacles, serendipity becomes a colleague. The more flexible and dynamic the prototype, the more flexible and dynamic the play -- and the greater the opportunities for profitable innovation."

The efficacy of the outliner as a tool for supporting collaborative work can be explained by thinking of the dynamic outline itself as a prototyping tool. Every technography-enabled consultation has at its heart the goal of helping people play with their ideas.

Schrage quotes British management professor David Lane: "Rather than attempting to take the position 'I am an expert in techniques that will teach you about your business,' the consultant should offer a process in which the ideas of the team are brought out and examined in a clear and logical way."

Technography works because it gives people the chance to see their words on screen, and then to play with their ideas, to organize and reorganize, iterate and reiterate, until they are able to synthesize individual views into a coherent, well-structured vision.

When I first met Michael Schrage and demonstrated technography to him, he was so moved by the power of what he experienced that he wound up writing Shared Minds. Today, reading Serious Play, I find my own ideas "brought out and examined in a clear and logical way," and myself moved to a new and clearer perspective on my work. As Tom Peters says of Serious Play, it is "simply the best book on innovation I've ever read."

Questions, questions (and not so many answers)
I'm not sure of Michael Schrage's actual background in this field, but from the book, I got the impression that he's more of an academic/writer than someone actually deeply immersered in this process of "serious play" (prototyping or modeling).

He certainly provides some useful tips and advice about the modeling or prototying process yet, for me, I found the book coming up short.

One device the writer uses is to consistently ask the reader questions about the modeling/prototyping process, i.e."Is it better for a company to do more [modeling] iterations to perfect the product, or to use less and send the product quickly to market with less iterations, but beating the competition?" While this is an effective device in getting the reader to realize that these are very real questions any company will face in using extensive prototyping, unfortunately, Mr. Schrage doesn't really provide much guidance or assistance in how companies have arrived at conclusions regarding these issues.

I'd like to ask Mr. Schrage, "How have these companies resolved these issues?, What kind of metrics do they use to decide those types of questions relating to decisions surrounding the prototyping process?" Maddeningly, these issues are never substantively dealt with.

As Mr. Schrage informs the reader on page 201 (near the end of the book, but the start of a brief 13 page "User's Guide") ... "A time-pressed innovator hungry to benefit from serious play might prefer a book entitled 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Innovators' or 'The One-Minute Modeler'. This is not that book."

I agree with that statement.

Three years on, still a great book
Here's the best review I can give Michael Schrage's "Serious Play": Three years on, it's consistently the first book I pull out of my bookshelf when I'm looking for ideas for presentations, thoughts on introducing new products or services, etc. His commentary on "mean-time-to-payback" is something that will stick with you for years. It's brilliant stuff, written in clear, concise terms. And, surprisingly, very little of it is dated. Unlike many books from that era, there's no .com or Enron fixation for the author to be embarrassed about. Schrage's examples are pulled from health care technology, animation, theater...in short, an eye-opening spectrum of ideas. I consider "Serious Play" one of my best purchases ever.

Preaching to the choir
This is a good book for someone to read if they are skeptical of the benefits of prototypes. However, since I already know the value of interactive prototypes I became quickly tired with the book.

Other critiques: it felt like the author had a bunch of cool little examples lying around and finally got the idea to put it together, surrounded by some fluffy text to make it thick enough to sell as a book, and put it on the market. Lots of space is taken up by these excerpts, as well as big text in the margins summing up "important points," which I would usually find useful but instead gave the impression of just taking up space.

Also, the author makes repeated use of similes to the point that it got annoying; "Just like a is to b, c is to d."

At one point, the author brings up the difference between a "simulation" and a "prototype," and just when you think the core of the matter is going to be distinguished the author backs out, leaving you wondering why they brought it up in the first place if they weren't going to take a stab at defining and differentiating them.

Sorry, but given the hype I was sorely disappointed. Read the first chapter or so in a bookstore before actually buying this.

Enlightening
This book gave me a very good and new insight of how to manage prototyping. It is enlightening for not only it explains and lists the topics that are important. It also gives us lots of practical examples of implementations. ... Read more

Book Description

The Best Tool of the Millennium

The seeds of Rybczynski's elegant and illuminating new book were sown by The New York Times, whose editors asked him to write an essay identifying "the best tool of the millennium." An award-winning author who once built a house using only hand tools, Rybczynski has intimate knowledge of the toolbox -- both its contents and its history -- which serves him beautifully on his quest.

One Good Turn is a story starring Archimedes, who invented the water screw and introduced the helix, and Leonardo, who sketched a machine for carving wood screws. It is a story of mechanical discovery and genius that takes readers from ancient Greece to car design in the age of American industry. Rybczynski writes an ode to the screw, without which there would be no telescope, no microscope -- in short, no enlightenment science. One of our finest cultural and architectural historians, Rybczynski renders a graceful, original, and engaging portrait of the tool that changed the course of civilization. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Screw Up Your Courage and Dive into Screwdrivers!
Although I had no interest in screwdrivers and screws when I started this book, the text provided a pleasant reading experience and I learned more than I thought I would. All in all, it was well worth the time spent. I think you will feel that way too, unless you have no interest at all in mechanical devices and the process of innovation. My favorite parts related to the innovations.

This book is composed of equal parts (1) why the author chose the screwdriver as the tool of the millennium for his article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine (2) where you have to go to find out about screwdrivers from the past (3) how he developed the information for this history of the screwdriver and screws and (4) the geniuses who developed the key advances in the technology of these useful devices. The style is a bit rambling, much like what would happen if you were chatting about the subject over a barbecue in the back yard with plenty of time on your hands. I can assure you this must be the most complete and authoritative book about screwdrivers and screws ever, especially since the author points out the virtual absence of any prior material turning up in his research.

Let me summarize the key areas. He picked the screwdriver as the tool of the millennium not because he thought of it, but because his wife told him that it was the one tool that she always kept around. After having gone through his own tool kit, he had not even thought of the screwdriver.

The first place where much shows up on the screwdriver in older texts is Diderot's Encyclopedia. In those days screwdrivers were called turnscrews.

To get a flavor of the screwdriver in the middle ages, when it seems to have appeared, you have to look into armor and early guns.

The screw goes back much further, showing up in useful form for Archimedes in Greek times as a way to raise water.

Screws later played many other important roles, especially in presses (including, of course, printing presses).

Lathes turned out (pun intended) to be an important related technology for making screws precise and consistent.

I learned about some interesting related technologies, including Greek mechanical devices with gears for calculating the orbits of heavenly bodies.

Then, we finally get down to gears and the development of improved lathes and the Robertson and Phillips screw heads. He prefers the Robertson (which I had never heard of before) which uses a socket top to screw in and remove screws.

At the end is a nice set of illustrations along with a glossary of tools.

This book is probably going to be a classic Father's Day gift for decades, along with a Robertson screwdriver, socket set, and screws.

Overcome your misconception that you know all you need to know about screwdrivers. You'll be pleasantly surprised by this gentle and unassuming book.

When you are done, pick something else you think you probably know enough about and search around to find a good book on that topic as well to expand your own knowledge further. Keep doing that, and some wonderful learning awaits you!

Donald Mitchell (donmitch@irresistibleforces.com)

An Interesting Magazine Article
This little book illustrates one way to turn a magazine article into a book: write about the writing as much as about the subject. And so the author tells us how he came to the idea of an article about screws and screwdrivers; he tells us about the libraries he went to to research it, the books he read, and their authors lives; he describes the museums he visited and the displays he saw there; and he describes the stream of consciousness that led him along the way. The result is a non-chronological treatment that can be a bit confusing; and although structured as a detective story, using hints from obscure books and museums to trace a path steadily farther back into history, the materials in the last chapter -- on the use of screw devices in the ancient world -- are actually the most commonly known and available. But the story is pleasantly told and along the way we do learn what there apparently is to know about the history of the screw and screwdriver.

Pleasant Little Book
Just read the professional reviews; this is an absolutely pleasant little book. It is small, and only 145 pages of main text; the rest is illustrations, notes & sources, and is not an in-depth treatise on any specific person, place or instrument. However, I believe it is well researched and if you seek further information there are plenty of sources to follow up on. The writing is excellent, conversational and engaging, scholarly, clear, direct and not intimidating or off-putting. The author starts out with a conversation on why and how he started looking into the history of the screwdriver. Through the chapters he branches into the screw, the auger, and predecessors through history. The talks quickly about who invented what, what we know from original publications, the scientific or engineering implications of the inventors and their inventions. All very quick, but with lots of sources of you desire further reading.

I'm turning into a crotchety old man before your eyes ...
This is a fun little book, although the author has written better.

My review is on the price though. I buy everything that Witold Rybczynski writes although this one gave me pause. Twenty dollars for a 130 paperback--with small pages at that?

I am a fan of the handsomely published essays like Hitchen's Kissinger, Klein's Fences and Windows, and Amis' Koba. They need to have a market, but I'm not sure that this new pricing approach is good for long-term readership.

Interesting stuff, but a bit dry and disorganized.
Seems more like a rambling diary of the author's quest to research a piece he did for the NY Times Millenium Issue. The history and connections are quite interesting, but it seems his notes needed a lot more editing.

For example, the division of material into chapters seems very arbitrary and not particularly helpful. The narrative is choppy in many parts. One is not sure where he is going with his assorted findings of references to screws through the ages. He jumps around, back and forth, delving in the 1700's, then the middle ages, then the 1800's, then Roman times, then to the 1500's...it's quite confusing to follow the thread, if there is one. I don't think the author took the time to reflect on all he had found and tell a clear story of it. Rather he revels (understandbly) in the fun and frustrations of researching the material.

Also, his assertion that the inventor of the screw was clearly a mathematical genuis is not very convincing. Yes, the helix is elegant. But the screw itself is an ancient invention that was clearly an interative development. Just because some mathematicians like Hero describe in those terms doesn't mean he invented it.

Another aspect is that the illustrations are a bit stingy and could have been better placed throughout the book. It would have made the material easier to follow. And how about a timeline chart? That would surely have helped!

The bottom line is that there are parts of the book that I found interesting, and other I found frustrating. A mixed review is the best I can offer. Your level of curiosity will determine how desirable a read it is. ... Read more

Book Description

A fully illustrated history of uniforms from Barbarian times to the present. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

WORTH EVERY PENNY
This book not only covers the evolution of uniforms, but the use of uniforms throught history to bring identity to combatants. The use of uniforms as phycological weapons, and the economy of color, why some color uniforms were use in place of others. Conferderate gray for instance. This book is not only worth the price, but worth sharing with others. It will be enlighting to both the armchair historian and the serious millitary acadenic.

Not worth the price
These two authors write general books on various military themes. The publisher Brassey generally publishes various books on military subjects.
I generally don't like this publisher as their books are too pricey when compared to other similar military books and the authors have done a wishy-washy job on the text, as usual.

Review of Brassey's Book of Uniforms
Rather than a detailed analysis or encyclopedia of types, this book takes a sweeping look at the meaning and making of military uniforms. Featuring color photos on the making of uniforms as well as historical lithographs, this book is a nice addition of any military history library. ... Read more

Book Description

Last Hope is the story of the often heroic by governments to provide their aerial warriors with the tools to evade capture when forced down in enemy controlled territory, as told by the most visible and visually stunning artifact of this effort, the Blood Chit. Illustrated with the most comprehensive collection of color photographs of Blood Chits and related evasion aids ever assembled, it provides readers an unparalleled opportunity to discover the beauty and variety of these lifesaving artifacts of war. In addition to Blood Chits, a number of the beautiful theater-made souvenir patches in the form of Blood Chits are also illustrated. This definitive history of Blood Chits from their infancy at the dawn of the air age through their maturity at the close of World War II was compiled from accounts provided by more than fifty veteran airmen and intelligence officers from around the world, and from more than seventy formerly classified government documents. Last Hope is a thoroughly annotated and fully illustrated journey into the secretive world of air crew evasion and escape aides for the casual reader and serious researcher alike, and is a valuable resource for the military and aviation enthusiast, collector, researcher, and museum curator., over 240 color and b/w photographs, 8 1/2" x 11" ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Tremendous reference book
As someone who has collected edged weapons, medals, and sundry militaria, this ranks as one of the best reference books that I have come across.The images are fantastic, and the text is well-written to boot!The author describes the history of the blood chit and documents the chits used by the Allies during WW2.A very good resource for the collector and an interesting coffee table book for those who aren't militaria collectors at heart.

EXCELLENT MONOGRAPH
Lost Hope is an excellent account of the history, development and vagrancies of the different aviation survival chits used by the allied air forces during World War Two.The book is exceptionally well written and jammed full of factual information, aviation accounts, chit construction materials, chit styles, stamps and issue numbers.The colour photographs are superb with very high detail.There is a lot of information as well as photographs.If you are a collector of chits, or are interested in their development and history, then this book is a definitive account.I highly recommend this book.

The Definitive Chit Book
Mr. Baldwin is by far the most knowledgable authority when it comes to Blood Chits and Escape and Evasion kits.

More than just a great reference "Last Hope" is a must have for collectors of Blood Chits andother WWII CBI militaria.

Wish there were more books out about thissubject. ... Read more

Book Description

According to author Harvey Bialy, the work of molecular biologist Peter Duesberg has been grossly distorted by the media and scientific establishments. Until recently, the scientific community - and most notably, those from the National Institute for Health - have been unwilling to look at his provocative theories of different causes for cancer and HIV/AIDS. Inspired by UC Berkeley's rare creation of an archive for Duesberg's papers, this book explores Duesberg's early groundbreaking work with viruses and oncogenes, his contentious fights with other scientists, and the profound influence of his life's work. ... Read more

Book Description

As individuals and companies realise the importance of their inventions, issues surrounding patent laws and practices are taking centre stage around the world.
This updated edition of the best selling book has been expanded to keep pace with modern day movements and addresses the global issue surrounding intellectual property. Including new information on areas such as software and biotechnology it shows the techniques that can be used by individuals and academic inventors to protect their work and is the ideal reference source.

• Bridges the gap between the legal system and scientific research and avoids legal jargon
• Details the reasons behind patents, their importance and relevance to all researchers and the strategy needed for filing for a patent
• Focuses on the strategy and reasons rather than just being a textbook of patent law
• Adopts a readable style that explains the basics right up to developing a strategy
• Essential reading for all those who wish to keep pace and protect their work

  
  

"...should be recommended reading for both researchers and their managers, and those who work with them." Michael Blackman - Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Nice and friendly thinking about Patent
For most persons, patent or trademark, such verbs of IPR, are almost very hard to be familiar with. However, after reading this book, I got used and interested in reading related articles or jounals. Sometimes, I even enjoy discussing such matters with others. What is more is it is surely practical and useful for managers or business persons. With the progressively trend of IPR, getting a opning book to enter this new world is so critical and having no choice. However, we could be a little frustrated with some tricking or unfamiliar verbs while reading some related IPR writtings. Fortunately, I got this book and really enjoy it. I fully am sure to recommand this book for the above-mentioned reasons. In addition to me, most of the classmates in the university could enjoy it and find much instriction or delighting in this book. From then on, we have started to research such knowledge. Even, I back to office-career now. My boss have told me to read this book to improve self-knowledge to be a good role in our technology market. This book is just so fancy. And everyone will be very enjoyed it with reading it. ... Read more

Book Description

Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize winning phenomenon! From the bestselling author of House and Among Schoolchildren comes the astonishing true story of the "Hardy Boys" and "Microkids" of Data General Corporation--dedicated technological wizards who envisioned the impossible...then battled time, corporate intrigue and the odds to bring their dream to breathtaking lilfe. A momentous achievement, The Soul Of A New Machine is the epic an unforgettable human adventure--an enthralling celebration of the eternal spirit of American invention.

... Read more

Reviews (38)

Marriage of Equity and Technology
This book, this first best-known book to emerge from Kidder's credible and entertaining non-fiction oeuvre, chronicles the efforts of a group of computer enthusiasts to develop and then gain stake in the then-young (1980) industry. But this book is more than a mere study of technology and its seemingly pervasive sphere of influence. The books speaks to the inherent nature of equity and the just rewards when coupled with good intentions of individuals from where all ideas (great and otherwise) emerge. This book is a judicious and lasting gift to those who know and realize the more positive efforts arising from work in technological field. Highly recommend

Kidder adds warmth to any topic
I had just finished reading Kidder's "Hometown" about Northampton, MA (a former home of mine), when I decided to read "The Soul of a New Machine". While "Hometown" clearly shows Kidder's maturity as a writer, "The Soul of a New Machine", written roughly 15 years before, demonstrates Kidder's characteristic warmth and eye for detail. "The Soul of a New Machine" is a wonderful book and an archaeological gem for computer history enthusiasts.

I found this book to be riveting (I finished it in a day and a half), and though I am not qualified to comment on the accuracy of Kidder's use of ECE terminology, it most certainly passed my limited geek muster. Kidder presents complex technical information adroitly, creating analogies understandable to the lay person. At the end of the book, I emerged feeling as if I personally knew the characters, and I found myself rooting for the success of the Eclipse Group. Overall, I loved this book. A hacker classic.

We Don't do it for the Money
Soul of a New Machine is an excellent portrayal of a heroic team of young engineers. What defined the book for me was the sort of mad, beautiful work ethic that the team in the story had. This is the best way I can describe it:

When you're young and you get interested in something, you get _passionate_ about it. Maybe it's because you don't know the importance of money and responsibility yet, but you really get into a sport, or hobby, or any other interest, and you do that hobby or play that sport, you write stories or fix cars, making whatever sacrifices you need to just so you can do this thing you love, not because you want to make money at it, or gain respect or admiration, but because it gives you priceless rewards and satisfaction. And it's a purest love you can have. When you grow up, you get disillusioned, from paying bills and other responsibilities. You lose the spark. You start doubting your interest in what you used to love, be it the mechanic who used to love cars but has grown jaded, or the teacher on a low income who has to deal with unruly students and demanding parents.

The Soul of a New Machine is a throwback to that youthful perhaps almost a bit naive passion. It's about the antithesis of the 9-5, where if the pay is horrible, you couldn't care less, you still work overtime. This pure struggle, the essence of a profession, is what makes the book so great. It's the most archetypal element of a career or profession, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that only something you put your soul and your sweat and blood into, can give you. In that basement in Data General, this beautiful dream became real in the form of the Eagle minicomputer. If you've felt the kind of spark that drove those young men before, this book will remind you. And if you haven't, maybe this book will kindle a new passion in what you do.

Machines make us human
Tracy Kidder is one of those people who can write comfortably about a variety of subjects. Whether it is school children or nursing home residents or, in this case, modern engineers and creators, he manages to give us a glimpse of their essence. He manages to delve and reveal their very soul.

I read this book some time ago and marvelled at how it remained in my thoughts for some time afterward. The hopes, the dreams, the interaction, the sheer act of pure thought - these are all captured in brilliant prose right before our eyes. And in spite of all the problems, barriers, egos and behind-the-door dealings, we see a corporate project progress and understand (finally) that all such endeavors are, in the end, human ones.

Men and women stretching the bounds of technology is what has always defined our race. We are the technological animal, the creature that uses other materials to enhance our life. Great story - great book.

The Humanity of Engineers - Exposed!
Tracy Kidder takes a subject that would be incalculably boring to most readers, and creates a story with all the characteristics of fictional masterpiece. However, the most striking part of Kidder's story is the fact that it's true. In The Soul of a New Machine the reader is plunged into the chaotic world of Data General, a leading minicomputer company just before the turn of the 80's. As in the film Dances With Wolves, Kidder watches from a distance, and is soon assimilated into their circle, becoming able to live and speak among them; the engineers. His firsthand experience allows him to offer a well crafted look into the high pressure world of the computer industry and the men and women who make it tick.

From the first words of the epilogue the reader is drawn into a story that he or she cannot completely grasp. Piece by piece the reader is allowed to realize that this is a story about a computer. As the mists begin to clear the reader finds the setting to be a basement lab at building 14A/B in the Data General compound in Westborough, Massachusetts. Here the tale unfolds as a company finds itself behind in the race with its arch rivals and in need of savior product line. To spice up the plot, internal competition has allowed two separate teams with different means for reaching the same end to enter into a fierce combat of engineering and technical mastery. Suddenly the reader is off on a race to build the better machine, faster.
The birth of the 32 Bit Eclipse compatible unwinds throughout the pages of the book. From logic design to the product rollout as the Eclipse MV/8000, the reader is whisked through the rapid-fire world of computer engineering - through the eyes of those who experienced it. The lives of managers, engineers, programmers, and more of the same are brought to life. Instead of the typically nerdy or aloof stereotypes of engineers, the Eclipse team is presented as a cadre of human beings working on a common goal. Their struggles, fears, triumphs, embarrassments, and the entire gamut of human emotion is displayed as this core group of thirty odd men and women race to build the next great thing.
Surprisingly, the story of something as technical as birthing a computer is made understandable and enjoyable. Instead of drowning in a sea of "engineering-ese," the reader is rafted down the rushing waters of human struggle. In an industry that has routinely been vilified as the thief of all that makes us human, Kidder has restored hope in the "little guys" who are fighting to stay afloat. The passion with which he presents this story is equaled only by the passion of those whom the story is about. As one finishes the final pages of the book, he will find himself unusually compelled to read the epilogue, and then disappointed at the thought of putting the book down. The Soul of a New Machine is truly a masterpiece in its own right.

Ultimately, The Soul of a New Machine will find a captive audience in more than just computer enthusiasts. This book will appeal to a wider audience interested in studying the human side of industry. Accordingly, it does not bog down in the technical details, but instead presents them through the eyes of a journalist, whose specialty is writing and not engineering. Some more conservative readers might find themselves offended at the uncensored vulgarity of some of the protagonists, but will most likely still be drawn in by their humanity. Tracy Kidder has opened up the world of the engineer to the outside world, and the outside world will be fascinated. ... Read more

Amazon.com

If you've read any of Richard Feynman's wonderful autobiographies you may think that a biography of Feynmanwould be a waste of your time. Wrong! Gleick's Genius is a masterpiece of scientific biography--and an inspiration to anyone in pursuit of their own fulfillment as a person of genius. Deservedly nominated for a National Book Award, underservedly passed over by the committee in the face of tough competition, and very deservedly a book that you must read. ... Read more

Reviews (32)

Excellent companion to Feynman's own writing
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, Gleick
Q: "I read both of Feynman's autobiographies! Why would I need to read a biography?"
A: "Because it's awesome."

Gleick, firstly, goes far deeper into Feynman's life than Feynman did. Feynman didn't consider his books to be autobiographies; they were "Adventures of a curious character." They were a few hilarious events picked from his long, full life.

Gleick's book covers many of the hilarious aspects, but also covers the painful and formative aspects. Also curiously missing from Feynman's books were his science. Feynman wrote about his adventures, Gleick covered the adventures, the disasters, and the science.

Brilliant, enthralling reading. Highly recommending to anyone who enjoyed Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Which is, in turn, recommended to anyone who likes funny stories. It reads fast, BTW.)

The life and times of a " half buffoon , half genius "
James Gleick's life of Feynman comes highly recommended to anyone concerned with the scholarship of safe-cracking , impromptu Brazilian samba ensembles and the fineries of quantum electrodynamics . Space shuttle design and the Manhattan Project are also included , so that no critic can claim in any seriousness that Feynman lacked balanced life-experience. This book is highly and competently researched ( 70-odd pages devoted to notes , acknowledgements and bibliography ) but it is no mere archive - there is a sense of presence in Gleick's narrative which , at times , borders on the voyeuristic (see , for example , the chapters detailing the correspondence between Feynman and his first wife Arline while he , shrouded in systematic censorship and effectively isolated , worked on the Bomb and she died slowly of consumption.) His account of Feynman's physics is similarly uncanny, making esoteric and , dare I say it , deep , theoretical material accessible to non-specialists . Perhaps this success in transmitting his ideas in a second-hand fashion is due to some aspect of the nature of Feynman's thinking - he was what might be called a ' freehand ' theoretician , prepared to step outside the realm of the accepted processes in order to see new ways of achieving old results , and thus to reconfigure the family-tree of physics and open new branches of inquiry . His closest rival for much of his career , Julian Schwinger , also comes across as his antithesis - Gleick , in any case , would have us believe in two incompatible minds , in Feynman the intuitive doodler and Schwinger the rigorous draftsman , both working to slice the same pie but with different mental utensils , one with a machete and the other with a laser . This was an academic showdown of the first order and one of the more compelling themes in the book . Compiling the life of an arch-scientist with a penchant for percussion and amateur safe-cracking is no mean feat . Feynman was enigmatic as an individual , to say the least , but this book goes! a lot of the way to answering , in the positive , the old freshman question " IS FEYNMAN HUMAN ? "

A Real Genius!
Richard Feynman is certainly one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century,one who belongs to the small group of the chosen few(Einstein,Bohr,Pauli ,among others)and one who fully deserves to be called a genius!His biography by James Gleick is nothing short of excellent:it is very well documented and very well written.For those who want to understand the role played by Feynman in the advancement of modern physics, and especially in the genesis of the theory of Quantum Electrodynamics,this book is a must!It also gives a thorough account of Feynman's life, which makes very good reading ,even if one is not interested in physics...
But a five- hundred- page book will always contain a few paragraphs which are not at the same level as the rest of the book!One such paragraph will be found at page 177,where the author wastes the reader's time in explaining Hans Bethe's mental calculation ability in the "squares-near-fifty trick".Apart from the fact that this sort of ability has nothing to do with genius and is within reach of any intelligent High School student,James Gleick explains it wrongly!He says that"...the difference between two successive squares is always an odd number,the sum of the numbers being squared.That fact,and the fact that 50 is half of 100,gave rise to the squares-near-fifty trick".In fact ,the trick is based on the "remarkable identity" (50+/-a)^2=2500+/-100*a+a^2.Nothing to do with the difference of two successive squares!

Fortunately,the book does not contain many passages like this one!

mediocre
Gleick's biography of Feynman is certainly palatable for even non-techical readers... however, if you're interested in Feynman as a person, you're far better off reading it in Feynman's words: "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman"... not only was that book much funnier and an immense joy to read, but you get a much better feel for a lot of the anecdotes that are relayed again in Gleick's book.

If you're interested in learning about the history of QED and Feynman's hand in its development, this book is a nice teaser, but it really doesn't go into much depth. It focuses too much on the shallow rivalries between the physicists of that time, without really making clear what the developments were or how they were developed.

Captures Feynman Folklore but Fails to Put Him into Context
This is a fun book, hard to put down, and is comparable to a romance novel or a so-called "chick flick"--with unfortunately about as much depth. If you are a Feynman fan or a Physics fan or someone who is considering Physics as a career--this book is 5 stars. What the author omits one can can figure out,if you already know quite a bit. I dropped out of Physics as I preferred reading about the great Physicists to working through the problems in the Electricity and Magnetism or Quantum Mechanics texts, and did not have the feel for all those waveicles.

Since my brother was for a time a theoretical Physicist I heard much of the Feynman folklore. Gleick captured the folklore quite well. But the power and influence of the famous lectures given by Feynman to Caltech freshman and sophomore Physics students(known simply as Feynman's Lectures)was understated. During the last half of the 60s and through the 70s it would be hard not to find Physics Graduate students at the elite Universities (Chicago,MIT and so on) intensely studying Feynman's lectures as preparation for their PHD comps. This is so well known that the conceitful dream of other introductory text writers such as Samuelson in Economics, is to have the same role in their field.

The real shortcoming of the book is that it is a 90% solution. It would be interesting to have compared him with other Physics theoreticans--as a group. They are quite similar in many ways. You look at the famous and not so famous in that area and they have a set of commonalities. They will have self-taught themselves Mathematical subjects and found those challenges less exciting than understanding the physical world. In fact,that is the rationale of their existence, at least for a time. They all need to be do-it-themselfers. Many are great puzzle solvers in other contexts. They almost all had a certain kind of nurturing to encourage them to develop their talents along the way. The author leaves the false impression that these are special characteristics of Feynman. They are not--he is special enough in his achievement.

The title genius in that already extremely intelligent group goes to those, like Feynman's fellow Noble recipients for developing Quantum ElectroDynamics (QED),who learned the regular stuff/theory so well they were smart enough to figure out difficult solutions for the problem that was implicit in the prior theory. The rarer type of genius is the Feynman treated the problem as if he had figured out just enough to know what the problem was and used novel means (now known as Feynman diagrams)to solve the problem--ignoring the powerful but obscuring technology developed by those who came before and developing new more usable tools.

Despite its originality Feynman did not regard the QED in the same light as his discovery (independent initially of his fellow Cal Tech professor Gell Mann)of a theory of weak interactions. But he regarded his Lectures in Physics as his great contribution--no where could you get that from Gleick. A very interesting oversight was that Gell-Mann suffered writers block but was emersed in the standard literature. But Feynman often worked things out but would not work them out in publishable form but when they were forced to work together they did very well indeed. This relationship should have been explored in more depth. I wondered did Gell-Mann serve as the filter to let some of the standard work or not?

The late great contemplative Thomas Merton kept himself cut out from the news while in the monestary except that which was shared with him by friends such as the Berrigan brothers and James Forest. Did Feynman have similar friends or associates who informed him of problems out in the Physics world he might be interested in? Feynmann appeared to have few lifelong friends beyond family if you listened only to Gleick, but some of his sometime collaborators seemed to have been friends, but not of long standing.

This book generates more questions than answers and adds too little to the knowledge of Feynman but synthesizes quite well. Good work, well written but not up to the clarity or completeness standards of the subject. ... Read more

Book Description

This new volume covers development from the VK 45.02(P), VK 45.03(H) to the modifications under design for the Tiger II at the end of the war. All of this illustrated with scale drawings by Hilary L. Doyle combined with drawings, sketches, and photographs depicting external modifications is well as internal views. Over twenty years of intensive research went into finding the original documents needed to create this new history on the development, characteristics, and tactical capabilities of the Tiger series. Tom Jentz has conducted an exhaustive search for suviving records of the design/assembly firms (including Henschel, Krupp, Nibelungenwerk, Porsche, and Wegmann), the Heeres-Waffenamt, the D656 series of manuals on the Tiger, and the war diaries and operations reports from the German units. The written records were supplemented by examining thousands of photos. On-sight research into almost all the surviving Tigers provided details that could only be obtained from actual specimens. New information was found on the evolution of the heavy tank series, the key decisons on the design of the Tigers, the significant modifications made during the production runs, production statistics, the Tigers characteristics and tactical capabilities, an exact accounting of the issue of the Tigers to the combat units, and combat account written directly after the actions. Tom Jentz is also the author of Germany's Tiger Tanks: Tiger I & II - Combat Tactics; Germany's Panther Tank: The Quest for Combat Supremacy; Panzertruppen 1933-1942; and Panzertruppen 1943-1945 (all four titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.)., over 120 b/w photographs, over 130 line drawings, 9" x 12" ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent technical history of the Tiger II
Thomas Jentz and artist/collaborator Hillary Louis Doyle have created an excellent technical overview of the development and production modifications of the Tiger II "King Tiger," using only originaldocumentation and actual preserved vehicles as references. There is nosecond-hand information of any kind, and no propagation of postwar myths.There is less pure engineering information than the earlier work by WalterSpielberger (i.e. don't expect diagrams of the inner workings of engine andtransmissions), but the intended audience for this book is clearly themodel-builder. The numerous drawings are to the popular modeler's scale of1/35th, and numerous detail photos will aid the would-be model builder. Incombination with such works as Wolfgang Schneider's "Tigers inCombat," you would have an ideal library on the King Tiger. However,this volume does not cover the Jagdtiger tank destroyer (Schiffer doespublish a two-volume work on this vehicle by another author).

An excellent case study of the Tiger Ausf. B.
This is THE book about the German Tiger II tank.

Thomas Jentz outdid himself in researching every bit of detailed technical information about this historical vehicle. Included in this book are many never-before-seen internal and external photographs of both the prototypes and productionvehicles. There are also pages of detailed technical drawings of the TigerII tank at different stages of it's development and the war.

Althoughdetailed and loaded with technical information, this book has absolutelynothing about the combat and operational history of the Tiger II. There areno explanations about why the various modifications were made and makes itreally hard to casually read the book.

In general, this is a technicalmanual about the Tiger II tank aimed at technical history buffs andmodellers. It is a great supplement to Thomas Jentz's other book about theoperational history of the Tiger tanks. But for the technical drawings,photographs anddescriptions alone, this book is cannot be matched and isworth every penny of it's price. ... Read more

Book Description

The United States Air Force is the only Air Force in the world with the ability to project power rapidly, precisely, and globally using strategic bombers. With their global range, large payloads and immediate response capability, Air Combat Command's (ACC's) heavy bombers, the B-52H, B-1B, and B-2A are at the core of the USAF's war fighting strategy and provide both nuclear and conventional deterrent options for the United States. Don Logan's eighth book for Schiffer Publishing Ltd. presents a roll call of ACC's bombers with photographs and history of all 208 bombers since joining ACC in June 1992. Also included are all of the bomber's weapons including gravity weapons, and special weapons such as AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-86 ALCM/CALCM, AGM-129 ACM, AGM-142 Have Nap, AGM-154 JSOW, and AGM-158 JASSM. This book has over 700 color photographs, 40 line drawings, and 80 unit and special purpose flight suit patches., over 780 color photographs, 40 line drawings, 8 1/2" x 11", ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Great reading.
This author wastes energy on knocking down a straw man: we already know that leadership and command are "art," not "science". Directing men in situations of fear and chaos requires odd combinations of qualities and that instinct usually proves more valuable than learned behaviours. Even so, this book traces what has been uniquely American about our leaders' actions, efforts and behaviour. The case studies are well chosen, as is the level of analysis. We can all learn more about our human relations from this book, which provides great value for money. ... Read more

Book Description

From Wheaties to telephones, microwave ovens to yo-yos, here are the inspiring and often funny stories of 50 mistakes and misunderstandings that helped bring about life as we know it. With hilarious cartoons and wacky facts, this fascinating compendium illustrates the adage "If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fifty amazing inventions with interesting explaination.
I read this book and I found some amazing things behind the inventions which are now fads. As the yo-yo is a really cool thing around it used to be a weapon and then it accidently turned into a toy for children. You may think that Nursery Rhymes are not very cool, but the cool part in Nursery Rhymes are stories of old history. For example, Ring Aroud The Rosey used to be a poem about a disease that killed people in the old times. The first line, "Ring Around The Rosey," used to be one of the symptoms of the disease which was a rosey rash on the person's body. "A pocket full of posies," was flowers that would supposedly keeep evil away for the human. The next line, "Ashes, Ashes," was "A-tishoo, a-tishoo," which they would need because they sneezed a ton. "We all fall down," was the last thing that happened to the people that got this, they would fall on to their bed and die. There is the thing behind,"Ring Around The Rosey." There are many other cool inventions in that story and all of them are great. I really liked the book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The seventh in a series of books by Tom Clancy offering in-depth "tours" of the U.S. military, Special Forces surveys the soldiers who "are perhaps America's most professional and capable warriors." Who are they? They are the men--and only men, for women are not allowed to become SF soldiers--who are "specially selected, specially trained, specially equipped, and given special missions and support." The Army Special Forces--known to much of the public as Green Berets--are often the first troops on the scene in a crisis. They're also incredibly versatile: "If you're looking for a Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger, don't expect to find them in today's Army Special Forces." That's because specialized missions--involving anything from psychological operations meant to undermine enemy morale to guerilla warfare in remote jungles--require flexibility. "Specialized missions (paradoxically) require a broad range of general capabilities and skills," which means SF soldiers, "while physically fit, tend to be more balanced (like triathletes) than specialized (like marathoners and weightlifters)."

Clancy and his coauthor, John Gresham, describe how SF soldiers are recruited, trained, and assigned. There are plenty of interesting notes about SF culture: They don't especially like being called "Green Berets," for instance, even though most units carry a copy of the John Wayne movie The Green Berets in their traveling video libraries. They are typically in their 30s, divorced and remarried, intelligent, interested in the news, and able to speak more than one language. There are also lots of details on weaponry, chronicles of training missions, and plenty of maps and pictures. The book ends with a fictionalized account of an SF mission in 2005 and 2006.

Special Forces is replete with Clancy's tough-guy prose: "The overall media presentation of the Army Special Forces has generally been one of contrived crap." And the book is essentially a celebration of a premier fighting force, rather than a critical treatment of it. But this is not necessarily a weakness. Special Forces will appeal to anybody interested in the modern military, and it may bring civilians closer than they'll ever come to these important troops. --John J. Miller ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Beyond the Beret: Clancy's book dispels myths about SF....
Special Forces, the seventh and final entry in Tom Clancy's nonfiction Guided Tour series about America's armed forces, sets its sights on the shadowy -- and often misunderstood -- roles and missions of the men the author calls "the quiet professionals" of the Army's Special Forces command.

Although the public image of the Special Forces stems from such movies as John Wayne's 1968 cornball classic The Green Berets and the Rambo trilogy (Stallone's John Rambo is a former SF veteran who served in Vietnam) and Sgt. Barry Sadler's once-popular "Ballad of the Green Berets," Clancy and his co-author John D. Gresham point out that far from being hell-for-leather, shoot-first-ask-questions-later killing machines, SF soldiers are actually among the best troops in the U.S. Army. They have to be, because their missions -- ranging from blowing up a bridge or weapons factory far behind enemy lines to organizing, training, advising, and assisting foreign armies and police forces of "host" countries "to protect their societies or free them from subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, and terrorism." This means that in addition to their combat roles in Afghanistan and Iraq, SF teams are among the busiest of America's soldiers.

One of the more interesting insights I got from reading Special Forces is related to the role played by SF deployments in El Salvador during the darkest days of that Central American nation's long-running civil war. The Reagan Administration, knowing that any major American military intervention would be very unpopular at home and abroad (a Vietnam II in our own back yard, to put it bluntly), was caught in a decision-making dilemma. Clearly they did not wish El Salvador to "go Red" as Cuba and Nicaragua had in the past, yet they knew the ruling class -- derived from the wealthy class of landowners and other top honchos -- was also very indifferent about the conditions of the Salvadoran poor, particularly those in the countryside. Using the army and national guard -- themselves derived from El Salvador's small middle class -- in repressive and counterproductive ways, El Salvador's government just made matters worse, using indiscriminate tactics and the infamous death squads. Surely, Washington couldn't be too closely linked to a small group of wealthy "patrones" whose only interest was to maintain their lock on power and to ignore the people's legitimate demands for justice and social reform.

The solution? To use Special Forces to gradually change the mindset of the Salvadoran army. It took time, and quite a few of the SF advisers lost their lives in the crossfire between leftist forces and the army. Nevertheless, the Salvadoran officers and soldiers were "re-educated" and, as Clancy writes, "the Salvadoran Army tried acting in other than brutal and repressive ways toward their fellow countrymen, they began to halt activities of their death squads and to actually show respect for basic human rights.

As a result, the rebels lost a lot of support, the Army started winning hearts, minds, and territory, and "by the end of the Cold War [a] peace treaty was a done deal, the civil war had ended, and today there is a coalition government...." Granted, the SF deployments alone were not responsible for this achievement, but they had a major effect in getting the Salvadoran people to see that the way things were being handled by both the government and the rebels were just leading to more bloodshed and chaos.

As in all the Guided Tour series, which are being updated to reflect changes in technology, doctrine, and world realities, Special Forces gives the general reading audience a look at the equipment, training, organization, and the soldiers themselves. There is an interview with Gen. Henry H. Shelton USA (Ret) former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an experienced Special Operations veteran who served with the Special Forces and also commanded Special Operations Command from 1996 to 1998. There are also overviews of the larger Special Operations Command and, finally, a short fictional account of SF personnel in action.

(Oh, and while the Special Forces troops are proud of their famous headgear, they really don't like to be called "Green Berets." As one of them told the authors, "We are NOT hats!")

Kind of dry...not really written by Clancy
The thing I kept thinking when I read this book was -- why does Tom Clancy put his name on this? It was very obvious through the whole thing that his research assistant did all the travel, research, and probably wrote everything, too. Is Tom Clancy just a brand now, and not really an author? I wish they would explain that better.

And as other reviewers have mentioned, it seemed awfully "patched together" with no flow between the force descriptions, travelogues, and the mini novel in the back.

The book has a lot of info about the Army Special Forces ("Green Berets") and what their specific role is in realm of special forces. I definitely understand a lot more about how SF teams work, think, and act.

It was NOT one of those books I "couldn't put down" I found myself wanting to finish it and just get the info. After reading it, I understand a lot better about how the special forces operate.

The mini-novel at the back was kind of weak. It was just a quick fictionalized example of all the info in the rest of the book. That felt pretty thrown together, too.

Right on the mark!
Very accurate book, I am not sure what the most everyone else is talking about in saying otherwise. This book is "dry" because it is meant to inform the reader more than it is to entertain him. But, if you like non-fiction military books, you should have a pretty good read here. Just as a side-note: there is no "SEAL bashing" in this book;I know that Mr. Clancy has a lot of respect for the Navy Seals as well every other U.S. military branch; just because he admits that the U.S. Army Special Forces is his favorite dosn't mean he's bashing other units/branches God bless

A Weak Showing from the 'Master of the Techno Thriller'
I should have known when I noticed in the store that this book lacked an index, that I should have put it back on the shelf. The omission of an index in what is purportedly an information resource is generally a bad omen, as illustrated by this book.

The book feels rushed and half-hearted. The information included, whether on weapons systems or unit history is spotty, at best, and missing or incorrect at worst. Delta, which admittedly is not officially operational, rates only a single, offhanded mention. There is a definite biased slant towards Army Special Forces at the expense of other branches, and while it would be expected if this were written by an USASOC denizen, it is inappropriate and unprofessionial in this context.

The photos are grainy and rather oddly chosen and the use of black and white printing, presumably to save money, shows a sincere lack of attention when the book shows different SF unit badges as uniformly gray patches.

This book pales when compared to earlier efforts like Marine or Carrier and comes across as a quickly produced reaction to growing interest in U.S. Special Operations.

A Great Look at the U.S. Special Forces from the Outside
I am not a reader of Tom Clancy's novels. This is not one of Clancy's novels. This is a biography of the United States Army's Special Forces unit. i have done a lot of reading of numerous U.S. military elite units, but never done too much on the Army's SOF. This is a very well researches and presented book. The reader can come away from this book with a thorough understanding of how to apply for the USA SOF, the training, the specialty training, unit selection, and what they do and why they are called to do it.

There is a small biography of General Shelton, which I enjoyed because I saw so much of him after 9/11 but knew little about him. I wish he was given a little place to write in this book because I'm sure he's got lots to write considering he's the first SOF Joint Cheif Chairman. This book, I feel, leaves out much of the history of the Army's SOF history. The Army has such an interesting history I don't see how some of it was not written about. If you want a history book, you'll be upset when you get this book.

This book is an excellent tactical view of the Army's Special Forces. After reading this book the reader will fully understand that The Green Berets and other Special Forces soldiers are not what are diplicted in Hollywood. Sometimes the truth can be quite boring, but not when it comes to this topic. Unfortunately this book is obviously written by a person who has never experienced life in the Special Forces. It would have been nice to read some commentary from a man who has gone through the training, endured the harsh physicality of SF life, and who can comment on various aspects of the life in this elite group of men. Clancy has probably done as good a job that a civilian could. The novel at the end was unecessary and I didn't read much of it.

This book is well written and easy to understand. I enjoyed reading it. This is not typical Clancy, it's better. ... Read more

Book Description

Combining the logical rigor with the lyrical finesse of a novelist , award-winning author Gregory Benford explores these and other fascinating questions in this provocative analysis of humanity's attempts to make its culture immortal.  In Deep Time he confronts our growing influence on events hundreds of thousands of years into the future and explores the possible "messeges" we may transmit to our distant descendants in the language of the planet itself, from nuclear waste to global warming to the extinction of species.  As we begin our incredible journey down the path of eternity, Gregory Benford masterfully calls forth some of the intriguing, astounding, undreamed-of futures which may await us in deep time.

Reviews (21)

Deep Time/Deep Self-Revelation
I very much enjoyed reflecting on the ideas presented in Benford's discussion. The content and organization of the book are not specifically addressed in previous reviews on this site, so for the reader wondering what the book is about, a road map might be useful.
Deep Time has four sections:
(1) Ten Thousand Years of Solitude describes a project in which the author was involved, which addressed how (or if) society can design safe repositories for nuclear waste with effective means of communicating across millenia to people who will not share our culture, technology, or language, "don't go near this place." Past epic attempts to communicate over the millenia and present attempts to preserve computer data for even a few years do not build confidence that this critical message will speak properly to its unimaginably distant audience.
(2) Vaults in Vacuum is a rather darkly amusing discussion of the etched plates NASA sent out on some space missions intended to communicate with whoever finds them about Earth, Sol, and humans. The unintended humor of the political process surrounding their design communicates more to us about human nature than the disks themselves could ever communicate to aliens! The fate of the diamond disk that was supposed to ride with Cassini-Huygens to Saturn is nothing short of hysterical.
(3) The Library of Life is a depressing description of the potentially Chicxulub-scale loss of biodiversity caused by humans in the last few centuries. It argues almost poignantly, perhaps quixotically, for building cryogenically-preserved DNA libraries to store the basic information on biodiversity, so our far descendants, if we manage to leave any, might be able to resuscitate what we are destroying -- "Jurassic Park" on ice.
(4) Stewards of the Earth: The World as Message is a vaguely postmodern discussion of the earth we're leaving behind us for our descendants as a text and what that text reveals about us. The message is not flattering or hopeful. Should human society with its next-quarter or, at most, decades time frame begin to design and effect centuries-long agendas to assist the planet to support us at a high level of technological civilization, our primate cleverness may yet evolve into wisdom and conscious design of what the earth says about us to our long-distant descendants.

2 years...
It's been around two years since I first read this book, and i must say i reference it to people all the time. the reason: it is so darn fascinati