The Pendulum


Book Description

The pendulum is a universal topic in primary and secondary schools, but its full potential for learning about physics, the nature of science, and the relationships between science, mathematics, technology, society and culture is seldom realised. Contributions to this 32-chapter anthology deal with the science, history, methodology and pedagogy of pendulum motion. There is ample material for the richer and more cross-disciplinary treatment of the pendulum from elementary school to high school, and through to advanced university classes. Scientists will value the studies on the physics of the pendulum; historians will appreciate the detailed treatment of Galileo, Huygens, Newton and Foucault’s pendulum investigations; psychologists and educators will learn from the papers on Piaget; teachers will welcome the many contributions to pendulum pedagogy. All readers will come away with a new awareness of the importance of the pendulum in the foundation and development of modern science; and for its centrality in so many facets of society and culture.




Rethinking the Way We Teach Science


Book Description

Offering a fresh take on inquiry, this book draws on current research and theory in science education, literacy, and educational psychology, as well as the history and philosophy of science, to make its case for transforming the way science is taught. Re-thinking the Way We Teach Science addresses major themes in national reform documents and movements--how to place students at the center of what happens in the classroom; how to shift the focus from giving answers to building arguments; how to move beyond narrow disciplinary boundaries to integrated explorations of ideas and issues that connect directly with students; and most especially, the importance of engaging students in discussions of an interactive and explanatory character. Deeply anchored in the classroom, highly interactive, and relevant across grade levels and subject matter, above all this is a book about choosing to place the authority of reason over that of right answers.




Undeterred: The Pendulum Swings on


Book Description

This publication provides the author the opportunity to reminisce on the journey of his life leading up to 60 tears on mother earth. It is a reflection of his early childhood, education career, his adulthood, students, union activism, his venture into politics, the ups and down of the mucky waters of politic, public and family life, entrepreneurship, entertainment, philanthropy, challenges, and service to humanity. It is aimed at inspiring the youth and adults alike towards having a positive attitude in life, encourage the development of good virtues such as dedication, hard work, purposefulness, trustworthiness, endurance, perseverance, team spirit and leadership skills in all endeavours. Reflecting on the journey of lie, the author concludes that all good things comes from God, that after every sunset, there shall be a sunrise and that he who steals one's purse, steals nothing but who steals one's good name steals everything. Definitely, winners never quit and quitters never win. The journey of life is a race that must be fully experiences for maturity of the soul.




Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality


Book Description

In 1979, at age 19, Michael Gaudet was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. Thanks to a kidney transplant from his brother, Michael survived and later rose to prominence as a Canadian painter of monumental murals. Dancing With Rejection: A Beginner’s Guide to Immortality chronicles the untimely death of Michael’s loving father, our hero’s own near-death experience and his bohemian lifestyle in Canada of the 1970s and ‘80s. A cast of eccentric characters weaves us in and out of lusty tales of romance, gritty medical dramas, and encounters with the paranormal. Written like his murals, in large, bright swaths of sweeping narrative, this is a cosmic joy ride of a read.




Wisdom Song: The Life of Baba Amte


Book Description

Born into privilege and wealth, Murlidhar Devidas Amte was a maverick who wanted to live life to the fullest. He realized early on that he had to live, not for himself, but for others - or else all his privilege, position and superior personal qualities would be mere tinsel. The pioneering commune at Anandwan, where those affected by leprosy could live with dignity and pride; the Bharat Jodo marches across the length and breadth of India to promote national unity and harmony; the decade-long vigil by the Narmada river in solidarity with those at the receiving end of state-sponsored environmental devastation - Baba Amte did this and much more, coping the whole time with a crippling spinal degenerative disease. The countless lives transformed by three generations of the Amte family are shining testimonials to the magnitude of Baba Amte's vision, and the indomitable spirit that made that vision real. With in-depth conversations with Baba, and interviews with many of his close friends and family, this biography is equally a record of the collective memory of those who have known him best. What emerges is an intimate portrait of one of the few individuals of our times who have embodied the cherished ideals of compassion and selfless service.




Home Town


Book Description

In this splendid book, one of America's masters of nonfiction takes us home--into Hometown, U.S.A., the town of Northampton, Massachusetts, and into the extraordinary, and the ordinary, lives that people live there. As Tracy Kidder reveals how, beneath its amiable surface, a small town is a place of startling complexity, he also explores what it takes to make a modern small city a success story. Weaving together compelling stories of individual lives, delving into a rich and varied past, moving among all the levels of Northampton's social hierarchy, Kidder reveals the sheer abundance of life contained within a town's narrow boundaries. Does the kind of small town that many Americans came from, and long for, still exist? Kidder says yes, although not quite in the form we may imagine. A book about civilization in microcosm, Home Town makes us marvel afresh at the wonder of individuality, creativity, and civic order--how a disparate group of individuals can find common cause and a code of values that transforms a place into a home. And this book makes you feel you live there.




Things the Preachers Don't Tell You


Book Description

______________________________________________________________ There are literally thousands of religions practiced in the world today, including astounding 47,000 denominations within Christianity alone. They all claim to have the truth according their individual practices, beliefs, doctrines, and rituals - but are they all acceptable to the CREATOR, the Almighty GOD of the universe? The initial question of course is: Does GOD really exist? And if HE does exist, are all forms of worship acceptable to HIM? "THINGS THE PREACHERS DON'T TELL YOU" directs attention to the Judeo/Christian Bible for the answers, and in its pages the creation of the universe, and the miracle of life on earth testifies to the existence of GOD (Romans 1:20). So, the first part of the question is answered from both biblical and scientific perspectives. GOD authored the first 5 of the 39 Old Testament books of the Judeo/Christian Bible and gave them to us as the roadmap back to the precious gift of everlasting life that our forefather, Adam, forfeited at the very beginning of the world. Acceptable worship is made clear through the writings of men inspired by HIM throughout the entire Bible. Within the first 39 books of the Bible's 66 books GOD tells us 6,823 times that HIS name is YHWH (YAHWEH) and explains what HE expects of those who hope to gain everlasting life. Unfortunately, religionists have obscured HIS message by teaching that the Bible's mandates do not apply today, especially those contained in the first 5 books. Preachers dismiss the Bible's warnings and notoriously teach their own watered-down dogma as biblical fact. Many religious leaders have become motivational speakers who make people 'feel good,' by teaching that GOD is an all loving "Big Daddy in the sky" who will easily overlook their error. These preachers completely dismiss the majesty of YAHWEH and the seriousness of HIS mandates, also often using religion for personal financial gain. For those who are taught that the Bible, especially the Old Testament, does not apply today, GOD reminds us that "HE does not change (Numbers 23:19 / James 1:17) regardless the "political corrections" that modern day preachers have given to HIM and HIS word. 'THINGS THE PREACHERS DON'T TELL YOU' points to what the Bible says about: Free Will; Repentance; Revenge; Forgiveness; Justice; Yahweh and Yashua-who are they; The First Mandate; and What happened after Christ. It explains the parallel between the Old and New Testaments showing Christ's role in the Old Testament prophecies, and how those prophecies will be completely fulfilled at world's end. It shows how Satan figures into the picture, and you may be surprised to learn how Satan has used organized religion i.e., the preachers, to lead mankind away from Yahweh. You will also learn how the death penalty will be done away with for those who love YAHWEH. Take the time to consider what you believe and why. The scripture advises us to: "Make sure of all things and hold fast to what is fine (1. Thessalonians 5:21 NWT)" because, "This means everlasting life: their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. (John 17:3 NWT)"




The Restless Pacific


Book Description




Bombing Hitler's Hometown


Book Description

A visceral account of the white-knuckled bombing mission carried out on Hitler’s hometown. In April 1945, Linz was one of Nazi Germany’s most vital assets: a crucial transportation hub and communications centre, its railyards brimming with war materiel destined for the front lines. Linz was also the town Hitler claimed as home. Inevitably, it was one of the most heavily defended targets remaining in Europe. In their unheated, unpressurized B‐24 Liberator and B‐17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, the young men of the US Fifteenth Air Force battled elements as dangerous as anything the Germans could throw at them. When batteries of German anti‐aircraft guns did open fire, the men flew into a man‐made hell of exploding shrapnel. Drawing on interviews with dozens of surviving World War II veterans and residents of Linz, as well as previously unpublished sources, Mike Croissant compellingly relates one of the war’s last truly untold stories – a gripping chronicle of warfare and a timeless tale of courage and terror, loss and redemption. With a foreword by Richard Overy, author of The Bombers and the Bombed




Anti-Semitism and Psychiatry


Book Description

Following World War II and the exposure of the concentration camps, psychiatry turned its attention to a vast range of cultural concerns with results that seemed to indicate a decline of stigma over time. However, it is now clear that whatever drives prejudices, especially in the case of anti-Semitism, was just dormant and perhaps not fully understood. Hate crimes and anti-Semitism broad recently re-emerged in Europe, and the United States followed shortly thereafter. The US Federal Bureau of investigation reports that New York City, which is still considered the most Jewish-friendly region in the US, experienced a 22% spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2018 alone, with more extremes in other regions of the country. Neo-Nazi groups have grown stronger in the United States and abroad, often resulting in organized acts of violence. The recent Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, PA demonstrated that these acts are not limited to one-on-one interactions, but sometimes as prolific, large-scale act. The medical community is not immune from biases either. The Cleveland Clinic recently fired a young doctor after she publicly declared her wishes to inject Jewish patients with lethal substances, which is only one of many hateful comments she made on social media over the course of several years. Psychiatrists in particular grapple with this as they try to serve patients of both Jewish and non-Jewish descent who struggle to process these acts of hate. Despite all of this, there is no training and no resource to guide medical professionals through these challenges. The editors of the recent Springer book, Islamophobia and Psychiatry, recognize this gap in the literature and seek to develop another high-quality text to meet this need. Written by expert clinicians in global regions where these incidents are most prevalent, the book seeks to be neither political nor opinion-based; instead, the text takes an innovative cross-cultural psychiatric interaction, similar to what was done with Springer’s new Islamophobia book. Coverage will range from foci on the social psychiatric aspects of anti-Semitism to how it may in turn infuse clinical encounters between patients and clinicians. Written by experts in this area, the insight and expertise of psychiatrists from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds will focus on what psychiatrists need to know to combat the negative mental health impact that increasingly rise out of this particular phenomenon. Such a multi-cultural psychiatric approach has never been taken before for this topic. This discourse is the foundation for the primary goal of this book: to develop the tools needed to improve clinical outcomes for patients. Hence, this book aims to present an updated, comprehensive bio-psychosocial perspective on anti-Semitism at the interface of clinical psychiatry.