Metamorphosis: A Scientist's Story by Glen Metcalf

$14.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

Metamorphosis is the story of one woman's transformation from a traditional Kiwi housewife of the 1950s into an internationally known scientist. Born in 1926, married at 21 and a mother shortly after, Glen Metcalf's life changed when at age 35 she met Dr Donald Beaven, the founding professor of the Chri stchurch School of Medicine. It was at his Medical Unit that she metamorphosed into a scientist engaged in biomedical research, developing an interest in hormonal changes in the reproductive cycle of women and presenting her work around the world. A keen walker all her life, retirement saw Glen become a DOC volunteer and environmental campaigner, which included taking a wind-farm objection to the Environment Court. She is a prolific letter writer, to family and the newspapers, and Metamorphosis rings with her keen observations, restless intelligence and passion for living. ...Show more

The Final Choice: End of Life Suffering: Is Assisted Dying the Answer? by Caralise Trayes

$16.00 NZD

Category: Medicine | Reading Level: near fine

BE INFORMED FOR YOUR VOTE AT THE REFERENDUM On 17 October 2020 A Kiwi journalist on the hunt for the truth about assisted dying and the End of Life Choice Act. Join her on a journey of discovery as she tells the stories of those with terminal illness and interviews lawyers, doctors, ethicists and cleric s around New Zealand and the world. Includes interviews from Act MP David Seymour, Shirley Seales (mother of the late Lecretia Seales), Dr Jack Havill and Mary Panko PhD of the End-of-Life Choice Society, as well as influencer & disabilities advocate Claire Freeman, palliative care expert Professor Roderick MacLeod MNZM and NZ Disability Rights Commissioner, Paula Tesoriero MNZM among many others. Written in a remarkably personable way while plunging into some of life's most challenging topics, and resurfacing with intriguing results ...Show more

Bodily Boundaries, Sexualised Genders & Medical Discourses by Marion de Ras and Victoria Grace (eds)

$14.00 NZD

Category: Medicine | Reading Level: very good

A Life on Our Planet - My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough

$20.00 NZD

Category: Natural History

See the world. Then make it better. 'I am 93. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world - but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us , barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places, its biodiversity. I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake - and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited.' All we need is the will do so.     ...Show more

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

$14.00 NZD

Category: Science | Reading Level: near fine

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. Other animals have stronger muscles or sharper claws, but we have cleverer brains. If machine brains one day come to surpass human brains in g eneral intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become very powerful. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on us humans than on the gorillas themselves, so the fate of our species then would come to depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence. But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed AI or otherwise to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation? To get closer to an answer to this question, we must make our way through a fascinating landscape of topics and considerations. Read the book and learn about oracles, genies, singletons; about boxing methods, tripwires, and mind crime; about humanity's cosmic endowment and differential technological development; indirect normativity, instrumental convergence, whole brain emulation and technology couplings; Malthusian economics and dystopian evolution; artificial intelligence, and biological cognitive enhancement, and collective intelligence. This profoundly ambitious and original book picks its way carefully through a vast tract of forbiddingly difficult intellectual terrain. Yet the writing is so lucid that it somehow makes it all seem easy. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time. ...Show more

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

$12.00 NZD

Category: Science | Series: Oxford Landmark Science Ser. | Reading Level: very good

The million copy international bestseller, critically acclaimed and translated into over 25 languages.   As influential today as when it was first published, The Selfish Gene has become a classic exposition of evolutionary thought. Professor Dawkins articulates a gene's eye view of evolution - a view giving centre stage to these persistent units of information, and in which organisms can be seen as vehicles for their replication. This imaginative, powerful, and stylistically brilliant work not only brought the insights of Neo-Darwinism to a wide audience, but galvanized the biology community, generating much debate and stimulating whole new areas of research. Forty years later, its insights remain as relevant today as on the day it was published.   This 40th anniversary edition includes a new epilogue from the author discussing the continuing relevance of these ideas in evolutionary biology today, as well as the original prefaces and foreword, and extracts from early reviews.   Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think. ...Show more

The Garden Lovers Guide to Spain & Portugal by Barbara Segall

$10.00 NZD

Category: Gardening | Series: Garden Lover's Guides to Europe | Reading Level: very good

This authoritative new series of guidebooks to the gardens of Europe is the perfect companion for any garden enthusiast, whether tourist or armchair traveler. Each title is a richly illustrated in-depth guide to over 100 gardens, from the famous to little-known hidden treasures, and features colorful ph otography and easy-to-read illustrations commissioned especially for this series. Also included are maps, directions, complete visitor information, special features, and neighboring sites of interest. Each guide, written by a gardening expert, begins with a comprehensive background on the country's garden history and local climate. The most significant gardens in each volume are featured in even greater detail, accompanied by illustrated plans of the gardens and close-up views of particular features. The numerous color photographs and maps show travelers what awaits at each garden. "The Garden Lover's Guide's are indispensible aids for those planning European travel itineraries. "The Garden Lover's Guide to Spain and Portugal is for everyone who enjoys visiting gardens. In this compact volume, gardening writer Barbara Segall explores over 100 of the most beautiful Iberian gardens, highlighting their most striking features, describing their distinctive characters, and revealing charming aspects that will delight every garden lover. From Antoni Gaudi's fantastic Park Guell, to the exotic Moorish pools and patiosof the Alhambra and Generalife, to the intricate parterres at the PalacioNacional de Queluz, this volume will guide travelers to some of the mostbreathtaking sights in Europe. ...Show more

The Garden Lover's Guide to Britain by Patrick Taylor

$10.00 NZD

Category: Gardening | Series: Garden Lover's Guides | Reading Level: very good

This authoritative new series of guidebooks to the gardens of Europe is the perfect companion for any garden enthusiast, whether tourist or armchair traveler. Each title is a richly illustrated in-depth guide to over 100 gardens, from the famous to little-known hidden treasures, and features colorful ph otography and easy-to-read illustrations commissioned especially for this series. Also included are maps, directions, complete visitor information, special features, and neighboring sitesof interest.Each guide, written by a gardening expert, begins with a comprehensive background on the country's garden history and local climate. The most significant gardens in each volume are featured in even greater detail, accompanied by illustrated plans of the gardens and close-up views of particular features. The numerous color photographs and maps show travelers what awaits at each garden. The Garden Lover's Guides are indispensible aids for those planning European travel itineraries. The Garden Lover's Guide to Britain, written by Patrick Taylor, ranges from the sweeping views of Stourhead to the jungle-like ambiance of Inverewe on the Scottish coast. ...Show more

The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy by Penelope Hobhouse

$10.00 NZD

Category: Gardening | Series: The\Garden Lover's Guides Ser. | Reading Level: very good

This authoritative new series of guidebooks to the gardens of Europe is the perfect companion for any garden enthusiast, whether tourist or armchair traveler. Each title is a richly illustrated in-depth guide to over 100 gardens, from the famous to little-known hidden treasures, and features colorful ph otography and easy-to-read illustrations commissioned especially for this series. Also included are maps, directions, complete visitor information, special features, and neighboring sites of interest. Each guide, written by a gardening expert, begins with a comprehensive background on the country's garden history and local climate. The most significant gardens in each volume are featured in even greater detail, accompanied by illustrated plans of the gardens and close-up views of particular features. The numerous color photographs and maps show travelers what awaits at each garden. The Garden Lover's Guides are indispensible aids for those planning European travel itineraries. The Garden Lover's Guide to Britain, written by Patrick Taylor, ranges from the sweeping views of Stourhead to the jungle-like ambiance of Inverewe on the Scottish coast. The Garden Lover's Guide to Italy includes the Villa del Balbianello at Lake Como, Roman villa gardens, and the exotic, sub-tropical parks of Sicily. ...Show more

The Garden Lover's Guide to Germany by Charles Quest-Ritson

$10.00 NZD

Category: Gardening | Series: The\Garden Lover's Guides Ser. | Reading Level: very good

A comprehensive guide to over 100 gardens in Germany, this volume includes information on: garden history; local climate; and nearby cultural sites of interest. It also features illustrated plans, and specially created tours with maps and directions.

The Garden Lover's Guide to the Netherlands and Belgium by Barbara Abbs

$10.00 NZD

Category: Gardening | Series: The\Garden Lover's Guides Ser. | Reading Level: very good

The three new titles in the Garden Lover's Guidebook series are richly illustrated, in-depth guides to over 100 gardens. Each is written by a recognized gardening expert on the region. Featuring colourful photography and easy-to-read maps, these guides also include complete visitor information, directio ns, unique features, and neighbouring sites of interest. ...Show more

The Age of Intelligent Machines by Ray Kurzweil

$55.00 NZD

Category: Science | Reading Level: very good

What is artificial intelligence? At its essence, it is another way of answering a central question that has been debated by scientists, philosophers, and theologians for thousands of years: How does the human brain - three pounds of ordinary matter - give rise to thought? With this question in mind, inv entor and visionary computer scientist Raymond Kurzweil probes the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence, from its earliest philosophical and mathematical roots through today's moving frontier, to tantalizing glimpses of 21st-century machines with superior intelligence and truly prodigious speed and memory. Lavishly illustrated and easily accessible to the nonspecialist, The Age of Intelligent Machines provides the background needed for a full understanding of the enormous scientific potential represented by intelligent machines and of their equally profound philosophic, economic, and social implications. It examines the history of efforts to understand human intelligence and to emulate it by building devices that seem to act with human capabilities. Running alongside Kurzweil's historical and scientific narrative, are 23 articles examining contemporary issues in artificial intelligence by such luminaries as Daniel Dennett, Sherry Turkle, Douglas Hofstadter, Marvin Minsky, Seymour Papert, Edward Feigenbaum, Allen Newell, and George Gilder. Raymond Kurzweil is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, Kurzweil Music Systems, and the Kurzweil Reading Machines division of Xerox. He was the principal developer of the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind and other significant advances in artificial intelligencetechnology. ...Show more