en-US Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:56:57 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 662 This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor �� and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when you discover the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the characters in this story.

Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life �� from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy �� to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction �� to the philosopher who becomes a pirate �� to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph �� to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad �� to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

You must be prepared, when you read this novel, to check every premise at the root of your convictions.

This is a mystery story, not about the murder �� and rebirth �� of man’s spirit. It is a philosophical revolution, told in the form of an action thriller of violent events, a ruthlessly brilliant plot structure and an irresistible suspense. Do you say this is impossible? Well, that is the first of your premises to check.]]> 1168 Ayn Rand 0452011876 Steven 5 3.67 1957
author: Ayn Rand
name: Steven
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1957
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]]> 667 Anthem is Ayn Rand's classic tale of a dystopian future of the great "We"—a world that deprives individuals of a name or independence—that anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

They existed only to serve the state. They were conceived in controlled Palaces of Mating. They died in the Home of the Useless. From cradle to grave, the crowd was one—the great WE.

In all that was left of humanity, there was only one man who dared to think, seek, and love. He lived in the dark ages of the future. In a loveless world, he dared to love the woman of his choice. In an age that had lost all trace of science and civilization, he had the courage to seek and find knowledge. But these were not the crimes for which he would be hunted. He was marked for death because he had committed the unpardonable sin: He had stood forth from the mindless human herd. He was a man alone. He had rediscovered the lost and holy word—I.

"I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, and I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities."
 —Ayn Rand]]> 105 Ayn Rand 0452281253 Steven 2 3.59 1938
author: Ayn Rand
name: Steven
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1938
rating: 2
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]]> 2122
This modern classic is the story of intransigent young architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite...of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy...and of the fanatic denunciation unleashed by an enraged society against a great creator. As fresh today as it was then, Rand’s provocative novel presents one of the most challenging ideas in all of fiction—that man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress...

“A writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly...This is the only novel of ideas written by an American woman that I can recall.”—The New York Times]]> 704 Ayn Rand Steven 5 3.87 1943
author: Ayn Rand
name: Steven
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1943
rating: 5
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]]> 17362 Ever since Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity burst upon the world in 1915 some of the most brilliant minds of our century have sought to decipher the mysteries bequeathed by that theory, a legacy so unthinkable in some respects that even Einstein himself rejected them.

Which of these bizarre phenomena, if any, can really exist in our universe? Black holes, down which anything can fall but from which nothing can return; wormholes, short spacewarps connecting regions of the cosmos; singularities, where space and time are so violently warped that time ceases to exist and space becomes a kind of foam; gravitational waves, which carry symphonic accounts of collisions of black holes billions of years ago; and time machines, for traveling backward and forward in time.

Kip Thorne, along with fellow theorists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, a cadre of Russians, and earlier scientists such as Oppenheimer, Wheeler and Chandrasekhar, has been in the thick of the quest to secure answers. In this masterfully written and brilliantly informed work of scientific history and explanation, Dr. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, leads his readers through an elegant, always human, tapestry of interlocking themes, coming finally to a uniquely informed answer to the great question: what principles control our universe and why do physicists think they know the things they think they know? Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time has been one of the greatest best-sellers in publishing history. Anyone who struggled with that book will find here a more slowly paced but equally mind-stretching experience, with the added fascination of a rich historical and human component.]]> 624 Kip S. Thorne 0393312763 Steven 5 4.22 1994
author: Kip S. Thorne
name: Steven
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1994
rating: 5
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]]> 150731
Drawn in to the cockpit of world events and the forefront of technological innovation, Alan Turing was also an innocent and unpretentious gay man trying to live in a society that criminalized him. In 1952 he revealed his homosexuality and was forced to participate in a humiliating treatment program, and was ever after regarded as a security risk. His suicide in 1954 remains one of the many enigmas in an astonishing life story.]]> 608 Andrew Hodges 0802775802 Steven 0 to-read 3.74 1983
author: Andrew Hodges
name: Steven
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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]]> 218392 Prime Obsession is a fascinating and fluent account of an epic mathematical mystery that continues to challenge and excite the world.]]> 422 John Derbyshire 0452285259 Steven 5 4.14 2003
author: John Derbyshire
name: Steven
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2003
rating: 5
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]]> 106139 438 Robert Kanigel 0349104522 Steven 5 4.02 1991
author: Robert Kanigel
name: Steven
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1991
rating: 5
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]]> 695429 Principia Mathematica and Related Systems." This revolutionary paper challenged certain basic assumptions underlying much research in mathematics and logic. Gödel received public recognition of his work in 1951 when he was awarded the first Albert Einstein Award for achievement in the natural sciences--perhaps the highest award of its kind in the United States. The award committee described his work in mathematical logic as "one of the greatest contributions to the sciences in recent times."

However, few mathematicians of the time were equipped to understand the young scholar's complex proof. Ernest Nagel and James Newman provide a readable and accessible explanation to both scholars and non-specialists of the main ideas and broad implications of Gödel's discovery. It offers every educated person with a taste for logic and philosophy the chance to understand a previously difficult and inaccessible subject.

New York University Press is proud to publish this special edition of one of its bestselling books. With a new introduction by Douglas R. Hofstadter, this book will appeal to students, scholars, and professionals in the fields of mathematics, computer science, logic and philosophy, and science.]]> 125 Ernest Nagel 0814758169 Steven 0 to-read 4.18 1958
author: Ernest Nagel
name: Steven
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1958
rating: 0
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]]> 4591 344 Matt Ridley 0060894083 Steven 4 4.05 1999
author: Matt Ridley
name: Steven
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1999
rating: 4
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]]> 485812 398 Carl Sagan 0345336895 Steven 5 4.06 1979
author: Carl Sagan
name: Steven
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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]]> 38412
"I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain."

With these words, the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations.  What came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem looked simple; proving it, however, became the Holy Grail of mathematics, baffling its finest minds for more than 350 years.  In Fermat's Enigma--based on the author's award-winning documentary film, which aired on PBS's "Nova"--Simon Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit of that grail, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it.  Here is a mesmerizing tale of heartbreak and mastery that will forever change your feelings about mathematics.]]> 315 Simon Singh 0385493622 Steven 0 to-read 4.27 1997
author: Simon Singh
name: Steven
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> 126061 143 James D. Watson 0451037707 Steven 5 3.86 1968
author: James D. Watson
name: Steven
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1968
rating: 5
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]]> 22435 The fabric of the cosmos 569 Brian Greene 0965900584 Steven 4 4.12 2004
author: Brian Greene
name: Steven
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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]]> 714583 302 Paul Hoffman 0786884061 Steven 5 4.05 1998
author: Paul Hoffman
name: Steven
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1998
rating: 5
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]]> 179744 602 Roger Penrose 0192861980 Steven 4 3.91 1989
author: Roger Penrose
name: Steven
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1989
rating: 4
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]]> 108939
"The Trouble with Physics" is a groundbreaking account of the state of modern physics: of how we got from Einstein and Relativity through quantum mechanics to the strange and bizarre predictions of string theory, full of unseen dimensions and multiple universes.

Lee Smolin not only provides a brilliant layman's overview of current research as we attempt to build a "theory of everything," but also questions many of the assumptions that lie behind string theory. In doing so, he describes some of the daring, outlandish ideas that will propel research in years to come.]]> 392 Lee Smolin 0618551050 Steven 5 4.05 2006
author: Lee Smolin
name: Steven
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2006
rating: 5
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]]> 5548 256 Richard P. Feynman 0393320928 Steven 5 4.24 1988
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Steven
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1988
rating: 5
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]]> 98685
Raised in Depression-era Rockaway Beach, physicist Richard Feynman was irreverent, eccentric, and childishly enthusiastic—a new kind of scientist in a field that was in its infancy. His quick mastery of quantum mechanics earned him a place at Los Alamos working on the Manhattan Project under J. Robert Oppenheimer, where the giddy young man held his own among the nation’s greatest minds. There, Feynman turned theory into practice, culminating in the Trinity test, on July 16, 1945, when the Atomic Age was born. He was only twenty-seven. And he was just getting started.

In this sweeping biography, James Gleick captures the forceful personality of a great man, integrating Feynman’s work and life in a way that is accessible to laymen and fascinating for the scientists who follow in his footsteps.]]> 531 James Gleick 0679747044 Steven 5 4.11
author: James Gleick
name: Steven
average rating: 4.11
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]]> 242006 336 Augusten Burroughs 031242227X Steven 1 3.77 2002
author: Augusten Burroughs
name: Steven
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2002
rating: 1
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]]> 10883
He was, during his 84-year life, America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of its most practical—though not most profound—political thinkers. He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity, and he invented a rod to tame it. He sought practical ways to make stoves less smoky and commonwealths less corrupt. He organized neighborhood constabularies and international alliances, local lending libraries and national legislatures. He combined two types of lenses to create bifocals and two concepts of representation to foster the nation's federal compromise. He was the only man who shaped all the founding documents of America: the Albany Plan of Union, the Declaration of Independence, the treaty of alliance with France, the peace treaty with England, and the Constitution. And he helped invent America's unique style of homespun humor, democratic values, and philosophical pragmatism.

But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America's first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity.

Through it all, he trusted the hearts and minds of his fellow "leather-aprons" more than he did those of any inbred elite. He saw middle-class values as a source of social strength, not as something to be derided. His guiding principle was a "dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people." Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively.

In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin's amazing life, from his days as a runaway printer to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father. He chronicles Franklin's tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate son and grandson, his practical marriage, and his flirtations with the ladies of Paris. He also shows how Franklin helped to create the American character and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.]]> 586 Walter Isaacson 074325807X Steven 0 to-read 4.04 2003
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Steven
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2003
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]]> 5544
In short, here is Feynman's life in all its eccentric glory—a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.]]> 350 Richard P. Feynman 0393316041 Steven 5 4.27 1985
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Steven
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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]]> 10884 675 Walter Isaacson 0743264738 Steven 5 4.16 2007
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Steven
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2007
rating: 5
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]]> 18600 Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June 1985. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead.

What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.]]> 218 Joe Simpson 0060730552 Steven 5 4.22 1988
author: Joe Simpson
name: Steven
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1988
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]]> 401514
This is their story—one of the most astonishing true adventures of the twentieth century.]]> 318 Piers Paul Read 038000321X Steven 3 4.13 1974
author: Piers Paul Read
name: Steven
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1974
rating: 3
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]]> 1845 Librarian's Note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

In April, 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, a party of moose hunters found his decomposed body. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw away the maps. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.]]> 207 Jon Krakauer 0385486804 Steven 4 4.01 1996
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Steven
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1996
rating: 4
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]]> 11084145 630 Walter Isaacson 1451648537 Steven 5 4.15 2011
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Steven
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2011
rating: 5
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