Len Fisher

Game Theory is the study of co-operation and the underlying strategies that shape human behaviour. In Rock, Paper, Scissors, Len Fisher unearths the wide-ranging applications for this science, and the ways we can use its discoveries to find effective means to co-operate in daily life. Whether we want to understand where a shared supply of teaspoons disappears to, or why countries take themselves to the brink of nuclear war, Game Theory reveals the decision-making process. Len Fisher’s writing brings this science of interaction to life with anecdotes and applications that are sure to spark the imagination and give you pause for thought. Dealing with collaboration, co-operation, completion and confrontation, Rock, Paper, Scissors is essential reading for anyone interest in what it takes to get people to work together.

Game Theory in Everyday Life: Strategies for Co-operation

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Reveals scientific principles behind familiar objects and activities, rendering the scientific process accessible through explanations of how such activities as shopping, boiling an egg, throwing a boomerang, and sports are connected to key scientific questions. 17,500 first printing.

The Science of Everyday Life

How to Dunk a Doughnut

Winner of the IgNobel Prize in physics and the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, Len Fisher showed just how much fun science can be in his enthusiastically praised debut, How to Dunk a Doughnut. In this new work, he reveals that science sometimes takes a path through the ridiculous and the bizarre to discover that Nature often simply does not follow common sense. One experiment, involving a bed, platform scales, and a dying man, seemed to prove that the soul weighed the same as a slice of bread. But other, no less fanciful experiments and ideas led to the fundamentals of our understanding of movement, heat, light, and energy, and such things as the discovery of electricity, and the structure of DNA; improved engines; and the invention of computers. As in his previous book, Fisher uses personal stories and examples from everyday life, as well as humor, to make the science accessible. He touches on topics from lightning to corsets and from alchemy to Frankenstein and water babies, but he may not claim the last word on the weight of the soul!

The Doctor Who Weighed the Soul, and Other True Tales

Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre

The IgNobel Prize-winner and author of Rock, Paper, Scissors applies science-based solutions to seemingly complex problems in life.

The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life

The Perfect Swarm

Game Theory is the study of co-operation and the underlying strategies that shape human behaviour. In Rock, Paper, Scissors, Len Fisher unearths the wide-ranging applications for this science, and the ways we can use its discoveries to find effective means to co-operate in daily life. Whether we want to understand where a shared supply of teaspoons disappears to, or why countries take themselves to the brink of nuclear war, Game Theory reveals the decision-making process. Len Fisher's writing brings this science of interaction to life with anecdotes and applications that are sure to spark the imagination and give you pause for thought. Dealing with collaboration, co-operation, completion and confrontation, Rock, Paper, Scissors is essential reading for anyone interest in what it takes to get people to work together.

Game Theory in Everyday Life

Praised by Entertainment Weekly as “the man who put the fizz into physics,” Dr. Len Fisher turns his attention to the science of cooperation in his lively and thought-provoking book. Fisher shows how the modern science of game theory has helped biologists to understand the evolution of cooperation in nature, and investigates how we might apply those lessons to our own society. In a series of experiments that take him from the polite confines of an English dinner party to crowded supermarkets, congested Indian roads, and the wilds of outback Australia, not to mention baseball strategies and the intricacies of quantum mechanics, Fisher sheds light on the problem of global cooperation. The outcomes are sometimes hilarious, sometimes alarming, but always revealing. A witty romp through a serious science, Rock, Paper, Scissors will both teach and delight anyone interested in what it what it takes to get people to work together.

From the man who "puts the fizz in physics" (Entertainment Weekly), an entertaining and thought-provoking foray into the science of the bizarre, the peculiar, and the downright nutty! Winner of the IgNobel Prize in physics and the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, Len Fisher showed just how much fun science can be in his enthusiastically praised debut, How to Dunk a Doughnut. In this new work, he reveals that science sometimes takes a path through the ridiculous and the bizarre to discover that Nature often simply does not follow common sense. One experiment, involving a bed, platform scales, and a dying man, seemed to prove that the soul weighed the same as a slice of bread. But other, no less fanciful experiments and ideas led to the fundamentals of our understanding of movement, heat, light, and energy, and such things as the discovery of electricity, and the structure of DNA; improved engines; and the invention of computers. As in his previous book, Fisher uses personal stories and examples from everyday life, as well as humor, to make the science accessible. He touches on topics from lightning to corsets and from alchemy to Frankenstein and water babies, but he may not claim the last word on the weight of the soul!

Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre

Why do certain civilizations, societies, and ecosystems collapse? How does the domino effect relate to the credit crunch? When can mathematics help explain marriage? And how on earth do toads predict earthquakes? The future is uncertain. But science can help foretell what lies ahead. Drawing on ecology and biology, math and physics, Crashes, Crises, and Calamities offers four fundamental tools that scientists and engineers use to forecast the likelihood of sudden change: stability, catastrophe, complexity, and game theories. In accessible prose, Len Fisher demonstrates how we can foresee and manage events that might otherwise catch us by surprise. At the cutting edge of science, Fisher helps us find ways to act before a full-fledged catastrophe is upon us. Crashes, Crises, and Calamities is a witty and informative exploration of the chaos, complexity, and patterns of our daily lives.

How We Can Use Science to Read the Early-Warning Signs

Crashes, Crises, and Calamities

Scientists are in the business of trying to understand the world. Exploring commonplace phenomena, they have uncovered some of nature’s deepest laws. We can in turn apply these laws to our own lives, to better grasp and enhance our performance in daily activities as varied as cooking, home improvement, sports—even dunking a doughnut! This book makes the science of the familiar a key to opening the door for those who want to know what scientists do, why they do it, and how they go about it. Following the routine of a normal day, from coffee and breakfast to shopping, household chores, sports, a drink, supper, and a bath, we see how the seemingly mundane can provide insight into the most profound scientific questions. Some of the topics included are the art and science of dunking; how to boil an egg; how to tally a supermarket bill; the science behind hand tools; catching a ball or throwing a boomerang; the secrets of haute cuisine, bath (or beer) foam; and the physics of sex. Fisher writes with great authority and a light touch, giving us an entertaining and accessible look at the science behind our daily activities.

An Entertaining and Enlightening Examination of Everything We Do and Everything We See

Was entdeckte Graf Rumsford, als er sich den Mund an einem Stück heißen Apfelstrudel verbrannte? Was verrät Hydrostatik über Sex? Und was zählen Physiker, wenn sie nicht einschlafen können? Anhand unserer Alltagsaktivitäten erklärt uns Len Fisher die faszinierende Welt der Naturwissenschaften: angefangen von der Chemie unseres morgendlichen Frühstückseis über die Physik der Heimwerkerei, die Statistik im Supermarkt bis hin zum Geheimnis eines gut gezapften Bieres am Abend. Nach der Lektüre werden Sie die Welt mit anderen Augen sehen. Der AutorLen Fisher ist Physiker an der Universität Bristol und Kolumnist des Guardian. Der gebürtige Australier wendet Grundsätze der Physik, Chemie und Biologie auf Lebensmittel an - mit verblüffenden Ergebnissen. Sein Experiment über die Eintunkzeit von Keksen machte ihn berühmt und brachte ihm den IgNobelpreis, eine Parodie auf den Nobelpreis, für Physik ein. Fisher ist Mitglied der Royal Society of Chemistry und aufgrund seiner exotischen Projekte ein gefragter Interviewpartner in den Medien.

Streifzüge durch die Physik der alltäglichen Dinge

Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Frühstückseis

Len Fisher is a finalist for the prestigious Global Challenges New Shape prize. Fun, quirky popular science from the winner of an IgNobel Prize for achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced. Science is all around us. In this brilliant, entertaining book, Len Fisher provides scientific answers to familiar questions such as how to boil the perfect egg, how to catch a ball, the physics of sex, and why some vegetables absorb more gravy than others. In doing so, he reveals the world of the scientist - how they think, what they do, and how they go about doing it - proving that even the most commonplace activities can be used as a key to understanding the laws of nature and that experimental science can be fun!

Len Fisher

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