Michael Banks

What stops pregnant women from falling over all the time? What makes infant cries so captivating? How do sperm swim? The Secret Science of Baby answers these questions and many more, revealing the fascinating physics behind conception, birth, and babyhood. Parents and parents-to-be are bombarded with information, from what to expect to what to do (and not to do) when it happens. But what they may not realize is that from the chemistry of pregnancy tests to the vacuum physics of breastfeeding, there is fascinating science at the heart of every aspect of creating and raising a new human. Written by science journalist Michael Banks, The Secret Science of Baby won’t tell you how to raise a perfect violin-playing, mandarin-speaking toddler, but it will shed a new light on how and why things happen as they do—from conception and pregnancy to cooing and pooing. Exploring the hidden physics behind uterine contractions, the fluid dynamics of diapers, and more, both parents and curious non-parents (who, after all, were once babies themselves) will gain a fresh perspective on the infant universe . . . and the thrilling science that makes it possible. In these pages, readers will discover: The physics of the playground and common toys—from the swing to the Slinky What it really means to "sleep like a baby" The surprising shared vocal cord features of lions and (human) infants The miracle of a baby's first breath and how surface tension provided the key to helping preemies breathe Banks draws from his own experience, interviews with scientists, and the latest research (including some involving conception inside an MRI machine) to offer a book that focuses on “how?” rather than “how-to.” The result is an illuminating and hilarious journey through the everyday science of making, baking, and bringing up baby.

The Surprising Physics of Creating a Human, from Conception to Birth--and Beyond

The Secret Science of Baby

On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders is an absorbing chronicle of the inventive, individualistic, and often cantankerous individuals who set the Internet free. Michael A. Banks describes how the online population created a new culture and turned a new frontier into their vision of the future. This book will introduce you to the innovators who laid the foundation for the Internet and the World Wide Web, the man who invented online chat, and the people who invented the products all of us use online every day. Learn where, when, how and why the Internet came into being, and exactly what hundreds of thousands of people were doing online before the Web. See who was behind it all, and what inspired them.

The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders

On the Way to the Web

Presents strategies for buying and selling on eBay, covering such topics as finding items, evaluating their true worth, making winning bids, how to decide what to sell, attracting buyers, money exchanges, and avoiding scams.

How to Make Money and Avoid Losing Your Shirt

The EBay Survival Guide

Mack Reynolds

The disappearance of an important scientist in a world where differences are settled with gladitorial competitions threatens to bring back the possibility of world war

Sweet Dreams, Sweet Princes

A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.The U.S. government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.More storiesTHE AFGHANISTAN PAPERS Part 1: At war with the truthPART 1At war with the truthU.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it.PART 2Stranded without a strategyBush and Obama had polar-opposite plans to win the war. Both were destined to fail.PART 3Built to failDespite vows the U.S. wouldn't get mired in "nation-building," it has wasted billions doing just thatPART 4Consumed by corruptionThe U.S. flooded the country with money -- then turned a blind eye to the graft it fueledPART 5Unguarded nationAfghan security forces, despite years of training, were dogged by incompetence and corruptionPART 6Overwhelmed by opiumThe U.S. war on drugs in Afghanistan has imploded at nearly every turnINTERVIEWS AND MEMOSExplore the documentsKey insiders speak bluntly about the failures of the longest conflict in U.S. historyPOST REPORTS'We didn't know what the task was'Hear candid interviews with former ambassador Ryan Crocker and retired Lt. Gen. Michael FlynnTHE FIGHT FOR THE DOCUMENTSAbout the investigationIt took three years and two federal lawsuits for The Post to pry loose 2,000 pages of interview recordsMORE STORIES A visual timeline of the war Interviewees respond Share your story about the warIn the interviews, more than 400 insiders offered unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare.With a bluntness rarely expressed in public, the interviews lay bare pent-up complaints, frustrations and confessions, along with second-guessing and backbiting."We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan -- we didn't know what we were doing," Douglas Lute, a three-star Army general who served as the White House's Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told government interviewers in 2015. He added: "What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.""If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction ... 2,400 lives lost," Lute added, blaming the deaths of U.S. military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department. "Who will say this was in vain?"Since 2001, more than 775,000 U.S. troops have deployed to Afghanistan, many repeatedly. Of those, 2,300 died there and 20,589 were wounded in action, according to Defense Department figures.The interviews, through an extensive array of voices, bring into sharp relief the core failings of the war that persist to this day. They underscore how three presidents -- George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump -- and their military commanders have been unable to deliver on their promises to prevail in Afghanistan.THE AFGHANISTAN PAPERSSee the documents More than 2,000 pages of interviews and memos reveal a secret history of the war.Part 2: Stranded without a strategy Conflicting objectives dogged the war from the start.Responses to The Post from people named in The Afghanistan PapersWith most speaking on the assumption that their remarks would not become public, U.S. officials acknowledged that their warfighting strategies were fatally flawed and that Washington wasted enormous sums of money trying to remake Afghanistan into a modern nation.

Interviews with Top Officials in the Afghanistan War

The Afghanistan Papers Part 1

Mike Nelson

Pieter Tans

This is the world's smallest book on the world's biggest problem: CO2 and climate change. This book provides a concise and entertaining introduction to the most pressing environmental issue of our time. More than just a primer, even knowledgeable readers will learn something new and important about the science of climate change. The book is available for climate-outreach organizations at reduced cost and can be customized for your organization's needs. All proceeds from the book benefit the Citizens' Climate Lobby and climate outreach education.

Michael Banks

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