Books
Browse our wide range of Culinary books and Children's Books, or check out our Memoirs, Fiction, Business, Design or Travel Books.
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Julie Shah & Laura Major
What To Expect When Expecting Robots
$45.00
For however smart your Roomba or Alexa might seem, historically, robots have been fairly dumb. They are only able to do their jobs when given a narrow set of tasks, confined in a controlled environment, and overseen by a human operator. But things are changing. A new breed of robots is in development that will operate largely on their own. They'll drive on roads and sidewalks, ferry deliveries within buildings, stock shelves in stores, and coordinate teams of doctors and nurses. These autonomous systems will find their way into busy, often unpredictable public spaces. They could be truly collaborative, augmenting human work by attending to the parts of tasks we don't do as well, without our having to stop and direct them.Visit product page →
But consider, for a moment, the sorcerer's apprentice. The broom he set to work was also supposed to be collaborative, too, and should have made his life much easier. But the broom didn't know how to behave, and the apprentice no longer understood the thing he had made.
The challenge of this next generation of robots is that, like the apprentice's broom, they will wreak complete havoc, inadvertently hurting or even killing people, unless we can recognize a simple truth: collaborative robots will be the first truly social creatures that technology has created. They will need to know how to behave in unfamiliar spaces and around untrained users and bystanders.
Robot experts Julie Shah and Laura Major are among those engineers leading the development of collaborative robots, and in this book, they will offer their vision for how to make it in the new era of human-robot collaboration. They set out the blueprint for what they call working robots, which in many ways resemble service animals, and take readers through the many fascinating and surprising challenges that both engineers and the public will need to address in figuring out these machines can be responsibly integrated into society: what they will have to look like, how they will have to talk to strangers and what robot etiquette will be, whether we will have to "robot-proof" public spaces and infrastructure, and how the safety-critical work of human-robot collaboration will force a sea change in how the tech industry is regulated.
Today, we still gawk at a car that drives by without a driver. Tomorrow, you might find yourself driving next to five of them. We can debate whether the singularity will ever come, but robots need not be super intelligent in order to revolutionize our relationship to technology. Read this book to find out how. -
Theodore Gray, Nick Mann
Kid's Book of the Elements
$25.00
A fun, fascinating, and amazingly photographic exploration of the periodic table, for curious kids who want to understand how atoms and elements make up everything in the universe. Created by Theodore Gray, bestselling author of The Elements, especially for kids ages 6 to 9. Includes 120 tear out element cards so kids can play with and arrange the periodic table all on their own!Visit product page →
In this very special kids' edition of Theodore Gray's The Elements, budding scientists, ages 6 to 9, will learn all about every element in the periodic table from the first element, Hydrogen (1), to the very last element, Oganesson (118). Filled with great big colourful photographs and fun facts for every element, The Kid's Book of The Elements is the perfect introduction to the fascinating world of chemistry and visual/tactile-based STEM/STEAM learning. This edition also includes 120 sturdy tear-out cards of each element for kids to play with and arrange on their own. -
Sara Gillingham & Isabel Thomas
Exploring The Elements
$35.00
Science meets design in this comprehensive introduction to the chemical elements that make up our universeVisit product page →
This artful and accessible guide to the periodic table — the ultimate reference tool for scientists worldwide — names all 118 chemical elements and helps young readers understand the remarkable ways we have learned to use them. Graphically stunning layouts feature each element's letter symbol and atomic number, exploring its attributes, characteristics, uses, and interesting stories behind its discovery. Complete with a comprehensive introduction, conclusion, and glossary, this is the perfect introduction to chemistry for inquisitive minds.
About the Authors
Award-winning art director and designer Sara Gillingham created Alpha Bravo Charlie, Boats Are Busy, Seeing Stars and Animals in the Sky with Phaidon. She lives in British Columbia.
Science writer and children's author Isabel Thomas is a winner of the AAAS/Subaru Children's Book Prize and has been shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People's Book Prize, the ASE Science Book of the Year, and the Blue Peter Book Awards. -
Theodore Gray & Nick Mann
Molecules: Elements Bk 2
$30.00
Visit product page →The beloved second book in The Elements trilogy is finally in paperback, where Theodore Gray demonstrates how the elements of the periodic table combine to form the molecules that make up our world.
In his highly anticipated sequel to The Elements, Theodore Gray demonstrates how the elements of the periodic table combine to form the molecules that make up our world.
Everything physical is made up of the elements and the infinite variety of molecules they form when they combine with each other. In Molecules, Theodore Gray takes the next step in the grand story that began with the periodic table in his best-selling book, The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe. Here, he explores through fascinating stories and trademark stunning photography the most interesting, essential, useful, and beautiful of the millions of chemical structures that make up every material in the world.
Gray begins with an explanation of how atoms bond to form molecules and compounds, as well as the difference between organic and inorganic chemistry. He then goes on to explore the vast array of materials molecules can create, including: soaps and solvents; goops and oils; rocks and ores; ropes and fibers; painkillers and dangerous drugs; sweeteners; perfumes and stink bombs; colors and pigments; and controversial compounds including asbestos, CFCs, and thimerosal.
Big, gorgeous photographs, as well as diagrams of the compounds and their chemical bonds, rendered with never before seen beauty, fill the pages and capture molecules in their various states.
As he did in The Elements, Gray shows us molecules as we've never seen them before. It's the perfect book for his loyal fans who've been eager for more and for anyone fascinated with the mysteries of the material world. -
Theodore Gray & Nick Mann
Elements: Elements Bk 1
$30.00
The highly-anticipated paperback edition of THE ELEMENTS is finally available.Visit product page →An eye-opening, original collection of gorgeous, never-before-seen photographic representations of the 118 elements in the periodic table.
The elements are what we, and everything around us, are made of. But how many elements has anyone actually seen in pure, un-combined form?
THE ELEMENTS provides this rare opportunity. Based on seven years of research and photography, the pictures in this book make up the most complete, and visually arresting, representation available to the naked eye of every atom in the universe. Organized in order of appearance on the periodic table, each element is represented by a spread that includes a stunning, full-page, full-colour photograph that most closely represents it in its purest form. For example, at -183 C, oxygen turns from a colourless gas to a beautiful pale blue liquid.
Also included are fascinating facts, figures, and stories of the elements as well as data on the properties of each, including atomic weight, density, melting and boiling point, valence, electronegativity, and the year and location in which it was discovered. Several additional photographs show each element in slightly altered forms or as used in various practical ways. The element's position on the periodic table is pinpointed on a mini rendering of the table and an illustrated scale of the element's boiling and/or melting points appears on each page along with a density scale that runs along the bottom.
Packed with interesting information, this combination of solid science and stunning artistic photographs is the perfect gift book for every sentient creature in the universe.
Includes a tear-out poster of Theodore Gray's iconic Photographic Periodic Table!
