Science in The Books Store

Battling bad guys. High-tech hideouts. The gratitude of the masses. Who at some point in their life hasn't dreamed of being a superhero? Impossible, right? Or is it?

Possessing no supernatural powers, Batman is the most realistic of all the superheroes. His feats are achieved through rigorous training and mental discipline, and with the aid of fantastic gadgets. Drawing on his training as a neuroscientist, kinesiologist, and martial artist, E. Paul Zehr explores the question: Could a mortal ever become Batman?

Zehr discusses the physical training necessary to maintain bad-guy-fighting readiness while relating the science underlying this process, from strength conditioning to the cognitive changes a person would endure in undertaking such a regimen. In probing what a real-life Batman could achieve, Zehr considers the level of punishment a consummately fit and trained person could handle, how hard and fast such a person could punch and kick, and the number of adversaries that individual could dispatch. He also tells us what it would be like to fight while wearing a batsuit and the amount of food we'd need to consume each day to maintain vigilance as Gotham City's guardian.

A fun foray of escapism grounded in sound science, Becoming Batman provides the background for attaining the realizable -- though extreme -- level of human performance that would allow you to be a superhero.

• Mirrors the organization of the most current PTCB Certification Examination.
  
• Integrates narrative competencies into each subsection to address the PTCB established competencies.
  
• Includes four practice exams containing 140 questions with answers and rationales.
  
• Supplies multiple-choice review questions at the end of every chapter - totaling over 1,000.
  
• Contains an interactive CD-ROM that includes 4 practice exams from the book, 2 more practice exams with 280 additional multiple-choice questions, and over 400 flashcards categorized by generic/brand names, calculations, pharmacy law, abbreviations, indications, and nomenclature.

• What time is it at the North Pole?

• What's the chemical formula for a human being?

• Why do boomerangs come back?

• Why do flying fish fly?

• Do the living really outnumber the dead?

• Why does lightning fork?

• Why does the end of a whip crack?

Everyone has at one time or another thought up odd questions like these,questions that are strange, intriguing, maybe even impossible to answer.Making your morning omelet, perhaps you've wondered why most eggs are egg shaped. Or maybe, the last time you walked on the beach, you felt compelled to ask why the sea is salty. Watching Polly sit on her perch, have you ever marveled at how she stays there -- even when she's asleep? Well, the readers of New Scientist's wildly popular, long-running column "The Last Word" thought of these questions, too, and weren't afraid to ask them.

Neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone addresses these and many other questions in Vision and Art, a lively look at the science underlying art. She writes accessibly, but with plenty of technical depth, on such matters as the nature of light and the visible spectrum, the organization of visual-image processing, the structure of the vertebrate eye and brain, and individual and culturally conditioned perceptions of color. Using well-known works of art as case studies, she offers fascinating bits of trivia (on, for instance, how pastels are made and why purple dyes are so rare) alongside practical information for artists (for example, how high-contrast contours and evenly distributed luminance attract the eye).

The bond between horse and caretaker does not happen overnight. It hangs by a fine thread of trust that the author earns with endless patience and a full commitment to the well-being of the horses in her care. The horses, some of which have suffered severe abuse, astound her time and again with their ability to trust, return the love they are given, and enjoy the companionship of other horses.

You will meet a whole stableful of remarkable horses:

Dusty, a Thoroughbred who recovered from severe injuries to reveal a rambunctious personality and a knack for stealing hats;

Maddy, an old mare, and Dancer, a gallant Appaloosa, both of whom had been isolated for years but whose ecstatic first acquaintance at Proud Spirit was, mysteriously, like the reunion of two soul mates;

Annie, a little sorrel mare who will break your heart with her weary kindness and who found peace and compassion, at last, under an old oak tree in a pasture at Proud Spirit;