Washoe County Library System

The award-winning author of Experimental Man announces the arrival of high-capacity artificial-intelligence machines, drawing on expert insights to explain how the robots of today and the near-future will transform the definition of humanity and revolutionize the world.

"A fascinating and provocative new way of looking at the things we use and the spaces we inhabit, and an invitation to imagine a better-designed world for us all"-- Sara Hendren invites us to rethink the things and settings we live with. What might assistance based on the body’s stunning capacity for adaptation—rather than a rigid insistence on “normalcy”—look like? Can we foster interdependent, not just independent, living? How do we creatively...

Rowan Moore shows how buildings are driven by human emotions and desires -- such as hope, power, money, sex, and the idea of home -- and how buildings then shape our experiences. He explores the making of buildings from conception to inhabitation, and reveals the paradoxical power of architecture: it looks fixed and solid, but is always changing, in response to the lives around it. Moore takes us on a personal journey, moving freely across the globe...

"The MIT Media Lab researcher and robot ethicist offers an optimistic look at our future with robots based on our historical relationships with animals"--

"In The Crash Detectives, veteran aviation journalist and air safety investigator Christine Negroni takes us inside crash investigations from the early days of the jet age to the present, including the search for answers about what happened to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. As Negroni dissects what happened and why, she explores their common themes and, most important, what has been learned from them to make planes safer. Indeed, as Negroni...

Banish those cold-weather blues and embrace winter with the power of crafts and the Danish practice of hygge! Want to survive those dark and freezing winter months? The Danish do it with hyggea concept thats all about coziness, simple pleasures, and the company of loved ones. Embrace this warmhearted philosophy with these 25 creative crafts and recipes, which range from gorgeous trinkets to snuggly woolens and tasty treats. You dont have to be an...

Examines how neuroscience helps to explain the role beauty plays in human health and well-being.

"Expertly designed and decorated homes don't necessarily feel like havens to their dwellers or reflect, inspire, and celebrate what is essential about their inhabitants. Lauded designer and architectural conservator Xorin Balbes created the eight-stage SoulSpace transformation process to help his clients do just that. Through the stages -- assess, release, cleanse, dream, discover, create, elevate, and celebrate -- readers explore not only the design...

Ever since Gabrielle Stanley Blair became a parent, she's believed that a thoughtfully designed home is one of the greatest gifts we can give our families, and that the objects and decor we choose to surround ourselves with tell our family's story. In this, her first book, Blair offers a room-by-room guide to keeping things sane, organized, creative, and stylish. She provides advice on getting the most out of even the smallest spaces, simple fixes...

"The latest developments in robotics and artificial intelligence and a preview of the coming decades, based on research and interviews with the world's foremost experts. If there's one universal trait among humans, it's our social nature. Having relationships with others is a hard-wired need that literally shapes us and the lives we lead. The craving to connect is universal, compelling, and frequently irresistible. This concept is central to Robots...