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technica q&a: alex vilenkin (many worlds in one)
technica q&a: t. l. taylor (play between worlds)
technica q&a: langville and meyer (google's pagerank and beyond)
fup's 18th birthday
more green picks
edward tufte's beautiful evidence
history of science
new arrivals
doug brown's factoid
bestsellers

You might notice that we at Technica are trying something new this time around: all text, all the time. We're thinking it's more streamlined, efficient, and down-to-earth. What are you thinking? Let us know your thoughts and suggestions at technica@powells.com.

TECHNICA Q&A: ALEX VILENKIN
Cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin's new book, Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes, is his first for non-specialists. Vilenkin's basic thesis is that the world is constantly expanding due to "eternal inflation," and that ours is but one of infinite universes. Do you ever feel small when you gaze up at the stars on a moonlit night? Vilenkin expands on that idea in this wise and thought-provoking work. Read our Q&A with the author, and save 30% on Many Worlds in One, for a limited time.
http://www.powells.com/tqa/vilenkin.html

TECHNICA Q&A: T. L. TAYLOR
Author T. L. Taylor is not your usual academic. In Play between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture, she delves into the world of Everquest, aka "Evercrack." Part anthropologist, part geek, she uses her role as an Everquest gamer to learn more about this subculture, and discovers that the conventions aren't just attended by teenage boys. Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are played by thousands of people worldwide, in different time zones and cultures. Taylor argues that these multiplayer games are just as socially acceptable as bowling or baseball as she documents her personal experience in this global subculture. Take 30% off the list price when you buy Play between Worlds.
http://www.powells.com/tqa/taylor.html

Sadly, the OSCON convention is over. While it lasted, throngs of international geeky playboys streamed into the store, enthralled and amazed that we have a "signal processing" section. Christian from Munich exclaimed, "There is no such technical bookstore back home in Germany!" We're spreading the faith, one programmer at a time.

TECHNICA Q&A: AMY LANGVILLE AND CARL MEYER
Google — who doesn't use it? It's even become a commonly used verb, unlike Yahoo. As Garry Trudeau explains, "Google is the Swiss Army knife of Information Retrieval." Authors Amy Langville and Carl Meyer have just written Google's PageRank and Beyond: The Science of Search Engine Rankings. This academic book has at least two audiences: readers who want to learn the intricacies of Google (and how to tweak them), and mathematicians who want to study Google as a computational puzzle. Google and math, united at last. And, here's some math that we can all appreciate: save 30% on the cover price when you order a copy of Google's PageRank and Beyond.
http://www.powells.com/tqa/langville.html

FUP'S 18TH BIRTHDAY!
"The party's over, it's time to call it a day..." Corie murmurs as she cleans up confetti and cupcake frosting in the cafe area. Fup's 18th birthday party was a smashing success. Fup gave out catnip party favors, showed off her voter registration card, and, finally, snoozed as customers bought the brand-new 18 Karat Fup T-shirts as if they were Wonka bars.
http://www.powells.com/features/fup_shirt18.html

MORE GREEN PICKS
Now we understand why our parents always grumbled about the electricity bill. Check out Bob Ramlow and Benjamin Nusz's Solar Water Heating, which is a comprehensive guide to solar water and space heating systems. For you DIY types, you can literally make your own energy by reading Richard Buxton's How to Convert Wood into Charcoal and Electricity. And in case any of you are having '70s flashbacks, rest assured that The Passive Solar House: Using Solar Design to Heat and Cool Your Home by James Kachadorian is a contemporary book on solar design that does not feature macrame or shag rugs in the color photographs.
http://www.powells.com/subsection/FeaturedTitlesinTechSustainableLiving.hml

An informal visual survey, conducted during the OSCON Exhibition Hall reception on Wednesday night as customers drank and browsed, concludes that the beer of choice for programmers was Black Butte Porter. What, no Pabst?

EDWARD TUFTE'S BEAUTIFUL EVIDENCE
Last year, Edward Tufte caused a stir when he bought some books here at the Tech store. We recognized him by his professorial good looks and his credit card receipt. If you don't know already, Edward Tufte is the author of a wonderful series of books on "visual evidence," the graphical display of information that is both aesthetically pleasing and efficient. Tufte's latest book in this series, Beautiful Evidence, is his best yet. How can you resist a book that encourages you to think, "What would Feynman do?" when figuring out how to present scientific ideas? No bullet points here.
http://www.powells.com/biblio/0961392177

HISTORY OF SCIENCE
Marilyn vos Savant (born Marilyn Mach) celebrates her birthday on August 11th. Marilyn is famous for having the world's highest IQ — and she has written the "Ask Marilyn" column for Parade magazine for years. She is also widely known for causing an uproar in the mathematical community when she published her book The World's Most Famous Math Problem. The fuss? She found fault with Andrew Wiles's solution of Fermat's Last Theorem, writing that he shouldn't have used non-Euclidean geometry.
http://www.powells.com/psection/HistoryofScience.html

NEW ARRIVALS
Now that the Portland heat wave is over, we can all read on the couch without falling asleep. Indulge in The Map Book, edited by Peter Barber, which collects an amazing collection of maps dating all the way back to the time of Babylon. David Herlihy's Bicycle: The History, full of historical photos and drawings, will get you back on your cruiser. And for those of you who just can't wait for Halloween, check out Human Remains: Dissection and Its Histories by Helen MacDonald, which discusses, among others, the famous 19th-century surgeons Burke and Hare, who paid grave robbers princely sums for cadavers.
http://www.powells.com/subsection/FeaturedTitlesinTechNewArrivals.html

DOUG BROWN'S FACTOID
You've all heard the nickname, either complimentary or pejoratively. Bookworm. One who burrows their way through books. But is there an actual critter this name is based on? Yes and no. Larvae of the genus Anobium (the furniture beetle) and of the death-watch beetle produced the majority of holes in books up to the 18th century, and the genus Anobium is often associated with the term bookworm. So, while the name was inspired by a couple of grubs, these creatures aren't actually worms; just beetle larvae. But "booklarvae" or "bookgrub" just doesn't have the same flow to it.

TECH BESTSELLERS
1. The Ruby Cookbook by Lucas Carlson (Computer Languages)
2. Agile Web Development with Rails by Dave Thomas (Computer Languages)
3. Ubuntu Hacks by Jonathan Oxer (Unix)
4. Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas (Computer Languages)
5. Rails Recipes by Chad Fowler (Computer Languages)
6. Perl Hacks by chromatic (Computer Languages)
7. Higher-Order Perl by Mark Jason Dominus (Computer Languages)
8. Mind Performance Hacks by Ron Hale-Evans (Popular Science)
9. Mind Hacks by Tom Stafford (Popular Science)
10. Ajax Design Patterns by Michael Mahemoff (Internet)
http://www.powells.com/techbest.html

Number of programmers zipping around the OSCON convention on Segways: 5
Number of Perl camel tattoos spotted on arms: 1
Number of times Carole explained how Portlanders pronounce Couch Street: 22
Number of inflatable chairs popped by the week's end: 2
Number of times OSCON conventioneers said, "I love your store!": Countless. Thank you.

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Technica
By Carole

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