FACT: “In the treeless Aleutian Islands, Bald Eagles nest on the ground. Small sticks are picked up or broken off and carried in the beak; large ones are carried in the talons. In the center of the platform a cup 3-5in (7.5-13cm) deep, lined with grass and mosses is formed. Large nests can weigh two tons and last for over 50 years.”

Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build
Peter Goodfellow

Birds are the most consistently inventive builders, and their nests set the bar for functional design in nature. Avian Architecture describes how birds design, engineer, and build their nests, deconstructing all types of nests found around the world using architectural blueprints and detailed descriptions of the construction processes and engineering techniques birds use. This spectacularly illustrated book features 300 full-color images and more than 35 case studies that profile key species worldwide. Each chapter covers a different type of nest, from tunnel nests and mound nests to floating nests, hanging nests, woven nests, and even multiple-nest avian cities. Other kinds of avian construction—such as bowers and harvest wells—are also featured.

Avian Architecture includes intricate step-by-step sequences, visual spreads on nest-building materials and methods, and insightful commentary by a leading expert.

-Illustrates how birds around the world design, engineer, and build their nests

-Features architectural blueprints, step-by-step sequences, visual spreads on nest-building materials and methods, and expert commentary

-Includes 300 full-color images

-Covers more than 100 bird species worldwide

“[Goodfellow] sharpens the focus to explore nests only from the perspective of their architecture—their form, function, construction materials, how they are made, and by whom. . . . We love finding nests but rarely pay attention to how they are built. Avian Architecture will magnify your sense of wonder. The book is chockablock full of detail presented in a very accessible way.”—Wayne Mones, Audubon.org

For more information on Avian Architecture, please visit: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9422.html

Howard Wainer’s most recent book, Uneducated Guesses, is both a challenge to education policymakers and a warning to the country about the misguided policies that shape our nation’s educational system. Wainer uses statistical evidence to uncover the problems that threaten education in the United States in a book that is both accessible and eye opening for any reader. We recently posed some questions to Professor Wainer and are thrilled to post this dialogue about various issues he addresses in his book.

PUP: You discuss a lot of issues surrounding college and university admittance in Uneducated Guesses, one of which is the choice to not require the SAT. Do you think some schools shifting towards not requiring the SAT for admittance will cause more schools to follow suit?


Professor Howard Wainer: I hope not. Right now there are powerful forces pushing some schools to abandon admission tests. One of the most insidious is how making such tests optional artificially boosts the school’s US News & World Report rankings. I hope that by exposing such strategies it will help to stifle such policies.




Continue reading after the jump for more of Howard’s thoughts on AP courses, Value-added models of teacher evaluation, CATs and more.

David Weintraub’s most recent book, How Old Is the Universe?, is a readable investigation of the title question that explains how we have arrived at an approximate age of 13.7 billion years for the universe. Weintraub works his way from biblical chronology of the origins of the universe to the high-tech astronomy research taking place today in this accessible and entertaining history. We recently posed some questions to Prof. Weintraub by email and are pleased to present this dialogue.

PUP: I am not an astronomer, so I was relieved to discover I could actually read How Old Is the Universe? You clearly went to great efforts to make the text accessible. How difficult was it to break down these big scientific ideas, terms, and facts for general readers?

Professor David Weintraub: Making sure I was speaking to a non-professional audience in English rather than in the jargon-filled language of astronomy was a constant challenge. A major goal with this book is to help general-audience readers understand the complicated and unfamiliar concepts described between the covers. Consequently I focused on this issue quite literally with every word I wrote. At the risk of being struck down by the gods for hubris, I do think I have done better at this than most astronomers who are trying to communicate with a non-professional audience. Nevertheless, more than a few of my descriptions passed through my ‘language of the lay reader’ filter unnoticed by me. Fortunately, Princeton University Press assigned my manuscript to an editor who asked me lots of excellent questions for clarification, and quite often her questions arose when she bumped into a piece of text in which the meaning was unclear to her because of my too-technical word choices. I do think, in the end, the presentation of difficult concepts in this book is accessible to the general reader because we paid such close attention to language and because I continually reminded myself of whom the readership of the book is intended to be. My editor was a humanist who knew no astronomy before beginning to edit the book. So she was my test reader; if she didn’t understand my words, I flunked the test. When we were done, she felt that she understood every word and had learned and now understood everything in the book. Fortunately for her and all readers, unless you are in one of my classes, there is no test at the end of each chapter.

Continue reading this Q&A after the jump.

Our author Nicholas Humphrey was on the airwaves recently discussing consciousness and his eye-opening new book SOUL DUST: The Magic of Consciousness. On July 7 he chatted with Virginia Prescott on New Hampshire Public Radio’s Word of Mouth about the book. And, on July 11, he discussed the book on SETI Radio. For some engrossing conversation about how science can explain what we think of as “the soul,” then check out these interviews!

“SOUL DUST, Nicholas Humphrey’s new book about consciousness, is seductive–early 1960s, ‘Mad Men’ seductive. His writing is as elegant, and hypnotic, as that cool jazz stacked on the record player. His argument feels as crystalline and bracing as that double martini going down, though you might find yourself a little woozy afterward. And his tone is as warm and inviting as that big, crackling fire, even if the dim flicker does leave things a bit obscure in the corners. . . . [SOUL DUST] is not only thoroughly enjoyable but genuinely instructive, too.”
– Alison Gopnik, New York Times Book Review

Shamus Khan, author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, will speak at the Hopewell Public Library this September 7, exact time to be announced.

Keep checking the PUP blog and the library’s website for more details about the event. Be sure to pick up your own copy of Privilege to read before his talk!

To learn a bit more about the book, check out this blog post.

On Tuesday afternoon Princeton University Press had the honour of sponsoring a celebration of Emma Rothschild’s new book, THE INNER LIFE OF EMPIRES, at the University of Edinburgh, at the generous invitation of the Rt Hon Gordon Brown, MP. Lauded in the Wall Street Journal, The Spectator, and the Economist, Prof Rothschild’s book describes the complex world of empire, economy and enlightenment in the 18th century by telling the story of the extraordinary Johnstone family – 11 siblings who were born in Scotland and became abolitionists, speculators, slave owners, government officials and politicians and whose careers spanned the globe. Speaking about the origins of the book, Professor Rothschild described how a question from Gordon Brown about a parliamentary election in Adam Smith’s home town of Kirkcaldy led to the chance discovery of the letter book of John Johnstone and the world of his family. Dr Brown praised Rothschild’s pioneering research in economic history and the thought of Adam Smith, describing how the globalized world of the 18th century Johnstones which stretched from Grenada to India, has much to teach us about the current crisis of globalization.

Other speakers at the event included Nicholas Phillippson, biographer of Adam Smith and David Hume, and Sir Raymond Johnstone, descendant of John, who charmingly described his ancestors as “Borders Reivers.”

THE INNER LIFE OF EMPIRES is available in hardcover and in electronic form from Princeton University Press.

FACT: Following the Amarna period of the new Kingdom, around 1200 BCE, Egyptians invented a simple device known as the shaduf, which, using a fulcrum, lifted a water bag that enabled cultivators to irrigate the lands from the spring and summer low-water nile. Shadufs made it possible to grow winter crops, such as cotton and additional cereals.

Egypt: A Short History
Robert L. Tignor

Egypt: A Short History is a sweeping, colorful, and concise narrative history of Egypt from the beginning of human settlement in the Nile River valley 5000 years ago to the present day. Accessible, authoritative, and richly illustrated, this is an ideal introduction and guide to Egypt’s long, brilliant, and complex history for general readers, tourists, and anyone else who wants a better understanding of this vibrant and fascinating country, one that has played a central role in world history for millennia—and that continues to do so today.

“Robert L. Tignor’s ambitious Egypt: A Short History stretches from the Predynastic age to the present, tying the various periods together in a continuous 5,000-year narrative to create a lengthy history told in a short book. . . . Tignor writes with an easy, assured style, and his history becomes more focused and more authoritative as it progresses. He tells us it was conceived as an alternative guidebook for discerning tourists wishing to learn about more than just pyramids and pharaohs: as such—as an enjoyable book written by someone who clearly knows and loves Egypt and the Egyptians—it serves its purpose very well.”—Financial Times

“This is a masterpiece. In simple and accessible prose, Robert Tignor builds on his long and deep familiarity with Egyptian history, politics, and economy. The reader comes away with an understanding of what propels Egyptian history over the ages, and an appreciation of the key questions that beleaguer modern Egypt. This book will be of enormous value for general readers, students, and tourists.”—Khaled Fahmy, New York University

We invite you to read Chapter 1 here: http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9274.pdf

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. The wall represented so much to people and nations around the world, and despite its destruction in 1989, the memory of its significance endures to this day. Half a century after its construction, what meaning does the Berlin Wall hold for us? Two Princeton University Press authors examine this question in different lights.

In Driving the Soviets up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961, Hope M. Harrison examines the Wall as a symbol of the Cold War, telling “the behind-the-scenes story of the communists’ decision to build the Wall in 1961.” Her book explores the relationships between nations within the Soviet bloc as they dealt with the issues of immigration and liberalization. Her narrative provides new insights into how the Wall was viewed by Soviets, and how the initial decision to build the wall was reached.

Mary Elise Sarotte’s 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe takes a look at the tumultuous period following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Her book tries to understand how various pressures affected the development of the post-1989 world, and how the events of 1989 affected and continue to affect our world today.

Both authors present pictures of the Berlin Wall in ways that ask us to redefine its importance in our lives. The Cold War was a major defining aspect of the United States’ identity in the last century, and its legacy continues to affect America today. With the 50th anniversary of the Wall’s construction upon us, it is worth while to take time to reflect on the Wall, the War, and the vast changes in the world from 1961, to 1989, to the present day.

This Monday, July 25, author Troy Jollimore will be speaking in San Francisco!

The event will be hosted by Green Apple Books at 7pm, and will also feature Anthony Carelli. The two poets will give readings from their new works.

To learn more about Jollimore’s amazing poetry, pick up a copy of At Lake Scugog. And don’t miss the chance to hear him speak on Monday!