Kevin Folta

The thrilling and terrifying history of genetic engineering In 2018, scientists manipulated the DNA of human babies for the first time. As biologist and historian Matthew Cobb shows in As Gods, this achievement was one many scientists have feared from the start of the genetic age. Four times in the last fifty years, geneticists, frightened by their own technology, have called a temporary halt to their experiments. They ought to be frightened: Now we have powers that can target the extinction of pests, change our own genes, or create dangerous new versions of diseases in an attempt to prevent future pandemics. Both awe-inspiring and chilling, As Gods traces the history of genetic engineering, showing that this revolutionary technology is far too important to be left to the scientists. They have the power to change life itself, but should we trust them to keep their ingenuity from producing a hellish reality?

A lot of people worry about eating the “wrong” food. Well-funded campaigns have spent years convincing you that some foods are good, some are bad, and some are downright evil. It doesn’t have to be that way. Relax and Enjoy Your Food uses science and a little common sense to take away all that anxiety, and save you some money to boot. Once you let go of some ideas, it all gets simpler. There are no superfoods, no junk foods, and there aren’t even any health foods. There is just food, all of which provides some combination of the same seven basic things that all food does. That’s why the most specific advice you can get is to eat a variety of foods, mostly plants, not too much or too little. That’s it. The diet and wellness industries, along with the supplement industry, have deep pockets and ill intent. Their primary victims are women, but everybody gets caught up in their web. After reading this book you’ll be able to leave all that behind, eat a healthy diet, even reach and maintain a healthy weight. In short, you’ll be able to relax and enjoy your food.

Revised and Updated, Featuring a New Case Study How do successful companies create products people can’t put down? Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. Eyal provides readers with: • Practical insights to create user habits that stick. • Actionable steps for building products people love. • Fascinating examples from the iPhone to Twitter, Pinterest to the Bible App, and many other habit-forming products.

A chronicle of the life of the celebrated plant breeder evaluates the ways in which his achievements influenced the agricultural industry in early twentieth-century America, in a history that discusses the formative years of bioengineering and agribusiness as they were directly shaped by Burbank's gardening accomplishments.