Books published by Prometheus Books

Carl is a small-town mid western businessman who is accidentally put into a coma when he receives an inadequately tested vaccine. When he finally regains consciousness, he discovers that it is the year 2045 and his unusual medical story and recovery have turned him into an international celebrity.

Reviews the history of AI and discusses some of the roadblocks that the field has overcome. Weaving disparate threads together in an enlightening manner from cybernetics, computer science, psychology, philosophy of mind, neurophysiology, game theory, and economics, this book provides a glimpse into the possibilities and dilemmas.

Reflects on the happiness and difficulties we encounter at each stage of life, pointing out that all growth requires separation from previous attachments. This book explains what is required for personal growth, details the aspects of life that touch us profoundly, and lays out the choices that can lead to the highest state of humanness possible.

For over fifty years Dr Robert Spencer (1889-1969) practiced medicine in the small coal-mining town of Ashland, PA. He gained another kind of notoriety for performing safe and reliable abortions. This book presents his biography. It is suitable for those interested in the issue of abortion.

While masturbation is a universal behaviour, there are differences in motivation, frequency, technique, and fantasy patterns between men and women. The author discusses these differences while emphasising that masturbation can be good sex and should be experienced for pleasure not just as a tension release.

Antisocial behavior takes on many forms, from rebellious teens with green hair and pierced skin to the truly dangerous homicidal individuals whose horrible stories fill our newspapers. This work examines the familial and societal causes, and proposes solutions to the problem - including radical changes to our educational system and the mass media.

Born in Venezuela in 1920, Benacerraf's childhood was spent in Paris, until fear of war with Nazi Germany compelled his family to flee to Venezuela in 1939. By the time he received a Nobel prize in 1980 for his discovery of immune response genes, he had travelled a long way on the road to success. This book presents the story of his life.

Argues that we can reduce alarming rates of sexually transmitted disease, sexual violence and abuse, and unwanted pregnancy through responsible co-operative action. This work provides an analysis of these problems which demonstrates that our sexual malaise emerged from Victorian attitudes, religious intolerance, and misconceptions about sexuality.

Features stories focusing on the development and existence of the male, the trials and tribulations of adolescence, maturity, and old age. This book takes complicated emotional experiences and presents them clarity allowing readers to vicariously share the experience.

From a rural town in Florida to the NFL Hall of Fame, this title tells the story of Deacon's rise to the top of the heap in the National Football League. It refers to the lightning move popularised by Jones in the early days of the game, when a player could rattle the cage (or at least the helmet) of a blocker by belting him alongside the head.

Nearly half of all Americans believe in existence of extraterrestrials, and many are also convinced that aliens have visited Earth at some point in history. This book traces the origins of a belief in these visitors to the work of HP Lovecraft. It also argues that the appeal of such myths is a troubling sign in an age when science is successful.

Features essays on religion, free thought, and nationalism.

Contains the principal texts of the sceptical tradition from its origins in antiquity to contemporary philosophy. This work includes the writings of influential philosophers of the Western tradition who either advanced sceptical views or dealt with sceptical issues for other philosophical or religious purposes.

Brings together non-technical articles by leading scientific researchers and clinicians to help answer questions concerning mental health care such as: How should I select a therapist? How can I tell the difference between scientifically valid and questionable psychotherapy? Can I trust the diagnosis I have received?

Describes how Buffalo has been battered by the tides of history. This work tells the story of twentieth-century Buffalo, New York. It also covers developments such as: the rise and decline of the city's downtown and ethnic neighbourhoods; the impact of racial change and suburbanisation; urban politics, urban design, and city planning; and more.

A worker for the only US plant licensed to produce anthrax dies, the victim of a heart attack. But what caused his heart to stop beating? Written by a veteran medical examiner, this book takes readers into the world of forensic pathology, as he solves these and many other cases.

Most people are quick to note the profound influence that religion has played in African-American history. But few are aware of the role humanism played in shaping the black experience. This work demonstrates the strong influence that humanism and free-thought had in developing the history and ideals of black intellectualism.

Tackles the questions concerning the existence of universals, the nature of causation, understanding personal identity, the tangled web of free will, and the challenges posed by the advent of artificial intelligence.

Offering an introduction to the basis of critical analysis, this book shows how to evaluate evidence, isolate facts, and use sound reasoning skills in everyday situations. It focuses on: The Importance of Clear Thinking; The Nature of Facts; The Reasoning Process; Language and Reasoning; Common Errors in Reasoning; Conflicting Opinions; and more.

Presents a picture of the ideas of the early Greek philosophers men and attempts to find a balance between the scholarly paraphernalia of etymology and philology, and a stripped-down version of the ideas. This book includes testimonials by other thinkers. It also contains a guide to these testimonial sources and a bibliography for this period.

Offers explanations of heart valves and arterial pulse.

To Muslims the Hadith literature represents the Koran in action, stories of 'revelation made concrete in the life of the Prophet. Among the orthodox they are considered as sacred as the Koran itself. This work provides non-Muslims many insights into the mindset of the average Muslim who is raised on these traditions about Muhammad.

Presents a historical survey of religious persecution encompassing three millennia and a great diversity of cultures world-wide. Defining religious persecution as "repressive actions initiated or condoned by authorities against their own people on religious grounds", this work begins with ancient Egypt, followed by the biblical history of Israel.

Employing intuitive ideas from mathematics, this quirky "e;meta-memoir"e; raises questions about our lives that most of us don't think to ask, but arguably should: What part of memory is reliable fact, what part creative embellishment? Which favorite presuppositions are unfounded, which statistically biased? By conjoining two opposing mindsets--the suspension of disbelief required in storytelling and the skepticism inherent in the scientific method--bestselling mathematician John Allen Paulos has created an unusual hybrid, a composite of personal memories and mathematical approaches to re-evaluating them.Entertaining vignettes from Paulos's biography abound--ranging from a bullying math teacher and a fabulous collection of baseball cards to romantic crushes, a grandmother's petty larceny, and his quite unintended role in getting George Bush elected president in 2000. These vignettes serve as springboards to many telling perspectives: simple arithmetic puts life-long habits in a dubious new light; higher dimensional geometry helps us see that we're all rather peculiar; nonlinear dynamics explains the narcissism of small differences cascading into very different siblings; logarithms and exponentials yield insight on why we tend to become bored and jaded as we age; and there are tricks and jokes, probability and coincidences, and much more.For fans of Paulos or newcomers to his work, this witty commentary on his life--and yours--is fascinating reading.

A collection of essays, covering a range of fields, from Darwinism and the global population explosion to bird watching, which point out frontiers for scientific research and reaffirm the author's s belief in the intimate connection of the sciences, particularly biology, with the pressing social problems of the present and future.