Showing results by publisher "Random House Audio" in Science & Technology

What do Hedy Lamarr, avant-garde composer George Antheil, and your cell phone have in common? The answer is spread-spectrum radio: a revolutionary inven­tion based on the rapid switching of communications sig­nals among a spread of different frequencies. Without this technology, we would not have the digital comforts that we take for granted today. Only a writer of Richard Rhodes’s caliber could do justice to this remarkable story. Unhappily married to a Nazi arms dealer, Lamarr fled to America at the start of World War II; she brought with her not only her theatrical talent....

Mother American Night is the wild, funny, heartbreaking, and often unbelievable (yet completely true) story of an American icon. Born into a powerful Wyoming political family, John Perry Barlow wrote the lyrics for thirty Grateful Dead songs while also running his family’s cattle ranch. He hung out in Andy Warhol’s Factory, went on a date with the Dalai Lama’s sister, and accidentally shot Bob Weir in the face on the eve of his own wedding. Despite being a freely self-confessed acidhead, he served as Dick Cheney’s campaign manager during Cheney’s first run for Congress.

It is an accepted fact that Internet-related businesses are largely loss making. Dhruv Nath uncovers the secrets of four highly respected Internet giants which defy this trend boldly. The book narrates the story of four market leaders: Naukri.com, Zerodha, Zoho and Dream11, and how these companies managed to become profitable and stay that way.

Sixty years ago, cars and airplanes were still death traps waiting to happen. Today, both are safer than ever, thanks in part to one pioneering air force doctor's research on seatbelts and ejection seats. The exploits of John Paul Stapp (1910-1999) come to thrilling life in this biography of a Renaissance man who was once blasted - faster than a .45 caliber bullet - across the desert in his Sonic Wind rocket sled, only to be slammed to a stop in barely a second.

Bitfulness is being effortlessly mindful of your technology. In this short, practical book, Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani describe a framework to tune out the overwhelming noise of the internet. They empower you with tools to take back your time, attention and privacy from those who want to capture and sell it. They reveal their own personal systems, and how they stay on top of a constant flow of information.

Filled with captivating facts about color words and colors themselves—did you know that the word “puke” used to be a highly fashionable color before it was associated with vomit?—and fueled by Stamper’s inexhaustible curiosity, True Color will transform the way you see the world, from black-and-white to Technicolor.

As a fledgling doctor, what would you choose: practising medicine in rural India or going abroad in search of financial security? How would you face the people who depend on you if your wealth is wiped out in the stock market? How would you pursue a dream project, knowing the many challenges that lie ahead? In Excellence Has No Borders, Dr, B.S. Ajaikumar, an oncologist, answers these questions in an inspiring and fascinating narrative. He details how he has made cancer treatment accessible to all and created a chain of world-class cancer hospitals across India.

A young man from Titilagarh, Orissa, buoyed by nothing but dreams, boards a boat to America in 1964. There, in the land of opportunity, Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda strikes gold in the burgeoning tech space to become the American millionaire Sam Pitroda. Armed with global patents and a vision supported by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, he vows to return home and fix India’s telephone troubles. This is the astonishing and heart-warming story of how one man at the top hits rock bottom - only to rise again and make a bigger dent in the world.

Die ultimative Geschichte der digitalen Revolution: Sind sie jetzt Nerds, Weltverbesserer oder Spieler - diejenigen, die alles für möglich halten und nur durch die Frontscheibe schauen? Der Steve-Jobs-Biograf Walter Isaacson gibt diesen Vordenkern des digitalen Zeitalters ein Gesicht. Er blickt auf Erfinder und abenteuerlustige Unternehmer, die keine Grenzen akzeptieren, die unerbittlich und lustvoll Zukunft machen wollen. Die großen Namen wie Jobs und Gates stehen dabei immer für die Vielen, die in einem Zeitalter, das keine Alleinherrscher über Informationen duldet, permanent Ideen produzieren und Entwicklungen vorantreiben.

Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad - Steve Jobs hat der digitalen Welt mit der Kultmarke Apple Ästhetik und Aura gegeben. Wo Bill Gates für solide Alltagsarbeit steht, ist der Mann aus San Francisco die Stilikone des IT-Zeitalters, ein begnadeter Vordenker, der kompromisslos seiner Idee folgt. Genial und selbstbewusst hat er trotz ökonomischer und persönlicher Krisen den Apfel mit Biss (Bite) zum Synonym für Innovation und Vision gemacht. Doch wer ist dieser Meister der Inszenierung, was treibt ihn?

Why don’t we know the name of John Atanasoff as well as we know those of Alan Turing and John von Neumann? Because he never patented his computing machine, and because the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. Jane Smiley tells the quintessentially American story of John Atanasoff with technical clarity and narrative drive, making the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.

Noah Adams's adventure in search of Wilbur and Orville Wright is a journey that takes him across the country as he follows in the footsteps of the famous brothers in an attempt to know them more deeply, not just as inventors and pilots but as individuals as well.

In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time.

As his parents watched their restaurant business collapse in the wake of the Great Recession, Michael Sayman was googling “how to code". Within a year, he had launched an iPhone app that was raking in thousands of dollars a month, enough to keep his family afloat - and in America. Entirely self-taught, Sayman headed from high school straight into the professional world, and by the time he was 17, he was Facebook’s youngest employe ever, building new features that wowed its founder Mark Zuckerberg and are now being used by more than half a billion people every day.