How GPS Works

Mass surveillance has become a daily part of life, as corporations and governments around the world openly collect data about who we are and how we live our lives. But has this always been the case? And if not, how did we get here?

What’s out there in the vast reaches of space? Are we alone in the universe? Renowned astronomer Carl Sagan offers some insight into these questions and many more in his widely acclaimed book, Cosmos.

Sagan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and perhaps the greatest astronomer of our age. In this book, he provides a comprehensive description of the science, philosophy, and history of astronomical discovery, from ancient Ionia to the time of the book’s publication in 1980.

In this guide, we’ll delve into Sagan’s theories about the possibility of interstellar travel, the search for extraterrestrial life, and man’s quest for understanding the mysteries of the universe. As we go along, we’ll update the information with the most recent scientific discoveries and provide perspectives from other experts in related fields.

These days, the world is moving faster than ever. Every day new scientific discoveries are announced, conflict breaks out somewhere in the world, and nature and the climate behave unexpectedly. If you feel overwhelmed or destabilized by this, you’re not alone—no period in the history of humanity has ever been subject to such quickly changing conditions as today.

In Thank You For Being Late, author, journalist, and columnist Thomas Friedman explains how these conditions arose—the three forces that shape the world, technology, globalization, and climate change, all accelerated at once—and how we can adapt to them.

These days, the world is moving faster than ever. Every day new scientific discoveries are announced, conflict breaks out somewhere in the world, and nature and the climate behave unexpectedly. If you feel overwhelmed or destabilized by this, you’re not alone—no period in the history of humanity has ever been subject to such quickly changing conditions as today.

In Thank You For Being Late, author, journalist, and columnist Thomas Friedman explains how these conditions arose—the three forces that shape the world, technology, globalization, and climate change, all accelerated at once—and how we can adapt to them.

How much do you know about the universe you live in? Thanks to scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, scientists have gained insight into many of nature’s secrets, from the origin of the universe to the nature of space and time. In A Brief History of Time, physicist Stephen Hawking explains these insights for a general audience.

In this guide, we’ll present Hawking’s exposition of modern physics through the lens of five big questions that the book answers: Is reality relative or absolute? Is the future predetermined? How did the universe begin? What is the nature of a black hole? And can you build a time machine? Where applicable, we’ll also examine how Hawking’s assertions and predictions stack up to new data that scientists have collected since the book was published.

What if you could understand anything in the world by learning a finite set of rules and patterns that apply to all aspects of life? That’s the premise of The Great Mental Models series of books from Farnam Street, a website dedicated to timeless knowledge and insightful ideas.

In this second volume in the Great Mental Models series, Rhiannon Beaubien and Shane Parrish draw on models from physics, chemistry, and biology to help readers understand personal and social change as well as competitive environments such as business. They explore topics including how social change is like a chemical reaction and how the theory of relativity can help you understand somebody you disagree with.

In this guide, we organize the book’s models around the themes of movement and change, interpersonal interaction, and surviving and thriving in a competitive world. Along the way, we expand on the models by tying in related ideas and showing you how to put the book’s models into practice.

Every day, you make predictions, like when traffic will be heaviest on your route to work or whether the value of a company’s stock will increase or decrease. We use the information from these predictions to guide our decisions. But how can we ensure that we’re making the best predictions possible?

In Superforecasting, authors Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner explore that question by analyzing the strategies of 'superforecasters,' volunteer analysts who predict the likelihood of global events with impressive accuracy. In this guide, we’ll explore the traits and tactics that make superforecasters so “super” and how you can use them to improve your own predictions. We’ll also compare the authors’ approach to predicting the future to those of other influential thinkers like Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

These days, the world is moving faster than ever. Every day new scientific discoveries are announced, conflict breaks out somewhere in the world, and nature and the climate behave unexpectedly. If you feel overwhelmed or destabilized by this, you’re not alone—no period in the history of humanity has ever been subject to such quickly changing conditions as today.

In Thank You For Being Late, author, journalist, and columnist Thomas Friedman explains how these conditions arose—the three forces that shape the world, technology, globalization, and climate change, all accelerated at once—and how we can adapt to them.

Climate activists have misled the public into thinking there’s proof that our actions have led to global warming and possible climate catastrophe, according to former energy industry scientist Steven E. Koonin. On the contrary, Koonin argues that the facts about climate change are far from certain.

In his 2021 book, Unsettled, Koonin concedes that the climate is warming and humans are partially responsible for this warming. However, he contends that the evidence is overstated and climate scientists’ predictions are based on unreliable models. In turn, public misconceptions about climate change abound and the proposed solutions to climate change are unlikely to succeed.

In this guide, we’ll discuss Koonin’s assessment of climate science and its conclusions, in addition to his critique of prominent responses to climate change and his proposed alternative responses. Throughout this guide, we’ll also consider counterarguments from climate scientists and updates to climate science since Unsettled’s publication.