Research Catalog

Title

Who gives a gigabyte? : a survival guide for the technologically perplexed / Gary Stix and Miriam Lacob.

Author

Stix, Gary.

Publication

New York : John Wiley, [1999], ©1999.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Lacob, Miriam.

Description

iv, 300 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

• Which new technologies will change our lives the most in the years ahead? Introducing today's brave new world of gene therapy, quantum computation, designer drugs, and recyclable cars, Who Gives a Gigabyte? surveys the exciting range of technological wonders reshaping our world - as well as those soon to come - and offers simple, engaging explanations of what they are and how they work.
• Scientific American senior editor Gary Stix and journalist Miriam Lacob combine their skills to take readers on a tour of the most important recent developments in genetics, medicine, cybernetics, telecommunications, robotics, micromachines, environmental cleanup, and more.

Subject

• Technological innovations
• Technological literacy

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-294) and index.

Contents

Introduction: Microchips and the Millennium -- 1. Computers 101: From Bits to Gigabytes and Beyond -- 2. Software: Making a Computer Bend to Your Will -- 3. Wiring the World: Telecommunications and Data Networks -- 4. Lasers: The Light Fantastic -- 5. All in the Genes: DNA Becomes an Industry -- 6. Medicine and Molecules: New Approaches to Drug Development -- 7. Spare Parts and High-Tech Flashlights: Repair Kits and Diagnostics for the Human Body -- 8. Material Improvements: Better Living through Advanced Chemistry -- 9. Mother Earth, Wind, and Fire: Energy for a Small Planet -- 10. Clean Machines: Technology and the Environment -- Conclusion: Great Expectations.

ISBN

0471162930 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

98035327

OCLC

ocm39624756

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries