Books with author David A. Wells

"The topics and the writing are engaging, with a lighthearted edge that allows the book to be inviting and not intimidating. Overall the quality of writing is excellent. A fine general audience mathematics book, but one that I think is particularly well-suited to younger, curious readers who have a basic knowledge of geometry and a beginning understanding of algebra." — Mathematical Association of America Everything in mathematics has many meanings — every diagram and every figure, every sum and every equation can be "seen" in different ways, just as every sentence in English or in algebra can be variously read and interpreted. This book explores mathematical topics by pointing out remarkable similarities and taking a fresh look at familiar items. Loaded with thought-provoking facts and surprises, it explores the relationships between mathematics and humor, shows how mathematicians use metaphors to name the nameless and to point to hidden connections, and presents a series of challenging puzzles that offer thought-provoking fun. You don't have to be a mathematician to appreciate this playful approach to numbers, patterns, graphs, and pictures. Author David Wells focuses on insight and imagination rather than technique, emphasizing the mystery, intrigue, and other pleasurable aspects of mathematics. Hints for the captivating problems and puzzles appear at the end of the book, in addition to complete solutions.

The signs of climate change are unmistakable even today, but the real transformations have hardly begun. For a generation, we've been taught that warming was a problem of arctic melting and sea levels rising, but in fact it promises to be all-enveloping, driving dramatic changes at every level of our lives, from everyday matters like the supply of chocolate and coffee (likely to dry up) to public health (tens of millions likely to die from pollution) to climate migration (hundreds of millions fleeing unlivable, overheated homelands). We've been taught that warming would be slow-but, barring very dramatic action, each of these impacts is likely to arrive within the length of a new home mortgage signed this year. What will it be like to live on a planet pummeled in these ways? What will it do to our politics, our economy, our culture and sense of history? What will it mean for our collective appetite for climate action? And what explains the fact we have done so little to stop it? These are not abstract scientific questions but immediate and pressing human dramas, dilemmas and nightmares. In The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells undertakes a new kind of storytelling and a new kind of social science to explore the era of human history on which we have just embarked.

This book subverts and surprises. It explores mathematical topics, finding amazing similarities and looking at familiar objects in new ways. It shows mathematics as something mysterious, intriguing and pleasurably puzzling. You do not need to be a mathematician to enjoy this book. The style is relaxed. It emphasises insight and imagination rather than technique. The book also includes many problems and puzzles for you to try, with hints and solutions.

Certainty for finding a cure for the Curse is slipping away...Barty’s only chance to save his family from a devastating curse lies in the past. Barty has always been fascinated with pirate legends and his ancestor, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts. He was one of the most successful pirates of his era, capturing and looting more ships than Blackbeard, Charles Vane, or Jack Rackham.But he never imagines that he’d be thrown into the past, that he’d have an opportunity to fight along side the pirates, or that he’d have to fight so hard to keep the future of his family safe. At first, going back in time is just fun. Barty gets to show his heroism. He gets to live the life of a pirate. Then, he discovers the curse. Cursed treasure. His Grandpa is dying and he realizes that this has something to do with what is going on within his own family. Their illnesses are tied to this curse. In order for Barty to save them, he must figure out where this originated from and how to stop it. Before it is too late and he loses everything he holds dear. Where do you begin searching for the cure? Follow the clues. Lots of them. From the attic, to exploration trips on the Maris Stella, and the pirates themselves, you will find yourself taken to the Golden Age of Piracy and experience what it was like to be a pirate and much more. Grab your sea legs and get ready for a swashbuckling tale of adventure, discovery, and mystery. Pirate Quest Book One is the first book in The Chronicles of Barty Roberts historical fiction/fantasy adventure series.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon.”—Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday DemonWith a new afterwordIt is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible—food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An “epoch-defining book” (The Guardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation—today’s.Praise for The Uninhabitable Earth“The Uninhabitable Earth is the most terrifying book I have ever read. Its subject is climate change, and its method is scientific, but its mode is Old Testament. The book is a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet.”—Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times“Riveting. . . . Some readers will find Mr. Wallace-Wells’s outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too.”—The Economist“Potent and evocative. . . . Wallace-Wells has resolved to offer something other than the standard narrative of climate change. . . . He avoids the ‘eerily banal language of climatology’ in favor of lush, rolling prose.”—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times“The book has potential to be this generation’s Silent Spring.”—The Washington Post“The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book.”—Alan Weisman, The New York Review of Books

The darkness holds so many unknowns for Connor. There could be monsters in the dark, ready to scare him at any moment. The dark hallway keeps Connor from making it to the bathroom. And he has a hard time falling asleep when his older sister Felicia takes his plug-in lamp. But thanks to his cat, Luna, he is comforted enough to fall asleep… and have a nightmare. In the dark and scary forest of his dream, Connor learns that there is nothing scary in the dark, and that even monsters can become his best friends. Connor will learn to overcome his fear of the dark and come to see that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Aaron is the only one left among his friends who isn’t a vampire, a werewolf, a hybrid, a witch, or just plain dead. The handsome athletic guy’s class just graduated. It seemed they were all set for a wonderful summer and a new start. Everyone knew what they wanted to do next. Only Aaron had no plans for the summer never mind the rest of his life. Then a beautiful vampire promises to make him feel alive. Even if it means pulling him in directions he is not sure he wants to go, he accepts. But there is a dark secret that is just below the surface that will change everything. Plans will shatter all around them and nothing will ever be the same, especially for Aaron.

Though tea parties are normally such a fun experience, Connor is confronted with a fear when his sister invites several girls over for a masquerade tea party. The masks are super spooky to Connor, and soon he is too terrified to remain at the tea party, even if he has lost his chance to eat the leftover sweet treats. That night as he falls into a deep sleep, Connor dreams of facing more spooky masks. But thanks to his best friend, Luna the cat, Connor will discover that masks are really not as scary as they appear. After all, they are just being worn by normal people who are playing dress up. As Connor rushes to help a prince from losing his kingdom, Connor will have to face his fears of scary masks and help save everyone.

Connor is close to completing the next level on his video game, Captain Jack and the Space Explorers, when the sound of thunder sends him running for under the bed. It takes his sister, Felicia, no time to see that he is afraid of thunder storms. The sound of the thunder and the flash of lightening has Connor so scared, he won’t even go get a drink of water from the kitchen. That night while Connor sleeps, a nightmare teaches Connor that helping others is a really great thing. And that thunder storms can be pretty cool, too.