"First Magnitude" is an entry-level book for readers with brightly lit skies. Its purpose is to show them that all is not lost, that they can still enjoy personal astronomy and have an appreciation of the heavens no matter where they live. It concentrates on the Sun, Moon, the five bright planets, and on the 23 brightest stars, which are visible from just about anywhere. The book concludes with bright ephemeral phenomena: meteors, comets, and exploding stars. The concept is a platform for introducing the reader to the wonders of the nighttime and daytime skies and serves as an introduction to general astronomy.James Kaler takes delight in sharing with us his extensive knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for the study of the skies. He further discusses his thoughts on the evolving field of astronomy and expresses his surprise at having an asteroid named after him in honor of his outreach activities.

The untold story of the FBI informants who penetrated the upper reaches of organizations such as the Communist Party, USA, the Black Panther Party, the Revolutionary Union and other groups labeled threats to the internal security of the United States. Sometime in the late fall/early winter of 1962, a document began circulating among members of the Communist Party USA based in the Chicago area, titled “Whither the Party of Lenin.” It was signed “The Ad Hoc Committee for Scientific Socialist Line.” This was not the work of factionally inclined CP comrades, but rather something springing from the counter-intelligence imagination of the FBI. A Threat of the First Magnitude tells the story of the FBI’s fake Maoist organization and the informants they used to penetrate the highest levels of the Communist Party USA, the Black Panther Party, the Revolutionary Union and other groups labelled threats to the internal security of the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. As once again the FBI is thrust into the spotlight of US politics, A Threat of a First Magnitude offers a view of the historic inner-workings of the Bureau’s counterintelligence operations — from generating "fake news" and the utilization of "sensitive intelligence methods" to the handling of "reliable sources" — that matches or exceeds the sophistication of any contenders.

Are statements of fact true or only more or less useful? This question is of vital importance, because it cuts to the core of the nature of truth; it leads to decisive choices in modern philosophy. Beneath the concept ́truth ́ serious problems defy and resist philosophic analysis; revealing and resolving them is the early focus of PHILOSOPHY THAT WORKS. The way things are, people mix up what they mean by ́truth ́ and get bound up in fallacies that condemn human knowledge to seeminly pointless relativism. But an adequate understanding of ́truth ́ transforms philosophy and individual undertanding, improves thinking itself, and strengthens education, organizations, and society. Showing how so much progress is possible is the business end of this book, the payoff of its thoughtful investigations into truth and knowledge. PHILOSOPHY THAT WORKS is an intellectual adventure, an impassioned story about navigating philosophy from its backwaters down a great river of advancing civilization. The philosopher, disillusioned with academic philosophies, begins an investigation into the many meanings of truth. He makes a lasting discovery that changes what philosophy itself can achieve and what it can mean. He faces daunting tasks but reconfigures philosophy; confusion concerning truth resolves into clear understanding. Who should join the adventure'. Not only philosophers. This is a book for everyone who likes to think. It has power, narrative conviction, and a soulful center that resonates through its pages. (From the Introduction) "...Albert Einstein once mentioned that humanity cannot solve its vexing problems at the same level of thought that produced the crisis. A higher level of thinking will require a philosophic transformation. That ́s what Philosophy That Works is all about. Despite postmodern skepticism, a simplistic true and false outlook on reality remains the commonplace of a civilization; this is the level that has produced the crisis. This book describes a basic change in the dominant paradigm of the age. It shows that a colossal mistake underlies the commonsense outlook, an error that has prevented consensus about what is real and, therefore, what life can mean: it penetrates the problem to its heart..."