Books about Anomalies from Amazon.com

In most respects, Abigail and Brittany Hensel are normal American twins. Born and raised in a small town, they enjoy a close relationship, though each has her own tastes and personality But the Hensels also share a body. Their two heads sit side-by-side on a single torso, with two arms and two legs. They have not only survived, but have developed into athletic, graceful young women. And that, writes Mark S. Blumberg, opens an extraordinary window onto human development and evolution.
In Freaks of Nature, Blumberg turns a scientist's eye on the oddities of nature, showing how a subject once relegated to the sideshow can help explain some of the deepest complexities of biology. Why, for example, does a two-headed human so resemble a two-headed minnow? What we need to understand, Blumberg argues, is that anomalies are the natural products of development, and it is through developmental mechanisms that evolution works. Freaks of Nature induces a kind of intellectual vertigo as it upends our intuitive understanding of biology. What really is an anomaly? Why is a limbless human a "freak," but a limbless reptile-a snake-a successful variation?
What we see as deformities, Blumberg writes, are merely alternative paths for development, which challenge both the creature itself and our ability to fit it into our familiar categories. Rather than mere dead-ends, many anomalies prove surprisingly survivable-as in the case of the goat without forelimbs that learned to walk upright. Blumberg explains how such variations occur, and points to the success of the Hensel sisters and the goat as examples of the extraordinary flexibility inherent in individual development.
In taking seriously a subject that has often been shunned as discomfiting and embarrassing, Mark Blumberg sheds new light on how individuals-and entire species-develop, survive, and evolve..
Price: $16.52 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Richard Thaler challenges the received economic wisdom by revealing many of the paradoxes that abound even in the most painstakingly constructed transactions He presents literate, challenging, and often funny examples of such anomalies as why the winners at auctions are often the real losers--they pay too much and suffer the "winner's curse"--why gamblers bet on long shots at the end of a losing day, why shoppers will save on one appliance only to pass up the identical savings on another, and why sports fans who wouldn't pay more than $200 for a Super Bowl ticket wouldn't sell one they own for less than $400. He also demonstrates that markets do not always operate with the traplike efficiency we impute to them.

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At once a horror fiction, a work of speculative theology, an atlas of demonology, a political samizdat and a philosophic grimoire, CYCLONOPEDIA is work of theory-fiction on the Middle East, where horror is restlessly heaped upon horror. Reza Negarestani bridges the appalling vistas of contemporary world politics and the War on Terror with the archeologies of the Middle East and the natural history of the Earth itself. CYCLONOPEDIA is a middle-eastern Odyssey, populated by archeologists, jihadis, oil smugglers, Delta Force officers, heresiarchs, corpses of ancient gods and other puppets. The journey to the Underworld begins with petroleum basins and the rotting Sun, continuing along the tentacled pipelines of oil, and at last unfolding in the desert, where monotheism meets the Earth's tarry dreams of insurrection against the Sun. 'The Middle East is a sentient entity - it is alive!' concludes renegade Iranian archeologist Dr. Hamid Parsani, before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. The disordered notes he leaves behind testify to an increasingly deranged preoccupation with oil as the 'lubricant' of historical and political narratives. A young American woman arrives in Istanbul to meet a pseudonymous online acquaintance who never arrives. Discovering a strange manuscript in her hotel room, she follows up its cryptic clues only to discover more plot-holes, and begins to wonder whether her friend was a fictional quantity all along. Meanwhile, as the War on Terror escalates, the US is dragged into an asymmetrical engagement with occultures whose principles are ancient, obscure, and saturated in oil. It is as if war itself is feeding upon the warmachines, leveling cities into the desert, seducing the aggressors into the dark heart of oil ....
Price: $14.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In an efficient market, all stocks should be valued at a price that is consistent with available information. But as financial expert Vijay Singal, Ph.D., CFA, points out, there are circumstances under which certain stocks sell at a price higher or lower than the right price. In Beyond the Random Walk, Singal discusses ten such anomalous prices and shows how investors might--or might not--be able to exploit these situations for profit.
The author distills several decades of academic research into a focused discussion of market anomalies that is both accessible and useful to people with varied backgrounds. Past empirical evidence is supplemented with author's own research using more recent data. Anomalies covered include the "December Effect," "Momentum in Industry Stocks," "S&P 500 Index Changes," "Trading by Insiders," and "Merger Arbitrage." In each chapter, the author describes the particular anomaly, explains how it occurs, shows ways to take advantage of the anomaly, and highlights the risks involved. We learn, for example, that shares of stocks that have appreciated in recent months become scarce in late December, because investors wait until January before they sell (to postpone payment of taxes on profits). This scarcity drives the price up--the "December Effect"--and smart buyers can make the equivalent of 75% annual return on a five-day investment. Each chapter includes suggestions for further reading as well as tables and graphs that support the discussion. The book concludes with a preview of many other interesting anomalies and a section on how investor behavior might influence prices.
Clearly written and informative, this well-researched volume is a must read for investors, traders, market specialists, and students of financial markets..
Price: $16.38 [Notify me when price goes down.]

American Indian affairs are much in the public mind today--hotly contested debates over such issues as Indian fishing rights, land claims, and reservation gambling hold our attention While the unique legal status of American Indians rests on the historical treaty relationship between Indian tribes and the federal government, until now there has been no comprehensive history of these treaties and their role in American life.
Francis Paul Prucha, a leading authority on the history of American Indian affairs, argues that the treaties were a political anomaly from the very beginning. The term "treaty" implies a contract between sovereign independent nations, yet Indians were always in a position of inequality and dependence as negotiators, a fact that complicates their current attempts to regain their rights and tribal sovereignty.
Prucha's impeccably researched book, based on a close analysis of every treaty, makes possible a thorough understanding of a legal dilemma whose legacy is so palpably felt today..
Price: $24.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The New York Times calls Bloodroot "legendary" and Vegetarian Times has listed it as one of the ten best vegetarian restaurants in the nation.

Bloodroot is a wonderfully unique restaurant/bookstore tucked away on the same residential street since 1977, in a Bridgeport Connecticut neighborhood with great views of the Long Island Sound. Now everyone can taste the legend with The Best of Bloodroot--two juicy cookbooks filled with time-tested recipes, gorgeous photographs, and fiery essays detailing the authors' cooking and living philosophies. A thorough glossary includes discussion of the ethnic ingredients on which Bloodroot relies. Personal essays describe the owners’ experiences with feminism in a changing world as well as discussions of work ethics, community, economic success, and of course, an examination of the political and moral aspects of vegetarianism and veganism.

Volume Two contains the most exciting collection of over 350 dairy-free recipes available today. It opens with an essay on the merits of coconut milk and coconut oil in vegan cooking, and then dives right into recipes like African Curried Butternut Squash and Banana Soup. Who says eating vegan style has to be boring? Spiced Winter Squash Cake, Yam and Ground-Nut Stew, Southwest Chili Corn Enchiladas, Chilled Thai Rice Paper Spring Rolls, and Callaloo (a Caribbean soup) are just a few of the tastes offered in Volume 2..
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This excursion into the history of bizarre entertainments includes armless calligraphers, mathematical dogs, tightrope-walking fleas and assorted quacks, flimflammers and charlatans of spectacle..
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