Publisher description: It's a common belief that the stories we encounter through mass media--whether in video games, action movies, or political comedy skits on Saturday Night Live--are just entertaining fantasies that have no tangible impact on our everyday lives, attitudes, and choices. Not so, says Karen Dill in this lively and provocative book. As much as we may want to deny it, the images, sounds, and narratives that bombard us daily have ample...

An exciting introduction to consciousness research and its applications to our waking and sleeping moments.

Alice Griffin's comprehensive appraisal of Arthur Miller's theatrical canon illumines the international importance of a playwright whose work is a mirror of American life. Griffin demonstrates that Miller's plays, though seemingly centered on uniquely American issues, speak to audiences from Brazil to Russia, Iceland to China - the last being a country where Death of a Salesman has enjoyed tremendous popularity despite the unfamiliarity of the Chinese...

A hands-on guide to thermodynamics that offers easily understood explanations of how energy is used in things, from air conditioners to electric power plants and more! Overview: Take some heat off the complexity of thermodynamics. Does the mere thought of thermodynamics make you sweat? It doesn't have to! This hands-on guide helps you score your highest in a thermodynamics course by offering easily understood, plain-English explanations of how energy...