Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Cropping up everywhere, whether steel latticework or tapered monopoles, encrusted with fiberglass antennas, cell towers raise up high into the air the communications equipment that channels our calls, texts, and downloads. For security reasons, their locations are never advertised. But it's our romantic notions of connectivity that hide them in plain sight. We want the network to be invisible, ethereal, and ubiquitous. The cell tower stands as a challenge to these desires. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Cell towers and 'stealth' antennas are cropping up all over, despite vehement objections from communities. Health and safety questions arise, but are often dismissed by planners & zoners - the people entrusted to protect community welfare - who have been told they cannot consider such questions. But safety concerns about radiofrequency radiation (RF) used in all wireless technologies, span decades and have yet to be resolved, despite increasing exposures. Cell Towers... cuts through the rhetoric to address the complex issues. With chapters by prominent scientists, government officials, physicists, engineers, and attorneys, the book is the most comprehensive and balanced resource available today. - Are the health concerns justified? What does the science say? - What are the roles of the lead government agencies: EPA? FCC? - Are the RF exposure standards reliable and current? - Are other species - such as birds - of concern? - What about property devaluation? Liability? Case law? - What can communities do? What are good zoning regulations? - Are we on an environmental collision course with ambient energy? "Finally, a publication dealing with the very timely and important issue of cell towers. Following Levitt's excellent overview of the problem, the book takes us through relevant scientific and regulatory issues in a thorough, easy-to understand manner. This is essential reference work for laypersons, as well as those in science, policy development, regulation, and legislation." - Jerry L. Phillips, Ph.D., Bioelectromagnetics Consultant, former Research Scientist, Cancer Therapy & Research Center in San Antonio, Texas, and Pettis Memorial VA Hospital in Loma Linda, California

“If Thoreau drank more whiskey and lived in the desert, he’d write like this.”—High Country News Welcome to the land of wildfire, hypothermia, desiccation, and rattlers. The stark and inhospitable high-elevation landscape of Nevada’s Great Basin Desert may not be an obvious (or easy) place to settle down, but for self-professed desert rat Michael Branch, it’s home. Of course, living in such an unforgiving landscape gives one many things to rant about. Fortunately for us, Branch—humorist, environmentalist, and author of Raising Wild—is a prodigious ranter. From bees hiving in the walls of his house to owls trying to eat his daughters’ cat—not to mention his eccentric neighbors—adventure, humor, and irreverence abound on Branch’s small slice of the world, which he lovingly calls Ranting Hill.

From the Foreword by Dr Valmond Ghyoot, Emeritus Professor of Real Estate, University of South Africa: ‘The valuation profession, the legal profession, property industry participants in general and students will welcome publication of this book. Investors, environmental groups and affected property owners will find essential information for use in their decision-making, development objections and claims. My hope is that [it] will provide answers where required and that it will help to improve the professional standard of valuations and appraisals internationally. I trust that it will also raise the standard of testimony in damages cases. If so, the editors and contributors will have succeeded in documenting the state of the art in this relatively unexplored terrain.’ As a reference source, this book will help quantify the negative impacts on property values of high voltage overhead transmission lines, cell phone towers, and wind turbines. It gives a modern perspective of the concerns property owners have about the siting of industrial structures used to transmit or generate various forms of energy and how these concerns impact on property values. Studies reveal concerns the public have about devices and structures that emit electromagnetic fields (EMFs) due to their potential health hazards. . Despite some research reports suggesting there are no potential adverse health hazards from high voltage overhead transmission lines (HVOTLs) and towers, there is still on-going concern about the siting of these structures due to fears of health risks from exposure to EMFs, changes in neighbourhood aesthetics and loss in property values. The siting of wind turbines is also receiving community opposition due to noise, light flicker, aesthetic concerns, and loss in property values. The extent to which such attitudes are reflected in lower property values is not well understood. Towers, Turbines and Transmission Lines: Impacts on Property Value outlines results of studies conducted in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand and offers guidance to valuers as well as to property/real estate appraisal students and property owners around the world. The book provides defensible tools that are becoming widely accepted to assess the effect that these environmental detriments have on property prices.

Windows® Phone 8 Unleashed is the definitive guide to Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 platform for intermediate to advanced developers. Written by Microsoft MVP and leading Windows Phone and WPF innovator Daniel Vaughan, this full-color guide covers everything developers need to rapidly build highly competitive Windows Phone 8 mobile apps. Vaughan teaches through complete sample apps—leveraging the MVVM pattern—illuminating each key concept with fully explained code and real-world context. He presents best practices for building highly functional, maintainable, and attractive mobile interfaces; integrating touch, rich media, and data; testing; profiling; and more. Expanded and updated, Vaughan shares expert insights available in no other book, drawing on his exceptional access to the Windows Phone development team through the elite Microsoft Silverlight and WPF Insiders group. Along the way, he presents exceptionally practical and thorough coverage of many powerful new Windows Phone 8 platform enhancements, including full chapters on voice commands and speech synthesis, incorporating speech-driven experiences, Wallet integration, new Live Tile capabilities, the Nokia Maps control, launching apps via file and protocol associations, and much more. Detailed information on how to… * Get started quickly with Windows Phone XAML development in Visual Studio * Master the Capabilities Model, threading, and the Execution Model * Create attractive mobile interfaces using Windows Phone’s rich set of controls, including the Windows Phone Toolkit * Make the most of the application bar and other interface elements * Enhance user experience with advanced support for touch, gestures, and sensors * Build location-aware apps that use Nokia Maps and location services * Incorporate speech-driven experiences * Quickly internationalize apps for global markets * Leverage Windows Phone 8’s improved camera support * Connect apps to online services via SOAP, REST, and OData * Validate user input on the client side or via WCF services * Use Windows Phone 8’s powerful local database support * Implement background actions, file transfers, and audio playback * Automatically launch your app using file and protocol associations * Unit test to find defects earlier, saving time and money