The must-have guide to pop culture, history, and world-changing ideas that started in New York City, from the magazine at the center of it all. Since its founding in 1624, New York City has been a place that creates things. What began as a trading post for beaver pelts soon transformed into a hub of technological, social, and cultural innovation—but beyond fostering literal inventions like the elevator (inside Cooper Union in 1853), Q-tips (by Polish immigrant Leo Gerstenzang in 1923), General Tso’s chicken (reimagined for American tastes in the 1970s by one of its Hunanese creators), the singles bar (1965 on the Upper East Side), and Scrabble (1931 in Jackson Heights), the city has given birth to or perfected idioms, forms, and ways of thinking that have changed the world, from Abstract Expressionism to Broadway, baseball to hip-hop, news blogs to neoconservatism to the concept of “downtown.” Those creations and more are all collected in The Encyclopedia of New York, an A-to-Z compendium of unexpected origin stories, hidden histories, and useful guides to the greatest city in the world, compiled by the editors of New York Magazine (a city invention itself, since 1968) and featuring contributions from Rebecca Traister, Jerry Saltz, Frank Rich, Jonathan Chait, Rhonda Garelick, Kathryn VanArendonk, Christopher Bonanos, and more. Here you will find something fascinating and uniquely New York on every page: a history of the city’s skyline, accompanied by a tour guide’s list of the best things about every observation deck; the development of positive thinking and punk music; appreciations of seltzer and alternate-side-of-the-street parking; the oddest object to be found at Ripley’s Believe It or Not!; musical theater next to muckracking and mugging; and the unbelievable revelation that English muffins were created on...West Twentieth Street. Whether you are a lifelong resident, a curious newcomer, or an armchair traveler, this is the guidebook you’ll need, straight from the people who know New York best.

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Contains short biographies of almost 1,000 scientists from around the world who made great contributions to science throughout history.

First published in 1988, this book contains entries on famous American Humorists. Humor has been present in American literature, from the beginning, and has developed characteristics that reflect the American character, both regional and national. Although American literature was, in the past, treated as inferior to British literature, there has always been a large popular audience for the genre, which this book shows. The figures with entries in this encyclopedia not only amuse in their writing, but also aim to enlighten- setting out to expose the foibles and foolishness of society and the individuals who compose it. It is the manner in which these authors try to accomplish this end that determines whether they appear in the volume. Indeed, the book will demonstrate that the best humor has at its base, a ready understanding of human nature.

The "laws" that govern our physical universe come in many guises-as principles, theorems, canons, equations, axioms, models, and so forth. They may be empirical, statistical, or theoretical, their names may reflect the person who first expressed them, the person who publicized them, or they might simply describe a phenomenon. However they may be named, the discovery and application of physical laws have formed the backbone of the sciences for 3,000 years. They exist by thousands. Laws and Models: Science, Engineering, and Technology-the fruit of almost 40 years of collection and research-compiles more than 1,200 of the laws and models most frequently encountered and used by engineers and technologists. The result is a collection as fascinating as it is useful. Each entry consists of a statement of the law or model, its date of origin, a one-line biography of the people involved in its formulation, sources of information about the law, and cross-references. Illustrated and highly readable, this book offers a unique presentation of the vast and rich collection of laws that rule our universe. Everyone with an interest in the inner workings of nature-from engineers to students, from teachers to journalists-will find Laws and Models to be not only a handy reference, but an engaging volume to read and browse.