From Animals to Animats 4 brings together the latest research at the frontier of an exciting new approach to understanding intelligence.

This book presents an elaborated argument for why functionalism, as well as other dematerialized and disembodied theories of mind, can’t be right. In discussing the question of whether or not we are just material beings, Hilary Putnam once claimed that “we could be made of Swiss cheese and it wouldn't matter.” Fifty years later, functionalism still reigns, and the psychological irrelevance of the materiality of our bodies remains a hardwired assumption of philosophy of mind and cognitive science. As this book shows, the idea of the possibility of a disembodied mind is rooted in a philosophical depreciation of the particular in favor of the abstract, an attitude which runs through Western philosophy as a red thread. The Embodiment of Meaning demonstrates how this privileging of the immaterial-abstract over the material-particular is not only untenable from a logical-philosophical point of view; it also runs counter to a basic fact of human psychology itself: rather than being irrelevant, the world precisely matters most in its material particularity. In addition to offering a thoroughgoing criticism of the Platonic-functionalist “abstract-over-particular” idea, the book aims to substantially contribute to a less ambiguous understanding of the various ways in which “matter matters.”

The preeminent naturalists Albert Hazen Wright and Anna Allen Wright spent years assembling the wealth of material on frogs and toads appearing in this widely used handbook, the third edition of which was originally published in 1949. With abundant black-and-white photographs, colorful descriptions, journal notes from the field, and excerpts from the literature, their personalized natural history emphasizes amphibians observed in the wild. In a foreword to the 1995 paperback edition, Roy McDiarmid, a foremost specialist on frogs and toads, brings the book into historical perspective and supplies information to bring it up to date. Accounts of more than 100 species and subspecies cover such topics as common and scientific names, range, habitat, size, and general appearance, as well as color, structure, voice, and breeding. Separate keys are given for secondary sexual characteristics, eggs, tadpoles, families, and species. Generous quotations from the Wrights' field journals give the reader a sense of the problems and satisfactions of their work.

Don’t miss one of America’s top 100 most-loved novels, selected by PBS’s The Great American Read. This beloved book by E. B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." Illustrations in this ebook appear in vibrant full color on a full-color device and in rich black-and-white on all other devices. Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter. E. B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. It contains illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E. B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books. Whether enjoyed in the classroom or for homeschooling or independent reading, Charlotte's Web is a proven favorite.