Ask Ernest

Born and raised in a small South Dakota prairie town, Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901-1958), the grandson of Norwegian immigrants, was educated in country schools and attended the universities of South Dakota, Minnesota, and Chicago before obtaining his PhD at Yale in 1925. At age 29, he became the youngest full professor in the history of the University of California at Berkeley. He received the Nobel prize in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron which became an essential tool during the Manhattan project to enrich uranium via electromagnetic separation at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Lawrence founded and directed Berkeley’s Radiation Laboratory, where ever more powerful cyclotrons were built for basic research and to produce radioisotopes for medical and industrial uses. With Edward Teller, he advocated for the creation in 1952 of the Livermore National Laboratory to spur innovation, provide competition to Los Alamos and focus on the development of thermonuclear weapons. Lawrence had a lasting influence on American physics as the mentor and inspiration of a whole new generation of scientists, and through his role advising the top echelons of American government, research, and industry. When he died, at the age of 57, President Eisenhower said that, in a real sense, Lawrence had given his life for his country. “A remarkable book... must reading for anyone in the scientific or engineering development fields, whether he be a scientist, a researcher, a developer, or even a student still full of dreams of achievement... Throughout the book, the author has constantly brought out the qualities that made Ernest great...” — General Leslie R. Groves, former head of the Manhattan project “A detailed record of the life of an extraordinary man... The author was able to draw on vivid recollections of some 800 people who had known Lawrence and could provide what amounts to a series of detailed eyewitness accounts of important events in Lawrence’s life... a unique and valuable biography... those who have some memory of [Lawrence] will find this book fascinating, and historians will find it a rich source.” — Philip H. Abelson, Science “No other biography portrays so well the atmosphere of scientific research in America during the transition from small laboratories [...] to gigantic institutions... Herbert Childs has made the story of Lawrence’s life, and of his many accomplishments, into a story that can be appreciated by any intelligent reader, and is at the same time a most valuable addition to the scholarly history of science... Herbert Childs’ inspiring story of a great and generous pioneer and leader of modern physics, is a definitive account of an era that was, and will remain, unique in the history of science.” — Mark L. Oliphant,Physics Today “This is an extraordinary book about an extraordinary man... it provides a picture almost without parallel of the life and actions of a great man of science.” — Ralph E. Oesper, Journal of Chemical Education

Worrell has touched the lives of millions of families with his commercials, Disney movies, and TV shows. Now he answers questions that have tormented people throughout the centuries: Why we park on driveways and drive on parkways and how a thermos knows when to keep something hot or cold.

In Travels with Ernest: Crossing the Literary/Sociological Divide, Laurel Richardson and Ernest Lockridge_accomplished sociologist and published novelist_explore the fascinating interplay between literary and ethnographic writing. The exciting result is an intriguing experimental text that simultaneously delves into, reveals, simplifies, and complicates methodologies of writing and conveying experience. Refusing to force their unique voices into one integrated account, the authors_also spouses_explicate their stories in separate narratives and then discuss in transcribed 'free-wheeling' conversations their different constructions of their travels together, travels simultaneously experienced, but recalled and related differently through the filters of distinct professional perceptions, life histories, and interiors. This boundary-crossing text will provide an ideal platform for students and professors interested in understanding and exploring the absorbing complexities and possibilities of ethnographic writing and creative nonfiction.

Claude Wheeler is the son of a successful Nebraskan farmer and a very devout mother. He’s sent to a private religious college because his mother feels it’s safer, but he yearns for State college where he might be able expand his knowledge of the real world. Claude doesn’t feel comfortable in any situation, and almost every step he takes is a wrong one. While he’s struggling to find his way in a questionable marriage, the U.S. decides to enter World War I, and Claude enlists. He’s commissioned as a lieutenant, and he and his outfit are deployed to France in the waning months of the war. There Claude finds the purpose he’s been missing his whole life. One of Ours is Cather’s first novel following the completion of her Prairie Trilogy, which she finished before the U.S. had entered the war. Cather’s cousin Grosvenor had grown up on the farm next to hers, had many of the traits she gave to Claude, and, like her protagonist, went with the Army to France towards the end of the war. After the war was over, she felt compelled to write something different than the novels she had become known for, saying that this one “stood between me and anything else.” Although today it’s not considered her best work, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1923. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

Claude Wheeler is a young man who was born after the American frontier has vanished. The son of a successful farmer and an intensely pious mother, Wheeler is guaranteed a comfortable livelihood. Nevertheless, Wheeler views himself as a victim of his father's success and his own inexplicable malaise.Thus, devoid of parental and spousal love, Wheeler finds a new purpose to his life in France, a faraway country that only existed for him in maps before the First World War. Will Wheeler ever succeed in his new goal? The novel is inspired from real-life events and also won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923.

This multiracial young woman is born into a wealthy family in the sunny isle of Barbados. The story winds it's way from Barbados to England, and on to New York, as readers are given insight into the family that cultivates Gezebel's personality. Characters are brutal in their social relationships as they struggle to live up to, and, exceed the family's high expectations. Gezebel is no exception to the rule, and she strives to follow in her family's footsteps in the most heretical ways... especially when she fends for self in New York!

Ernest Lenihan and Opal Nash met in college and fell in love. They went their seperate ways after and never really kept in touch. Now 30 years later Ernest is ready to retire and Opal is ready for love. He takes a vacation to see her and they rekindle what was left behind a lifetime ago. After catching up and realizing that they are meant to be together something happens that neither or them are prepared for. Meantime Cassandra Nixon and Lt. Nicholas Baldwin are treasure hunting in the Andeman Islands and come across the find of the millenium. The only problem is that they are not able to get to the prize. While attempting to dislodge the item Nick gets a call from NAMA and feels the patriotic duty to go back to the U.S. and serve his country. The only thing that he knows is that someone needs his help, what he doesn't know is that the assistance needed is all he will be able to handle. General Suarez and Colonel Lima run one of the largest drug cartels in the Americas. Thanks to some hikers and an undercover agent they now have a major problem on their hands. The only thing that they can do is try to find the spy and eliminate the problems. The world is a very small place when everyone in it has something or somewhere in common. It's funny how things come together.

It’s 1976 and Ernest Kemp is looking for his wife and daughter. After leaving the US Navy, he finds his way to Hallowell, Maine. He’s an outsider and the townsfolk don’t trust him. Their suspicions increase when someone starts killing children. After being falsely accused and arrested, Ernest teams up with Samantha Belcher as she investigates the murders for the Kennebec Journal. They discover the murders are ritualistic sacrifices. Ernest and Samantha’s issues rise as bullfrogs roam all over town and three new outsiders resemble women from a 100-year-old news article. Will they find the killers and Ernest’s family before another child dies?