John Biggs

An in-depth exploration of psilocybin and its resurgence, use, impact, and potential. Once upon a time, John Biggs thought mushrooms were for hippies and ravers. Now he calls them medicine. In Shroomies: Our Search for Happiness Through Modern Mycology, tech journalist and unapologetic skeptic John Biggs trades Silicon Valley for psilocybin. What begins as a personal experiment to escape depression becomes a sweeping exploration of the psychedelic renaissance—how mushrooms are transforming minds, mending trauma, and redefining what it means to be human. From underground retreats in Brooklyn to cutting-edge neuroscience labs and legal mushroom clinics, Biggs chronicles a cultural revolution in real time. Along the way, he meets grieving widows, veterans with PTSD, and burnt-out tech founders—all drawn to a strange little fungus promising something antidepressants can’t deliver: meaning. Smart, funny, and unexpectedly moving, Shroomies bridges memoir and reportage with a cynic’s wit and a seeker’s heart. Biggs offers a grounded, clear-eyed look at how psilocybin works, why it’s capturing the world’s imagination, and what happens when an exhausted generation decides to look inward instead of logging on. For readers of Michael Pollan, Merlin Sheldrake, and Rachel Nuwer, Shroomies is both a guide and a trip—a story of transformation, connection, and the ancient intelligence hiding in plain sight.

This book will help you leverage your own social media through techniques used by influencer agencies, and successful digital marketers. Learn how influencer marketing amplifies word of mouth and reputation to leverage your own community. This book will trace the history of influencer marketing, highlighting key milestones and shifts in consumer preferences. It will guide readers on discovering their unique niche within the influencer space, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and passion. It will show you strategies for developing a strong personal brand that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart from competitors and share practical tips and techniques for creating compelling content across various platforms, including visual storytelling, copywriting, and video production. Through this book, you will learn techniques to communicate your story, manage your reputation, and grow your own influence.

“Biggs and Tang, now with Kennedy, have ensured this new edition remains an international leader for university teaching for the next decade.” Denise Chalmers AM, Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia, Australia“This book, a fifth edition, can truly be called a “classic” on the topic of teaching, learning and curriculum design in higher education.” Michael Prosser, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, Australia“You should be inspired to increase the quality of your teaching, your learning, and your learning about teaching.” John R. Kirby, Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology, Queen’s University, CanadaThe concept of constructive alignment has supported generations of students and teachers within higher education. It is a ‘backward design’ method of teaching where the student outcomes are identified first and the teacher then designs teaching activities to enable students to achieve those outcomes, assessing how well they have been achieved. Each chapter outlines how to design the learning outcomes, teaching and assessments for success in learning. This updated edition of Teaching for Quality Learning at University: • Provides a comprehensive, research-based theory of teaching for teacher reflection • Outlines how educational technology can be used in constructively aligned teaching • Helps staff developers to provide support for staff and departments in line with institutional policies • Offers a framework for quality assurance and quality enhancement across a whole institution Teaching for Quality Learning at University continues to be used as a framework for designing higher education teaching systems globally and is essential reading for those in the field. John Biggs has held Chairs in Education in Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. He has published extensively on student learning and the implications of his research for teaching. He developed his concept of constructive alignment at the University of Hong Kong, first outlined in Teaching for Quality Learning at University in 1999. Catherine Tang has over 15 years of teaching experience in tertiary education and is the former Head of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Supervision at the Education University of Hong Kong (the then Hong Kong Institute of Education) and the Educational Development Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Gregor Kennedy is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Melbourne, Australia and a Professor of Higher Education in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education.

From a TechCrunch founder and award-winning strategist comes the most comprehensive guide to the newest fundraising options for today’s entrepreneurs. Fundraising for startups has changed dramatically in the past decade. There was a time when VCs were rock stars and a founder with a big idea and a little drive could raise a few hundred thousand dollars to build a business. But those days are gone. In the aftermath of the Great Recession and a massive drop in tech investments, it’s become harder and harder for founders to raise money. The good news? Today’s entrepreneurs have more options than ever before—with greater opportunities to get the ball rolling, get investors excited, and Get Funded! A comprehensive, cutting-edge guide from tech journalist and entrepreneur John Biggs and communication strategist Eric Villines, Get Funded! will enable you to:Create a solid business plan and a powerful story that investors respond toExplore a wide range of funding options—and find the ones that are right for youUnderstand valuation and dilutionPlan, prepare, and deliver the perfect pitchRaise money through grants, micro-loans, micro-donations, and crowdfundingTake advantage of the latest online resources and financial toolsFilled with step-by-step strategies, ready-to-use resources, and on-the-ground insights, this is a must-read for every entrepreneur. Even if you’ve started a business before, you’ll discover a whole new funding landscape with exciting tech-driven models-including crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and Patreon, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, IEOs (Initial Exchange Offerings), micro-loans, and micro-donations-as well as more traditional, tried-and-true methods. Beyond a road map to the current world of funding, Get Funded! provides proven strategies for pitching, marketing, bootstrapping, and more. It’s a complete 360-degree tool with easy-to-follow worksheets and online resources that will help you build a sustainable funding strategy that’s right for your business—and crucial to your success. Whether you’re starting a food truck or a biotech startup, Get Funded! has got you covered.

'This book illustrates just how destructive neoliberalism has been to ordinary citizens, and how the two-party system has been corrupted by greedy politicians who have placed their own and corporate interests above those of the people they are supposed to be representing. Biggs writes clearly and convincingly. I thoroughly recommend Waves of Unreason to anyone interested in the state of current politics in Australia - and that includes politicians.' - The Hon. Andrew Wilkie MLA'This is an important book. It restates so very many obvious truths. Chief among them that neoliberalism, the predominant philosophy of recent (largely white) Western humankind, is stuffed. It is a false path...doomed. John Biggs makes this point very powerfully. He details how the drift to neoliberalism received a huge impetus under a "socialist" Labor government during the Hawke-Keating era. We have been sliding backwards ever since, no more exemplified than during the Abbott government, and if Australia continues along the path of neoliberalism, the immense divide between the Haves and the Have-nots will inexorably increase. Pray we do not...' - Lindsay Tuffin, long-time journalist and news editor, founder and editor of tasmaniantimes.com

Serverless computing is radically changing the way we build and deploy applications. With cloud providers running servers and managing machine resources, companies now can focus solely on the application's business logic and functionality. This hands-on book shows experienced programmers how to build and deploy scalable machine learning and deep learning models using serverless architectures with Microsoft Azure. You'll learn step-by-step how to code machine learning into your projects using Python and pre-trained models that include tools such as image recognition, speech recognition, and classification. You'll also examine issues around deployment and continuous delivery including scaling, security, and monitoring. This book is divided into four parts: Cloud-based development: learn the basics of serverless computing with machine learning, functions as a service (FaaS), and the use of APIs Adding intelligence: create serverless applications using Azure Functions; learn how to use pre-built machine-learning and deep-learning models Deployment and continuous delivery: get up to speed with Azure Kubernetes Service, as well as Azure Security Center, and Azure Monitoring Application examples: deliver data at the edge, build conversational interfaces, and use convolutional neural networks for image classification

Imagine if, right now, clattering underneath your feet was a secret train system that could take you anywhere in minutes. Imagine a trip full of mystery and excitement from New York to Barcelona to the wind-swept coast of Italy to the edge of space. Imagine dangerous strangers, amazing friends, and high adventure. Imagine Mytro. Now join us on the next leg of the adventure, Nayzun. Written for young adults but fun for all ages, Mytro is the story of a secret subway system, the kids who discover it, and the strange and dangerous group bent on taking control of it. It's full of fun, adventure, and intrigue.

Anyone can build a blog. It‘s quite easy. The difficult part is keeping it relevant, technically sound, and popular. Bloggers Boot Camp shows you how to blog for success. It teaches you how to find a niche, find your unique voice, and how to hold a conversation with an audience. It provides information on all the right tools for the blog, and it offers best ways to promote your blog and content for maximum success and a profitable life. Though rules in creating compelling content haven‘t really changed, ways in which the world blogs has since the last edition. The authors have learned a lot about social media since writing the previous edition‘s manuscript. They understand and know how social media can make or break a blog. Microblogging is a new trend brought on by the wide utilization of social media. To that same end, networking with other bloggers and content creators on the web is another form of building one‘s blog and one‘s reputation as a writer.

"Marie Antoinette's Watch is a wonderful book." - William Gibson, author of Neuromancer. Across continents and into and out of the hands of royalty, revolutionaries, smugglers, thieves, and the world's greatest tech engineers, was Marie Antoinette's watch, the "160," worth an estimated $40 million in today's dollars. Perhaps the most sought after personal technology device of the last 200 years, the timepiece, designed by the legendary Abraham-Louis Breguet, is the launching point for a thrilling and fluidly woven set of narratives that are, in part, forbidden love story, historical document, and police procedural. Marie Antoinette's Watch also deftly lays out the history of horology and the 18th Century engineering feats attained in Paris's answer to Silicon Valley, the le de la Cit , that made the watch the most intricate and prized personal device of its time - something that's come full circle today. In the hands of Techcrunch's East Coast Editor, John Biggs, Marie Antoinette's Watch is by turns edifying and lurid, historical and utterly modern. Culminating in a heist in a Tel Aviv antiquities museum in the 1980s, Biggs tells the story of how one object can transform countries, cultures, high technology, and time itself.

This is a collection of stories about dead bodies. Not the undead, not the walking dead, and not the unquiet spirits that remain after death (although some of our bodies certainly move around, and the odd ghostly figure may be seen flitting here and there between the covers). The stories span a range of genres from crime through gothic fantasy and out to the further reaches of horror, but all of them have as their central focus the adventures that befall, well, let's not mince words, Corpses. Stiffs. Cadavers. We're sure that you will enjoy the collection. And that once you've finished it, you will never again think that death is the end, even if you don't believe in an afterlife.

Anyone can build a blog. It’s quite easy. The difficult part is keeping it relevant, technically sound, and popular. Bloggers Boot Camp shows you how to blog for success. It teaches you how to find a niche, find your unique voice, and how to hold a conversation with an audience. It provides information on all the right tools for the blog, and it offers best ways to promote your blog and content for maximum success and a profitable life. Though rules in creating compelling content haven’t really changed, ways in which the world blogs has since the last edition. The authors have learned a lot about social media since writing the previous edition’s manuscript. They understand and know how social media can make or break a blog. Microblogging is a new trend brought on by the wide utilization of social media. To that same end, networking with other bloggers and content creators on the web is another form of building one’s blog and one’s reputation as a writer.

Paints a clear, research-based picture of how Chinese students and their teachers see the context of their learning both in Hong Kong and abroad. The focus of much of this research is the question, "How can Chinese learners be so successful academically?".