The 2030 Spike

The 2030 Spike
Author: Colin Mason
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2013-06-17
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1136555110

Download The 2030 Spike Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The clock is relentlessly ticking! Our world teeters on a knife-edge between a peaceful and prosperous future for all, and a dark winter of death and destruction that threatens to smother the light of civilization. Within 30 years, in the 2030 decade, six powerful 'drivers' will converge with unprecedented force in a statistical spike that could tear humanity apart and plunge the world into a new Dark Age. Depleted fuel supplies, massive population growth, poverty, global climate change, famine, growing water shortages and international lawlessness are on a crash course with potentially catastrophic consequences. In the face of both doomsaying and denial over the state of our world, Colin Mason cuts through the rhetoric and reams of conflicting data to muster the evidence to illustrate a broad picture of the world as it is, and our possible futures. Ultimately his message is clear; we must act decisively, collectively and immediately to alter the trajectory of humanity away from catastrophe. Offering over 100 priorities for immediate action, The 2030 Spike serves as a guidebook for humanity through the treacherous minefields and wastelands ahead to a bright, peaceful and prosperous future in which all humans have the opportunity to thrive and build a better civilization. This book is powerful and essential reading for all people concerned with the future of humanity and planet earth.

The Spell of the Sensuous

The Spell of the Sensuous
Author: David Abram
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2012-10-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0307830551

Download The Spell of the Sensuous Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Winner of the International Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction Animal tracks, word magic, the speech of stones, the power of letters, and the taste of the wind all figure prominently in this intellectual tour de force that returns us to our senses and to the sensuous terrain that sustains us. This major work of ecological philosophy startles the senses out of habitual ways of perception. For a thousand generations, human beings viewed themselves as part of the wider community of nature, and they carried on active relationships not only with other people with other animals, plants, and natural objects (including mountains, rivers, winds, and weather patters) that we have only lately come to think of as "inanimate." How, then, did humans come to sever their ancient reciprocity with the natural world? What will it take for us to recover a sustaining relation with the breathing earth? In The Spell of the Sensuous David Abram draws on sources as diverse as the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Balinese shamanism, Apache storytelling, and his own experience as an accomplished sleight-of-hand of magician to reveal the subtle dependence of human cognition on the natural environment. He explores the character of perception and excavates the sensual foundations of language, which--even at its most abstract--echoes the calls and cries of the earth. On every page of this lyrical work, Abram weaves his arguments with a passion, a precision, and an intellectual daring that recall such writers as Loren Eisleley, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez.

Consilience

Consilience
Author: E. O. Wilson
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2014-11-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0804154066

Download Consilience Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them." —The Wall Street Journal One of our greatest scientists—and the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for On Human Nature and The Ants—gives us a work of visionary importance that may be the crowning achievement of his career. In Consilience (a word that originally meant "jumping together"), Edward O. Wilson renews the Enlightenment's search for a unified theory of knowledge in disciplines that range from physics to biology, the social sciences and the humanities. Using the natural sciences as his model, Wilson forges dramatic links between fields. He explores the chemistry of the mind and the genetic bases of culture. He postulates the biological principles underlying works of art from cave-drawings to Lolita. Presenting the latest findings in prose of wonderful clarity and oratorical eloquence, and synthesizing it into a dazzling whole, Consilience is science in the path-clearing traditions of Newton, Einstein, and Richard Feynman.

Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences

Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences
Author: Kristin Luker
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2010-04-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0674265491

Download Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

“You might think that dancing doesn’t have a lot to do with social research, and doing social research is probably why you picked this book up in the first place. But trust me. Salsa dancing is a practice as well as a metaphor for a kind of research that will make your life easier and better.” Savvy, witty, and sensible, this unique book is both a handbook for defining and completing a research project, and an astute introduction to the neglected history and changeable philosophy of modern social science. In this volume, Kristin Luker guides novice researchers in: knowing the difference between an area of interest and a research topic; defining the relevant parts of a potentially infinite research literature; mastering sampling, operationalization, and generalization; understanding which research methods best answer your questions; beating writer’s block. Most important, she shows how friendships, non-academic interests, and even salsa dancing can make for a better researcher. “You know about setting the kitchen timer and writing for only an hour, or only 15 minutes if you are feeling particularly anxious. I wrote a fairly large part of this book feeling exactly like that. If I can write an entire book 15 minutes at a time, so can you.”

The Disappearing Spoon

The Disappearing Spoon
Author: Sam Kean
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2010-07-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0316089087

Download The Disappearing Spoon Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, finance, mythology, the arts, medicine, and more, as told by the Periodic Table. Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why is gallium (Ga, 31) the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Periodic Table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, betrayal, and obsession. These fascinating tales follow every element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, and in the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. The Disappearing Spoon masterfully fuses science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, and discovery -- from the Big Bang through the end of time. Though solid at room temperature, gallium is a moldable metal that melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. A classic science prank is to mold gallium spoons, serve them with tea, and watch guests recoil as their utensils disappear.

ULYSSES (Modern Classics Series)

ULYSSES (Modern Classics Series)
Author: James Joyce
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 708
Release: 2024-01-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Download ULYSSES (Modern Classics Series) Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This carefully crafted ebook: "ULYSSES (Modern Classics Series)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Ulysses is a modernist novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is considered to be one of the most important works of modernist literature, and has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement". Ulysses chronicles the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June 1904. Ulysses is the Latinised name of Odysseus, the hero of Homer's epic poem Odyssey, and the novel establishes a series of parallels between its characters and events and those of the poem (the correspondence of Leopold Bloom to Odysseus, Molly Bloom to Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus to Telemachus). Joyce divided Ulysses into 18 chapters or "episodes". At first glance much of the book may appear unstructured and chaotic; Joyce once said that he had "put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant", which would earn the novel "immortality". James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses, the short-story collection Dubliners, and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegans Wake.

Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor

Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Author: Rob Nixon
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2011-06-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 067424799X

Download Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The violence wrought by climate change, toxic drift, deforestation, oil spills, and the environmental aftermath of war takes place gradually and often invisibly. Using the innovative concept of "slow violence" to describe these threats, Rob Nixon focuses on the inattention we have paid to the attritional lethality of many environmental crises, in contrast with the sensational, spectacle-driven messaging that impels public activism today. Slow violence, because it is so readily ignored by a hard-charging capitalism, exacerbates the vulnerability of ecosystems and of people who are poor, disempowered, and often involuntarily displaced, while fueling social conflicts that arise from desperation as life-sustaining conditions erode. In a book of extraordinary scope, Nixon examines a cluster of writer-activists affiliated with the environmentalism of the poor in the global South. By approaching environmental justice literature from this transnational perspective, he exposes the limitations of the national and local frames that dominate environmental writing. And by skillfully illuminating the strategies these writer-activists deploy to give dramatic visibility to environmental emergencies, Nixon invites his readers to engage with some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Brand New Justice

Brand New Justice
Author: Simon Anholt
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2006-08-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136426078

Download Brand New Justice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Recently vilified as the prime dynamic driving home the breach between poor and rich nations, here the branding process is rehabilitated as a potential saviour of the economically underprivileged. Brand New Justice, now in a revised paperback edition, systematically analyses the success stories of the Top Thirteen nations, demonstrating that their wealth is based on the 'last mile' of the commercial process: buying raw materials and manufacturing cheaply in third world countries, these countries realise their lucrative profits by adding value through finishing, packaging and marketing and then selling the branded product on to the end-user at a hugely inflated price. The use of sophisticated global media techniques alongside a range of creative marketing activities are the lynchpins of this process. Applying his observations on economic history and the development and impact of global marketing, Anholt presents a cogent plan for developing nations to benefit from globalization. So long the helpless victim of capitalist trading systems, he shows that they can cross the divide and graduate from supplier nation to producer nation. Branding native produce on a global scale, making a commercial virtue out of perceived authenticity and otherness and fully capitalising on the 'last mile' benefits are key to this graduation and fundamental to forging a new global economic balance. Anholt argues with a forceful logic, but also backs his hypothesis with enticing glimpses of this process actually beginning to take place. Examining activities in India, Thailand, Russia and Africa among others, he shows the risks, challenges and pressures inherent in 'turning the tide', but above all he demonstrates the very real possibility of enlightened capitalism working as a force for good in global terms.

Cuisine and Culture

Cuisine and Culture
Author: Linda Civitello
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2011-03-29
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0470403713

Download Cuisine and Culture Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

An illuminating account of how history shapes our diets—now in a new revised and updated Third Edition Why did the ancient Romans believe cinnamon grew in swamps guarded by giant killer bats? How did African cultures imported by slavery influence cooking in the American South? What does the 700-seat McDonald's in Beijing serve in the age of globalization? With the answers to these and many more such questions, Cuisine and Culture, Third Edition presents an engaging, entertaining, and informative exploration of the interactions among history, culture, and food. From prehistory and the earliest societies in the Fertile Crescent to today's celebrity chefs, Cuisine and Culture, Third Edition presents a multicultural and multiethnic approach to understanding how and why major historical events have affected and defined the culinary traditions in different societies. Now revised and updated, this Third Edition is more comprehensive and insightful than ever before. Covers prehistory through the present day—from the discovery of fire to the emergence of television cooking shows Explores how history, culture, politics, sociology, and religion have determined how and what people have eaten through the ages Includes a sampling of recipes and menus from different historical periods and cultures Features French and Italian pronunciation guides, a chronology of food books and cookbooks of historical importance, and an extensive bibliography Includes all-new content on technology, food marketing, celebrity chefs and cooking television shows, and Canadian cuisine. Complete with revealing historical photographs and illustrations, Cuisine and Culture is an essential introduction to food history for students, history buffs, and food lovers.

Homo Deus

Homo Deus
Author: Yuval Noah Harari
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2017-02-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0062464353

Download Homo Deus Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Official U.S. edition with full color illustrations throughout. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods. Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda. What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus. With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari maps out our future.