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Branding : a very short introduction / by Jones, Robert,1957 August 31-;
Includes bibliographical references, Internet addresses and indexIn this 'Very Short Introduction' Robert Jones discusses the rising omnipresence of brands, and analyses how they work their magic. He considers the incredible potency of brands as a commercial, social, and cultural force, and looks at the many different kinds of brands that exist - from products, services, and artistic properties, to companies, charities, sports clubs, and political parties. Defining what we mean by the word 'brand', he explores both the positive and negative aspects of brands. Finally Jones considers the business of branding, and asks whether the idea of brands and branding is starting to decline, or whether it has a long future ahead.LSC
Subjects: Branding (Marketing); Brand name products.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Power metal : the race for the resources that will shape the future / by Beiser, Vince,1965-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."How the metals we need to power technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and murder -- and how we can do better. An Australian multimillionaire's plan to mine the ocean floor. Garbage pickers in Nigeria risking their lives to salvage e-waste amid nightmarish pollution. A Bill Gates-backed entrepreneur harnessing artificial intelligence to find metals in the Arctic. Train-robbing copper thieves in Chile. These are some of the people in the intensifying global competition to locate and extract the minerals essential for two critical technologies that will shape humanity's future: the internet and renewable energy. It's a race that will create new industries, generate enormous wealth, and destabilize the global balance of power. It could propel us to a more sustainable future -- or plunge us into an environmental nightmare. In Power Metal, journalist and author Vince Beiser explores the Achilles' heel of green power and digital technology: that the manufacturing of our computers, cell phones, electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines requires enormous amounts of increasingly rare materials -- lithium, cobalt, copper, and others -- the demand for which is skyrocketing. Around the world, businesses and governments are scrambling for new places and new ways to get those metals, at enormous cost to people and the planet. Beiser crisscrossed the world to witness this race, reporting on the damage it is already inflicting, the ways it could get worse, and the ways in which we can minimize that damage. The result is a book that is both a gripping read and a sobering account of the battle between what civilization demands and what the planet can withstand. Power Metal is a compelling and important glimpse into this new, disturbing, and exciting world"--
Subjects: Mineral industries; Mines and mineral resources; Rare earth metals; Strategic materials; Sustainable development;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How to be well : navigating our self-care epidemic, one dubious cure at a time / by Larocca, Amy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A groundbreaking cultural, political, and personal exploration of the multi-billion dollar wellness industry and the ways it's shaping our thinking about health and self-care. Peleton. Pilates. Biohacking. Colonics. Ashweganda. Today, the wellness industry is a $3.7 trillion dollar behemoth that touches us all. In this urgently needed book, journalist Amy Larocca peels back the layers behind the movement and reckons with its promises and profits. How did we get here and how did the idea of wellness become integrated with women's lives? How to Be Well takes readers into the communities that swear by their activated charcoal toothpaste and green juice enemas, explaining what each of these practices really are -- and what the science says. Larocca holds a magnifying glass to alternative medicine and nouveau lifestyle prescriptions, delivering an incisive assessment of how the wellness industry embodies our (gendered, class-based, racialized) perceptions of care and self-improvement, and how it preys upon our unshakeable fear of the unknown. She traces the history of how the beauty and fashion industries has peddled snake oil to women for decades -- and why we keep coming back for more. A nuanced portrait of the weird world of wellness, How to Be Well lays bare the ways in which the simple notion of caring for oneself has become a seriously big business"--
Subjects: Health products; Health promotion; Women; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Ai Weiwei / by Gaensheimer, Susanne,editor.; Krystof, Doris,editor.; Wolf, Falk,editor.; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Germany),host institution.;
Everything is art. Everything is politics, says internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei. His statement informs this comprehensive book that features sculptural installations, photographs, and videos from every aspect of the artist's forty year career and touches on many contemporary social issues. The works featured in the book include Straight, Ai's gigantic installation made from 150 tons of rebar salvaged from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which comments on governmental corruption and negligence, and Sunflower Seeds for which the artist filled the enormous Turbine Hall of London's Tate Modern with 100,000,000 porcelain seeds, each made by Chinese craftspeople. Also highlighted are his most recent works addressing the refugee crisis, such as Laundromat and Life Cycle; his provocative ventures into social media; and several early works. Wide-ranging and penetrating, this collection of Ai's most important work to date illustrates the depth of his conviction that art is most powerful when it raises awareness and incites change.
Subjects: Exhibition catalogs.; Ai, Weiwei; Ai, Weiwei; Art, Chinese;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fast : the history, science, philosophy, and promise of doing without / by Oakes, John G. H.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An engaging exploration of the unique history and biology of fasting-an essential component of many traditional health practices, religions, and philosophies, resurging in popularity today-perfect for readers of Breath by James Nestor and Why We Sleepby Matthew Walker. We fast all the time, even when we're not conscious of doing so. A fast manifests the idea of holding back, resisting the animal impulse to charge ahead. Its flip side is similarly everywhere: call it splurging, self-indulgence, or a variant of "self-care." Based on extensive historical, scientific, and cultural research and reporting, The Fast illuminates the numerous facets of this act of self-deprivation. John Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others who guide him through this practice-and embarks on fasts of his own-to deliver a book that supplies readers curious about fasting with profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration. Fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons-from health advocates who see fasting as a method to lose weight or to detox, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness, to activists using hunger strikes as an effective means of peaceful protest. Fasting is central to holy seasons and days such as Lent in Christianity, Ramadan in Islam, and Yom Kippur in Judaism. Advocates for justice who have waged hunger strikes include Gandhi in India, Bobby Sands in Ireland, and the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City. Whether for philosophical, political, or health-related reasons, fasting marks a departure from daily routine. Fasting involves doing less but doing less in a radical way, reminding us that a slower, more intentional contemplative experience can be more fulfilling. Ultimately, this book shows us that fasting is about much more than food: it is about reconsidering our place in the world"--
Subjects: Fasting; Fasting; Fasting;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Nature's mutiny : how the little Ice Age of the long seventeenth century transformed the West and shaped the present / by Blom, Philipp,1970-author,translator.; translation of:Blom, Philipp,1970-Welt aus den Angeln.English.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An illuminating work of environmental history that chronicles the great climate crisis of the 1600s, which transformed the social and political fabric of Europe. Although hints of a crisis appeared as early as the 1570s, the temperature by the end of the sixteenth century plummeted so drastically that Mediterranean harbors were covered with ice, birds literally dropped out of the sky, and "frost fairs" were erected on a frozen Thames--with kiosks, taverns, and even brothels that become a semi-permanent part of the city. Recounting the deep legacy and far-ranging consequences of this "Little Ice Age," acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how the European landscape had suddenly, but ineradicably, changed by the mid-seventeenth century. While apocalyptic weather patterns destroyed entire harvests and incited mass migrations, they gave rise to the growth of European cities, the emergence of early capitalism, and the vigorous stirrings of the Enlightenment. A timely examination of how a society responds to profound and unexpected change, Nature's Mutiny will transform the way we think about climate change in the twenty-first century and beyond."--
Subjects: Climatic changes; Climatic changes; Glacial climates.; Climatic changes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Bolder : making the most of our longer lives / by Honoré, Carl,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Carl Honoré captured the zeitgeist with his international bestseller, In Praise of Slow. Now he tackles another rising global movement: our revolutionary new approach to a human inevitability--ageing. A revolution in how we age is on its way. Yes, ageing is inevitable: one year from now we will all be a year older; that will never change. What can and will change is how we age--and how we can all take a much bolder approach to doing it with vigour and joy. The time has come to cast off prejudices and to blur the lines of what is possible and permissible at every stage of life. In other words: we need to learn to re-imagine our approach to later life. Emboldening ourselves in older age demands big structural changes. For a start, we will have to tear up the old script that locks us into devoting the early part of our life to education, the middle chunk to working and raising kids, and whatever is left over at the end to leisure. In an age-inappropriate world, these silos will dissolve. We'll embrace the idea that we can carry on learning from start to finish; that we can work less and devote more time to family, leisure, and giving back to our communities in our middle years; and that we can remain active and engaged in our later years. Carl Honoré has travelled the globe speaking to influential figures who are bucking preconceived notions of age, whether at work or in their personal lives. He looks at the cultural, medical, and technological developments that are opening new possibilities for us all. Bolder is a radical re-think of our approach to everything from education, healthcare and work, to design, relationships and politics. An essential and inspiring read for everyone interested in our collective future."--
Subjects: Aging; Aging.; Longevity.; Old age; Old age.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Waste wars : the wild afterlife of your trash / by Clapp, Alexander,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The total mass of the world's manmade materials has recently come to equal the entire biomass of the earth. This means we are living in a world where man's ability to create garbage, or eventual garbage, has surpassed the earth's ability to create life. Dumps and landfills around the world are overflowing, and disputes about what to do with the tons of garbage generated every day have given rise to waste wars waged in just about every country on earth. Some are border skirmishes, fought to move trash out of one place and dump it into another. Others are waged across thousands of miles. But no matter the scale, one thing is true about almost all of them: few people have any idea they're happening. For every story about how a commodity gets hustled through world supply chains for consumption, there exists another untold story about how it gets discarded for renewal -- or for eternity. Some trash gets tossed onto roadsides. Some gets burned for fuel. Some gets buried underground. But most of it lives a hot potato second life, getting bartered, sold, re-sold, smuggled, salvaged, re-purposed from one country or mafia or corporation to another, with devastating consequences for millions of people. Waste Wars tells the stories of five trash conflicts being waged in different corners of the world right now. They are representative but rich strands in the story of our planet's runaway garbage pandemic. In each theater, a different commodity is being smuggled or imported or bartered. Sometimes there is a winner; sometimes there is a loser. And in each theater a different political dilemma -- from global inequality to the pitfalls of green politics -- is presenting itself through the seemingly pedestrian medium of trash. A globe-trotting work of relentless investigative reporting, Waste Wars exposes the multi-billion-dollar global garbage trade in which almost everyone in the world unknowingly engages and asks: If the handling of its trash reveals deeper truths about a particular society, what does the global business of trash say about our world today?"--
Subjects: Recycling (Waste, etc.); Recycling industry.; Refuse and refuse disposal; Refuse and refuse disposal;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The battle for your brain : defending the right to think freely in the age of neurotechnology / by Farahany, Nita A.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A rock star academic explores the final frontier of personal privacy: your mind. Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, thought crimes are punishable by law, and your own feelings can be used against you. Where perfumers create customized fragrances to perfectly suit your emotions, and social media titans bypass your conscious mind to hook you to their products. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy receive alerts moments before a seizure, and the average person can peer into their own mind to eliminate painful memories or cure addictions. Neuroscience has already made all of the above possible today, and neurotechnology will soon become the "universal controller" for all of our interactions with technology. This can benefit humanity immensely, but without safeguards, it can severely threaten our fundamental human rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and self-determination. Companies, governments, and militaries are all in: from contemplative neuroscience to consumer-based EEG technology, there have never been more ways to hack and track our brains. But access is just the beginning. Our brains can be changed with performance-boosting drugs, electrical stimulation, and even surgical interventions. Soon neuro-cinema, neuro-monitoring, and even cognitive warfare will be commonplace-the brain is the next battleground for humanity. The Battle for Your Brain by Nita A. Farahany dives deeply into the promises and perils of the coming dawn of brain access and alteration. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on neuroscience as it intersects with law and ethics, this highly original book offers a pathway forward to navigate the complex ethical dilemmas that neurotechnology presents, which will fundamentally impact our freedom to understand, shape, and define ourselves"--
Subjects: Neurosciences; Neurotechnology (Bioengineering);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Wild minds : the artists and rivalries that inspired the golden age of animation / by Mitenbuler, Reid,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In 1911, the famed cartoonist Winsor McCay debuted an animated version of his popular newspaper strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland. Loosely inspired by Sigmund Freud's research on dreams, the film was one of the very first of its kind. McCay is largely forgotten today, but his work helped unleash the creative energy of animators like Otto Messmer, Max Fleischer, Walt Disney, and Chuck Jones. Their origin stories, rivalries, and sheer genius, as Reid Mitenbuler skillfully relates, were as colorful and subversive as their creations-from Felix the Cat to Bugs Bunny to feature films such as Fantasia-which became an integral part of American culture over the next five decades. Before television, animated cartoons were often "little hand grenades of social and political satire" aimed squarely at adults. Early Betty Boop cartoons included nudity. Popeye stories slyly criticized the injustices of unchecked capitalism. Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner were used to explore hidden depths of the American psyche. "During its first half-century," Mitenbuler writes, "animation was an important part of the culture wars about free speech, censorship, the appropriate boundaries of humor, and the influence of art and media on society." During WWII it also played a significant role in propaganda. The golden age of animation ended with the advent of television when cartoons were sanitized to appeal to a growing demographic of children and help advertisers sell sugary breakfast cereals. Alongside these stories, Mitenbuler incorporates the surprising contributions of Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), voice artist Mel Blanc, composer Leopold Stokowski, and many others whose talents influenced the world of animation. Illustrated throughout in both black-and-white and color, with rare drawings and photographs, Wild Minds is an ode to our lively past and to the creative energy that would inspire The Simpsons, South Park, and BoJack Horseman today"--
Subjects: Animated films; Animated television programs; Animated films; Animated television programs;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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