Results 61 to 67 of 67 | « previous
- The urban bestiary : encountering the everyday wild / by Haupt, Lyanda Lynn.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The Bestiary's Bestiary : A Note on Process -- Part I. Entering the Bestiary -- A New Nature, a New Bestiary -- The Lost Art of Urban Tracking -- Part II. The Furred Coyote -- Mole -- Raccoon -- Opossum -- Squirrel (and Rat) -- Black Bear and Cougar -- Part III. The Feathered Bird -- Starling, House Sparrow, Pigeon -- Chickadee -- Crow -- Hawk and Owl -- Chicken -- Part IV. The Branching and the Rooted Tree -- Human."From the bestselling author of Crow Planet, a compelling journey into the secret lives of the wild animals at our back door. In The Urban Bestiary, acclaimed nature writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt journeys into the heart of the everyday wild, where coyotes, raccoons, chickens, hawks, and humans live in closer proximity than ever before. Haupt's observations bring compelling new questions to light: Whose 'home' is this? Where does the wild end and the city begin? And what difference does it make to us as humans living our everyday lives? In this wholly original blend of science, story, myth, and memoir, Haupt draws us into the secret world of the wild creatures that dwell among us in our urban neighborhoods, whether we are aware of them or not. With beautiful illustrations and practical sidebars on everything from animal tracking to opossum removal, The Urban Bestiary is a lyrical book that awakens wonder, delight, and respect for the urban wild, and our place within it"--Provided by publisher.
- Subjects: Human-animal relationships; Philosophy of nature.; Urban animals; Urban animals; Wildlife watching;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Culture : the story of us, from cave art to K-pop / by Puchner, Martin,1969-author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-336) and index."What good are the arts? Why should we care about the past? For millennia, humanity has sought to understand and transmit to future generations not just the "know-how" of life, but the "know-why"-The meaning and purpose of our existence, as expressed in art, architecture, religion, and philosophy. This crucial passing down of knowledge has required the radical integration of insights from the past and from other cultures. In Culture, acclaimed author, professor, and public intellectual Martin Puchner takes us on a breakneck tour through pivotal moments in world history, providing a global introduction to the arts and humanities in one engaging volume"--
- Subjects: Art and society.; Civilization; Culture;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Wanting : the power of mimetic desire in everyday life / by Burgis, Luke,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Wanting is a groundbreaking exploration of why we want what we want, and a toolkit for freeing ourselves from chasing unfulfilling desires. As an undergraduate studying philosophy at Stanford, Peter Thiel met French polymath René Girard and was introduced to his theory of "mimetic desire"-the idea that most human wanting comes from imitating what other people desire, rather than from an innate sense of need. Inducted into the Académie Française as the "Darwin of the social sciences," Girard is largely unknown outside academic circles. But because of Girard, Thiel knew that Facebook would thrive because it offered a window into people's curated presentation of the best parts of their lives, thereby satisfying our need to look for "models" who tell us what to desire. According to Girard, each of us is surrounded by people who generate, shape, and manipulate our desires at every turn. Mimetic desire is no mere tool of advertisers but a reality that affects our daily lives in romance, work, fitness, politics, and parenting. Mimetic desire is a secret, unacknowledged, sophisticated form of adult imitation that drives a larger degree of human behavior than anybody ever realized. The consequences of mimetic desire are startling. Because people learn to want what other people want, they are easily drawn into rivalries and conflict. According to Girard, people don't fight because they want different things; they fight because, through mimetic desire, they start to want the same things. But mimetic desire does not have to be in control. We are free to choose. And those who understand mimetic desire have a tremendous advantage over those who don't-they can use it for good or for ill. Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur, teacher, and student of classical philosophy and theology, Luke Burgis shows how to counteract the mimetic forces of the market by turning blind wanting into intentional wanting-not by trying to rid ourselves of desire, but by desiring differently. Intentional desire is what propels us to create a better world. Burgis shows how to achieve more independence from trends and bubbles, how to feel more in control of the things we want, and ultimately how to find more meaning in our work and life by grounding them in desires that will never fade away"--
- Subjects: Desire.; Imitation.; Basic needs;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Until the end of time : mind, matter, and our search for meaning in an evolving universe / by Greene, B.(Brian),1963-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the world-renowned physicist, co-founder of the World Science Festival, and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes this utterly captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose. Brian Greene takes readers on a breathtaking journey from the big bang to the end of time and invites us to ponder meaning in the face of this unimaginable expanse. He shows us how, from its original orderly state the universe has been moving inexorably toward chaos, and, still, remarkable structures have continually formed: the planets, stars, and galaxies that provide islands in a sea of disorder; biochemical mechanisms, including mutation and selection, animate life; neurons, information, and thought developed into complex consciousness which in turn gave rise to cultures and their timeless myths and creativity. And he describes, as well, how, in the deep reaches of the future, the nature of the universe will threaten the existence of matter itself. Through a series of nested stories Greene provides us with a clearer sense of how we came to be, a finer picture of where we are now, and a firmer understanding of where we are headed. Taken together, it is a completely new perspective on our place in the universe and on what it means to be human"--
- Subjects: Cosmology.; Physics;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Money for nothing : the scientists, fraudsters, and corrupt politicians, who reinvented money, panicked a nation, and made the world rich / by Levenson, Thomas,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Money for Nothing chronicles the moment when the needs of war, discoveries of natural philosophy, and ambitions of investors collided. It's about how the Scientific Revolution intertwined with finance to set England--and the world--off in an entirely new direction. At the dawn of the eighteenth century, England was running out of money due to a prolonged war with France. Parliament tried raising additional funds by selling debt to its citizens, taking in money now with the promise of interest later. It was the first permanent national debt, but still they needed more. They turned to the stock market--a relatively new invention itself--where Isaac Newton's new mathematics of change of time, which he applied to the motions of the planets and the natural world, were fast being applied to the world of money. What kind of future returns could a person expect on an investment today? The Scientific Revolution could help. In the hub of London's stock market--Exchange Alley--the South Sea Company hatched a scheme to turn pieces of the national debt into shares of company stock, and over the spring of 1720 the plan worked brilliantly. Stock prices doubled, doubled again, and then doubled once more, getting everyone in London from tradespeople to the Prince of Wales involved in a money mania that consumed the people, press, and pocketbooks of the empire. Unlike science, though, with its tightly controlled experiments, the financial revolution was subject to trial and error on a grand scale, with dramatic, sometimes devastating consequences for people's lives. With England at war and in need of funds and "stock-jobbers" looking for any opportunity to get in on the action, this new world of finance had the potential to save the nation-- but only if it didn't bankrupt it first"--
- Subjects: Debts, Public; Stock exchanges;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Waste land : a world in permanent crisis / by Kaplan, Robert D.,1952-author.;
"We are entering a new era of global cataclysm in which the world faces a deadly mix of war, climate change, great power rivalry, rapid technological advancement, the end of both monarchy and empire, and countless other dangers. In Waste Land, Robert D. Kaplan, geopolitical expert and author of more than twenty books on world affairs, incisively explains how we got here and where we are going. Kaplan makes a novel argument that the current geopolitical landscape must be considered alongside contemporary social phenomena such as urbanization and digital news media, grounding his ideas in foundational modern works of philosophy, politics, and literature, including the poem from which the title is borrowed, and celebrating a canon of traditionally conservative thinkers, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and many others. As in many of his books, Kaplan looks to history and literature to inform the present, drawing particular comparisons between today's challenges and the Weimar Republic, the post-World War I democratic German government that fell to Nazism in the 1930s. Just as in Weimar, which faced myriad crises inextricably bound up with global systems, the singular dilemmas of the twenty-first century -- pandemic disease, recession, mass migration, the destabilizing effects of large-scale democracy and great power conflicts, and the intimate bonds created by technology -- mean that every disaster in one country has the potential to become a global crisis, too. According to Kaplan, the solutions lie in prioritizing order in governing systems, arguing that stability and historic liberalism rather than mass democracy per se will save global populations from an anarchic future"--
- Subjects: Geopolitics.; Globalization; International relations; Power (Social sciences);
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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- Raising them right : the untold story of America's ultraconservative youth movement and its plot for power / by Spencer, Kyle,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In the wake of the Obama presidency, a group of young charismatic conservatives catapulted onto the American political and cultural scenes, eager to thwart nationwide pushes for greater equity and inclusion. They dreamed of a cultural revolution-online and off-that would offer a forceful alternative to the progressive politics that were dominating American college campuses. In Raising Them Right, a gripping, character-driven read and investigative tour de force, Kyle Spencer chronicles the people and organizations working to lure millions of unsuspecting young American voters into the far-right fold-revealing their highly successful efforts to harness social media in alarming ways and capitalize on the democratization of celebrity culture. These power-hungry new faces may look and sound like antiestablishment renegades, but they are actually part of a tightly organized and heavily funded ultraconservative initiative to transform American youth culture and popularize fringe ideas. There is Charlie Kirk, the swashbuckling Trump insider and founder of the right-wing youth activist group Turning Point USA, who dreams of taking back the country's soul from weak-kneed liberals and becoming a national powerbroker in his own right. There is the acid-tongued Candace Owens, a Black ultraconservative talk-show host and Fox News regular who is seeking to bring Black America to the GOP and her own celebritydom into the national forefront. And there is the young, rough-and-tumble libertarian Cliff Maloney, who built the Koch-affiliated organization Young Americans for Liberty into a political force to be reckoned with, while solidifying his own power and pull inside conservative circles. Chock-full of original reporting and unprecedented access, Raising Them Right isa striking prism through which to view the extraordinary shifts that have taken place in the American political sphere over the last decade. It establishes Kyle Spencer as the premier authority on a new generation of young conservative communicators who are merging politics and pop culture, social media and social lives, to bring cruel economic philosophies, skeletal government, and dangerous antidemocratic ideals into the mainstream. Theirs is a crusade that is just beginning"--
- Subjects: Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ); Campaign funds; Christianity and politics; Identity politics; Political action committees; Radicalism; Right and left (Political science); Right-wing extremists; Youth; Youth;
- Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 61 to 67 of 67 | « previous