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Nexus : a brief history of information networks from the Stone Age to AI / by Harari, Yuval N.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI-a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence. Information is not the raw material of truth, nor is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity."--
Subjects: Information behavior; Information networks; Information technology;

Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations. by M. Fagan, Brian,actor.; The Great Courses (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Brian M. FaganOriginally produced by The Great Courses in 2003.Where do we come from? How did our ancestors settle this planet? How did the great historic civilizations of the world develop? How does a past so shadowy that it has to be painstakingly reconstructed from fragmentary, largely unwritten records nonetheless make us who and what we are? These 36 lectures bring you the answers that scientific and archaeological research and theorizing suggest about human origins, how populations developed, and the ways in which civilizations spread throughout the globe. It's a fascinating 36-lecture narrative that covers human prehistory from our beginnings more than 2.5 million years ago up to and beyond the advent of the world's first preindustrial civilizations.Along the way, you'll explore a fascinating set of civilizations, including Homo habilis (the first tool-making hominid); the Cro-Magnons, among the first known artists as well as hunter-gatherers; Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia and the intricate patchwork of city-states between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; and the mysterious Harappan civilization of the Indus. Woven through this narrative is a set of pervasive themes: emerging human biological and cultural diversity, the impact of human adaptations to climatic and environmental change, and the importance of seeing prehistory not merely as a chronicle of archaeological sites but of the stories of the people who created them.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Social sciences.; History, Ancient.; Instructional films.; Documentary films.; History.; Archaeology.; Evolution (Biology).; Prehistoric peoples.;

Sea otters in danger / by Mineo, Ella.;
Includes bibliographical references (p. 23) and index.Sea otters are perhaps the cutest animals in the ocean. These friendly animals have the densest fur in the world, an adaptation that both helps them keep warm yet hurts them as fur traders overhunted them. Today, the sea otter population is fighting for its life."Levels: GR: L, DRA: 24"--P. [4] of cover.LSC
Subjects: Sea otter; Endangered species;
© 2014., Gareth Stevens Pub.,

Have a good trip : exploring the magic mushroom experience / by Bone, Eugenia,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From a much-loved expert and popular science writer comes this straight-from-the-trenches report on how and why folks from all walks of life are using magic mushrooms to enhance their lives. Interest in psychedelic mushrooms has never been greater -- or the science less definitive. Popular science writer and amateur mycologist Eugenia Bone reports on the state of psychedelics today, from microdosing to heroic trips, illustrating how "citizen science" and anecdotal accounts of the mushrooms' benefits are leading the new wave of scientific inquiry into psilocybin. With her signature blend of first-person narrative and scientific rigor, Bone breaks down just how the complicated cocktail of psychoactive compounds is thought to interact with our brain chemistry. She explains how mindset and setting can impact a trip -- whether therapeutic, spiritual/mystical, or simply pleasure seeking -- and vividly evokes the personalities and protocols that populate the tripping scene, from the renegade "'Noccers" of Washington who merrily disperse magic mushroom spores around Seattle, to the indigenous curanderas who conduct traditional ceremonies in remote Mexican villages. Throughout she shares her journey through the world of mushrooms, cultivating her own stash, grappling with personal challenges, and offering the insights she gleaned from her experiences. For both seasoned trippers and the merely mushroom curious, Have a Good Trip offers a balanced, entertaining, and provocative look at this rapidly evolving cultural phenomenon"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Bone, Eugenia.; Hallucinogenic drugs.; Mushrooms, Hallucinogenic.; Psilocybin.;

60 Days In: S7. by A&E® (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by A&E® in 2022.Season 7 of 60 DAYS IN offers an unprecedented look at life behind bars at Georgia's Henry County Jail as innocent volunteers are sent to live among its general population for 60 days without officers, fellow inmates, or staff knowing their secret.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Feature films.; Television series.; Motion pictures.;

The Nazi menace : Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the road to war / by Hett, Benjamin Carter,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Berlin, November 1937. In a secret meeting with his top advisors, Adolf Hitler proclaims the urgent necessity for a war of aggression in Europe. Some conservatives are unnerved by this grandiose plan, but they are soon silenced, setting in motion events that will lead to the most calamitous war in history. Benjamin Carter Hett, the author of The Death of Democracy, his acclaimed history of the fall of the Weimar Republic, takes us from Berlin to London, Moscow, and Washington to show how anti-Nazi forces inside and outside Germany came to understand Hitler's true menace to European civilization and learned to oppose him. Drawing on original sources in German, English, French, and Russian, including newly released intelligence documents, he paints a sweeping portrait of governments under siege, populated by larger-than-life figures like Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Neville Chamberlain, Franklin Roosevelt, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Vyacheslav Molotov. The Nazi Menace evokes a time when the verities of life were subverted, a time marked by fake news, cultural unrest over refugees, and the challenges of national security in a consumerist democracy. To read Hett's book is to see the 1930s-and our world today-in a new and unnerving light."--
Subjects: Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965.; Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.; Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953.; Anti-Nazi movement; World War, 1939-1945;

Ancestry : a novel / by Mawer, Simon,author.;
The past is another country and we are all its exiles. Banished forever, we look back in fascination and wonder at this mysterious land. Who were the people who populated it? Almost two hundred years ago, Abraham, an illiterate urchin, scavenges on a Suffolk beach and dreams of running away to sea. Naomi, a seventeen-year-old seamstress, sits primly in a second class carriage on the train from Sussex to London and imagines a new life in the big city. George, a private soldier of the 50th Regiment of Foot, marries his Irish bride, Annie, in the cathedral in Manchester and together they face married life under arms. Now these people exist only in the bare bones of registers and census lists but they were once real enough. They lived, loved, felt joy and fear, and ultimately died. But who were they? And what indissoluble thread binds them together? Simon Mawer's compelling and original novel puts flesh on our ancestors' bones to bring them to life and give them voice. He has created stories that are gripping and heart-breaking, from the squalor and vitality of Dickensian London to the excitement of seafaring in the last days of sail and the horror of the trenches of the Crimea. There is birth and death; there is love, both open and legal but also hidden and illicit. Yet the thread that connects these disparate figures is something that they cannot have known, the unbreakable bond of family.
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Mawer, Simon; Census; Families; Genealogy;

The great Mrs. Elias : a novel / by Chase-Riboud, Barbara,author.;
"A murder and a case of mistaken identity brings the police to Hannah Elias' glitzy, five-story, twenty-room mansion on Central Park West. This is the beginning of an odyssey that moves back and forth in time and reveals the dangerous secrets of a mysterious woman, the fortune she built, and her precipitous fall. Born in Philadelphia in the late 1800s, Hannah Elias has done things she's not proud of to survive. Shedding her past, Hannah slips on a new identity before relocating to New York City to become as rich as a robber baron. Hannah quietly invests in the stock market, growing her fortune with the help of businessmen. As the money pours in, Hannah hides her millions across 29 banks. Finally attaining the life she's always dreamed, she buys a mansion on the Upper West Side and decorates it in gold and first-rate daecor, inspired by her idol Cleopatra. The unsolved murder turns Hannah's world upside-down and threatens to destroy everything she's built. When the truth of her identity is uncovered, thousands of protestors gather in front of her stately home. Hounded by the salacious press, the very private Mrs. Elias finds herself alone, ensnared in a scandalous trial, and accused of stealing her fortune from whites. Packed with glamour, suspense, and drama, populated with real-life luminaries from the period, The Great Mrs. Elias brings a fascinating woman and the age she embodied to glorious, tragic life"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; African American women; Murder; Rich people;

Unravelling MAiD in Canada : euthanasia and assisted suicide as medical care / by Coelho, Ramona,editor.; Gaind, K. Sonu,editor.; Lemmens, Trudo,editor.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Since Canada legalized in 2016 medical assistance in dying (MAiD), which encompasses both euthanasia and assisted suicide, more than 60,000 Canadians have died by MAiD, the highest number in the world. Not only the internationally unprecedented increase in numbers, but also the expansion of MAiD outside the end-of-life context and plans to introduce MAiD for sole reasons of mental illness, continue to evoke heated societal and political debate. This book discusses in detail how Canada's MAiD law developed and what some of the key social justice and health care concerns are, particularly for specific populations such as disabled persons (including those with mental disabilities) and Indigenous people. Canadian developments are also closely watched around the world. Countries that legalized some form of MAiD or are debating whether to go that route face questions about the consequences of legalization; about what forms of MAiD could be legalized (assisted suicide or euthanasia); and about the efficacy of safeguards. Many want to understand why Canada's MAiD practice has bypassed the most liberal euthanasia regimes in the world and what the implications are for health care and social justice. The chapters in this book are written by leading legal, medical and disability experts who participated directly in the debate. They explore key health care and social justice related issues around the Canadian MAiD law and policy and its potential further expansion. This book will be of interest to Canadian and international academic experts, medical professionals, politicians, students, the legal community, and the broader public."--
Subjects: Assisted suicide; Assisted suicide; Euthanasia; Euthanasia; Medical care; Assisted suicide; Euthanasia;

Walking with ghosts : a memoir / by Byrne, Gabriel,1950-author.;
"As a young boy growing up in the outskirts of Dublin, Gabriel Byrne sought refuge in a world of imagination among the fields and hills near his home, at the edge of a rapidly encroaching city. Born to working-class parents and the eldest of six children, he harbored a childhood desire to become a priest. When he was eleven years old, Byrne found himself crossing the Irish Sea to join a seminary in England. Four years later, Byrne had been expelled and he quickly returned to his native city. There he took odd jobs as a messenger boy and a factory laborer to get by. In his spare time, he visited the cinema where he could be alone and yet part of a crowd. It was here that he could begin to imagine a life beyond the grey world of sixties Ireland. He reveled in the theater and poetry of Dublin's streets, populated by characters as eccentric and remarkable as any in fiction, those who spin a yarn with acuity and wit. It was a friend who suggested Byrne join an amateur drama group, a decision that would change his life forever and launch him on an extraordinary forty-year career in film and theater. Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and reflections on stardom in Hollywood and Broadway, Byrne also courageously recounts his battle with addiction and the ambivalence of fame. Walking with Ghosts is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking as well as a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Byrne, Gabriel, 1950-; Actors;

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