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Goliath's curse : the history and future of societal collapse / by Kemp, Luke,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A radical retelling of human history through collapse -- from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. Why do civilisations collapse? Is human progress possible? Are we approaching our endgame? For the first 200,000 years of human history, hunter-gathering Homo sapiens lived in fluid, egalitarian civilizations that thwarted any individual or group from ruling permanently. Then, around 12,000 years ago, that began to change. As we reluctantly congregated in the first farms and cities, people began to rely on novel lootable resources like grain and fish for their daily sustenance. And when more powerful weapons became available, small groups began to seize control of these valuable commodities. This inequality in resources soon tipped over into inequality in power, and we started to adopt more primal, hierarchical forms of organization. Power was concentrated in masters, kings, pharaohs and emperors (and ideologies were born to justify their rule). Goliath-like states and empires -- with vast bureaucracies and militaries -- carved up and dominated the globe. What brought them down? Whether in the early cities of Cahokia in North America or Tiwanaku in South America, or the sprawling empires of Egypt, Rome and China, it was increasing inequality and concentrations of power that hollowed these Goliaths out before an external shock brought them crashing down. These collapses were written up as apocalyptic, but in truth they were usually a blessing for most of the population. Now we live in a single global Goliath. Growth obsessed, extractive institutions like the fossil fuel industry, big tech and military-industrial complexes rule our world and produce new ways of annihilating our species, from climate change to nuclear war. Our systems are now so fast, complex and interconnected that a future collapse will likely be global, swift and irreversible. All of us now face a choice -- we must learn to democratically control Goliath, or the next collapse may be our last"--
Subjects: Civilization.; Regression (Civilization); Regression (Civilization); Social change.;

iWar : Fortnite, Elon Musk, Spotify, WeChat, and laying siege to Apple's empire / by Higgins, Tim(Journalist),author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The wildly enthralling and entertaining story of Apple's monopolistic impulses and the global business and political forces arrayed against its $3 trillion empire. iWar is a saga of corporate intrigue, control, and competition, featuring some of the world's most brilliant and powerful minds. It is the story of Apple, the tech corporation which has built near unassailable market power through its iPhone and app ecosystem and controls not only commerce, but also culture, and -- increasingly -- the flow of ideas. And it is the story of a powerful cadre of tech moguls determined to take it down. Over time, a loose and disparate group of billionaires, each driven by their own reasons, has formed to challenge Apple's supremacy, including Daniel Ek (Spotify), Tim Sweeney (Epic Games/Fortnite), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook/Meta) and Elon Musk (Twitter/X). With in-depth reporting, Wall Street Journal business columnist Tim Higgins chronicles these tech moguls and their quest to weaken a powerful rival, aiming at destroying the Walled Garden around Apple's iPhone Empire, while telling a larger story of the global digital and information economy.
Subjects: Apple Inc.; Computer industry; Technological innovations;

The armor of light / by Follett, Ken,author.;
"The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother's husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters' lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815; Social conflict; Industrial revolution;

Is she really going out with him? : a novel / by Cousens, Sophie,author.;
"Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat, and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she'd rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children. From awkward encounters to unexpected connections, Anna gamely begins to put herself out there, asking out waiters, the mailman, and even her celebrity crush. But when a romantic connection appears where she least expected it, will she be brave enough to take another chance on love?"--
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Humorous fiction.; Novels.; Dating (Social customs); Divorced women; Man-woman relationships; Women journalists;

The making of a lady [videorecording] / by Burnett, Frances Hodgson,1849-1924.Making of a marchioness.Videorecording.; Lumley, Joanna.; Roache, Linus,1964-; Wilson, Lydia,1984-; PBS Distribution (Firm);
Joanna Lumley, Linus Roache, Lydia Wilson.During her duties as a lady's companion, Emily meets her employer's nephew, Lord James Walderhurst. Accepting his marriage proposal, Emily finds solace in the company of Walderhurst's nephew and his glamorous wife, after Lord James leaves to rejoin his regiment. Emily, alone with the Osborns, increasingly comes under their control. She begins to fear for her life.PG.DVD, region 1, widescreen presentation; stereo.
Subjects: Heirs; Made-for-TV movies.; Marriage; Social classes;
© c2014., PBS Distribution,

The last king of California / by Harper, Jordan,author.; Cosby, S. A.,writer of foreword.;
"Jordan Harper's "darkly irresistible" novel, a tragic, Hamlet-esque noir for readers of S.A. Cosby and Don Winslow, now available for the first time in the United States. Written years before Jordan Harper's breakout success, Everybody Knows, this stirring and brutal bildungsroman tells the story of young Luke Crosswhite, who after years apart from his criminal family returns to their flock deep in the California desert. Luke's father is serving time for a brutal murder that Luke himself witnessed; now, his uncle vies for power and rival biker gangs encroach on the family's various criminal enterprises. A sensitive boy grown hard man, Luke navigates the vicious pressures of "home," and the loyalties to his old friend, Cassie, who has hatched a scheme with her boyfriend Pretty Baby to escape the control of the gang, the Combine. Hanging over these desperate, lonesome parties is the gang's motto, tattooed indelibly across the heart: Blood is Love. The Last King of California is a story of the West unlike any you will read"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Bildungsromans.; Noir fiction.; Novels.; Belonging (Social psychology); Families; Family-owned business enterprises; Gangs; Homecoming; Organized crime; Self-realization;

The death of democracy : Hitler's rise to power and the downfall of the Weimar Republic / by Hett, Benjamin Carter,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Hitler promised to fix the economy, to create jobs, and to make Germany great again How did Hitler happen? Germany's Weimar Republic was a state-of-the-art modern democracy, with a proportional electoral system and protection for individual rights and freedoms, expressly including the equality of men and women. Germany had the world's most prominent gay rights movement. It was home to an active feminist movement that, having just won the vote, was moving on to abortion rights. The death penalty had virtually been abolished. And workers had won the right to an eight-hour day with full pay. Jews from Poland and Russia flocked to Germany's greater tolerance and openness. Hitler came to office in January 1933 with the largest number of seats in the Reichstag, Germany's parliament. Like the three chancellors before him, Hitler had been put into office by a small circle of powerful men who sought to take advantage of his demagogic gifts and mass following to advance their own agenda. They assumed they had Hitler squarely under control. Hett's book is a short history of how Adolf Hitler, once elected, used the levers of power to destroy the Weimar democracy and replace it with a Nazi dictatorship. The parallels to current politics are clear and disturbing. Hett examines the political and social context in which the Nazis rose to power and how Hitler himself was a shrewd and intuitive political player. Hett writes with the drama, detail, and pacing that makes his account read like a compelling political thriller."--
Subjects: Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.; Political culture;

Beings : a novel / by Masad, Ilana,author.;
In 1961, an interracial couple drove through the dark mountains of New Hampshire when a mysterious light began to follow them. Years later, through hypnosis, they recalled an unbelievable brush with extraterrestrial life. Unintentionally, a genre was born: the alien abduction narrative. In Ilana Masad's Beings, the couple's experience serves as one part of a trio of intertwined threads: Known only by their roles as husband and wife, Masad explores the pair's trauma and its aftermath and questions what it means to accept the impossible. In the second thread, letters penned by a budding science-fiction writer, Phyllis, to her beloved, Rosa, expose the raw ache of queer yearning, loneliness, and alienation in the repressive 1960s-as well as the joy of finding community. In the present day, a reclusive and chronically ill Archivist attempts to understand a strange forgotten childhood encounter while descending into obsession over both Phyllis's letters and the testimony of the first alien abductees. Over the course of a decade, Phyllis wrestles with her desires and ambitions as a lesbian writer, while the abducted couple grapple with how to maintain control of their narrative. All the while, the archive shatters and reforms, redefining fact and fiction via the stories left behind by the abductees, Phyllis, and the Archivist themself. Masad makes human what is alien and makes tangible what is hidden - sometimes by chance and sometimes intentionally - in the archive.
Subjects: Queer fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Alien abduction; Archivists; Alienation (Social psychology); Human-alien encounters; Love-letters; Lesbians; Women authors;

Surrounded by narcissists : how to effectively recognize, avoid, and defend yourself against toxic people (and not lose your mind) / by Erikson, Thomas,1965-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Part of the bestselling Surrounded by Idiots series! Internationally bestselling author Thomas Erikson shares the secrets of dealing with everyday narcissists Are the narcissists in your life making you miserable? Are you worn out by their constant demands for attention, their absolute conviction they are right (even when they're clearly not), their determination to do whatever they want (regardless of the impact), and their baffling need to control everyone and everything around them? In this thought-provoking, sanity-saving book, Thomas Erikson helps you understand what makes narcissists tick and, crucially, how to handle them without wearing yourself out in the process. With the help of the simple, four-color behavioral model made famous in Surrounded by Idiots, Erikson provides all the tools you need to manage not just the narcissists around you but everyday narcissistic behaviors as well -something that is becoming more widespread in the age of social media. Engaging and practical, Surrounded by Narcissists will help you free yourself from the thrall of others' toxic agendas so you can pursue a happier, more fulfilling and successful life"--
Subjects: Interpersonal conflict.; Interpersonal relations.; Narcissism.;

Detroit [electronic resource] : become human. by Sony Computer Entertainment.;
Game.Detroit: Become Human is the latest title in development by Quantic Dream and expands on the studio's legacy of gripping narrative driven experiences (Fahrenheit/Heavy Rain/ Beyond: Two Souls). Throughout the game, players will co-write the story through the actions of several protagonists in an ambitiously bending and thrilling narrative. Detroit: Become Human is set in Detroit City during the year 2038 after the city has been revitalized by the invention and introduction of Androids into everyday life. But when Androids start behaving as if they are alive, events begin to spin out of control. As the player, you will embody several characters, amongst which KARA, CONNOR, and MARKUS. As Kara, you will witness your brave new world turn to chaos as you take on the role of a female service android trying to find her own place in a turbulent social landscape. Whilst you shape the branching narrative as Connor, an Android Cop employed by the human police force to seek out deviant Android such as Markus, a leader of the android group seeking freedom for his people, you will be making choices that will not only determine your own fate, but that of the entire city and possibly beyond. Discover what it really means to be human in a powerfully emotional journey made of choice and consequences.ESRB Content Rating: M, Mature, 17+ (Blood, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs).Blu-ray disc compatible with Playstation 4 console ; HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p ; in game surround sound ; 44 GB storage required ; PS4 Pro enhanced.
Subjects: Playstation 4 (Video game console); Video games.; Computer games.; Androids; Human-robot interaction; Detroit: become human (Game); Computer adventure games;

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