Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude for your decision to crack open at least the first page of this volume. Given that mass lit-eracy is an idea that has only been around a few centuries, given that thus far some 130 million titles have been published and more than two million new ones are added each year, given that a human being who dedicated his or her life to reading…
The recent discovery of the diminutive Homo floresiensis (nicknamed "the Hobbit") in Indonesia has sparked new interest in the study of human evolution. In this Very Short Introduction, renowned evolutionary scholar Bernard Wood traces the history of paleoanthropology from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to today's latest fossil finds. Along the way we are introduced to the lively cast…
How have the Jews survived? For millennia, they have defied odds by overcoming the travails of exile, persecution, and recurring plans for their annihilation. Many have attempted to explain this singular success as a result of divine intervention. In this engaging book, David N. Myers charts the long journey of the Jews through history. At the same time, it points to two unlikely-and decidedly …
Extreme longevity has long been a topic of interest to the media and to the broader public. There are many legends of people who set longevity records, with tales of individuals who lived 200, 500, and even 969 years. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to validate the ages of long-lived individuals until the twentieth century. In the second half of the twentieth century, the nu…
The primary sources for this work are the fragments of Akajeru (words, phrases and some short sentences) contained (passim) in the pages of Alfred R. Radcliffe-Brown’s monograph The Andaman Islanders (1922), which gathers the results of his anthropological research carried out on the Andamans between 1906 and 1908. Although the languages of the archipelago wer…
n het kader van de coronapandemie, waarin we vertoeven bij het schrijven van deze uitgave van het Jaarboek Armoede en Sociale Uitsluiting, blijkt een aantal werken uit de literaire rijkdom erg goed te scoren. Zo ziet uitgeverij Penguin een opmerkelijke stijging in de verkoop van zogenaamde pandemie- en rampenliteratuur. In Frankrijk en Italië is de verkoop van La Peste van Albert Camus, versch…
This book draws on the life stories told by shepherds, farmers, and their families in the Andalusian region in Spain to sketch out the landscapes, actions, and challenges of people who work in pastoralism. Their narratives highlight how local practices interact with regional and European communities and policies, and they help us see a broader role for extensive grazing practices and sustainabi…
The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall. His mighty bulk towered rugged and mountain-like into the zenith, and His divine head blazed there like a distant sun. At His feet stood three colossal figures, diminished to extinction, almost, by cont…
When the guards came over, they made us line up against the wall. The guy who was hit they made sit at the table while they waited for another guard to bring them rubber gloves. When the gloves came, the guards put them on, handcuffed the guy, and then took him to the dispensary. He was still bleeding pretty bad. They say you get used to being in jail, but I don’t see how. Every morning I wak…