From the emergence of life, to Leewenhoeks microscopic world, to GMO crops, The Biology Book presents 250 landmarks in the most widely studied scientific field. Brief, engaging, and colorfully illustrated synopses introduce readers to every major subdiscipline, including cell theory, genetics, evolution, physiology, thermodynamics, molecular biology, and ecology. With information on such varied…
This volume breaks new ground in applying Benson’s second per-spective to medical history: ‘to explore the history of nonhuman ani-mals as subjects in their own right and for their own sakes’.5 Humans remain important, of course, for ultimately we can only know about animals from the records that humans have created, and which reflect …
Discover 10,000 years of the shadowy side of our world in this treasure trove of alternative history. The Encyclopedia of Secret Societies features detailed information about.
In 2018, the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium published a reference genome sequence for bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The landmark achievement was the culmination of a thirteen-year international effort focused on the production of a genome sequence linked to genotypic/phenotypic maps to advance understanding of traits an…
Agama Islam tidak dilahirkan di Indonesia, namun justru negara inilah yang memiliki penduduk muslim dengan jumlah terbesar di dunia. Bagaimanakah cara agama ini masuk dan berkembang di antara suku dan budaya yang beragam di nusantara? Fondasi pertanyaan ini kemudian menggerakkan Michael Laffan, Profesor Sejarah di Universitas Princenton, untuk meneliti proses tumbuh kembangnya Islam di Indonesi…
It is becoming increasingly important to find solutions for more resilient food production methods closer to urban environments with less vulnerability to supply-chain shocks (Benke and Tomkins, 2017; O’Sullivan et al., 2020; Pulighe and Lupia, 2020). Indoor vertical farming (IVF1) systems have emerged worldwide as a result of the need for more resilient food provisioning.…
There can be little doubt of the canonical drone aesthetic: a flattened aeriality that moves with an inhuman smoothness, drifting, and pitching to capture an uncanny vantage. News reports, leaked videos, and Hollywood movies have all made a decidedly militarised drone vision all too normal: grayscale envi-ronments seen from above, punctuated by the white intensity of body heat as figures move b…
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of …
Th is may have been a reference to the statement issued by the Amer-ican Association of Physical Anthropologists that declared, among other things, that ‘there is no national, religious, linguistic or cultural group or economic class that constitutes a race’.2Th e ASA statement continued: ‘Growing numbers of humanist scholars, social anthropologists, and political …
Inilah harta yang tak pernah usang bagi mereka yang mencari pencerahan pribadi dan spiritual. Kebenaran dan kebijaksanaan yang terkandung dalam kisah-kisah China klasik menawarkan begitu banyak hal bagi mereka yang mencari keunggulan dalam dunia bisnis saat ini. Pemimpin menyuguhkan lebih dari seratus cerita masyarakat China zaman dulu, masing-masing menawarkan pesan yang sangat menggelitik pi…
When Europeans first arrived in North America, between five and eight million indigenous people were already living there. But how did they come to be here? What were their agricultural, spiritual, and hunting practices? How did their societies evolve and what challenges do they face today? Eminent historians Theda Perdue and Michael Green begin by describing how nomadic bands of hunter-gather…
With his well-known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Friedrich Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote "do not, above all, confound …
The business of journalism has an extensive, storied, and often romanticized history. Newspaper reporting has long shaped the way that we see the world, played key roles in exposing scandals, and has even been alleged to influence international policy. The past several years have seen the newspaper industry in a state of crisis, with Twitter and Facebook ushering in the rise of citizen journali…
Since the beginning of recorded history, Iran/Persia has been one of the most important world civilizations. Iran remains a distinct civilization today despite its status as a major Islamic state with broad regional influence and its deep integration into the global economy through its vast energy reserves. Yet the close attention paid to Iran in recent decades stems from the impact of the 1979…
KEY BENEFIT: This book prepares readers to understand finite mathematics and calculus used in a wide range of disciplines. Covering relevant topics from finance, linear algebra, programming, and probability, the Seventh Edition places emphasis on computational skills, ideas, and problem solving. Other highlights include a rich variety of applications and integration of graphing calculators. …
his chapter explores some of the underlying epistemological assumptions and points of departure underpinning much of the recent science-faith dialogue, which ranges from coherent, enriching, concordant views on the relation between faith and science to disharmonious debate and conflict. Discordant dialogue and unscientific conjecture, often misrepres…
There are many reasons why I liked Mary so much, as a person, a writer and a philosopher. I liked her for her wit, her warmth, her level- headedness and her moral clarity; her ability to steer clear of all unnecessary technicalities and cut straight to the chase, focusing on the big picture rather than getting mired in the details of any particu…
In this book, we have attempted to break new ground. Our study is unique in several respects: not only does it produce a set of maps for a remote and poorly known area of Australia, but also the distributional point data of each species are integrated and compared with the spatial distribution of their larval food plants. The geographic range of each …
This chapter lays the foundation by covering core concepts, including terminology, that are critical to have fresh in our minds as we learn how to accelerate C++ programs using data parallelism.Data parallelism in C++ enables access to parallel resources in a modern heterogeneous system. A single C++ application can use any combination of devices—including GPUs, CPUs, FPGAs, and AI Applicatio…
Through the interpretative lens of today’s leading thinkers, The Philosophical Salon illuminates the persistent intellectual queries and the most disquieting concerns of our actuality. Across its three main divisions—Speculations, Reflections, and Interventions—the volume constructs a complex mirror, in which our age might be able to recognize itself with all its imperfections, shadowy sp…
Liberalism is one of the most central and pervasive political theories and ideologies, yet it is subject to different interpretations as well as misappropriations. Its history carries a crucial heritage of civilized thinking, of political practice, and of philosophical-ethical creativity. This Very Short Introduction unpacks the concept of liberalism and its various interpretations through t…
From the wilds of Kruger National Park, to cosmopolitan Cape Town, to the lush western cape winelands, to the stunning beaches along the Garden Route, this guide leads you straight to the greatest attractions this fascinating and varied country has to offer. Get insider tips on everything from the best shopping, restaurants, and hotels, to outdoor activities such as whale-watching, surfing, and…
By the time the First World War ended in 1918, eight million people had died in what had been perhaps the most apocalyptic episode the world had known. This Very Short Introduction provides a concise and insightful history of the 'Great War', focusing on why it happened, how it was fought, and why it had the consequences it did.It examines the state of Europe in 1914 and the outbreak of war; th…
Here is the extraordinary story of the unfolding of life on Earth, told by Michael J. Benton, a world-renowned authority on biodiversity. Ranging over four billion years, Benton weaves together the latest findings on fossils, earth history, evolutionary biology, and many other fields to highlight the great leaps that enabled life to evolve from microbe to human--big breakthroughs that made whol…
Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) is considered by many to have been one of the greatest writers on war. His study On War was described by the American strategic thinker Bernard Brodie as "not simply the greatest, but the only great book about war". It is hard to disagree. Even though he wrote his only major work at a time when the range of firearms was 50 yards, much of what he had to say remain…
Film is arguably the dominant art form of the twentieth century. In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Wood offers a wealth of insight into the nature of film, considering its role and impact on society as well as its future in the digital age. As Wood notes, film is many things, but it has become above all a means of telling stories through images and sounds. The stories are often quite fal…
What is socialism? Does it have a future, or has it become an outdated ideology in the 21st century? This Very Short Introduction considers the major theories in socialism, and explores its historical evolution from the French Revolution to the present day. Michael Newman argues that socialism has always been a diverse doctrine, while nevertheless containing a central core of interconnected …
Over the last decade, "New Atheists" such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens have pushed the issue of atheism to the forefront of public discussion. Yet very few of the ensuing debates and discussions have managed to provide a full and objective treatment of the subject. Atheism: What Everyone Needs to Know provides a balanced look at the topic, considering atheism hist…
The archaeological works at the Bon Accord Centre, Aberdeen, have identified the changing nature of this area of the medieval and post-medieval city at the junction of the two major thoroughfares of Upperkirkgate and Gallowgate. In the earliest centuries of the medieval burgh’s existence, the site formed part of an industrial quarter, periphe…
Giving Western literature and art many of its most enduring themes and archetypes, Greek mythology and the gods and goddesses at its core are a fundamental part of the popular imagination. At the heart of Greek mythology are exciting stories of drama, action, and adventure featuring gods and goddesses, who, while physically superior to humans, share many of their weaknesses. Readers will be int…
Our histories of global exploration and encounter in the long eigh-teenth century are often drawn from the scientific voyages of discovery and their richly illustrated books, like John Ross’s A Voyage of Discovery(1819). Ross voyaged in the Enlightenment tradition of Bougainville and Cook, who had returned to Europe in ships laden with knowledge in the form …
Change is the one constant in business, and we must adapt or face obsolescence. Yet certain challenges never go away. That's what makes this book "must read." These are the 10 seminal articles by management's most influential experts, on topics of perennial concern to ambitious managers and leaders hungry for inspiration--and ready to run with big ideas to accelerate their own and their compani…
Using long-ignored constitutions of various Jewish organizations, this unique book uncovers the political history of Canadian Jewry since its beginning during the 1700s. Building on the premise that Jews, since time immemorial, have written down their values and ideologies, this study effectively demonstrates how these writings record the principles and values that motivated a community.
This volume is concerned with the practices, discourses, and materialities surrounding the commodification of the ‘wild’ – a topic which has found considerable academic attention in the past decade (Smessaert et al. 2020). The ‘wild’ is commonly conceived of as a conceptual opposite to the destructive tendencies of commodification. The volume’s core concern is wi…
Machine learning and data analytics are powering a wave of groundbreaking technologies. Is your company ready? We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you understand how these technologies work together, how to adopt them, and why your strategy can't ignore them. In this book, you'll learn how: data science, driven by …
This book investigates the ways in which the social purposes of adult education are (re)interpreted over time, and between the global south and global north. It brings together thirty-seven authors from fourteen countries with extensive experience as academics and/or practitioners in the field. The book is inspired by the work and life of Lalage Bown, a leading proponent of post-colonial and in…
It is impossible to talk about human cognition without talking about concepts—there simplyisno human cognition without concepts. Concepts form an abstractionof reality that is central to the functioning of the human mind. Conceptual knowledge(of e.g., APPLE, LOVE and BEFORE) is crucial for us to categorize, understand,and reason about the world. Only equipped with concepts and words for them …
A large large, hand-painted map greets visitors to the rubber-tree nursery just outside Vieng Phoukha, a rural district capital in northwest-ern Laos. Taking up much of the second-story wall of the nursery’s main building, its title is long and formal: “Land-use map of the 3,000-hectare rubber planting promotion project, Vieng Phoukha District, of Bolisat Ltd., Yunnan Province, People’s…
One of the most notable features of any survey of the history of energy regimes in the Americas over the past century is the “pendulum effect.” Anecdotal though the observation may be, it is clear that despite the broad and incremental transformational changes that have occurred in the global energy landscape over time, individual countries have un…
Besides being a matter of academic interest, the study of earthquake-inducedhydrologic changes also has important implications for water resources, hydro-carbon exploration and engineered systems. For example, groundwater level changesfollowing earthquakes can affect water supplies (Chen and Wang2009). The aban-donment of Crete during the Late Minoan period has been attributed by some to adeple…
The impact of these two molecules is hard to overestimate. The advent of LSD can be linked to the revolution in brain science that begins in the 1950s, when scientists discovered the role of neurotransmitters in the brain. That quantities of LSD measured in micrograms could produce symptoms resembling psychosis inspired brain scientists to search for the neurochemical basis of mental disorders …
The credibility and legitimacy of electoral processes is inextricably linked to electoral integrity. The Global Commission on Democracy, Elections and Security identified five major challenges to the conduct of elections with integrity in its 2012 report: building the rule of law to substantiate claims to human rights and electoral justice, developing professional and competent electoral manage…
‘So would you say I’m blind?’ Sam asked.This sounds like a straightforward question. Sam had been attending my low vision clinic for six years, so surely I would be able to answer her without a second thought?Sam had an eye condition called Stargardt disease, which was slowly causing the cells in the central part of her retina to stop working. Just after starti…
I forget who first jokingly defined sculpture as something you bump into when you step back to look at a painting. I n any case, like most witticisms, this one contains a germ o f truth: both the general public and scholars pay more attention to painting than to sculpture. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this. We are a society geared to experiencing things on a flat plane rather than in …
This open access book introduces vignette research to new and experienced researchers by guiding them through its history, theory and underlying principles before delving into step-by-step practical guidance on how to do vignette research. Vignette research is an innovative qualitative, narrative and phenomenological research methodology that has gained international recognition, sparking inter…
The anthology Explorative Perspectives in Music and Education resulted from the MiU22 conference and seeks to support diverse dialogues. The publication, which is multimodal and interdisciplinary, explores how academic, artistic, and pedagogical research and performative work within the realm of music and education intertwine with the central theme. The anthology aims to objectively explore the…
Archaeological findings have indicated that Southern Africa is the land from which humankind’s ancestors evolved, between 3 million and 1 million years ago. Indeed, it is probable that the indigenous San, Pygmy, and Khoekhoe peoples of Southern Africa are linked genetically to that earlier, ancient population. Little, if anything, is known about interaction among these particular early group…
ost descendants grow up with a ‘lived history’ of the war in the family before they possess a ‘learned history’.7 When I began interviewing British descendants, I was initially taken aback by how little they knew about what their mothers and fathers did during the war. Some turned to fiction to fill in the gaps. Rosemary Game’s father was a tunnell…
How Democracy Survives explores how liberal democracy can better adapt to the planetary challenges of our time by evolving beyond the Westphalian paradigm of the nation state. The authors bring perspectives from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America, their chapters engaging with the concept of transnational democracy by tracing its development in the past, assessing its perform…
The present volume does not generally focus on the question of whether thoughts (cognition) or feelings (emotion) are more functional. Rather, this introductory material is sufficient to make the case that, typically, thoughts and feelings are seen to be distinct entities with distinct effects (e.g., Epstein, 1994). Yet, it has become increasingly apparent that cognition and emotion often inter…