Australia. Blogs. 2007. Clive-hamilton. 2008. Water | Georgetown University Press. The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is that danger greater than in water-distressed Asia. Water stress is set to become Asia's defining crisis of the twenty-first century, creating obstacles to continued rapid economic growth, stoking interstate tensions over shared resources, exacerbating long-time territorial disputes, and imposing further hardships on the poor. Water: Asia's New Battleground is a pioneering study of Asia's murky water politics and the relationships between fresh water, peace, and security. Brahma Chellaney, one of India's leading strategic thinkers and analysts, is a professor at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. Reviews "A formidable interdisciplinary book. "A well-written book which uses relatively clear and sophisticated language while still remaining accessible to readers without prior knowledge of the subject.
" Table of Contents Introduction 1. 2. 3. 4. Everything you know about the Civil War is wrong - History. On the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, Americans are engaged in new debates over what it was about. Southern revisionists have long tried to claim it wasn’t about slavery, but rather “Northern aggression” – which is a tough sell since they seceded from the Union despite Lincoln’s attempts at compromise on slavery, and then attacked the federal Fort Sumter in South Carolina. That would be Southern aggression, by any standard. But there’s still room for smart revisionism. Instead of the traditional view that finds the Civil War a great moral and political triumph, David Goldfield calls it “America’s greatest failure” in his fascinating new book, “America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation.”
It killed a half-million Americans and devastated the South for generations, maybe through today. And as a strict constitutionalist, Lincoln resisted abolitionism, because like it or not, the Constitution made room for slavery. Meanwhile, attacks on Irish Catholics continued. The Economics of Climate Change in China. Losing Control: The Emerging Threats to Western Prosperity by Stephen D King review | Non-fiction book reviews - Times Online.
Roger Pielke Jr | FiveBooks. Tell me why we’ve got Human Impacts on Weather and Climate. Actually, that is a book that’s co-authored by my father, and in my book, The Climate Fix, the first chapter is entitled Dinner Table Climate Science and I explain how growing up I was taught all sorts of things by my father, who was a leading atmospheric scientist, and his colleague, Bill Cotton. They worked together at Colorado State for several decades and they have written this book that provides a thorough and comprehensive look at human influences on the climate system, which includes carbon dioxide but goes far beyond just carbon dioxide. If people want to understand the issue of climate change it’s important to understand the diversity of influences that people have on the climate system.
You could point to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Survey, but that’s a monumental tome that is not really written for the layperson. We have monumental tomes on the site. I would have a hard time reading it. Yes. Right. War of the words. "We are all philosophers here where I am, and we debate among other things the question of where it is that we live. On that issue I am a liberal. I live in the interstice yes, but I live in both the city and the city. " The closing lines of China Miéville's The City and the City (2009) could serve as a summary of the present state of what used to be called science fiction. Fusing elements from works of fantasy and the pulp literature of horror that descends from H P Lovecraft, much of Miéville's earlier work was set in an alternative world, a highly coloured realm far removed from any in which human beings have ever lived.
The City and the City presents the actual world subtly altered, coexisting and overlapping with another that is not so different - two cities kept apart by secret police between which the central protagonist, a dogged detective, must travel in order to resolve a murder investigation. It is a mind-opening conception, realised with enormous skill and panache. John Shepherd | FiveBooks. Your last book is The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, by Richard Holmes. The reason for picking this is that it is a sort of cross-cultural book. Richard Holmes is a very eminent biographer. He has written biographies of several of the romantic poets including Shelley and Coleridge. And I was intrigued when I saw this book by him sitting in our bookshop, because I didn’t know that he was particularly interested in science. His book is all about how, even in the age of romanticism, science was an important part of culture.
And it was, as the title suggests, both beautiful and offering much but also terrifying. In those days it was considered completely normal to be interested in the arts but also to do scientific experiments. Some people would say that the whole idea of science saving us from the whole mess of climate change is a bit of a cop-out because we should be helping ourselves. Used and New: Memed, My Hawk (New York Review Books Classics) Penguin Modern Poets 13 - BUKOWSKI, Charles, Philip Lamantia and Harold Norse | Between the Covers Rare Books. The Politics of Climate Change, A Survey. Climate change is a defining issue in contemporary life. Since the Industrial Revolution, heavy reliance on carbon-based sources for energy in industry and society has contributed to substantial changes in the climate, indicated by increases in temperature and sea level rise.
In the last three decades, concerns regarding human contributions to climate change have moved from obscure scientific inquiries to the fore of science, politics, policy and practices at many levels. From local adaptation strategies to international treaty negotiation, ‘the politics of climate change’ is as pervasive, vital and contested as it has ever been. On the cusp of a new commitment to international co-operation to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, this essential book intervenes to help understand and engage with the dynamic and compelling ‘Politics of Climate Change’.
A section of Maps offers a visual overview of the effects of environmental change. Chapter_1.pdf (application/pdf Object) - Prosperity without growth. Prosperity without Growth. Iain Banks: Even at my age I still have something to prove. Dear me, have you noticed how many middle-aged, bearded blokes are around these days? It makes Iain Banks terribly difficult to spot in a crowd. Maybe that 70s polytechnic lecturer look he has assiduously adopted for so many years is finally in fashion. Still, when he strides into Edinburgh's swanky Balmoral Hotel, fresh off the train from his home in North Queensferry, he looks trim and well-groomed – and, slightly surprisingly, orders a mineral water from the bar.
Banks has cut down on drink, he says, and drugs have been banished. At 55, with his divorce a fading memory and now ensconced in a relationship with the film festival curator and novelist Adèle Hartley, his life would appear fairly contented – except for the fact that he's having to take a pay cut. As one of Britain's most consistently successful writers for a quarter of a century, surely this must have come as quite a shock? Banks shrugs. Attack on US foreign policy "Yes, that all came from Abu Ghraib. Why We Disagree About Climate Change. Climate change is not 'a problem' waiting for 'a solution'. It is an environmental, cultural and political phenomenon which is re-shaping the way we think about ourselves, our societies and humanity's place on Earth.
Drawing upon twenty-five years of professional work as an international climate change scientist and public commentator, Mike Hulme provides a unique insider's account of the emergence of this phenomenon and the diverse ways in which it is understood. He uses different standpoints from science, economics, faith, psychology, communication, sociology, politics and development to explain why we disagree about climate change. In this way he shows that climate change, far from being simply an 'issue' or a 'threat', can act as a catalyst to revise our perception of our place in the world. Why We Disagree About Climate Change is an important contribution to the ongoing debate over climate change and its likely impact on our lives.
"This is a very rare book. Adapting Cities to Climate Change: understanding and addressing the development challenges. Ecological Debt: Global Warming and the Wealth of Nations: Andrew Simms: Amazon.co.uk. Review A master at joined-up progressive thinking. (New Scientist) 'An ebullient driving force,' listed as one of the UK's top environmentalists by the Independent on Sunday (Independent on Sunday) (A) leading industry observer (Financial Times) Creative and compelling (Larry Elliott, Economics Editor, Guardian) Essential reading (R K Pachauri, Ph.D, Director-General, TERI, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) A new phrase has entered the language (Dame Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop) This book describes the world as it really is. ...
About the Author Andrew Simms is policy director of nef (new economics foundation) the award winning independent British think-and-do tank. A Fan's Notes - Books - The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper. This is, and has to be, a personal story. Years ago, as a boy in Maine, my Aunt Madeleine would give me a $10 gift certificate to Bookland for my birthday. I loved Bookland—it was about as big as a Waldenbooks or a B. Dalton, but it felt like it had every book in the world (this was before Borders or Barnes & Noble came to Maine).
When I was 10, I'd read all the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books and everything by Terry Pratchett. A friend recommended Kurt Vonnegut, and I cut a swath through his entire body of work like only an awkward adolescent could. I needed something new, and I browsed the science-fiction section, where I picked up a $4.50 Ace paperback with a hideous, faux-marble cover called Only Begotten Daughter, by James Morrow. I don't remember what, exactly, drew me to pick it up, but I can tell you why I bought it with my gift certificate. It could only happen in New Jersey. Perhaps because it was my first, Daughter remains my favorite. 2666: Roberto Bolano. Bolano's 1100 page (Spanish Edition) magnus opus is mesmerizing and hypnotic; full of magical stories, violence, sex, meta-fiction, and lies--a lot of lies and a great deal of misdirection. When I finished the novel I started again; it was the only thing to do; there was too much to absorb on the first reading; too many themes--writing, violence, detectives, murder, identity, travel, death, books, libraries, biographies, success, failure, race, fascism, Nazis, and war.
The writing in itself is beautiful, a poet's book, written by a poet, and translated beautifully by Natasha Wimmer. The story, in a nutshell, is the life story of a German soldier by the name of Hans Reiter, who, in mid-life in the bombed-out city of Cologne, after the Second World War, changes his name to Benno von Archimboldi and writes his first novel. From this brief synopsis grows a story of the world in the Twentieth Century. It begins with Reiter's birth in Prussia and ends in the present day. The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why: Amazon.co.uk: Amanda Ripley. First off, I would recommend this book to anyone purely on the basis that it contains information that everyone should know, this being - to quote a reviewer of a similar book (Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales) - 'the core of survival...the way we process information under stress'.
This information could save your life one day. 'The Unthinkable' is *not* about how to make a fire in the rain after a nuclear holocaust, or how to find clean water in the jungle. It's about how the brain responds when faced with emergency/disaster/serious threat, such as 9/11, being in a burning plane or house, or in a classroom when a student decides to go on a shooting spree. Often, survival will depend on taking immediate action, and often, people's brains just shut down faced with 'the unthinkable' and they fail to act (or take action too late), and die as a result. Having said all that, 'The Unthinkable', in spite of a fascinating subject, is a less than gripping read.
John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman: Amazon.co.uk: Robert Skidelsky. The book is a very enjoyable, and deatiled account of Maynard Keynes' life. At times touching, exciting, or fascinating, it maintains a light touch even when wading through the economic or political ideas that involved 'the master' in his remarkable life. There are good pieces of personal information collated by Skidelsky when researching the book, and has been updated in light of modern research. Nevertheless, I am left feeling that perhaps I should have started the three-volume edition, so well written is it, but having already read a 1000 page book, would I want to re-read all that material? I would recommend to prospective readers to try the three volume one, unless they are sure that they will be unable to finish it, as I am sure there will be much of interest in the full version.
At times one can tell this is an abridgement, but that does not detract to any large degree from the excellent prose. Climate Change as a Security Risk. Pullman defiant over US protests against Northern Lights. 'Glee' ... Philip Pullman. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe Philip Pullman has revealed he was delighted to discover his novel Northern Lights was one of the most "challenged" titles of the year in America, with numerous calls made to have it removed from libraries. Pullman's children's novel, which is sold as The Golden Compass in the US, was the fourth most challenged book in 2007, according to the American Library Association, which received 420 formally submitted complaints to libraries or schools over "inappropriate content and subject matter" last year. Writing for guardian.co.uk this morning, Pullman said his immediate response on hearing the latest figures from the ALA was "glee".
It's a point given added weight by a promotion featuring censored books currently running at Borders bookshops. "It's a way of measuring the morals of today against those of yesterday," he said, adding that Borders have no plans to include books by Philip Pullman in the promotion. Remembering David Foster Wallace | Salon Books. He talked about how difficult it was to be a novelist in a world seething with advertisements and entertainment and knee-jerk knowingness and facile irony. He wrote about the maddening impossibility of scrutinizing yourself without also scrutinizing yourself scrutinizing yourself and so on, ad infinitum, a vertiginous spiral of narcissism — because not even the most merciless self- examination can ignore the probability that you are simultaneously congratulating yourself for your soul-searching, that you are posing.
He tried so hard to be sincere and to attend to the world around him because he was excruciatingly aware of how often we are merely “sincere” and “attentive” and all too willing to leave it at that. He spoke of the discipline and of the abrading, daily labor such efforts require because the one imperative that runs throughout all of his work is the intimate connection between humility and wisdom. Perhaps in the end, that’s what he thought, but he was wrong. Foster Wallace is a huge loss.
Neal Stephenson, "Anathem" | Salon Books. Kyoto2 - the Book. Pirate Utopias: Moorish Corsairs and European Renegradoes (New Autonomy): Peter Lamborn Wilson. SAQI BOOKS - Islamic Democracy and Its Limits by Al-Saif, Tawfik. Climate Change anthology, Feeling the pressure book, British Council Switzerland. The Paris Review - Homepage. LRB · Jonathan Raban: Planes, Trains and SUVs. Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - books: George MacDonald Fraser: 1925 - 2008.
Software is hard | Salon Books.