Stuffed Animals & Pickled Heads

Stuffed Animals & Pickled Heads PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195163362
Category : Natural hisory
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
In countless exhibits, for instance, the idea of the traditional human and nuclear family is evident in displays of everything from extinct animals to grizzly bears (in nature, alas, the male bear is more likely to devour its young than to nurture them)." "Where else but at a natural history museum could you find a T. rex, a high-tech planetarium, a Native American totem pole, and flesh-eating beetles - all under one roof. And in Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads, Stephen Asma reveals that what we don't see - the scientific research that is going on backstage - is just as fascinating as the exhibits on display."--Jacket.

Stuffed Animals & Pickled Heads

Stuffed Animals & Pickled Heads PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195163362
Category : Natural hisory
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Get Book

Book Description
In countless exhibits, for instance, the idea of the traditional human and nuclear family is evident in displays of everything from extinct animals to grizzly bears (in nature, alas, the male bear is more likely to devour its young than to nurture them)." "Where else but at a natural history museum could you find a T. rex, a high-tech planetarium, a Native American totem pole, and flesh-eating beetles - all under one roof. And in Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads, Stephen Asma reveals that what we don't see - the scientific research that is going on backstage - is just as fascinating as the exhibits on display."--Jacket.

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Natural history
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description


Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads

Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199839123
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The natural history museum is a place where the line between "high" and "low" culture effectively vanishes--where our awe of nature, our taste for the bizarre, and our thirst for knowledge all blend happily together. But as Stephen Asma shows in Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads, there is more going on in these great institutions than just smart fun. Asma takes us on a wide-ranging tour of natural history museums in New York and Chicago, London and Paris, interviewing curators, scientists, and exhibit designers, and providing a wealth of fascinating observations. We learn how the first museums were little more than high-toned side shows, with such garish exhibits as the pickled head of Peter the Great's lover. In contrast, today's museums are hot-beds of serious science, funding major research in such fields as anthropology and archaeology. "Rich in detail, lucid explanation, telling anecdotes, and fascinating characters.... Asma has rendered a fascinating and credible account of how natural history museums are conceived and presented. It's the kind of book that will not only engage a wide and diverse readership, but it should, best of all, send them flocking to see how we look at nature and ourselves in those fabulous legacies of the curiosity cabinet."--The Boston Herald.

Against Fairness

Against Fairness PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226029867
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
A polymath philosopher shares lighthearted examples of humanity's unspoken instinct toward favoritism to argue against zealous pursuits of fairness.

The Afterlives of Animals

The Afterlives of Animals PDF Author: Samuel J. M. M. Alberti
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813931673
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This collection of essays comprises short "biographies" of a number of famous taxidermied animals. Each essay traces the life, death and museum "afterlife" of a specific creature, illuminating the overlooked role of the dead beast in the modern human-animal encounter through practices as disparate as hunting and zookeeping.

On Monsters

On Monsters PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199798095
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
"A comprehensive modern-day bestiary."--The New Yorker

The Gods Drink Whiskey

The Gods Drink Whiskey PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060834501
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Buddhism, Booze, and the Four Noble Truths

Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science PDF Author: Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393338711
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Examines the history of taxonomy, describing the quest of scientists to name and classify living things from Carl Linnaeus to early twenty-first-century scientists who rely more on microscopic evidence than their senses, which has encouraged an indifference to nature that is responsible for the extinction of many species.

Nature Contained

Nature Contained PDF Author: Tony O'Dempsey
Publisher: NUS Press
ISBN: 9971697904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
How has Singapore's environment and location in a zone of extraordinary biodiversity influenced the economic, political, social, and intellectual history of the island since the early 19th century? What are the antecedents to Singapore's image of itself as a City in a Garden? Grounding the story of Singapore within an understanding of its environment opens the way to an account of the past that is more than a story of trade, immigration, and nation-building. Each of the chapters in this volume focusing on topics ranging from tigers and plantations to trade in exotic animals and the greening of the city, and written by botanists, historians, anthropologists, and naturalists examines how humans have interacted with and understood the natural environment on a small island in Southeast Asia over the past 200 years, and conversely how this environment has influenced humans. Between the chapters are travelers' accounts and primary documents that provide eyewitness descriptions of the events examined in the text. In this regard, Nature Contained: Environmental Histories of Singapore provides new insights into the Singaporean past, and reflects much of the diversity, and dynamism, of environmental history globally.

The Evolution of Imagination

The Evolution of Imagination PDF Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022622516X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Consider Miles Davis, horn held high, sculpting a powerful musical statement full of tonal patterns, inside jokes, and thrilling climactic phrases—all on the fly. Or think of a comedy troupe riffing on a couple of cues from the audience until the whole room is erupting with laughter. Or maybe it’s a team of software engineers brainstorming their way to the next Google, or the Einsteins of the world code-cracking the mysteries of nature. Maybe it’s simply a child playing with her toys. What do all of these activities share? With wisdom, humor, and joy, philosopher Stephen T. Asma answers that question in this book: imagination. And from there he takes us on an extraordinary tour of the human creative spirit. Guided by neuroscience, animal behavior, evolution, philosophy, and psychology, Asma burrows deep into the human psyche to look right at the enigmatic but powerful engine that is our improvisational creativity—the source, he argues, of our remarkable imaginational capacity. How is it, he asks, that a story can evoke a whole world inside of us? How are we able to rehearse a skill, a speech, or even an entire scenario simply by thinking about it? How does creativity go beyond experience and help us make something completely new? And how does our moral imagination help us sculpt a better society? As he shows, we live in a world that is only partly happening in reality. Huge swaths of our cognitive experiences are made up by “what-ifs,” “almosts,” and “maybes,” an imagined terrain that churns out one of the most overlooked but necessary resources for our flourishing: possibilities. Considering everything from how imagination works in our physical bodies to the ways we make images, from the mechanics of language and our ability to tell stories to the creative composition of self-consciousness, Asma expands our personal and day-to-day forms of imagination into a grand scale: as one of the decisive evolutionary forces that has guided human development from the Paleolithic era to today. The result is an inspiring look at the rich relationships among improvisation, imagination, and culture, and a privileged glimpse into the unique nature of our evolved minds.