A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 1555848435
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
A Financial Times and Economist Best Book of the Year exploring world trade from Mesopotamia in 3,000 BC to modern globalization. How did trade evolve to the point where we don’t think twice about biting into an apple from the other side of the world? In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The Birth of Plenty, traces the story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. Journey from ancient sailing ships carrying silk from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly on spices in the sixteenth; from the American trade battles of the early twentieth century to the modern era of televisions from Taiwan, lettuce from Mexico, and T-shirts from China. Bernstein conveys trade and globalization not in political terms, but rather as an ever-evolving historical constant, like war or religion, that will continue to foster the growth of intellectual capital, shrink the world, and propel the trajectory of the human species. “[An] entertaining and greatly enlightening book.” —The New York Times “A work of which Adam Smith and Max Weber would have approved.” —Foreign Affairs “[Weaves] skillfully between rollicking adventures and scholarship.” —Pietra Rivoli, author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 1555848435
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 480

Get Book

Book Description
A Financial Times and Economist Best Book of the Year exploring world trade from Mesopotamia in 3,000 BC to modern globalization. How did trade evolve to the point where we don’t think twice about biting into an apple from the other side of the world? In A Splendid Exchange, William J. Bernstein, bestselling author of The Birth of Plenty, traces the story of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the myriad controversies surrounding it today. Journey from ancient sailing ships carrying silk from China to Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly on spices in the sixteenth; from the American trade battles of the early twentieth century to the modern era of televisions from Taiwan, lettuce from Mexico, and T-shirts from China. Bernstein conveys trade and globalization not in political terms, but rather as an ever-evolving historical constant, like war or religion, that will continue to foster the growth of intellectual capital, shrink the world, and propel the trajectory of the human species. “[An] entertaining and greatly enlightening book.” —The New York Times “A work of which Adam Smith and Max Weber would have approved.” —Foreign Affairs “[Weaves] skillfully between rollicking adventures and scholarship.” —Pietra Rivoli, author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy

A Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781843548034
Category : Commerce
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Traces the evolution of international trade, from ancient Mesopotamia to today's global marketplace, exploring the influence of commerce on agriculture, technology, politics, and civilization as a whole.

Masters of the Word

Masters of the Word PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802193447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
A “riveting and thoroughly researched” history of language technology’s effect on society across millennia—from Sumerian syntax to social media hashtags (Phil Lapsley). Writing was born thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. Spreading to Sumer, and then Egypt, this revolutionary tool allowed rulers to extend their control far and wide, giving rise to the world’s first empires. When Phoenician traders took their alphabet to Greece, literacy’s first boom led to the birth of drama and democracy. In Rome, it helped spell the downfall of the Republic. Later, medieval scriptoria and vernacular bibles gave rise to religious dissent, and with the combination of cheaper paper and Gutenberg’s printing press, the fuse of Reformation was lit. The Industrial Revolution brought the telegraph and the steam driven printing press, allowing information to move faster and wider than ever before through the invention of the newspaper. But along with radio and television, these new technologies were more easily exploited by the powerful, as seen in Germany, the Soviet Union, even Rwanda, where radio incited genocide. With the rise of carbon duplicates (Russian samizdat), photocopying (the Pentagon Papers), the internet, social media, and cell phones (the recent Arab Spring) more people have access to communications, making the world more connected than ever before. This “accessible, quite enjoyable, and highly informative read” will change the way you look at technology, history, and power (Booklist). “[Bernstein] enables us to see what remains the same, even as much has changed.” —Library Journal, “Editors’ Picks” “It brims with interesting ideas and astonishing connections.” —Phil Lapsley, author of Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell “[Bernstein’s] narrative is succinct and extremely well sourced. . . . [He] reminds us of a number of technologies whose changed roles are less widely chronicled in conventional histories of the media.” —The Irish Times

The Delusions of Crowds

The Delusions of Crowds PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802157114
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
This “disturbing yet fascinating” exploration of mass mania through the ages explains the biological and psychological roots of irrationality (Kirkus Reviews). From time immemorial, contagious narratives have spread through susceptible groups—with enormous, often disastrous, consequences. Inspired by Charles Mackay’s nineteenth-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, neurologist and author William Bernstein examines mass delusion through the lens of current scientific research in The Delusions of Crowds. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last five hundred years—from the Anabaptist Madness of the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that pervade today’s polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles. Through Bernstein’s supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their “desire to improve one’s well-being in this life or the next.” Bernstein’s chronicles reveal the huge cost and alarming implications of mass mania. He observes that if we can absorb the history and biology of this all-too-human phenomenon, we can recognize it more readily in our own time, and avoid its frequently dire impact.

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern Work was Created

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern Work was Created PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071760806
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
“Compact and immensely readable . . . a tour de force. Prepare to be amazed.” John C. Bogle, Founder and Former CEO, The Vanguard Group Bernstein is widely respected as author of the bestseller, The Intelligent Asset Allocator Identifies and explains the four conditions necessary for human progress

The World That Trade Created

The World That Trade Created PDF Author: Kenneth Pomeranz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317453824
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
In a series of brief vignettes the authors bring to life international trade and its actors, and also demonstrate that economic activity cannot be divorced from social and cultural contexts. In the process they make clear that the seemingly modern concept of economic globalisation has deep historical roots.

Silk Road Vegetarian

Silk Road Vegetarian PDF Author: Dahlia Abraham-Klein
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462914160
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
"Her first cookbook, Silk Road Vegetarian, …is a thoughtful and delicious collection of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan recipes celebrating the foods of the Silk Road" —The Food Network Discover the secrets of healthy and sustainable eating that have been practiced along the trade routes of Asia for centuries. This unusual cookbook is filled with richly-flavored vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free recipes that will be a welcome change for any vegetarian or vegan to enjoy. Plus, most of these delicious recipes can be made using ingredients from your local Farmer's market or CSA share! Delicious vegetarian and vegan recipes include: Bengali Potato & Zucchini Curry Afghan Risotto Zucchini with Basil Vinagrette Turkish Baked Eggplant with Mint Curried Lentil Burgers Israeli Chopped Salad Sesame Kale Salad And dozens more… Dishes from the Silk Road have their roots in the ancient village food traditions of Asia, where a few healthy ingredients from local gardens were blended with spices to create meals that are nutritious, varied and flavorful, as well as being ethical and sustainable. Author Dahlia Abraham-Klein is a food educator and nutritionist who draws from her own family heritage to create meals that honor what is most meaningful about cooking and food everywhere in the world—a connectedness to place, history and family. Her book is about developing culinary awareness and celebrating diversity—discovering foods with contrasting tastes and textures that are simple and easy to prepare, yet totally exciting and different. Silk Road Vegetarian delves into the cultural and spiritual traditions of the Silk Road to show how cultural traditions have influenced the cuisine. Each dish has a rich history—linking past to present in a particular place. At the same time, the recipes address pressing contemporary needs by showing us how to eat a healthy, balanced and yet interesting diet with locally-sourced, earth-friendly ingredients. The astonishing array of recipes in this book will inspire every home cook. All dishes are easy and simple to prepare, and codes are applied to identify which ones are: Vegetarian Vegan Gluten-free Try one of these recipes, and you'll agree that peoples living along the Silk Road created a unique culinary tradition that we have much to learn from today.

The Word Exchange

The Word Exchange PDF Author: Alena Graedon
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385537662
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
A dystopian novel for the digital age, The Word Exchange offers an inventive, suspenseful, and decidedly original vision of the dangers of technology and of the enduring power of the printed word. In the not-so-distant future, the forecasted “death of print” has become a reality. Bookstores, libraries, newspapers, and magazines are things of the past, and we spend our time glued to handheld devices called Memes that not only keep us in constant communication but also have become so intuitive that they hail us cabs before we leave our offices, order takeout at the first growl of a hungry stomach, and even create and sell language itself in a marketplace called the Word Exchange. Anana Johnson works with her father, Doug, at the North American Dictionary of the English Language (NADEL), where Doug is hard at work on the last edition that will ever be printed. Doug is a staunchly anti-Meme, anti-tech intellectual who fondly remembers the days when people used email (everything now is text or videoconference) to communicate—or even actually spoke to one another, for that matter. One evening, Doug disappears from the NADEL offices, leaving a single written clue: ALICE. It’s a code word he devised to signal if he ever fell into harm’s way. And thus begins Anana’s journey down the proverbial rabbit hole . . . Joined by Bart, her bookish NADEL colleague, Anana’s search for Doug will take her into dark basements and subterranean passageways; the stacks and reading rooms of the Mercantile Library; and secret meetings of the underground resistance, the Diachronic Society. As Anana penetrates the mystery of her father’s disappearance and a pandemic of decaying language called “word flu” spreads, The Word Exchange becomes a cautionary tale that is at once a technological thriller and a meditation on the high cultural costs of digital technology.

The Investor's Manifesto

The Investor's Manifesto PDF Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118073762
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
A timeless approach to investing wisely over an investment lifetime With the current market maelstrom as a background, this timely guide describes just how to plan a lifetime of investing, in good times and bad, discussing stocks and bonds as well as the relationship between risk and return. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, The Investor's Manifesto will help you understand the nuts and bolts of executing a lifetime investment plan, including: how to survive dealing with the investment industry, the practical meaning of market efficiency, how much to save, how to maintain discipline in the face of panics and manias, and what vehicles to use to achieve financial security and freedom. Written by bestselling author William J. Bernstein, well known for his insights on how individual investors can manage their personal wealth and retirement funds wisely Examines how the financial landscape has radically altered in the past two years, and what investors should do about it Contains practical insights that the everyday investor can understand Focuses on the concept of Pascal's Wager-identifying and avoiding worst-case scenarios, and planning investment decisions on that basis With The Investor's Manifesto as your guide, you'll quickly discover the timeless investment approaches that can put you in a better position to prosper over time.

Merchants, Markets, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World

Merchants, Markets, and Exchange in the Pre-Columbian World PDF Author: Kenn Hirth
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
ISBN: 9780884023869
Category : Indians of Central America
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This title examines the structure, scale and complexity of economic systems in the pre-Hispanic Americas, with a focus on the central highlands of Mexico, the Maya Lowlands and the central Andes.