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Author: Doris Flexner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780380777822
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
The classic look at the past with a very jaundiced eye -- now with even more disheartening facts! The original "irreverent jaunt through the catastrophes, cataclysms and outrages that shaped our world" has sold more than 73,000 copies. This updated edition takes us from the Big Bang (it was an explosion, after all) to the turn of the millennium, with more than 10,000 new words and 100 new entries that chronicle the disasters, bad decisions, and downright evil events that have taken place since September 1991 (the last entry in the first book). With a light but informative tone and a handy timeline of events, this is addictively friendly fare for those who want a different -- some might argue more intriguing -- view of history.
Author: Doris Flexner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780380777822
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Get Book
Book Description
The classic look at the past with a very jaundiced eye -- now with even more disheartening facts! The original "irreverent jaunt through the catastrophes, cataclysms and outrages that shaped our world" has sold more than 73,000 copies. This updated edition takes us from the Big Bang (it was an explosion, after all) to the turn of the millennium, with more than 10,000 new words and 100 new entries that chronicle the disasters, bad decisions, and downright evil events that have taken place since September 1991 (the last entry in the first book). With a light but informative tone and a handy timeline of events, this is addictively friendly fare for those who want a different -- some might argue more intriguing -- view of history.
Author: Adrian Currie
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262552035
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383
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Book Description
An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of “methodologically omnivorous” geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover truths about the deep past. The “historical sciences”—geology, paleontology, and archaeology—have made extraordinary progress in advancing our understanding of the deep past. How has this been possible, given that the evidence they have to work with offers mere traces of the past? In Rock, Bone, and Ruin, Adrian Currie explains that these scientists are “methodological omnivores,” with a variety of strategies and techniques at their disposal, and that this gives us every reason to be optimistic about their capacity to uncover truths about prehistory. Creative and opportunistic paleontologists, for example, discovered and described a new species of prehistoric duck-billed platypus from a single fossilized tooth. Examining the complex reasoning processes of historical science, Currie also considers philosophical and scientific reflection on the relationship between past and present, the nature of evidence, contingency, and scientific progress. Currie draws on varied examples from across the historical sciences, from Mayan ritual sacrifice to giant Mesozoic fleas to Mars's mysterious watery past, to develop an account of the nature of, and resources available to, historical science. He presents two major case studies: the emerging explanation of sauropod size, and the “snowball earth” hypothesis that accounts for signs of glaciation in Neoproterozoic tropics. He develops the Ripple Model of Evidence to analyze “unlucky circumstances” in scientific investigation; examines and refutes arguments for pessimism about the capacity of the historical sciences, defending the role of analogy and arguing that simulations have an experiment-like function. Currie argues for a creative, open-ended approach, “empirically grounded” speculation.
Author: Mark Henry
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd
ISBN: 0717190390
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
This optimistic guide to Ireland at 100 tells our national story through facts and stats, placing Ireland under the microscope to chart 100 achievements of the past 100 years. Ireland remained one of the most poverty-stricken nations in Europe for decades after the State was formed. Yet now, it has the second-highest standard of living in the world. Author Mark Henry has gathered the data to tell an under-told story of our national progress across every aspect of Irish life. He identifies the factors that account for Ireland's extraordinary success, as well as the five most prominent psychological biases that prevent us from recognising how far we have come. He also highlights the greatest challenges that we must now address if we are to continue to progress in the century ahead. While there is still more to be done, In Fact illustrates that Ireland, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than you might think.
Author: Mark Stevenson
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847654339
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Mark Stevenson has been to the future a few years ahead of the rest of us - and reckons it has a lot going for it. His voyage of discovery takes him to Oxford to meet Transhumanists (they intend to live forever), to Boston where he confronts a robot with mood swings, to an underwater cabinet meeting in the Indian Ocean, and Australia to question the Outback's smartest farmer. He clambers around space planes in the Mojave desert, gets to grips with the potential of nanotechnology, delves deep into the possibilities of biotech, sees an energy renaissance on a printer, a revolution in communications, has his genome profiled, and glimpses the next stage of human evolution ... and tries to make sense of what's in store. Insightful and often very funny, An Optimist's Tour of the Future is a book that tracks one curious man's journey to find out what's in store.
Author: Christiana Figueres
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 052565836X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
A cautionary but optimistic book about the world’s changing climate and the fate of humanity, from Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac—who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015. The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a regenerative world that has net-zero emissions. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can, and must, do to fend off disaster.
Author: Ellen Freudenheim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 362
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Book Description
Millions of baby boomers on the brink of their 60s may be at a loss about what to do in their post-career years. The author, a boomer herself, tells readers how to successfully pursue everything from second careers to additional academic degrees.
Author: Amy E. Reichert
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501154958
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
Three generations. Seven days. One big secret. The author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake unfolds a mother-daughter story told by three women whose time to reckon with a life-altering secret is running out. Gina Zoberski wants to make it through one day without her fastidious mother, Lorraine, cataloguing all her faults, and her sullen teenage daughter, May, snubbing her. Too bad there’s no chance of that. Her relentlessly sunny disposition annoys them both, no matter how hard she tries. Instead, Gina finds order and comfort in obsessive list-making and her work at Grilled G’s, the gourmet grilled cheese food truck built by her late husband. But when Lorraine suffers a sudden stroke, Gina stumbles upon a family secret Lorraine's kept hidden for forty years. In the face of her mother’s failing health and her daughter’s rebellion, this optimist might find that piecing together the truth is the push she needs to let go...
Author: Suzanne Riss
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 0761187421
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
For the more than one million women who get divorced each year, welcome to your support group. Wise, comforting, and uplifting, The Optimist’s Guide to Divorce captures the experience of sisterhood through the voices of its authors and their community of women in the Maplewood Divorce Club—women who understand what you’re going through, who know the practical issues as well as the emotional ones, and who can help you keep a sense of hope and a sense of humor. Brimming with stories and insights, valuable resources and smart strategies, in-the-trenches tips and sanity-saving takeaways, this book prepares you for each phase of divorce, from having “the talk,” to breaking the news to family and friends, to figuring out where to live, to co-parenting with an ex, to rebounding and rebooting your life. It’s divided into three sections that cover the process from start to finish—Deal, Heal, and Reveal—and make it easy to jump in wherever you are in your journey. And even better, to make the choices that will help you develop a better relationship with the one person you’ll be with for the rest of your life—yourself.
Author: Elizabeth Shaw
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781732536500
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 152
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Book Description
Optimism can seem like an elusive, intangible concept that is challenging to apply in our day-to-day lives. The Optimist's Manifesto is a guide book for practical optimism, the ability to see the possibility of the most favorable outcomes, and act in a way that moves toward the most favorable outcome becoming a reality. Divided into categories of Self, Relationships, Work, Community, and World View, this book provides tips and tools to be more optimistic in all aspects of life.
Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Publisher: Picador USA
ISBN: 1250141222
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 559
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Book Description
"Version 2.0 with a new afterword"--Cover.
