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A novel, interdisciplinary exploration of the relative contributions of rigidity and flexibility in the adoption, maintenance, and evolution of technical…
traditions.Techniques can either be used in rigid, stereotypical ways or in flexibly adaptive ways, or in some combination of the two. The Evolution of Techniques, edited by Mathieu Charbonneau, addresses the impacts of both flexibility and rigidity on how techniques are used, transformed, and reconstructed, at varying social and temporal scales. The multidisciplinary contributors demonstrate the important role of the varied learning contexts and social configurations involved in the transmission, use, and evolution of techniques. They explore the diversity of cognitive, behavioral, sociocultural, and ecological mechanisms that promote and constrain technical flexibility and rigidity, proposing a deeper picture of the enablers of, and obstacles to, technical transmission and change.In line with the extended evolutionary synthesis, the book proposes a more inclusive and materially grounded conception of technical evolution in terms of promiscuous, dynamic, and multidirectional causal processes. Offering new evidence and novel theoretical perspectives, the contributors deploy a diversity of methods, including ethnographies, field and laboratory experiments, cladistics and phylogenetic tree building, historiography, and philosophical analysis. Examples of the wide range of topics covered include field experiments with potters from five cultures, stability and change in Paleolithic toolmaking, why children lack flexibility when making tools, and cultural techniques in nonhuman animals.The volume&’s three thematic sections are:· Timescales of technical rigidity and flexibility· Rigid copying to flexible reconstruction· Exogenous factors of technical rigidity and flexibilityThe volume closes with a discussion by philosopher Kim Sterelny.ContributorsRita Astuti, Adam Howell Boyette, Blandine Bril, Josep Call, Mathieu Charbonneau, Arianna Curioni, Nicola Cutting, Bert De Munck, György Gergely, Anne-Lise Goujon, Ildikó Király, Catherine Lara, Sébastien Manem, Luke McEllin, Helena Miton, Giulio Ongaro, Sarah Pope-Caldwell, Valentine Roux, Manon Schweinfurth, Dan Sperber, Kim Sterelny, Dietrich Stout, James W. A. Strachan, Sadie TenpasEnter the prehistoric world for an incredible four-billion year journey in this book for young history and dinosaur enthusiasts.Take children…
on a fascinating journey through history, showing them how and where their favorite dinosaurs came to exist, and how events from billions of years ago are still affecting our natural world today.Packed with dynamic historical content, Prehistoric Worlds combines illustrations and photos to help young historians aged 7-9 learn all about the period that shaped our planet. Meet favorite dinosaurs, from the terrifying T.Rex to the spiky stegosaurus; nurture your inner paleontologist by learning about prehistoric plant and animal fossils; and discover destructive extinction events that changed the world forever.Inside this dinosaur book for children, you&’ll find: - A wide range of prehistoric life and its chronology, including plants and animals from this period, and the continental shifts that shaped our world today.- Information on natural history written by palaeontologist and scientist Ashley Hall.- Illustrations and expert CGI imagery showing different types of dinosaur species.Plants flourish, birds evolve, and dinosaurs charge across the pages of this lively and colorful book. From oceans teeming with life to destructive asteroids, children will discover the incredible timeline of prehistoric life that resulted in the world we recognize today.The Ridiculous Race: 26,000 Miles, 2 Guides, 1 Globe, No Airplanes
Par Steve Hely, Vali Chandrasekaran. 2008
The most absurd, hilarious, and ridiculous travelogue ever told, by two hit-TV comedy writers who raced each other around the…
world-for bragging rights and a very expensive bottle of ScotchIt started as a friendly wager: two old friends from The Harvard Lampoon, Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran now hotshot Hollywood scribes, challenged each other to a race around the globe in opposite directions. There was only one rule: no airplanes. The first man to cross every line of longitude and arrive back in L.A. would win Scotch and infamy. But little did one racer know that the other planned to cheat him out of the big prize by way of a ride on a quarter-million-dollar jet pack.What follows is a pair of hilarious, hazardous, and eye-opening journeys into the farthest corners of the world. From the West Bank to the Aleutian Islands, the slums of Rio to the steppes of Mongolia, traveling by ocean freighter and the Trans-Siberian Railway (pranking each other mercilessly along the way), Vali and Steve plunge eagerly and ill-prepared into global adventure.The Ridiculous Race is a comic travelogue unlike any other, an outrageous tale of two gentlemen travelers who can't wait to don baggy cardigan sweaters, clench corncob pipes between their teeth, and yell at their sons, "You lazy bums! When we were your age, we raced around the world without airplanes!"Plains Vizcachas: Biology and Evolution of a Peculiar Neotropical Caviomorph Rodent
Par Luciano Luis Rasia, Claudio Gustavo Barbeito, Francisco Acuña. 2024
The plains vizcacha (Lagostomus maximus) is a remarkable rodent of the Neotropic given several peculiar aspects of its biology, some…
of them quite unique among rodents or even among mammals. This book gathers specialists studying plains vizcachas from very different approaches, including paleontology, systematics, morphology, physiology, development and conservation. It is divided in two Parts, 1) Evolutionary History, and 2) Morphology, Development and Physiology. It will surely be a required reading for any researcher working with caviomorph rodents, mastozoology of the Neotropics or internal anatomy and physiology of mammals.Trickster Travels: A Sixteenth-century Muslim Between Worlds
Par Natalie Zemon Davis. 2006
An engrossing study of Leo Africanus and his famous book, which introduced Africa to European readers Al-Hasan al-Wazzan--born in Granada…
to a Muslim family that in 1492 went to Morocco, where he traveled extensively on behalf of the sultan of Fez--is known to historians as Leo Africanus, author of the first geography of Africa to be published in Europe (in 1550). He had been captured by Christian pirates in the Mediterranean and imprisoned by the pope, then released, baptized, and allowed a European life of scholarship as the Christian writer Giovanni Leone. In this fascinating new book, the distinguished historian Natalie Zemon Davis offers a virtuoso study of the fragmentary, partial, and often contradictory traces that al-Hasan al-Wazzan left behind him, and a superb interpretation of his extraordinary life and work. In Trickster Travels, Davis describes all the sectors of her hero's life in rich detail, scrutinizing the evidence of al-Hasan's movement between cultural worlds; the Islamic and Arab traditions, genres, and ideas available to him; and his adventures with Christians and Jews in a European community of learned men and powerful church leaders. In depicting the life of this adventurous border-crosser, Davis suggests the many ways cultural barriers are negotiated and diverging traditions are fused.Globetrotting: Writers Walk the World
Par Duncan Minshull. 2024
&“There was nowhere to go but everywhere.&” —Jack KerouacFrom Duncan Minshull, the UK&’s &“laureate of walking,&” a collection of more…
than fifty writings about hiking the globe from contemporary and classic authors such as Mark Twain, William Boyd, Edith Wharton, Helen Garner, Rabindranath Tagore, and many more.In Globetrotting, Duncan Minshull, the UK&’s &“laureate of walking,&” brings together the work of more than fifty walker-writers who have traveled the world&’s seven continents by foot. From the 1500s to the present day comes a memorable band of explorers and adventurers, scientists and missionaries, pleasure-seekers and literary drifters recalling their experiences and asking themselves a compelling question—why travel this way in the first place?With contributions from Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Anthony Trollope, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin, Vernon Lee, Sarah H. Bradford, Rabindranath Tagore, D. H. Lawrence, Isabella Bird, Katherine Mansfield, Rachel Carson, Helen Garner, Jean-Paul Clébert, Colin Thubron, William Boyd, Matsuo Bashō, and many more, Globetrotting takes us across the streets of London, Rome, Melbourne, Cairo, Kiev and Kabu; through the frozen wastes of Antarctica; along the pilgrim paths of Japan; into the jungles of Ghana; and around the Great Wall of China.Put your dinosaur knowledge to the test with this brilliant quiz book for kids!Introducing Dinosaur Knowledge Genius! - a brilliant…
quiz book packed with over 80 topics on the fascinating prehistoric world of dinosaurs. Which were the most fearsome predators? How big were the most gigantic plant-eaters? Why did so many dinosaurs have frills, crests, or spikes? Did dinosaurs really lay eggs? Which ones had feathers? If you want to know the answers, then this may be the book for you! Take on this brain-busting challenge about prehistoric life.This dinosaur quiz book for children aged 9-12 offers: - Plenty of quiz questions throughout the book to put your knowledge to the test.- Interactive &“Test Yourself&” panel lists with three levels of difficulty - starter, challenger, and genius.- Impressive dinosaur graphics that jump out at you on every page.- A variety of fun facts, picture puzzles, and quiz questions to keep kids entertained and engaged.As you hop from one dinosaur species to the next, you will learn all about the fascinating prehistoric world in this entertaining quiz book for kids and the whole family to enjoy. The pages are packed with eye-popping pictures and the "Test Yourself" panels list the type of dinosaur you&’re looking for on the page. With three levels of difficulty, the challenge gets harder from Starter to Challenger and the truly tricky Genius category. There's a fun fact with every picture to give a helpful clue.At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why stop here? Why not put your general knowledge to the test with other books in the Knowledge Genius series? Try General Knowledge Genius! to learn about everything, explore the animal world with Animal Knowledge Genius! or explore our planet with Earth Knowledge Genius!The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins
Par Stefanos Geroulanos. 2024
“[A]n incisive and captivating reassessment of prehistory . . . In lucid prose, Geroulanos unspools an enthralling and detailed history…
of the development of modern natural science. It’s a must-read.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “An astute, powerfully rendered history of humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review An eminent historian tells the story of how we came to obsess over the origins of humanity—and how, for three centuries, ideas of prehistory have been used to justify devastating violence against others. Books about the origins of humanity dominate bestseller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. We are obsessed with prehistory—and, in this respect, our current era is no different from any other in the last three hundred years. In this coruscating work, acclaimed historian Stefanos Geroulanos demonstrates how claims about the earliest humans not only shaped Western intellectual culture, but gave rise to our modern world. The very idea that there was a human past before recorded history only emerged with the Enlightenment, when European thinkers began to reject faith-based notions of humanity and history in favor of supposedly more empirical ideas about the world. From the “state of nature” and Romantic notions of virtuous German barbarians to theories about Neanderthals, killer apes, and a matriarchal paradise where women ruled, Geroulanos captures the sheer variety and strangeness of the ideas that animated many of the major thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx. Yet as Geroulanos shows, such ideas became, for the most part, the ideological foundations of repressive regimes and globe-spanning empires. Deeming other peoples “savages” allowed for guilt-free violence against them; notions of “killer apes” who were our evolutionary predecessors made war seem natural. The emergence of modern science only accelerated the West’s imperialism. The Nazi obsession with race was rooted in archaeological claims about prehistoric IndoGermans; the idea that colonialized peoples could be “bombed back to the Stone Age” was made possible by the technology of flight and the anthropological idea that civilization advanced in stages. As Geroulanos argues, accounts of prehistory tell us more about the moment when they are proposed than about the deep past—and if we hope to start improving our future, we would be better off setting aside the search for how it all started. A necessary, timely, indelible account of how the quest for understanding the origins of humanity became the handmaiden of war and empire, The Invention of Prehistory will forever change how we think about the deep past.Two O'Clock on a Tuesday at Trevi Fountain: A Search for an Unconventional Life Abroad
Par Helene Sula. 2024
"An inspiring yet relatable read for anyone ready to stop settling." —Nina Ruggiero, Travel + Leisure In this inspiring travel…
memoir—the antidote to the &“just quit your job and ditch all your belongings to backpack the world&” mentality—a young woman explores how she took calculated risks to follow her dreams: traveling and living abroad without sacrificing stability and comfort.Like many young professionals, Helene settled into a steady 9-5, watching the clock tick by and dreaming of seeing the world one day. But after a climbing accident leaves her bedbound for months, she finds a new voice connecting with others online and starts a blog to write about her true passion: travel. When her blog takes off and a sponsored trip overseas opens her eyes, she wonders: could she lead a stable life while traveling the world?From skinny dipping in the icy Baltic and hiking Germany&’s storied Black Forest, to wrestling with visa applications and apartment hunting in medieval Heidelberg, Helene shares the realities—both the magical and the mundane—that come with chasing bold dreams and learning that home is where you make it. For those who fear change, the secret lies in taking calculated risks.Uplifting yet candid, this travel memoir will inspire others to take chances and transform their own lives. But you don&’t have to uproot your life to find meaning—just have the heart to take a leap.Birdwatchingwatching: One Year, Two Men, Three Rules, Ten Thousand Birds
Par Alex Horne. 2006
Alex Horne is not a birdwatcher. But his dad is, so with the prospect of fatherhood looming on his own…
horizon, Alex decided there was no better time to really get to know both his father and his father's favourite hobby. So he challenged his dad to a Big Year: from 1 January to 31 December they would each try to spot as many birds as possible; the one who spied the most species would be the victor. Along the way Alex would find out what makes his dad tick, pick up a bit of fatherly wisdom and perhaps even 'get into' birdwatching himself.Join Alex as he journeys from Barnes to Bahrain in this charming tale of obsession, manliness, fathers and sons, and the highly amusing twists and turns of a year-long bird race.Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans: My Search for Britain's Maddest Museums
Par Hunter Davies. 2010
'I am fascinated by people turning their daft dreams into a reality. How did they do it and why?'Driven by…
his own passion for collecting Hunter Davies has packed his notepad and set off in search of Britain's maddest museums. As he explores these hidden gems he soon discovers that they are everywhere and that they celebrate just about everything, from lawnmowers in Southport to pencils in Keswick.But as Hunter travels up and down the country he comes to realise that it isn't only the collections that are fascinating, it's also the people who have put them together. Whether they're a man who loves his Heinz so much he's changed his name to Captain Beany or a kleptomaniac Vintage Radio buff, these eccentric collectors are Britain's finest and could live in no other country in the world.Once you discover these museums and get to know their curators, Great Britain won't look quite the same again...Barging Round Britain: Exploring the History of our Nation's Canals and Waterways
Par John Sergeant, David Bartley. 2015
Barging Round Britain by David Bartley is a beautifully-illustrated guide to a unique and fascinating part of our history: the…
canal network.Explore the people and places that have forged this national treasure, from the birth of the Industrial Revolution to the leisure explosion on our waterways today. Fully-illustrated with maps and photographs, the book will trace canal routes across the UK, from the Georgian grandeur of Bath to the dramatic splendour of the Scottish Highlands.This is the official tie-in to the ITV series, coming to prime-time TV in January 2015. David Bartley's Barging Round Britain includes a foreword and chapter introductions by the presenter of the TV series, John Sergeant.Backpacks, Boots and Baguettes
Par Mick Webb, Simon Calder. 2004
High in the Pyrenees, a full day's hike from any trappings of civilisation, is no place for a human to…
be - unless you are searching for the time of your life.This is the roof of a mountain range that stretches from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean coasts, and provides some of the most breathtakingly beautiful landscape to be found in Europe. It is also the place for hikers to get soaked, roasted or scared out of their wits - not by the endangered brown bear, but by rights-of-way such as the precipitous Chemin de la Mature, hacked out of a cliff by 18th century convicts and is still used in the 21st century to punish anyone fearful of heights, such as TV presenter Simon Calder. Luckily, his friend and walking companion Mick Webb has a complementary range of phobias, such as being confined with 54 fellow hikers, and their socks, in a refuge two miles above sea level.Together, they step out to conquer the roof of the Pyenees, following the time honoured tradition of walking the GR10. the preferred route of the, at times eccentric, French Ramblers' Federation. Testing a hiker's emotional resilience as keenly as his walking boots, the GR10 is not for the faint-hearted. Weaving an occasionally treacherous, always exhilarating trajectory through a landscape of strong traditions and strange animals, Calder and Webb narrate an eventful and humerous travelogue. With their backpacks, boots and baguettes, they explore the region: meeting the people, savouring the views and the wines - and aguing about how best to cope with the constant surprises and challenges of magnificent mountains. They also very quickly learn that la loi de l'emmerdement maximum means 'sod's law' in French.As I Was Saying . . .: The World According to Clarkson Volume 6 (The World According to Clarkson)
Par Jeremy Clarkson. 2015
As I Was Saying... is the seventh book in Jeremy Clarkson's best-selling The World According to Clarkson series.***Crikey, the world…
according to Clarkson's been a funny old place of late . . .For a while, Jeremy could be found in his normal position as the tallest man on British television but, more recently, he appears to have been usurped by a pretend elephant.But on paper the real Jeremy remains at the helm. That's as it should be. For nearly thirty years he has been fearlessly leading the charge as one the best comic writers in the country. And in 2015, he shows no sign of slowing down. So, whether it's pondering If Jesus might have been better off being born in New Zealand Why reflexive pronoun abuse is the worst thing in the world How Pam Ayres's head trumps Gordon Gecko's underpants Or what a television presenter with time on his hands gets up toJeremy is still trying to make sense of all the big stuff.Circumstances change. Nothing's forever. But As I Was Saying provides glorious proof that Jeremy remains as funny, puzzled, excitable, outspoken, insightful and thought-provoking as ever. As if you ever doubted it . . .***Praise for Clarkson: 'Brilliant... laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph 'Outrageously funny... will have you in stitches' Time Out 'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening StandardThe Art of Flight
Par Fredrik Sjöberg. 2006
Accidental Journeys with the Bestselling Author of The Fly TrapStories just begin. We rarely know where and almost never why.…
It doesn't matter. Nothing is certain any longer. I just want to shut my eyes, point at random and say, as a sort of experiment, that once, when I was sixteen years old, I spent a whole night singing romantic songs in the top of a pine tree. That's where it may have started.Fredrik Sjöberg continues his exploration of the pleasures and trials of those who spend their time tracing the smallest details of the natural world in these two tales of ambition, fear and hapless romance. Calling on his childhood memories and experience as a hoverfly collector, and following the trail of long forgotten entomologists before him who left their native Sweden for the national parks of the United States, Sjöberg contemplates the richness of life and the strange paths it leads us on.Arctic Diary: Surviving on thin ice
Par Sam Branson, Richard Branson. 2007
It's hardly a surprise to discover that Sam Branson has a love of adventure and a real concern about our…
future in a world where the climate is changing rapidly. Journeying into the heart of the Arctic wilderness with his father and a film crew, Sam explores the changing landscape and the lives of the native Inuit people who have survived in a relentlessly inhospitable environment for 5000 years.Sleeping on frozen seas and encountering majestic polar bears, Sam and his father embark together on a winter expedition which Sam must ultimately complete on his own, finding new depths of resilience and courage in a formidable and breathtaking landscape.Ararat: In Search of the Mythical Mountain
Par Frank Westerman. 2007
Mount Ararat in Turkey is where, as biblical tradition has it, Noah's Ark ran aground and God made his covenant…
with mankind. Now it stands astride the fault-line between religion and science, a geographical, political and cultural crossroads, bound up with the centuries-old history of warfare between different cultures in this region. Frank Westerman takes a pilgrimage from the mountain's foot to its highest slopes, meeting along the way geologists, priests and an expedition in search of the Ark's remains, as well as a Russian astronaut who observes that 'there is something between heaven and earth about which we humans know nothing'. Ararat is a dazzling, highly personal book about science, religion and all that lies between, by one of Europe's most celebrated young writers.The Aran Islands (Penguin Modern Classics)
Par J. M. Synge. 1992
In 1907 J. M. Synge achieved both notoriety and lasting fame with The Playboy of the Western World. The Aran…
Islands, published in the same year, records his visits to the islands in 1898-1901, when he was gathering the folklore and anecdotes out of which he forged The Playboy and his other major dramas. Yet this book is much more than a stage in the evolution of Synge the dramatist. As Tim Robinson explains in his introduction, "If Ireland is intriguing as being an island off the west of Europe, then Aran, as an island off the west of Ireland, is still more so; it is Ireland raised to the power of two." Towards the end of the last century Irish nationalists came to identify the area as the country's uncorrupted heart, the repository of its ancient language, culture and spiritual values. It was for these reasons that Yeats suggested Synge visit the islands to record their way of life. The result is a passionate exploration of a triangle of contradictory relationships – between an island community still embedded in its ancestral ways but solicited by modernism, a physical environment of ascetic loveliness and savagely unpredictable moods, and Synge himself, formed by modern European thought but in love with the primitive.Another Kyoto
Par Alex Kerr, Kathy Arlyn Sokol. 2016
Another Kyoto is an insider's meditation on the hidden wonders of Japan's most enigmatic city. Drawing on decades living in…
Kyoto, and on lore gleaned from artists, Zen monks and Shinto priests, Alex Kerr illuminates the simplest things - a temple gate, a wall, a sliding door - in a new way. 'A rich book of intimate proportions ... In Kyoto, facts and meaning are often hidden in plain sight. Kerr's gift is to make us stop and cast our eyes upward to a temple plaque, or to squint into the gloom of an abbot's chamber' Japan Times'Kerr and Sokol have performed a minor miracle by presenting that which is present in Kyoto as that which we have yet to see. I know that I will never pass a wall, or tread a floor, or sit on tatami the same way again' Kyoto JournalAmber, Furs and Cockleshells: Bike Rides with Pilgrims and Merchants
Par Anne Mustoe. 2005
Myriad wonderful characters populate the pages of Anne Mustoe's fascinating book as she pedals along three very different, but equally…
evocative, roads - the Amber Route from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the Santa Fe Trail from the Missouri River to New Mexico and the Pilgrims' Way of St James from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela. Battling against ferocious winds in Jutland, blizzards in the Rockies, traffic jams of cyclists along the Danube and menus in Czech, Hungarian and Basque, Mustoe survives with her usual fortitude and wry humour, even when she is knocked off her bike by a short-sighted nonagenarian in a Fiat Panda.