Download or read book Eternal Ephemera written by Niles Eldredge and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All organisms and species are transitory, yet life endures. The origin, extinction, and evolution of species—interconnected in the web of life as "eternal ephemera"—are the concern of evolutionary biology. In this riveting work, renowned paleontologist Niles Eldredge follows leading thinkers as they have wrestled for more than two hundred years with the eternal skein of life composed of ephemeral beings, revitalizing evolutionary science with their own, more resilient findings. Eldredge begins in France with the naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who in 1801 first framed the overarching question about the emergence of new species. The Italian geologist Giambattista Brocchi followed, bringing in geology and paleontology to expand the question. In 1825, at the University of Edinburgh, Robert Grant and Robert Jameson introduced the astounding ideas formulated by Lamarck and Brocchi to a young medical student named Charles Darwin. Who can doubt that Darwin left for his voyage on the Beagle in 1831 filled with thoughts about these daring new explanations for the "transmutation" of species. Eldredge revisits Darwin's early insights into evolution in South America and his later synthesis of knowledge into a theory of the origin of species. He then considers the ideas of more recent evolutionary thinkers, such as George Gaylord Simpson, Ernst Mayr, and Theodosius Dobzhansky, as well as the young and brash Niles Eldredge and Steven Jay Gould, who set science afire with their concept of punctuated equilibria. Filled with insights into evolutionary biology and told with a rich affection for the scientific arena, this book celebrates the organic, vital relationship between scientific thinking and its subjects.

Download or read book Eternal Ephemera written by OJ LEIGH and published by OJ LEIGH. This book was released on 2023-09-11 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world where emotions are seen as dangerous and love is considered a weakness, life unfolds in a desolate landscape devoid of color and passion. The inhabitants of this society have long forgotten the beauty of art and the power of poetry, having traded their vibrant souls for a stoic existence. Amidst this bleak reality, we find a skilled artisan, nameless but not soulless, navigating through life with a sense of emptiness. One fateful day, the artisan stumbles upon an ancient book of art and poetry hidden away in a dusty corner of their workshop. Little do they know that this discovery will mark the beginning of an extraordinary journey, one that will unravel the secrets of a suppressed past and reawaken emotions long thought to be extinct. Guided by a mysterious librarian, who seems to possess knowledge beyond their time, the artisan embarks on a profound quest of self-discovery and rebellion against the oppressive norm. Together, they delve into the forbidden pages of the ancient book, unearthing images that evoke feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, and love, emotions that have been deemed dangerous and subversive by the ruling authority. As the artisan immerses themselves in the expressive world of the forgotten book, a transformation begins within, and they experience their first taste of the forbidden emotions. Fearful yet exhilarated, the artisan must now grapple with the choice of remaining hidden, concealing their newfound awareness, or daring to confront the suffocating constraints of their society. Unbeknownst to the artisan, this journey into the heart of forgotten art and poetry will not only challenge their beliefs but also put their life at risk. The ruling authority, determined to maintain control over the populace, has eyes and ears everywhere, and the artisan's rediscovery of emotions poses a threat to their carefully crafted order. As the pursuit intensifies, the artisan finds solace in the companionship of the enigmatic librarian and discovers a hidden underground society, a clandestine group of rebels who once celebrated emotions and artistic expression. Together, they forge an alliance to liberate their souls and ignite a revolution that could change the course of their society forever. In 'Eternal Ephemera,' join our nameless artisan and their mysterious librarian companion on a gripping odyssey of rediscovering emotions, challenging societal norms, and awakening the hearts of an entire civilization. As the line between love and vulnerability blurs, will they find the courage to embrace their deepest emotions, or will the forces of suppression triumph, burying their newfound passion beneath the ashes of a colorless existence?

Download or read book Memories of Prophecies written by Davis Ashura and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The memories of the past may be forgotten, but prophecies linger. Cinder Shade and his fellow cadets have survived a brutal mission in the vast wilds of the Dagger Mountains. Laying to rest many of their brother warriors, they return to the Third Directorate, battered, bruised, and weary of soul. But the world turns, and new challenges press. Cinder must set aside his grief, especially when granted a task by Anya Aruyen, the elven princess with whom he shares an inexplicable bond. She urges him to further master his skills as a warrior and become worthy of fighting at her side. Others have also taken note of Cinder. His name is spoken in the high halls of elven palaces. The empress watches him, wondering at his unmatched abilities. So, too, do the dwarves. They fear Cinder, worrying that he is the embodiment of their darkest prophecies. And in the distant north, shadows gather. They whisper of their fallen god, Shet, dead three thousand years now. Whispering of his rebirth. But when the prophecies speak conflicting portents and none can decipher the truth, what path can even a consummate warrior take?

Download or read book A Gentle Madness written by Nicholas A. Basbanes and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 635 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Gentle Madness continues to astound and delight readers about the passion and expense a collector is willing to make in pursuit of the book. The book captures that last moment in time when collectors pursued their passions in dusty bookshops and street stalls, high stakes auctions, and the subterfuge worthy of a true bibliomaniac. An adventure among the afflicted, A Gentle Madness is vividly anecdotal and thoroughly researched. Nicholas Basbanes brings an investigative reporter's heart to illuminate collectors past and present in their pursuit of bibliomania. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Download or read book The Culture and Politics of Regime Change in Italy c 1494 c 1559 written by Alexander Lee and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-09-30 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers the first comprehensive survey of regime change in Italy in the period c.1494–c.1559. Far from being a purely modern phenomenon, regime change was a common feature of life in Renaissance Italy – no more so than during the Italian Wars (1494–1559). During those turbulent years, governments rose and fell with dizzying regularity. Some changes of regime were peaceful; others were more violent. But whenever a new reggimento took power, old social tensions were laid bare and new challenges emerged – any of which could easily threaten its survival. This provoked a variety of responses, both from newly established regimes and from their opponents. Constitutional reforms were proposed and enacted; civic rituals were developed; works of art were commissioned; literary works were penned; and occasionally, aspects of material culture were pressed into service, as well. Comparative in approach and broad in scope, it offers a provocative new view of the diverse political, culture, and economic factors, which ensured the survival (or demise) of regimes – not only in "major" polities like Florence, Rome, and Venice, but also in less-well-studied regions like Savoy. This book will appeal to researchers and students alike interested in cultural, political, and military history.

Download or read book Activism on the Web written by Veronica Barassi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-05-22 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Activism on the Web examines the everyday tensions that political activists face as they come to terms with the increasingly commercialized nature of web technologies and sheds light on an important, yet under-investigated, dimension of the relationship between contemporary forms of social protest and internet technologies. Drawing on anthropological and ethnographic research amongst three very different political groups in the UK, Italy and Spain, the book argues that activists’ everyday internet uses are largely defined by processes of negotiation with digital capitalism. These processes of negotiation are giving rise to a series of collective experiences, which are defined by the tension between activists’ democratic needs on one side and the cultural processes reinforced by digital capitalism on the other. In looking at the encounter between activist cultures and digital capitalism, the book focuses in particular on the tension created by self-centered communication processes and networked-individualism, by corporate surveillance and data-mining, and by fast-capitalism and the temporality of immediacy. Activism on the Web suggests that if we want to understand how new technologies are affecting political participation and democratic processes, we should not focus on disruption and novelty, but we should instead explore the complex dialectics between digital discourses and digital practices; between the technical and the social; between the political economy of the web and its lived critique.

Download or read book Catastrophic Thinking written by David Sepkoski and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2023-12-06 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of scientific ideas about extinction that explains why we learned to value diversity as a precious resource at the same time as we learned to “think catastrophically” about extinction. We live in an age in which we are repeatedly reminded—by scientists, by the media, by popular culture—of the looming threat of mass extinction. We’re told that human activity is currently producing a sixth mass extinction, perhaps of even greater magnitude than the five previous geological catastrophes that drastically altered life on Earth. Indeed, there is a very real concern that the human species may itself be poised to go the way of the dinosaurs, victims of the most recent mass extinction some 65 million years ago. How we interpret the causes and consequences of extinction and their ensuing moral imperatives is deeply embedded in the cultural values of any given historical moment. And, as David Sepkoski reveals, the history of scientific ideas about extinction over the past two hundred years—as both a past and a current process—is implicated in major changes in the way Western society has approached biological and cultural diversity. It seems self-evident to most of us that diverse ecosystems and societies are intrinsically valuable, but the current fascination with diversity is a relatively recent phenomenon. In fact, the way we value diversity depends crucially on our sense that it is precarious—that it is something actively threatened, and that its loss could have profound consequences. In Catastrophic Thinking, Sepkoski uncovers how and why we learned to value diversity as a precious resource at the same time as we learned to think catastrophically about extinction.

Download or read book The Dynamics of Cultural Evolution written by Michael Rosenberg and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-07-09 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the nature of cultural and culturally structured social and behavioral entities, their evolutionary interactions, and the central role purposive behaviors play in those interactions. It, first, makes the case for cultural and cultural structured systems being considered as true entities bounded in time and space, and not ephemera in a constant state of becoming another system. Second, it examines how these entities interact to produce evolutionary culture change. It then argues that the intent of purposive behaviors is reliably knowable in the aggregate, at least when dealing with expressions of behavioral tendencies in the animal kingdom, humans included. Finally, the book references well documented behavioral tendencies for examples of proximate causation in the evolution of settled village societies and, following that, socially complex societies. Through these efforts, the book synthesizes the various approaches to the evolution of culture and provides a complete and comprehensive picture of the process. It provides a corrective to the tendency to view cultural systems as entirely open ended and as capable of changing in any direction; and also to treating cultural evolution as solely a result of selective forces, that is, in terms of only ultimate causation. This book provides an engaging and critical counterview to established theories of cultural evolution and is of interest to scholars and students of different disciplines, from anthropology and archeology, to evolutionary biology and epigenetics.

Download or read book The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack written by Ian Tattersall and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his new book The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack, human paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of human evolution. Drawing partly on his own career—from young scientist in awe of his elders to crotchety elder statesman—Tattersall offers an idiosyncratic look at the competitive world of paleoanthropology, beginning with Charles Darwin 150 years ago, and continuing through the Leakey dynasty in Africa, and concluding with the latest astonishing findings in the Caucasus. The book's title refers to the 1856 discovery of a clearly very old skull cap in Germany's Neander Valley. The possessor had a brain as large as a modern human, but a heavy low braincase with a prominent brow ridge. Scientists tried hard to explain away the inconvenient possibility that this was not actually our direct relative. One extreme interpretation suggested that the preserved leg bones were curved by both rickets, and by a life on horseback. The pain of the unfortunate individual's affliction had caused him to chronically furrow his brow in agony, leading to the excessive development of bone above the eye sockets. The subsequent history of human evolutionary studies is full of similarly fanciful interpretations. With tact and humor, Tattersall concludes that we are not the perfected products of natural processes, but instead the result of substantial doses of random happenstance.

Download or read book Publicity and the Canadian State written by Kirsten Kozolanka and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2014-02-24 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publicity pervades our political and public culture, but little has been written that critically examines the basis of the modern Canadian “publicity state.” This collection is the first to focus on the central themes in the state’s relationship with publicity practices and the “permanent campaign,” the constant search by politicians and their strategists for popular consent. Central to this political popularity contest are publicity tools borrowed from private enterprise, turning political parties into sound bites and party members into consumers. Publicity and the Canadian State is the first sustained study of the contemporary practices of political communication, focusing holistically on the tools of the publicity state and their ideological underpinnings: advertising, public opinion research, marketing, branding, image consulting, and media and information management, as well as related topics such as election law and finance, privacy, think-tank lobbying, and non-election communication campaigns. Bringing together contemporary Canadian analysis by scholars in a number of fields, this collection will be a welcome new resource for academics, public relations and policy professionals, and government communicators at all levels.

Download or read book Charles Darwin written by J. David Archibald and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-12-15 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Darwin: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works provides an important new compendium presenting a detailed chronology of all aspects Darwin’s life. The extensive encyclopedia section includes many hundreds of entries of various kinds related to Darwin – people, places, institutions, concepts, and his publications. The bibliography provides a comprehensive listing of the vast majority of Darwin’s works published during and after his lifetime. It also provides a more selective list of publications concerning his life and work. Includes a nearly year by year chronology detailing Charles Darwin’s life, family, and work. The A to Z section includes many entries on concepts and people important in Charles Darwin’s life and his work, emphasizing during his lifetime but extending somewhat backwards and forwards from there. The bibliography includes all of Charles Darwin's articles and books published in his lifetime in English and other languages, as well as a selective list of works about him and his work. The index thoroughly cross-references the chronological and encyclopedic entries.

Download or read book Evolutionary Psychology written by Brett Pelham and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-14 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary Psychology: Genes, Environments, and Time is an extremely student-friendly textbook that explores with depth all the central topics in evolutionary psychology, integrating perspectives from psychology, ethology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and zoology. This is a uniquely written text that combines humour and thoughtful scholarship, examining the major theoretical perspectives and delivering an entertaining read to students. Drawing upon cutting-edge research and case studies as well as paying appropriate attention to important technical concepts, author Brett Pelham delivers a keenly analytical approach to the subject. In addition to covering traditional topics, Evolutionary Psychology also explores the frequently overlooked topics of parenting, culture, life history theory, and applied evolutionary psychology. This textbook is apt for undergraduate students taking courses in psychology and anthropology.

Download or read book Niccol Ridolfi and the Cardinal s Court written by Lucinda Byatt and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-08-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Niccolò Ridolfi (1501–50), was a Florentine cardinal, nephew and cousin to the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII, and he owed his status and wealth to their patronage. He remained actively engaged in Florentine politics, above all during the years of crisis that saw the Florentine state change from republic to duchy. A widely respected patron and scholar throughout his life, his sudden death during the conclave of 1549–50 led to allegations of poison that an autopsy appears to confirm. This book examines Cardinal Ridolfi and his court in order to understand the extent to which cardinalate courts played a key part in Rome’s resurgence and acted as hubs of knowledge located on the fault lines of politics and reform in church and state, hospitable spaces that can be analysed in the context of entanglements in Florentine and Roman cultural and political patronage, and intersections between the princely court and a more professional and complex knowledge and practice of household management in the consumer and service economy of early modern Rome. Based on an array of archival sources and on three treatises whose authors were closely linked to Ridolfi’s court, this monograph explores these multidisciplinary intersections to allow the more traditional fields of church and political history to be approached from different angles. Niccolò Ridolfi and the Cardinal's Court will appeal to all those interested in the organisation of these elite establishments and their place in sixteenth-century Roman society, the life and patronage of Niccolò Ridolfi in the context of the Florentine exiles who desired a return to republicanism, and the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

Download or read book Celebrating Teresa of Avila written by Pamela M. Jones and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-27 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teresa of Ávila's cult was dramatically disseminated in previously unknown celebrations honoring her beatification (1614) and canonization (1622) in Italy and Portuguese Asia, the purview of her Discalced Carmelite Order's Italian Congregation. Reconstructions and analyses of the festivities in Genoa, Rome, Naples, Hormuz, and Goa center on the presentation of Teresa's gender, deeds, virtues, and miracles. The geopolitical roles played by religious, secular, and family networks in particularizing and propagating Teresa's universal cult are emphasized. The desired goal of converting Muslims and Hindus is addressed in light of attitudes toward ethnic and religious diversity shared by lay and ecclesiastical authorities.

Download or read book Origins of Darwin s Evolution written by J. David Archibald and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical biogeography—the study of the history of species through both time and place—first convinced Charles Darwin of evolution. This field was so important to Darwin’s initial theories and line of thinking that he said as much in the very first paragraph of On the Origin of Species (1859) and later in his autobiography. His methods included collecting mammalian fossils in South America clearly related to living forms, tracing the geographical distributions of living species across South America, and sampling peculiar fauna of the geologically young Galápagos Archipelago that showed evident affinities to South American forms. Over the years, Darwin collected other evidence in support of evolution, but his historical biogeographical arguments remained paramount, so much so that he devotes three full chapters to this topic in On the Origin of Species. Discussions of Darwin’s landmark book too often give scant attention to this wealth of evidence, and we still do not fully appreciate its significance in Darwin’s thinking. In Origins of Darwin’s Evolution, J. David Archibald explores this lapse, showing how Darwin first came to the conclusion that, instead of various centers of creation, species had evolved in different regions throughout the world. He also shows that Darwin’s other early passion—geology—proved a more elusive corroboration of evolution. On the Origin of Species has only one chapter dedicated to the rock and fossil record, as it then appeared too incomplete for Darwin’s evidentiary standards. Carefully retracing Darwin’s gathering of evidence and the evolution of his thinking, Origins of Darwin’s Evolution achieves a new understanding of how Darwin crafted his transformative theory.

Download or read book Evolutionary Theory written by Niles Eldredge and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The natural world is infinitely complex and hierarchically structured, with smaller units forming the components of progressively larger systems: molecules make up cells, cells comprise tissues and organs that are, in turn, parts of individual organisms, which are united into populations and integrated into yet more encompassing ecosystems. In the face of such awe-inspiring complexity, there is a need for a comprehensive, non-reductionist evolutionary theory. Having emerged at the crossroads of paleobiology, genetics, and developmental biology, the hierarchical approach to evolution provides a unifying perspective on the natural world and offers an operational framework for scientists seeking to understand the way complex biological systems work and evolve. Coedited by one of the founders of hierarchy theory and featuring a diverse and renowned group of contributors, this volume provides an integrated, comprehensive, cutting-edge introduction to the hierarchy theory of evolution. From sweeping historical reviews to philosophical pieces, theoretical essays, and strictly empirical chapters, it reveals hierarchy theory as a vibrant field of scientific enterprise that holds promise for unification across the life sciences and offers new venues of empirical and theoretical research. Stretching from molecules to the biosphere, hierarchy theory aims to provide an all-encompassing understanding of evolution and—with this first collection devoted entirely to the concept—will help make transparent the fundamental patterns that propel living systems.

Download or read book Memorialising Premodern Monarchs written by Gabrielle Storey and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the legacies and depictions of monarchs in an international context, focusing on both self-representation and commemoration by others. Spanning ancient India through to eighteenth-century Russia, this volume offers several case studies to demonstrate trends and patterns in how different societies chose to commemorate and remember their rulers in a variety of mediums. Contributions highlight several lesser known rulers, alongside more famous ones such as Henry VIII of England, to develop a deeper understanding of how memory and monarchy functioned when drawn together. Memorialising Premodern Monarchs brings to the fore the importance of memory and memorialisation when considering the legacies and records of past rulers and their societies, and allows a deeper reflection on how these rulers live on through the historical record and popular culture.