Download or read book Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy written by Tim Harford and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2017-07-06 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the series produced for the BBC World Service Who thought up paper money? How did the contraceptive pill change the face of the legal profession? Why was the horse collar as important for human progress as the steam engine? How did the humble spreadsheet turn the world of finance upside-down? The world economy defies comprehension. A continuously-changing system of immense complexity, it offers over ten billion distinct products and services, doubles in size every fifteen years, and links almost every one of the planet's seven billion people. It delivers astonishing luxury to hundreds of millions. It also leaves hundreds of millions behind, puts tremendous strains on the ecosystem, and has an alarming habit of stalling. Nobody is in charge of it. Indeed, no individual understands more than a fraction of what's going on. How can we make sense of this bewildering system on which our lives depend? From the tally-stick to Bitcoin, the canal lock to the jumbo jet, each invention in Tim Harford's fascinating new book has its own curious, surprising and memorable story, a vignette against a grand backdrop. Step by step, readers will start to understand where we are, how we got here, and where we might be going next. Hidden connections will be laid bare: how the barcode undermined family corner shops; why the gramophone widened inequality; how barbed wire shaped America. We'll meet the characters who developed some of these inventions, profited from them, or were ruined by them. We'll trace the economic principles that help to explain their transformative effects. And we'll ask what lessons we can learn to make wise use of future inventions, in a world where the pace of innovation will only accelerate.

Download or read book The Sources of Invention written by John Jewkes and published by Springer. This book was released on 1969-06-18 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the causes and consequences of industrial innovation through the inventions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Download or read book A Safety Razor Compendium The Book written by Robert K. Waits and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014 with total page 611 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Book for Safety Razor Collectors -- This book is a black and white version of a color digital edition, first published in 2005 as a limited edition CD-ROM. There are over 1300 entries including pictures of safety razors, advertisements, and patents. Alphabetical entries are organized by razor trademark or trade name. Separate sections cover the major manufacturers: AutoStrop, Durham-Duplex, Gillette, Kampfe Bros., Rolls, Schick, razors of the USSR, Wilkinson, plus the American Safety Razor brands, Ever-Ready, Gem and Star, followed by a sampling safety razor related collectibles. A U.S. Patent List includes an illustration from each of the safety razor related patents issued prior to 1905. Lastly is a Bibliography of sources.

Download or read book The Human Drift written by King Camp Gillette and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Stalin s Barber written by Paul M. Levitt and published by Taylor Trade Publications. This book was released on 2012-12-16 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Avraham Bahar leaves debt-ridden and depressed Albania to seek a better life in, ironically, Stalinist Russia. A professional barber, he curries favor with the Communist regime, ultimately being invited to become Stalin’s personal barber at the Kremlin, where he is entitled to live in a government house with other Soviet dignitaries. In the intrigue that follows, Avraham, now known as Razan, is not only barber to Stalin but also to the many Stalin look-alikes that the paranoid dictator circulates to thwart possible assassination attempts—including one from Razan himself.

Download or read book The Razor Edge Book of Sharpening written by John Juranitch and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History's first technical book ever written on the subject of sharpening. THE RAZOR EDGE BOOK OF SHARPENING by John Juranitch is the result of over 30 years of dedicated research and study on the subject of cutting edges. Prior to the publication of his book there was virtually no written information available about sharpening. THE RAZOR EDGE BOOK OF SHARPENING dispels old wives tales, and covers topics such as sharpening stones, proper angles, sharpening axes, fishooks, chainsaws and much more.

Download or read book Of Beards and Men written by Christopher Oldstone-Moore and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-12-02 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beards—they’re all the rage these days. Take a look around: from hip urbanites to rustic outdoorsmen, well-groomed metrosexuals to post-season hockey players, facial hair is everywhere. The New York Times traces this hairy trend to Big Apple hipsters circa 2005 and reports that today some New Yorkers pay thousands of dollars for facial hair transplants to disguise patchy, juvenile beards. And in 2014, blogger Nicki Daniels excoriated bearded hipsters for turning a symbol of manliness and power into a flimsy fashion statement. The beard, she said, has turned into the padded bra of masculinity. Of Beards and Men makes the case that today’s bearded renaissance is part of a centuries-long cycle in which facial hairstyles have varied in response to changing ideals of masculinity. Christopher Oldstone-Moore explains that the clean-shaven face has been the default style throughout Western history—see Alexander the Great’s beardless face, for example, as the Greek heroic ideal. But the primacy of razors has been challenged over the years by four great bearded movements, beginning with Hadrian in the second century and stretching to today’s bristled resurgence. The clean-shaven face today, Oldstone-Moore says, has come to signify a virtuous and sociable man, whereas the beard marks someone as self-reliant and unconventional. History, then, has established specific meanings for facial hair, which both inspire and constrain a man’s choices in how he presents himself to the world. This fascinating and erudite history of facial hair cracks the masculine hair code, shedding light on the choices men make as they shape the hair on their faces. Oldstone-Moore adeptly lays to rest common misperceptions about beards and vividly illustrates the connection between grooming, identity, culture, and masculinity. To a surprising degree, we find, the history of men is written on their faces.

Download or read book Cutting Edge written by Gordon McKibben and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the Gillette company works, providing insight into its global outlook and strategy. It highlights the company's commitment to innovation, creative advertising and environmental issues.

Download or read book Knights of the Razor written by Douglas Walter Bristol and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They advocated economic independence from whites and founded insurance companies that became some of the largest black-owned corporations.--L. Diane Barnes "Alabama Review"

Download or read book Beauty Shop Politics written by Tiffany M. Gill and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2010-01-29 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking through the lens of black business history, Beauty Shop Politics shows how black beauticians in the Jim Crow era parlayed their economic independence and access to a public community space into platforms for activism. Tiffany M. Gill argues that the beauty industry played a crucial role in the creation of the modern black female identity and that the seemingly frivolous space of a beauty salon actually has stimulated social, political, and economic change. From the founding of the National Negro Business League in 1900 and onward, African Americans have embraced the entrepreneurial spirit by starting their own businesses, but black women's forays into the business world were overshadowed by those of black men. With a broad scope that encompasses the role of gossip in salons, ethnic beauty products, and the social meanings of African American hair textures, Gill shows how African American beauty entrepreneurs built and sustained a vibrant culture of activism in beauty salons and schools. Enhanced by lucid portrayals of black beauticians and drawing on archival research and oral histories, Beauty Shop Politics conveys the everyday operations and rich culture of black beauty salons as well as their role in building community.

Download or read book Milady Standard Razor Cutting written by Nick Arrojo and published by Milady Publishing Company. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Milady Standard Razor Cutting is a resource for students who are interested in practicing this precision-based razor cutting method, recognized worldwide. Celebrity stylist, Nick Arrojo, takes students from the basic fundamentals of razoring to mastering three razor haircuts that give them the opportunity to implement the core skills of this effective and artistic cutting technique. This text will help give students the tools they need, including a level of comfort with this style of cutting, that will help them create fashionable, low-maintenance, modern hairstyles that their clients will love. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Download or read book Inventor of the Disposable Culture written by Tim Dowling and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: King Camp Gillette’s disposable safety razor revolutionized a time-consuming chore and made its creator a very rich man. In this incisive biography, Tim Dowling examines the contradictions at the heart of the razor king, a socialist utopian who fulminated against the evils of capitalism in his radical tracts, while at the same time zealously embracing his role as the father of the disposable economy.

Download or read book Cutting Along the Color Line written by Quincy T. Mills and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the history of black-owned barber shops in the United States, from pre-Civil War Era through today.

Download or read book Plucked written by Rebecca M. Herzig and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2016-11 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From using clamshell razors and homemade lye depilatories in the colonial era to using diode lasers and prescription pharmaceuricals in the twenty-first century, Americans have gone to great lengths to remove body hair demmed unsightly, unattractive, or unhealthy. In Plucked, Rebecca M. Herzig examines both the causes and consequences of routine hair removal in the U.S. Plucked illuminates some of the broad social and environmental effects of seemingly 'personal' choices: widespread experimentation on animals, exploitation of workers, exacerbation of racial divisions, and more. An engrossing, multidimensional history of fulctural attitudes toward body hair and the increasingly sophisticated tools used to remove it, Plucked reveals the complex political significance of even the most mundane activities of modern life."--Back cover.

Download or read book Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory written by Mike Wallace and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about why history matters. It shows how popularized historical images and narratives deeply influence Americans' understanding of their collective past. A leading public historian, Mike Wallace observes that we are a people who think of ourselves as having shed the past but also avid tourists who are on a "heritage binge," flocking by the thousands to Ellis Island, Colonial Williamsburg, or the Vietnam Memorial.Wallace probes into the trivialization of history that pervades American culture as well as the struggles over public memory that provoke stormy controversy. The recent imbroglio surrounding the National Air and Space Museum's proposed Enola Gay exhibit was reported as centering on why the U.S. government decided to use the A-Bomb against Japan. Wallace scrutinizes the actual plans for the exhibit and investigates the ways in which the controversy drew in historians, veterans, the media, and the general public.Whether his subject is multimillion dollar theme parks owned by powerful corporations, urban museums, or television docudramas, Mike Wallace shows how their depictions of history are shaped by assumptions about which pasts are worth saving, whose stories are worth telling, what gets left out, and who is authorized to make the decisions. Author note: Mike Wallace is Professor of History at John Jay College, City University of New York. He is the co-author, with Edwin G. Burrows, of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History.

Download or read book The Hollywood Jim Crow written by Maryann Erigha and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of racial hierarchy in the American film industry The #OscarsSoWhite campaign, and the content of the leaked Sony emails which revealed, among many other things, that a powerful Hollywood insider didn’t believe that Denzel Washington could “open” a western genre film, provide glaring evidence that the opportunities for people of color in Hollywood are limited. In The Hollywood Jim Crow, Maryann Erigha tells the story of inequality, looking at the practices and biases that limit the production and circulation of movies directed by racial minorities. She examines over 1,300 contemporary films, specifically focusing on directors, to show the key elements at work in maintaining “the Hollywood Jim Crow.” Unlike the Jim Crow era where ideas about innate racial inferiority and superiority were the grounds for segregation, Hollywood’s version tries to use economic and cultural explanations to justify the underrepresentation and stigmatization of Black filmmakers. Erigha exposes the key elements at work in maintaining Hollywood’s racial hierarchy, namely the relationship between genre and race, the ghettoization of Black directors to black films, and how Blackness is perceived by the Hollywood producers and studios who decide what gets made and who gets to make it. Erigha questions the notion that increased representation of African Americans behind the camera is the sole answer to the racial inequality gap. Instead, she suggests focusing on the obstacles to integration for African American film directors. Hollywood movies have an expansive reach and exert tremendous power in the national and global production, distribution, and exhibition of popular culture. The Hollywood Jim Crow fully dissects the racial inequality embedded in this industry, looking at alternative ways for African Americans to find success in Hollywood and suggesting how they can band together to forge their own career paths.

Download or read book A Patriot s History of the United States written by Larry Schweikart and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-12-29 with total page 1373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.” As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin. A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history.