Download or read book Narratives of Fear and Safety written by Kaisa Kaukiainen and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this edited volume, written in English and French, tackle the intriguing problems of fear and safety by analysing their various meanings and manifestations in literature and other narrative media. The articles bring forth new, cross-cultural interpretations on fear and safety through examining what kinds of genre-specific means of world-making narratives use to express these two affectivities. The articles also show how important it is to study these themes in order to understand challenges in times of global threats, such as the climate crisis, and - to imagine a better future. The main themes of the book are approached from various theoretical perspectives as related to their literary and cultural representations. Recent trends in research, such as affect and risk theory, serve as the basis for the discussion. Many of the articles in the volume discuss apocalyptic and dystopian narratives that currently permeate the entire cultural landscape. Dystopian narratives do not only deal with future threats, such as totalitarianism, technocracy, or environmental disasters, but also suggest alternative ways of being and new hopes in the form of political resistance. The articles in the volume also draw from disciplines such as gender studies and trauma studies to examine the threats posed by collective fears and aggression on individuals' lives and propose ways of coping with fear. These themes are addressed also in articles analysing new adaptations of old myths that retell stories of the past.

Download or read book Before We Visit the Goddess written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-04-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A new novel from the author of Oleander Girl, a novel in stories, built around crucial moments in the lives of 3 generations of women in an Indian/Indian-American Family"--

Download or read book American Military Technology written by Barton C. Hacker and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2007-11-29 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The growth of American engineering and science has affected military technology, organization, and practice from the colonial era to the present day—even as military concerns have influenced, and often funded, domestic engineering programs and scientific development. American Military Technology traces the interplay of technology and science with the armed forces of the United States in terms of what Hacker and Vining view as epochs: 1840–1865, the introduction of modern small arms, steam power, and technology, science, and medicine; 1900–1914, the naval arms race, torpedoes and submarines, and the signal corps and the airplane; and 1965–1971, McNamara's Pentagon, technology in Vietnam, guided missiles, and smart bombs. The book is an excellent springboard for understanding the complex relationship of science, technology, and war in American history.

Download or read book The Video Game Explosion written by Mark J. P. Wolf and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-11-30 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond traces the growth of a global phenomenon that has become an integral part of popular culture today. All aspects of video games and gaming culture are covered inside this engaging reference, including the leading video game innovators, the technological advances that made the games of the late 1970s and those of today possible, the corporations that won and lost billions of dollars pursing this lucrative market, arcade culture, as well as the demise of free-standing video consoles and the rise of home-based and hand-held gaming devices. In the United States alone, the video game industry raked in an astonishing $12.5 billion last year, and shows no signs of slowing. Once dismissed as a fleeting fad of the young and frivolous, this booming industry has not only proven its staying power, but promises to continue driving the future of new media and emerging technologies. Today video games have become a limitless and multifaceted medium through which Fortune 50 corporations and Hollywood visionaries alike are reaching broader global audiences and influencing cultural trends at a rate unmatched by any other media.

Download or read book The Grasshopper written by Bernard Suits and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2005-11-09 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mid twentieth century the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously asserted that games are indefinable; there are no common threads that link them all. "Nonsense," says the sensible Bernard Suits: "playing a game is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles." The short book Suits wrote demonstrating precisely that is as playful as it is insightful, as stimulating as it is delightful. Suits not only argues that games can be meaningfully defined; he also suggests that playing games is a central part of the ideal of human existence, so games belong at the heart of any vision of Utopia. Originally published in 1978, The Grasshopper is now re-issued with a new introduction by Thomas Hurka and with additional material (much of it previously unpublished) by the author, in which he expands on the ideas put forward in The Grasshopper and answers some questions that have been raised by critics.

Download or read book Half Real written by Jesper Juul and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth analysis of game development and rules and fiction in video games—with concrete examples, including The Legend of Zelda, Grand Theft Auto, and more A video game is half-real: we play by real rules while imagining a fictional world. We win or lose the game in the real world, but we slay a dragon (for example) only in the world of the game. In this thought-provoking study, Jesper Juul examines the constantly evolving tension between rules and fiction in video games. Discussing games from Pong to The Legend of Zelda, from chess to Grand Theft Auto, he shows how video games are both a departure from and a development of traditional non-electronic games. The book combines perspectives from such fields as literary and film theory, computer science, psychology, economic game theory, and game studies, to outline a theory of what video games are, how they work with the player, how they have developed historically, and why they are fun to play. Locating video games in a history of games that goes back to Ancient Egypt, Juul argues that there is a basic affinity between games and computers. Just as the printing press and the cinema have promoted and enabled new kinds of storytelling, computers work as enablers of games, letting us play old games in new ways and allowing for new kinds of games that would not have been possible before computers. Juul presents a classic game model, which describes the traditional construction of games and points to possible future developments. He examines how rules provide challenges, learning, and enjoyment for players, and how a game cues the player into imagining its fictional world. Juul’s lively style and eclectic deployment of sources will make Half-Real of interest to media, literature, and game scholars as well as to game professionals and gamers.

Download or read book Theory of Fun for Game Design written by Raph Koster and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2013-11-08 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in full color, the 10th anniversary edition of this classic book takes you deep into the influences that underlie modern video games, and examines the elements they share with traditional games such as checkers. At the heart of his exploration, veteran game designer Raph Koster takes a close look at the concept of fun and why it’s the most vital element in any game. Why do some games become boring quickly, while others remain fun for years? How do games serve as fundamental and powerful learning tools? Whether you’re a game developer, dedicated gamer, or curious observer, this illustrated, fully updated edition helps you understand what drives this major cultural force, and inspires you to take it further. You’ll discover that: Games play into our innate ability to seek patterns and solve puzzles Most successful games are built upon the same elements Slightly more females than males now play games Many games still teach primitive survival skills Fictional dressing for modern games is more developed than the conceptual elements Truly creative designers seldom use other games for inspiration Games are beginning to evolve beyond their prehistoric origins

Download or read book Cheating written by Mia Consalvo and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-08-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural history of digital gameplay that investigates a wide range of player behavior, including cheating, and its relationship to the game industry. The widely varying experiences of players of digital games challenge the notions that there is only one correct way to play a game. Some players routinely use cheat codes, consult strategy guides, or buy and sell in-game accounts, while others consider any or all of these practices off limits. Meanwhile, the game industry works to constrain certain readings or activities and promote certain ways of playing. In Cheating, Mia Consalvo investigates how players choose to play games, and what happens when they can't always play the way they'd like. She explores a broad range of player behavior, including cheating (alone and in groups), examines the varying ways that players and industry define cheating, describes how the game industry itself has helped systematize cheating, and studies online cheating in context in an online ethnography of Final Fantasy XI. She develops the concept of "gaming capital" as a key way to understand individuals' interaction with games, information about games, the game industry, and other players. Consalvo provides a cultural history of cheating in videogames, looking at how the packaging and selling of such cheat-enablers as cheat books, GameSharks, and mod chips created a cheat industry. She investigates how players themselves define cheating and how their playing choices can be understood, with particular attention to online cheating. Finally, she examines the growth of the peripheral game industries that produce information about games rather than actual games. Digital games are spaces for play and experimentation; the way we use and think about digital games, Consalvo argues, is crucially important and reflects ethical choices in gameplay and elsewhere.

Download or read book Eat Sleep Bagpipes Repeat written by Mirako Press and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-18 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This adorable music notebook is perfect for staffs, kids and musicians. The high-quality manuscript book includes 110 pages of 12 staves. Let exercise your composing skills with this well-designed music sketchbook! Enjoy!

Download or read book Man Play and Games written by Roger Caillois and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to Roger Caillois, play is an occasion of pure waste. In spite of this - or because of it - play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development. In this study, the author defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life.

Download or read book Roger Bacon and the Sciences written by Hackett and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume deals with the philosophy and thought of Roger Bacon. It is an effort to bring Roger Bacon studies up to date. Attention is given to a wide range of topics: Bacon's life and works, Bacon's contribution to the trivium (language studies) and the quadrivium (scientific-mathematical studies), his notion of a science, his moral philosophy, Bacon's contribution to medicine, alchemy, astrology, Bacon's positions in physics and metaphysics, an up dated bibliography of Bacon studies and a review of the state of Bacon Manuscripts. The volume situates Roger Bacon in the context of 13th century philosophy and thought, as well as demonstrating his importance for later thinkers. It is expected that it will be a major new contribution to Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

Download or read book Trigger Happy written by Steven Poole and published by Arcade Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the history and phenomenal success of video games, and argues that the popular games are on the way to becoming a legitimate art form, much in the same way movies did a century earlier.

Download or read book Technology and Military Doctrine written by I. B. Holley, Jr. and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author's interest in Air Force doctrine was first aroused when he was a sergeant serving as an aerial gunnery instructor in early 1943. When the operational research people revealed that what we were teaching was faulty, he came to realize that the Air Force system for developing doctrine was flawed. The problem continued to interest him and later, after he was commissioned and serving on the faculty of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, he wrote his book Ideas and Weapons using the experience of the air arm to expound the need for a more systematic procedure for developing doctrine. Because the doctrinal materials gathered on World War II were still highly classified, he reverted to World War I to put across his thesis without violating security. The author's real concern was to contribute to the soon to be established US Air Force in the search for a more effective means of formulating doctrine. The essays that follow reflect how his ideas developed over the 30-odd years of my Air Force career. Inevitably there are some overlaps and repetitions given the origin of these essays as articles and lectures spread over many years. The main themes are evident. He repeatedly made the case for the importance of doctrine and the need to perfect the technological advances in equipment. He was concerned to see that doctrine was continually perfected in peacetime and not just in wartime when the pressure of enemy performance provides a powerful incentive to do this. Another theme repeatedly stated was the need for officers suitably educated to see the importance of doctrine and realize that doctrine is literally “everybody's business” and not just the concern of a handful of individuals assigned to the formal task of compiling doctrinal manuals. These people are important, but they cannot perform effectively if officers throughout the service fail to write after-action reports summarizing their valuable experiences, not just in air operations but in all aspects of the air arm activities, procurement, personnel administration, logistics, and legislative liaison. One can easily make the case that improving the ability of the Air Force to cope with Congress is just as important as suggesting the best possible doctrine for aerial combat. One can't just assume that every newly promoted flag officer will instinctively understand the best way of testifying on Capitol Hill. Much of the doctrinal problem within the Air Force stems from the professional education of officers. Unless they are rigorously educated to undertake the objective analysis of recorded historical experience, all the most carefully edited doctrinal manuals will avail little. One of the author's insistent themes is the need to make doctrinal manuals not only more readable but more memorable. To this end several of the following essays are addressed to those who are assigned as doctrinal writers.

Download or read book The Art of Computer Game Design written by Linda L Crawford and published by McGraw-Hill/Glencoe. This book was released on 1984-01-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the elements of games, surveys the various types of computer games, and describes the steps in the process of computer game development

Download or read book The End of the World written by Marcia Sa Cavalcante Schuback and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-03-29 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'end of the world' opens up philosophical questions concerning the very notion of the world, which is a fundamental element of all existential, phenomenological and hermeneutical philosophy. Is the 'end of the world' for us 'somebody's' death (the end of 'being-in-the-world') or the extinction of many or of all (the end of the world itself)? Is the erosion of the 'world' a phenomenon that does not in fact affect the notion of the world as a fundamental feature of all existential-ontological inquiry? This volume examines the present state of these concerns in philosophy, film and literature. It presents a philosophical hermeneutics of the present state of the world and explores the principal questions of the philosophical accounts of the end of the world, such as finality and finitude. It also shows how literature and cinema have ventured to express the end of the world while asking if a consequent expression of the end of the world is also an end of its expression.

Download or read book Technology in War written by Kenneth Macksey and published by Pocket Books. This book was released on 1986 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of War written by Julian Lindley-French and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of War is the definitive analysis of war in the twenty-first century. With over forty senior authors from academia, government and the armed forces world-wide the Handbook explores the history, theory, ethics and practice of war. The Handbook first considers the fundamental causes of war, before reflecting on the moral and legal aspects of war. Theories on the practice of war lead into an analysis of the strategic conduct of war and non Western ways of war. The heart of the Handbook is a compelling analysis of the military conduct of war which is juxtaposed with consideration of technology, economy, industry, and war. In conclusion the volume looks to the future of this apparently perennial feature of human interaction.