Other books that might interest you

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  How We Think - Digital Media and...

  N. Katherine Hayles

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  “How do we think?” N. Katherine Hayles poses this question at the beginning of this bracing exploration of the idea that we think through, with, and alongside media. As the age of print passes and new technologies appear every day, this proposition has become far more complicated, particularly for the traditionally print-based disciplines in the humanities and qualitative social sciences. With a rift growing between digital scholarship and its print-based counterpart, Hayles argues for contemporary technogenesis—the belief that humans and technics are coevolving—and advocates for what she calls comparative media studies, a new approach to locating digital work within print traditions and vice versa.Hayles examines the evolution of the field from the traditional humanities and how the digital humanities are changing academic scholarship, research, teaching, and publication. She goes on to depict the neurological consequences of working in digital media, where skimming and scanning, or “hyper reading,” and analysis through machine algorithms are forms of reading as valid as close reading once was. Hayles contends that we must recognize all three types of reading and understand the limitations and possibilities of each. In addition to illustrating what a comparative media perspective entails, Hayles explores the technogenesis spiral in its full complexity. She considers the effects of early databases such as telegraph code books and confronts our changing perceptions of time and space in the digital age, illustrating this through three innovative digital productions—Steve Tomasula’s electronic novel, TOC; Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts; and Mark Z. Danielewski’s Only Revolutions. Deepening our understanding of the extraordinary transformative powers digital technologies have placed in the hands of humanists, How We Think presents a cogent rationale for tackling the challenges facing the humanities today.

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  Charged - A History of Batteries...

  James Morton Turner

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  Winner of the 24th Annual Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize 
   
   
   
  Finalist for the 2023 Cundill History Prize 
   
   
   
  Gold Medal Recipient, Nautilus Book Awards, Sustainability 
   
   
   
  To achieve fossil fuel independence, few technologies are more important than batteries. Used for powering zero-emission vehicles, storing electricity from solar panels and wind turbines, and revitalizing the electric grid, batteries are essential to scaling up the renewable energy resources that help address global warming. But given the unique environmental impact of batteries—including mining, disposal, and more—does a clean energy transition risk trading one set of problems for another? 
   
   
   
  In Charged, James Morton Turner unpacks the history of batteries to explore why solving "the battery problem" is critical to a clean energy transition. As climate activists focus on what a clean energy future will create the history of batteries offers a sharp reminder of what building that future will consume. With new insight on the consequences for people and communities on the front lines, Turner draws on the past for crucial lessons that will help us build a just and clean energy future, from the ground up.

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  Legionella - Causes Solutions...

  Lilly Richardsen

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  Legionella is a type of bacteria that can cause a severe form of pneumonia known as Legionnaires' disease. The bacterium is found naturally in freshwater environments such as rivers and lakes, but it becomes a concern in man-made water systems. Legionella thrives in warm water environments, particularly when water is stagnant or not properly maintained. Some of the most common places where Legionella can grow include cooling towers, hot tubs, air conditioning units, and plumbing systems, all of which can provide the ideal conditions for bacterial growth. 
  The first documented outbreak of Legionnaires' disease occurred in 1976 at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia, where over 200 individuals became ill, and 34 people died. This event led to the identification of the bacterium Legionella pneumophila, which was named after the American Legion convention. Since then, Legionnaires' disease has been associated with various outbreaks, particularly in large buildings, hospitals, and hotels, where water systems are extensive and difficult to manage. 
  Legionella bacteria are transmitted through the inhalation of aerosolized water droplets contaminated with the bacteria. This can occur when people breathe in mist, vapor, or water droplets from sources like air conditioning units, hot tubs, or showers. The bacteria can infect the lungs, leading to symptoms similar to pneumonia, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, and muscle aches. In severe cases, the disease can cause respiratory failure, organ damage, and even death, especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly, smokers, and individuals with weakened immune systems.

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  Shakti Mantras - Tapping into...

  Thomas Ashley-Farrand

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  Tap into the Great Goddess Energy Within 
   
   
   
  ● Enhance your spiritual gifts 
   
   
   
  ● Lighten your karmic burden 
   
   
   
  ● Improve your health and increase prosperity 
   
   
   
  ● Live in harmony with the universe 
   
   
   
  Now, with Shakti Mantras, we can all benefit from this ancient practice. Thomas Ashley-Farrand, a Vedic priest, is an American expert in the intricacies of Sanskrit mantra. With nearly thirty years and thousands of hours of experience in chanting, he is well-equipped to write the first book that teaches women (and men) to tap into the dynamic feminine energy of love in all its manifestations. By sharing enchanting Hindu myths and astonishing true stories from his own practice, Ashley-Farrand helps us to understand the real power of this age-old art. Through dozens of actual mantras—each one presented with phonetic spelling for easy pronunciation and recommendations—he enables us to increase our "shakti" (power) to solve problems, ensure abundance, create health and well-being, summon protection, and invoke personal and universal peace. 
   
   
   
  Whether you're new to chanting or an old hand, Shakti Mantras will take you places you've never been before . . . and measurably enrich your life.

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  The Wildest Hunt - True Stories...

  Randy Nelson

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  A lively collection of wilder-than-fiction poaching stories from across Canada and the US, including insights from investigating officers involved in real poaching situations. 
   
   
   
  Get ready to hear some of the wildest true crime imaginable. Showcasing fish and wildlife poaching stories from every province and territory in Canada and every state in the United States, decorated fishery officer Randy Nelson offers a thrilling look into a dangerous industry. 
   
   
   
  With insights gathered through thousands of phone calls and emails to investigating officers, The Wildest Hunt collects over one hundred North American fish and wildlife officers' stories, with tales ranging from absolutely disgusting to hysterically hilarious. Nelson takes listeners across North America, from busting turtle-trafficking rings in Oklahoma to collecting a fourteen-and-a-half foot beluga whale from a bus in Saskatchewan. 
   
   
   
  Nelson's entertaining stories also shed light on the important work of fish and wildlife officers, and the often messy, sometimes dangerous situations they must face, as well as how important the public can be in solving wildlife crime.

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  Designing for Democracy - How to...

  Jennifer Forestal

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  How should we "fix" digital technologies to support democracy instead of undermining it? In Designing for Democracy, Jennifer Forestal argues that accurately evaluating the democratic potential of digital spaces means studying how the built environment—a primary component of our "modern public square"—structures our activity, shapes our attitudes, and supports the kinds of relationships and behaviors democracy requires. 
   
   
   
  While many scholars and practitioners are attentive to the role of design in shaping behavior, they have yet to fully engage with the question of what structures are required to support democratic communities—and how to build them. Forestal closes this gap by providing a new theory of democratic space. Drawing from a wide range of disciplines, she argues that "democratic spaces" must be designed with three environmental characteristics—boundaries, durability, and flexibility—that, taken together, afford users the ability to engage in fundamental civic practices. 
   
   
   
  Through extended analyses of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, Forestal shows precisely how well these digital platforms meet the criteria for democratic spaces, or whether they do so at all. The result is a nuanced analysis of the democratic communities that form—or fail to emerge—in these spaces, as well as more concrete suggestions for how to improve them.

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