Monday, February 25, 2019

India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy

by Ramachandra Guha
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

A magisterial account of the pains, the struggles, the humiliations, and the glories of the world's largest and least likely democracy, Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi is a breathtaking chronicle of the brutal conflicts that have rocked a giant nation and the extraordinary factors that have held it together. An intricately researched and elegantly written epic history peopled with larger-than-life characters, it is the work of a major scholar at the peak of his abilities.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

With the generous book donation from the Consulate General of India, Hong Kong, an invaluable set of books will be added to the City University of Hong Kong Library's collection. The "Know India – Sharing India with the World" Book Donation Ceremony will be held on 26 February 2019 at the Run Run Shaw Library of the City University of Hong Kong. READ MORE

漢字書法之美

蔣勳
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

.美學大師蔣勳談漢字的起源與書寫的美學
.漢字的美,彷彿是通過五千年歲月在天地間的各式書寫:可刻,可畫,可歌,可舞......
.如水波跌宕,如簷牙高啄,如飛鳥雙翼翱翔,筆鋒隨書寫者情緒流走。書法是舞蹈,是音樂,是心情的節奏,是審美的符號。
.「漢字書寫,對於我,像一種修行。我希望能像古代洞窟裡抄寫經文的人,把一部《法華經》一字一字寫好,像最初寫自己的名字一樣慎重端正。我不斷回想起父親握著我的手書寫的歲月,那些簡單的『上』、『大』、『人』,也是我的手被父親的手握著,一起完成的最美麗的書法。」
「漢字書寫,是我與自己相處最真實的一種儀式。」──蔣勳

......蔣勳說:書法是呼吸,是養生,是身體的運動,是性情的表達,是做人處事的學習,是安定保佑的力量,是生活現實裡的記憶,是還原到初寫自己名字時的認真......

作者以他獨特的美學情懷,述說動人的漢字書法故事。文字編織成畫面,我們走進了那古老卻又現代的漢字時間光廊,東方書寫的敬意與喜悅,就在你我的指間心中!

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


"Science and Art: Chinese and Korean Student Calligraphy Exhibition" is being staged at the Run Run Shaw Library of the City University of Hong Kong until 28 February 2019. READ MORE

Monday, February 18, 2019

The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer

by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, Dr. Elissa Epel
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

The New York Times bestselling book coauthored by the Nobel Prize winner who discovered telomerase and telomeres' role in the aging process and the health psychologist who has done original research into how specific lifestyle and psychological habits can protect telomeres, slowing disease and improving life.

Have you wondered why some sixty-year-olds look and feel like forty-year-olds and why some forty-year-olds look and feel like sixty-year-olds? While many factors contribute to aging and illness, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn discovered a biological indicator called telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes telomeres, which protect our genetic heritage. Dr. Blackburn and Dr. Elissa Epel's research shows that the length and health of one's telomeres are a biological underpinning of the long-hypothesized mind-body connection. They and other scientists have found that changes we can make to our daily habits can protect our telomeres and increase our health spans (the number of years we remain healthy, active, and disease-free).

THE TELOMERE EFFECT reveals how Blackburn and Epel's findings, together with research from colleagues around the world, cumulatively show that sleep quality, exercise, aspects of diet, and even certain chemicals profoundly affect our telomeres, and that chronic stress, negative thoughts, strained relationships, and even the wrong neighborhoods can eat away at them. Drawing from this scientific body of knowledge, they share lists of foods and suggest amounts and types of exercise that are healthy for our telomeres, mind tricks you can use to protect yourself from stress, and information about how to protect your children against developing shorter telomeres, from pregnancy through adolescence. And they describe how we can improve our health spans at the community level, with neighborhoods characterized by trust, green spaces, and safe streets.

THE TELOMERE EFFECT will make you reassess how you live your life on a day-to-day basis. It is the first book to explain how we age at a cellular level and how we can make simple changes to keep our chromosomes and cells healthy, allowing us to stay disease-free longer and live more vital and meaningful lives.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

大腦升級2.0, 鍛煉更強大的自己 : 重新連結, 你可以更聰明更健康更積極更成長 (Rewire your brain)

約翰.B.雅頓 (John B. Arden)
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

為什麼你有時候會感覺厭世?
天一亮就渾身充滿負能量?
總認為自己有顆過目就忘的金魚腦?
夜夜失眠只好上網逛市集?
這是因為腦袋裡的齒輪落鍊啦!


你認識自己的大腦嗎?
你知道大腦具有極大的潛能嗎?
自己的日常生活模式會讓大腦養成安於現狀的習慣,這樣好嗎?
其實,腦袋裡的結構就這樣,平常用到的部位也就這麼多,
但是,透過刻意訓練,原來大腦也可以升級再進化!

人類的大腦只有1.3公斤重,但它卻是人體最發達的器官。
人類的大腦結構是由許多神經元組成的,而神經元就聚集在模塊中;
大腦的模塊分為:皮層(外層,包括兩個半球),四個葉(每個腦半球都有額葉、頂葉、顳葉、枕葉,它們都有各自的功能。)、皮層下模塊。
而大腦的任務就是對你周遭的世界做出反應,並與之產生關聯。

沮喪、健忘、失眠……難道是自己的身體出問題了嗎?
其實,這是因為腦袋裡的神經線路亂了套!
而大腦可以透過重新連線再升級,讓你學會平靜面對壓力,
在感到抑鬱時重振精神,學習如何增強記憶力,建立良好的人際關係。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, February 11, 2019

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

by Yuval Noah Harari
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind


“Fascinating . . . a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the twenty-first century.”—Bill Gates, The New York Times Book Review

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FINANCIAL TIMES AND PAMELA PAUL, KQED

How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.

… offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis? …

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

談古論今話香江

江啟明
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

承《香港.舊事重提》,本書收錄了香港著名畫家江啟明先生多年來走訪香港大街小巷寫生描繪的畫作,並以簡煉的文字把舊時香江、現在香港的一面,按題細說對照一番。細讀本書,讓我們知道香港的那些年、那些事,然後更了解我城。

本書以七個章節述說出香江的變幻:
.地區和地方:由以前的滄海桑田,到今天的高樓處處,香港地的樣貌已今非昔比。
.日漸消失的店鋪:講述人情濃到化不開的小店如何興盛與被淘汰。
.節日與民間傳說:節日源遠流長,現在,大家又如何看待節日和各種民間傳說。
.時事民生:回憶跟大家生活息息相關的民生大小事。
.生活與娛樂:重提香港人的「舊式」的生活習慣和「蚊型」娛樂活動。
.飲食與人:「民以食為天」,細說香港人粗茶淡飯的日子。
.香港趣聞:重現香港的「輕」新聞,又開心又長了對香港的認識。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)


Monday, February 4, 2019

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

by Evan Osnos
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction finalist
Winner of the 2014 National Book Award in nonfiction
An Economist Best Book of 2014

A vibrant, colorful, and revelatory inner history of China during a moment of profound transformation

From abroad, we often see China as a caricature: a nation of pragmatic plutocrats and ruthlessly dedicated students destined to rule the global economy-or an addled Goliath, riddled with corruption and on the edge of stagnation. What we don't see is how both powerful and ordinary people are remaking their lives as their country dramatically changes.

As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party's struggle to retain control. He asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of young Chinese professionals-fluent in English and devoted to Western pop culture-consider themselves "angry youth," dedicated to resisting the West's influence? How are Chinese from all strata finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of wealth?

Writing with great narrative verve and a keen sense of irony, Osnos follows the moving stories of everyday people and reveals life in the new China to be a battleground between aspiration and authoritarianism, in which only one can prevail.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

過一個歡樂的宋朝新年

李開周
online access from iRead eBook
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

◎ 肥冬瘦年,餛飩餺飥
冬至不吃湯圓,年夜飯只吃麵條

◎ 隨年壓歲,大小有別
壓歲錢大放送,哥哥、姐姐領得多

◎ 義會、關撲樣樣來
辦年貨缺現金?沒關係,分期付款或賭運氣都行

◎ 宋朝人過年愛打馬
宋朝人過年打什麼馬?怎麼打?

◎ 李清照其實很愛賭
暗器功夫了得,骰子、牌戲都擅長

◎ 十五元宵,華麗收尾
雜技、魔術、馬戲、說書通通有,全部免費同樂

會吃,會玩,
宋朝新年比聖誕節更熱鬧

宋朝是個魅力十足的朝代,商業發達、文化繁榮,市井小民的小日子過得舒舒服服、多采多姿。距離我們七、八百年,但現今的新年習俗幾乎都能從宋朝找到源頭,像是祭灶、擺春飯、壓歲錢、除夕守歲、元旦燒香、貼春聯、放鞭炮、初二回娘家、十五元宵等,都能和宋朝遙相呼應。

但宋朝過年還是有些與現代不太相同的地方,你知道皇帝過年仍然得上朝嗎?宋朝人的春節假期比現代人短?宋朝的冬至和臺灣的尾牙有何異同?送灶神的習俗有何特殊之處?宋朝人採買哪些年貨?春聯怎麼貼?壓歲錢怎麼發?怎樣祭祖、拜年?年夜飯餐桌上有哪些菜色?且聽作者娓娓道來,看看會吃、會玩的宋朝人怎樣把新年過得豐富又熱鬧,書末並附宋朝新年小辭典和新年習俗。閱讀本書,有如身歷其境般趣味盎然,彷彿與宋朝人一起度過既熱鬧又舒心的新年。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)