Monday, July 29, 2019

Civil Unrest and Governance in Hong Kong: Law and Order from Historical and Cultural Perspectives

by Michael H. K. Ng (Editor), John D Wong (Editor)
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This book examines important social movements in Hong Kong from the perspectives of historical and cultural studies. Conventionally regarded as one of the most politically stable cities in Asia, Hong Kong has yet witnessed many demonstrations and struggles against the colonial and post-colonial governments during the past one hundred years. Many of these movements were brought about in the name of justice and unfolded against the context of global unrest. Focusing on the local developments yet mindful of the international backdrop, this volume explores the imaginaries of law and order that these movements engendered, revealing a complex interplay among evolving notions of justice, governance, law and order and cultural creations throughout the under-explored history of instability in Hong Kong. Underscoring the apparently contrasting discourses on the relationship among the rule of law, law and order and social movements in Hong Kong, the contributors emphasise the need to re-examine the conventional juxtaposition of the law and civil unrest. Readers who have an interest in Asian studies, socio-political studies, legal studies, cultural studies and history would welcome this volume of unique interdisciplinarity.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

余英時回憶錄

余英時
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榮獲第十二屆香港書獎

從一九三七年抗日開始到今天,是中國現代史上變亂最劇烈的一段時期。我深切感到:如何將這一特殊歷史階段的重大變動在訪談稿中呈現出來,其意義遠大於追溯我個人生命史的發展。回憶錄因個人的處境互異而各有不同,這是不可避免的。我一生都在研究和教學中渡過,因此回憶也只能騁馳在學術、思想和文化的領域之內。不用說,我所經歷的世變也是通過這一特殊領域得來的。我希望我的回憶對於這一段歷史流變的認識稍有所助。同時我也相信,一定會有和我同代的其他學人,以不同方式留下他們的回憶。這樣的回憶越多越好,可以互證所同、互校所異。出版這部「回憶錄」的另一動機:拋磚引玉,激起更多學人追憶往事的興趣。如果允許我再有一個奢望,我想說:我在《回憶錄》中所記述的個人學思歷程,無論得失如何,也許可以獻給新一代求學的朋友們,作為一種參考。——余英時

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 22, 2019

Bruce Lee: A Life

by Matthew Polly
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“The first noteworthy treatment of its subject—and a definitive one at that...Fascinating narrative threads proliferate.” —The New York Times Book Review

The most authoritative biography—featuring dozens of rarely seen photographs—of film legend Bruce Lee, who made martial arts a global phenomenon, bridged the divide between Eastern and Western cultures, and smashed long-held stereotypes of Asians and Asian-Americans.

Forty-five years after Bruce Lee’s sudden death at age thirty-two, journalist and bestselling author Matthew Polly has written the definitive account of Lee’s life. It’s also one of the only accounts; incredibly, there has never been an authoritative biography of Lee. Following a decade of research that included conducting more than one hundred interviews with Lee’s family, friends, business associates, and even the actress in whose bed Lee died, Polly has constructed a complex, humane portrait of the icon.

Polly explores Lee’s early years as a child star in Hong Kong cinema; his actor father’s struggles with opium addiction and how that turned Bruce into a troublemaking teenager who was kicked out of high school and eventually sent to America to shape up...

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

逆境商數AQ: 如何在逆境中打造成功人生

譚春虹
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這是一本關於成功的書,一本關於走出逆境、贏得成功的書。如果你曾經因為陷入逆境而失落、迷茫和痛苦,因為失敗而沮喪、頹廢、無法振作,那麼,你就讀讀這本書吧。

逆商也就是逆境智商,它是指人們在面對逆境或失敗時的反應能力,是一種不敗於任何逆境的生活態度和思考方式。

20世紀90年代中期,美國著名學者、白宮知名商業顧問保羅.史托茲教授首次提出「逆商」概念,並迅速在歐美普及開來。越來越多的人開始參加逆商測試,上百家著名公司新增了固定的逆商培訓專案。如今,逆商已經成為職場競爭的重要法寶。

本書以保羅.史托茲教授的逆商理論為基礎,總結了逆商的最新研究成果,詳細闡述了當人們遇到各種變動、失敗和挫折時,容易掉進哪些導致失敗的陷阱,並提供了實際有效的應付逆境的方法和提升逆商的技巧,教您學會運用逆商這一行之有效的工具去增強自己處理逆境的能力,使自己在急劇變動的社會環境中變得更有生產力、創造力和競爭力。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 15, 2019

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

by Cathy O'Neil
online access from EBSCOhost Audiobook Collection
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Longlisted for the National Book Award
New York Times Bestseller

A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life — and threaten to rip apart our social fabric

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated.

But as Cathy O’Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: If a poor student can’t get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his zip code), he’s then cut off from the kind of education that could pull him out of poverty, and a vicious spiral ensues. Models are propping up the lucky and punishing the downtrodden, creating a “toxic cocktail for democracy.” Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.

Tracing the arc of a person’s life, O’Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These “weapons of math destruction” score teachers and students, sort résumés, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health.

O’Neil calls on modelers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it’s up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives. This important book empowers us to ask the tough questions, uncover the truth, and demand change.

— Longlist for National Book Award (Non-Fiction)
— Goodreads, semi-finalist for the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards (Science and Technology)
— Kirkus, Best Books of 2016
— New York Times, 100 Notable Books of 2016 (Non-Fiction)
— The Guardian, Best Books of 2016
— WBUR's "On Point," Best Books of 2016: Staff Picks
— Boston Globe, Best Books of 2016, Non-Fiction

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

香港地區報 : 18區文藝地圖

鄧家宙; 繪者: Carmen Ng
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平日不以為意的城市風景,在極富想像力和細膩的插畫演繹下,也可變得大異其趣。本書以漫遊香港18區為主題,讀者可從插畫重新細味區內不同的古蹟、地標建築、文青據點及郊遊玩樂點,輕鬆地來個深度的風俗歷史文化遊。

  十八份關於「香港地」的文藝號外!
  從紙上重新發現
  我城歷史和文藝風景的可愛!

本地年輕插畫家Carmen Ng,今次以0.03mm代針筆極細膩地重新勾勒香港十八區景點,網羅四百多個歷史文化古蹟、地標建築、文青藝術潮流據點及郊遊玩樂點,其水彩畫作充滿天馬行空點子,自成一格,更有香港史學會的鄧家宙博士之精練闡釋,如數家珍地把香港地景點背後的掌故和趣聞與畫作有機地結合,讓平日我們不以為意的城市風景,都變得大異其趣。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 8, 2019

Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History

by Kurt Andersen
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The single most important explanation, and the fullest explanation, of how Donald Trump became president of the United States . . . nothing less than the most important book that I have read this year.”—Lawrence O’Donnell

How did we get here?

In this sweeping, eloquent history of America, Kurt Andersen shows that what’s happening in our country today—this post-factual, “fake news” moment we’re all living through—is not something new, but rather the ultimate expression of our national character. America was founded by wishful dreamers, magical thinkers, and true believers, by hucksters and their suckers. Fantasy is deeply embedded in our DNA.

Over the course of five centuries—from the Salem witch trials to Scientology to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, from P. T. Barnum to Hollywood and the anything-goes, wild-and-crazy sixties, from conspiracy theories to our fetish for guns and obsession with extraterrestrials—our love of the fantastic has made America exceptional in a way that we've never fully acknowledged. From the start, our ultra-individualism was attached to epic dreams and epic fantasies—every citizen was free to believe absolutely anything, or to pretend to be absolutely anybody. With the gleeful erudition and tell-it-like-it-is ferocity of a Christopher Hitchens, Andersen explores whether the great American experiment in liberty has gone off the rails.

Fantasyland could not appear at a more perfect moment. If you want to understand Donald Trump and the culture of twenty-first-century America, if you want to know how the lines between reality and illusion have become dangerously blurred, you must read this book.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

關於跑步,我說的其實是

村上春樹
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寫作滿三十年前夕
村上春樹透過談跑步,道出自己不為人所知的寫作觀。

25年前村上春樹開始他的第一次跑步。那是1982年的秋天,三十三歲那一年,寫完《尋羊冒險記》,村上先生因為戒煙而體重增加,為了減肥,開始了他的第一步。從那以後村上接連不斷地跑,他曾經跑完雅典的全程馬拉松,也參加波士頓馬拉松比賽,平日每天幾乎都跑上十公里,可以說除了寫作,跑步已經是他最在行的事。

村上在這本書《關於跑步,我說的其實是……》中藉著記錄整理自己的經驗與思緒,分享他在跑步中所理解的人生以及寫作觀。至於書名是什麼意思?其實這本書的日文原名就是以外來語思維所寫的(What I Talk About When I Talk About Running),這個名稱明顯是向他喜愛的美國小說家瑞蒙‧卡佛名作之一《當我們討論愛情》(What We Talk About When We Talk About Love)致敬。

村上說如果他可以選擇自己的墓誌銘,猜猜看他想寫上什麼?答案就在書裡。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 1, 2019

Stick with It: The Science of Lasting Behaviour

Sean Young
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Learn how to make real, lasting changes in your life

We all have bad habits - whether it's a weakness for junk food, a smartphone addiction or a lack of exercise. But change is hard. Forty percent of dieters quit within a week. Eighty percent of New Year's resolutions don't last beyond January. How can we kick bad habits - and stick with it?

According to psychologist and behaviour researcher Dr Sean Young, the answer is to stop trying to change the person, and instead change the process. In Stick With It, Dr Young draws on his own research and that of other leading experts to explain how the mind often interferes with breaking bad habits, and how we can outsmart it, increasing the likelihood of lasting change by 200%.

Packed with practical exercises and real-life case studies, Stick With It shows that it is possible to control spending, stick to a diet, exercise regularly and overcome problem behaviours - forever.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

當日出日落同步上演 : 致香港流行文化, 2012-2017

阿果
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對香港人來說,2012至2017年,是無法忘記,甚至影響深遠的五年。

我們送走了曾蔭權,迎來了梁振英,又過渡至林鄭月娥;經歷了幾場龐大的社會運動,一起反國教,要求看電視,喊著特首下台,也曾撐起雨傘──這些記憶我們歷歷在目。

那麼,這段時間的流行文化,你記得幾多?與政局大事相比,流行文化被看為次要──聽一首歌,看一套劇集,究竟有幾重要?這些明星八卦新聞,這些不合情理的節目,為什麼值得一提再提?

「我已經無睇TVB好耐啦!」
「我唔聽廣東歌架啦!」
「我當然要XXX,而唔要XXX!」

這些說話,我們不陌生。然而,打開Facebook研究數據,在茶餐廳做田野考察的時候,你會發現現實的世界不是這樣。

「我已經無睇TVB好耐啦!」(但談論某劇集的時候,個個都能發表幾句,最多聽到的一句是「同其他TVB的劇集好唔同」。)
「我唔聽廣東歌架啦!」(但某歌手登上頒獎禮的台上時,整個Facebook都在share/ comment。)

這是流行文化的厲害之處。

更重要的是,以為流行文化是獨立於整個社會氣候環境而風花雪月嗎?恐怕不是如此。

我們有什麼電視台,看怎樣的電視節目,其實都是(我們很討厭的)政治。是以,被人詬病的大台繼續一台獨大,有著改革野心大量投資的電視台不獲發牌。

看回這幾年的流行文化大事,我們看見的是香港故事。在我們以為最困難的時候,有些人、有些事就悄悄冒起──這幾年,是日出與日落同時上演的時刻,也是我們的轉折點。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)