Monday, April 1, 2013

Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle For Internet Freedom

Rebecca MacKinnon
online access from Ebook Central Academic Complete
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

The Internet was going to liberate us, but in truth it has not. For every story about the web’s empowering role in events such as the Arab Spring, there are many more about the quiet corrosion of civil liberties by companies and governments using the same digital technologies we have come to depend upon. Sudden changes in Facebook’s features and privacy settings have exposed identities of protestors to police in Egypt and Iran. Apple removes politically controversial apps at the behest of governments as well as for its own commercial reasons. Dozens of Western companies sell surveillance technology to dictatorships around the world. Google struggles with censorship demands from governments in a range of countries—many of them democracies—as well as mounting public concern over the vast quantities of information it collects about its users.

In Consent of the Networked, journalist and Internet policy specialist Rebecca MacKinnon argues that it is time to fight for our rights before they are sold, legislated, programmed, and engineered away. Every day, the corporate sovereigns of cyberspace make decisions that affect our physical freedom—but without our consent. Yet the traditional solution to unaccountable corporate behavior—government regulation—cannot stop the abuse of digital power on its own, and sometimes even contributes to it.

A clarion call to action, Consent of the Networked shows that it is time to stop arguing over whether the Internet empowers people, and address the urgent question of how technology should be governed to support the rights and liberties of users around the world.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)


萬古江河 : 中國歷史文化的轉折與開展

許倬雲 著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
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《萬古江河》是許倬雲畢生智慧的結晶,也是他對中國文化發展問題的創新詮釋!

本書以江河流域的擴大比喻文化的進展,從中國文化發軔的地理空間開始談起,論及史前時期中國文化的多元發展與分合,然後再細述中國文化在不斷的衝突與融合中,一步步擴大進入世界體系的歷程。最後,全書以中國文化面對近代西方資本主義帝國壓力下的「百年蹣跚」為結束。

《萬古江河》近27萬言,涉及的內容極為豐富,有民俗生活、思想信仰、文學藝術、經濟社會的演變、科學技術的發展、文化的交流互動等,字裡行間既有高空鳥瞰式的宏觀洞見,又有具體日常生活的細微描寫。

更重要的是,本書不但擺脫了中國文化本位主義,也著重於庶民觀點及大區域文化的比較研究,每每以全球文化的高視點,來詮釋多元且複雜的中國文化發展歷程。其視野之開闊、思路之寬廣,實為相關著作中所僅見。

許倬雲耗時三年完成的這部大著作,雖是以精深學術為底子,但作者的文字風格極為暢達,也不直接引用史料原文,因此本書已跨越了歷史專業讀者群的範圍,非常適合一般讀者閱讀。作者在書中闡釋了上百個一般讀者想知道,但又不曉得到哪裡去問的文化議題,例如:台灣為什麼晚至近代才出現在中國歷史上、中古的老百姓吃些什麼、《金瓶梅》為什麼是有反叛精神的創作、長江文化和黃河文化有何差異、孔子的「仁」到底是什麼意思、中國為什麼沒有出現代西方的工業化……等。一如作者在自序中所言:「今日的讀者不同於舊時,在這平民的時代,大率受過高中教育以上者,都可能對歷史有興趣。」──而本書,即是為這一代中國人所撰寫的歷史。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, March 25, 2013

Visualizing Russia: Fedor Solntsev and Crafting a National Past

Edited by Cynthia Hyla Whittaker
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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The Romantic search for a national past was a European Preoccupation in the first half of the nineteenth century. In Russia, this process led to the formation of the Russian Style that has until today so captivated the world's imagination. While the manifestations of this style are easily recognizable in gleaming gilt, vibrant colors, onion domes, peasant costume, and tsarist regalia, hardly anyone has realized the pioneering and defining role that Fedor Solntsev (1801-1892) played in the development of a Russian national aesthetic. This book rescues Solntsev from obscurity and celebrates his major contributions to the arts, archaeology, architecture, ethnography, icon painting, restoration work, and Russian nationalist ideology and also places his work in a general European context.

(Excerpt from books.google.com.hk)


俄羅斯美術隨筆

高莽
online access from iRead eBook
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何懷碩教授 推薦

俄羅斯的文化、思想、文學、音樂與繪畫一向在我心中有特別的份量。深刻、壯麗、雄渾與穿透心靈的力量,在歐洲只有貝多芬、歌德、莎士比亞、哈代、林布蘭、羅丹、孟克等等大師才能給我們一樣的震撼。俄國繪畫力量之強,在技巧上要歸功於他們對學生的訓練之嚴格。基礎訓練的素描之深刻、嚴謹而不板滯,因為內在神采的捕捉使它比印象派素描著眼於形式的追求要來得更富精神性的內涵。當代美術教育基礎訓練普遍放鬆,尤其西方後現代的新潮的影響,繪畫的式微令人懷憂。

俄羅斯繪畫在技巧之外,強調發揮文化的民族特色。──那些在時空推移中積澱而成的人文思想、生命態度、價值品味、生活風尚等等;吸收外來文化而不喪失自我;揚棄偏向於以技藝的巧變與視覺趣味的追求取代藝術表現人的心靈內在感受的形式主義。俄羅斯那個濃厚的人文主義的藝術傳統,應喚起當代藝術界的反省。

本書的作者高莽先生是年已八十的前輩。他的背景、經歷與修養,不但是最有資格寫這種書的藝術家,應該說現在再難以找到像高莽先生這樣的「內行人」了。高莽先生這本書不是美術史的寫法,也不是「畫冊」,而是一位對俄羅斯美術有深入了解,與許多俄國畫家為朋友,自己也是畫家、作家所寫的美術隨筆。其實這本書可以說是用親切的筆調寫近現代俄羅斯美術的「史論」隨筆。這本書可以引領你走進俄羅斯美術的天地中去嚐「鑊中一臠」。這本書會讓你打開另一扇窗,看到藝術世界中你知道最少的另一個廣闊豐美的花園。(詳見內文序)

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Painting Russia
[Accessible on Campus Only]




Monday, March 18, 2013

The Book of Tea

Okakura Kakuzo
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

This modern classic invites the reader to discover a unique tradition that has come to symbolize the wisdom, beauty, and the elegant simplicity of Asian culture. The author celebrates the Way of Tea from its ancient origins in Chinese Taoism to its culmination in the Zen discipline known as the Japanese tea ceremony? an enchanting practice bringing together such arts as architecture, pottery, and flower arranging to create an experience that delights the senses, calms the mind, and refreshes the spirit. Tea was first used as a medicine and an alchemical elixir by the ancient Chinese Taoists, who praised its spiritual powers. Buddhist monks made drinking tea part of a tradition honoring the founder of Zen; this ritual was later refined in the performance of the Japanese tea ceremony as a meditative practice. The Book of Tea describes the rich aesthetic of Asian culture through the history, philosophy, and practice of brewing and drinking tea.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)


日本茶道文化槪論

千宗室 審訂; 滕軍 著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

茶道是發源於中國、開花結果於日本的高層次的生活文化。“茶道”一詞初見於唐代。在唐代,茶道已脫離日常啜飲範圍而成為一種優雅的精神文化。 本書的作者滕軍同學來日留學不久便有機會參加了一次茶會。她以天生敏銳的感受力體驗到茶道的深湛魅力。於是她着手進行茶道文化學術研究,同時也開始學習實際點茶技法。其最初的成果是她的碩士論文《茶道思想源流研究》。其中的一部份登載於《茶湯》學術雜誌上,得到了高度的評價。

本書介紹了日本茶道的歷史、內容、道具、建築、禮法、思想、美學。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)