Monday, August 13, 2018

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

by Peter Frankopan
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next. From the Middle East and its political instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts.

Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

0.8的生活哲學

張笑恆
online access from iRead eBook
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

《0.8的生活哲學》是你在人生中尋得平衡的密碼。本書以故事和理論相結合的形式,讓您在百忙之中,能夠靜下心來細細審視自己、沉澱自己、關愛自己,猶如夏日午後的那杯綠茶,清淡而沁人心脾,教你享受和諧的人生、健康的生活、活著的快樂。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, August 6, 2018

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Nick Bostrom
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

Superintelligence asks the questions: what happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life. The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful—possibly beyond our control. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on humans than on the species itself, so would the fate of humankind depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence.

But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed Artificial Intelligence, to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation?

This profoundly ambitious and original audiobook breaks down a vast track of difficult intellectual terrain. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

郭鶴年自傳

郭鶴年
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

榮獲亞洲週刊2017十大好書

郭鶴年,首次親身述說最真實的故事!

郭鶴年是香港以及馬來西亞企業家,出生於柔佛新山,以經營白糖業起家,有「亞洲糖王」之稱。書中講述他創立以亞洲為基地的郭氏集團故事,是一部多姿多彩的家族歷史,當中亦包括郭鶴年童年的成長回憶,以及與其父母及兄弟於亂世中的生活。此外,書中亦有詳述其管理企業和做生意的獨特見解──從1949年開始,如何帶領郭氏集團發展成為當今多元經營的跨國企業。讀者從書中了解華人移民東南亞,在英國殖民統治下的生活,在第二次大戰時期日軍鐵蹄下經歷的歲月,也可了解中國和亞洲經濟騰飛的歷程。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)


Monday, July 30, 2018

The Stolen Bicycle

Ming-Yi Wu
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

Longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize

 A writer embarks on an epic quest in search of his missing father’s stolen bicycle and soon finds himself ensnared in the strangely intertwined stories of Lin Wang, the oldest elephant who ever lived, the soldiers who fought in the jungles of South-East Asia during World War II, and the secret world of butterfly handicraft makers in Taiwan. The result is both a majestic historical novel and an intimate meditation on memory, family and home. Wu’s writing has been compared to that of Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, W.G. Sebald and Yann Martel.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

歐洲的心臟:德國如何改變自己

林育立
online access from iRead eBook
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind 

資深駐德記者深入德國的肌理
從政治、能源政策與轉型正義三大面向
剖析統一後的德國如何在困境中擁抱改變
重返歐洲的中心 

二戰結束,戰敗的德國在美蘇兩大陣營的角力下一分為二,東、西德隔著柏林圍牆各自發展;直到一九八九年,受東歐民主化浪潮影響,柏林圍牆倒塌,一九九〇年,兩德正式統一。然而慶祝的氛圍尚未退去,在國內,德國要面對東、西德整併問題;國際上,因二戰時的種種罪行,德國仍需反省與尋求和解。統一後的德國會怎麼走,全世界都在看。

二十多年過去,繼受過往傲人文化與罪愆的德國,奮力擁抱改變、面對轉型:人口組成變得繽紛多元;原本破敗的前東德區成為最受歡迎的居住地點;率全球之先推動能源轉型,讓世界看見非核家園的實踐可能;直面過往之不義,認真處理納粹與東德時期對於人權的迫害……統一後的德國再次變得強大,不過不再以軍國主義的姿態,而是以自身的政治經濟實力、科技與產業創新以及人道關懷重返世界舞臺,成為驅使歐盟持續向前的心臟。

本書由駐德資深記者林育立歷經多年採訪而成,以冷靜而熱情的視角,講述的是一個遭遇各種極端困境卻始終勇於面對的國家,從廢墟中重建,重返榮耀的故事。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)