Monday, April 19, 2021

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

Bill Gates
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.


Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.

He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.

As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

讀胡適

董橋
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董橋說今年[2019年]五四也一百年了,他緬懷胡適對世界、對國家、對山河、對生靈的關愛和擔當。他說胡適是老派人,有些說法有些做法很像他父親那個年紀的人,有點偏見,有點冥頑,有點迂闊,有點可笑,有點親切。頌揚和謾駡聲中,胡適一輩子是台上的人物。這本《讀胡適》只讀他喜歡讀的胡適,抄他喜歡抄的胡適 ......

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

《讀胡適》獲第十三屆香港書獎
董橋得獎感言:《讀胡適》從來不是一本熱鬧的書。我希望這本書是一道清淺的小河,靜靜流過從前和現在的中國,讓讀這本書的人在喧嘩的塵世裏聽聽那連綿的水聲,回望一個中國讀書人發憤追求知識塑造自己的過程,看他博讀中外典籍,用言行克服偏見,認識世道。胡適之經歷近代中國一波又一波的風浪。他治學,因為他相信學術必須傳承。他從政,因為他相信他的良知可以感化齷齪的無知。他提倡白話文的心志造就了中國語文從此脫胎換骨。他對自由民主的信仰成了近現代中國政治荒野中一盞不滅的明燈。我不忍心讓這樣一位有遠見有骨氣的讀書人的努力煙消雲散......

(摘錄自虛詞p-articles.com)

香港城市大學邵逸夫圖書館現正舉行「跨洋之旅:胡適美國部分藏書展」"A Transpacific Voyage: A Collection of Hu Shih’s Books in the United States",展期至5月30日。


Monday, April 12, 2021

Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces

Laura Tunbridge
online access from De Gruyter eBooks
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A major new biography published for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, offering a fresh, human portrayal

“Illuminating. . . . Tunbridge’s pithy A Life in Nine Pieces is different and welcome: a biography presented through the focus of nine different compositions.”—Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian

“Rewarding. . . . A lot of information is packed into her musical portraits.”—Richard Fairman, Financial Times


The iconic image of Beethoven is of him as a lone genius: hair wild, fists clenched, and brow furrowed. Beethoven may well have shaped the music of the future, but he was also a product of his time, influenced by the people, politics, and culture around him. Oxford scholar Laura Tunbridge offers an alternative history of Beethoven’s career, placing his music in contexts that shed light on why particular pieces are valued more than others, and what this tells us about his larger-than-life reputation. Each chapter focuses on a period of his life, a piece of music, and a revealing theme, from family to friends, from heroism to liberty. We discover, along the way, Beethoven’s unusual marketing strategies, his ambitious concert programming, and how specific performers and instruments influenced his works. This book offers new ways to understand Beethoven and why his music continues to be valued today.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

香港電影王國 : 娛樂的藝術 (Planet Hong Kong : Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment)

大衛博維爾 (David Bordwell)
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著名電影史學家及理論家David Bordwell《香港電影王國—娛樂的藝術》 2020年香港增訂版。2001年香港中譯第一版早已絕版多年,增訂版新加了兩章及兩個附篇(「無間道」三部曲及杜琪峯專論),全書共360頁,內頁插圖幾乎全部轉為彩色,極盡精美。

David Bordwell對香港電影情有獨鍾,對香港電影七十年代至今的藝術成就及其對國際影壇的貢獻分析入微。全書旁徵博引,圖文並茂,喜歡香港電影的影癡必讀。

(摘錄自filmcritics.org.hk)


Monday, April 5, 2021

Interior Chinatown

Charles Yu
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"One of the funniest books of the year. . . . A delicious, ambitious Hollywood satire." —The Washington Post

From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.

Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?

After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet.

"Fresh and beautiful. . . . Interior Chinatown represents yet another stellar destination in the journey of a sui generis author of seemingly limitless skill and ambition.” —The New York Times Book Review

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

思考之法

梁光耀
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作為萬物之靈,人的獨特之處就是有思考能力,但思考必須學習和培養才有所成。
作者認為,有三種思考對個人的發展和成功最為基本和重要,一種是批判思考,另一種是創意思考,還有一種是積極思考。

本書所講的思考之法,共有六法,前四法屬於批判思考,即語理分析、邏輯方法、科學方法和謬誤剖析,可以歸納為兩個重點:思考清晰和推論正確;後兩法則對應着創意思考和積極思考,跟批判思考不同,創意思考和積極思考的重點不在於「思考方法」,而在於心態,如放鬆、幽默、樂觀及勇氣等。人類文明的發展實有賴於這三種思考,積極進取、批判和創造。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)