Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature

Angus Fletcher
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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A brilliant examination of literary inventions through the ages, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante, that shows how writers have created technical breakthroughs—rivaling any scientific inventions—and engineering enhancements to the human heart and mind. Literature is a technology like any other. And the writers we revere—from Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and others—each made a unique technical breakthrough that can be viewed as both a narrative and neuroscientific advancement. Literature’s great invention was to address problems we could not solve: not how to start a fire or build a boat, but how to live and love; how to maintain courage in the face of death; how to account for the fact that we exist at all.

Wonderworks reviews the blueprints for twenty-five of the most powerful developments in the history of literature. These inventions can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui—all while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. They can be found all throughout literature—from ancient Chinese lyrics to Shakespeare’s plays, poetry to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and crime novels to slave narratives. An easy-to-understand exploration of the new literary field of story science, Wonderworks teaches you everything you wish you learned in your English class. Based on author Angus Fletcher’s own research, it is an eye-opening and thought-provoking work that offers us a new understanding of the power of literature.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

北歐式的自由生活提案 (Less is More)

本田直之
online access from iRead eBook
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在都市上班，在悠閒的鄉間過生活
少一點物慾，換來更多的時間，更多的興趣
不替公司賣命，而是提升自己的能力和人脈
拋棄追求名利的舊觀念，擁抱自由生活的幸福
其實，我們都很想試試看……

用質物來感受幸福的時代已經結束了。
從物質獲得的滿足只能維持瞬間，但從經驗，以及從經歷所得到的知識，卻會留一輩子。

為何北歐各國的「幸福指數」居於世界排行的前幾名呢？
生活富裕的日本為何又只居於第81名呢？

為了找出答案，作者本田直之前往「幸福排行榜」前幾名的北歐各國，採訪當地民眾，他發現，唯有拋開物質至上主義的傳統價值觀，改而追求工作、居住、生活上的自由，才能達到真正的快樂......

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Digital Art

Christiane Paul
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“Paul does an impressive job of compressing the activity of a huge field, in which there are no obvious heroes and no single aesthetic line.” ―Publishers Weekly

Digital technology has revolutionized the way we produce and experience art today. Not only have traditional forms of art such as printing, painting, photography, and sculpture been transformed by digital techniques and media, but the emergence of entirely new forms such as internet and software art, digital installation, and virtual reality has forever changed the way we define art.

Christiane Paul surveys the developments in digital art from its appearance in the 1980s to the present day and looks ahead to what the future may hold. She discusses the key artists and works in the genre, drawing a distinction between work that uses digital practices as tools to produce traditional forms and work that uses them to create new kinds of art. She explores the broader themes and questions raised by these artworks such as viewer interaction, artificial life and intelligence, political and social activism, networks and telepresence, and issues surrounding the collection, presentation, and preservation of digital art.

The third, expanded edition of the popular resource investigates key areas of digital art practice that have gained prominence in recent years, including interactive public installation, augmented and mixed reality, social networking, and file-sharing technologies.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

" Art Machines: Past · Present " Exhibition 「藝術機器: 過去 · 現在」展覽
Date: until 23 May 2021 (Closed on Mondays)
Time: 10am to 7pm
Venue: Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, 18/F, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong
Admission: Free of charge, prior registration required for visitors BOOK A VISIT

The " Art Machines: Past · Present " Exhibition explores the relationship between artistic creation and tools, showing us the technology is not an impediment to the making of art but a condition of its possibility. It showcases artworks from four disciplines: Rube Goldberg machines and kinetic sculpture, computer graphics and animation, computer installation art and sound art. READ MORE

村上春樹詞典 : 一本書讀懂村上春樹世界

中村邦夫, 道前宏子
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第一本村上春樹【詞典+插畫】入門導讀書
完整收錄｜全作品、創作角色、關鍵字等詞彙，
享受圖解閱讀村上春樹的無限魅力！

1979年，村上春樹以《聽風的歌》踏入日本文壇，
其獨特又新穎的寫作風格，迅速引發注目，
爾後更以《挪威的森林》聲名大噪，成為舉世聞名的當代作家。
數十年來筆耕不輟的他，不只擅長寫小說，
隨筆、遊記、評論、翻譯等領域，亦創作甚豐。
作品被譯為50多種語言，更掀起一股名為「村上春樹」現象。

不同於一般坊間的評論集，
本書以淺顯易懂的詞語，搭配手繪風格的插圖，
帶領讀者一窺村上的奇思妙想，
書中沒有瑣碎的文章，每個詞語篇幅短短的，越讀越有況味，
穿插其中的專欄，更是專為鐵粉整理出的行家級知識，
從料理、電影、裝訂等主題討論，全方位分析村上作品的意象，
無論是入門新手或重度村上迷都能再次從中得到啟蒙！

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

David J. Epstein
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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The #1 New York Times bestseller that has all America talking: as seen/heard on Morning Joe, CBS This Morning, The Bill Simmons Podcast, Rich Roll, and more.

Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

“Fascinating. . . . If you’re a generalist who has ever felt overshadowed by your specialist colleagues, this book is for you.” —Bill Gates

“The most important business—and parenting—book of the year.” —Forbes

“Urgent and important. . . an essential read for bosses, parents, coaches, and anyone who cares about improving performance.” —Daniel H. Pink

Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.

David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.

Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

絲線上的文明：十三個故事，纖維紡線如何改變人類的歷史 (The Golden Thread：How Fabric Changed History)

卡西亞．聖．克萊兒 (Kassia St. Clair)
online access from HyRead ebook
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一條絲線編織出人類文明進化的故事，
從出生到死亡，人們的日常生活都離不開織品。

從史前時代洞穴裡的纖維、中東布料與古埃及裹屍布；
中國皇帝的絲織龍袍與維京船的羊毛風帆、
印度的卡利科布、印花棉布跟工業革命的關係、
一直到現今實驗室製成的科技纖維，讓太空人成功登陸月球……

本書引用史詩、傳説、神話及史實，
呈現出織品對人類文明發展具有的重大意義與影響。
從語言到童話，從科技到社會關聯，我們的生活與紡織紗線緊密織就。
作者把古今中外，包括史前、古中國、古希臘、古埃及、近代、現代等等，
許多精采故事綴成一部内容豐富的人類文明進化史，老少咸宜，是當今最有趣的一本書。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)