Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe

Steven Strogatz
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Without calculus, we wouldn't have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn't have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket.

Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz's brilliantly creative, down-to-earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it's about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number - infinity - to tackle real world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous.

Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves. Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes "backwards" sometimes; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.

As Strogatz proves, calculus is truly the language of the universe. By unveiling the principles of that language, Infinite Powers makes us marvel at the world anew.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

重讀20世紀中國小說

許子東
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讀100年的小說，看100年的中國。

巴爾扎克說：“小說被認為是一個民族的秘史。”這一次，我們用小說打開中國！

百年來，1902—1916，總被忽略的“晚清時期”；1917—1941，總被說起的“五四時期”；1942—1976，總被留白的“革命時期”；1977孕育新聲，總被爭論的“80年代至今”……

許子東的“20世紀小說課”，以編年體為順序，以文本閱讀為中心，“士農工商仕”中國社會各階層分析，重新梳理20世紀中國小說的關鍵線索，聚焦近代、現代、當代文學史上近百部（篇）中短長篇小說。從1902年梁啟超《新中國未來記》“神預言”開始，一直到2006年劉慈欣的科幻小說《三體》為止，奇遇中國100年。

特別收入“生態篇”，高度還原“作家的一天”——1926年郁達夫的“戀愛”日記，1936年魯迅晚年的“誤診”疑雲，1952年巴金“同志”在朝鮮戰場，1984年“尋根”韓少功在杭州會議，1994年“拜訪”王安憶的上海作家生活……

百年來，中國怎麼會走到今天？會走向怎樣的明天？《老殘遊記》有句話：“眼前路都是從過去的路生出來的，你走兩步回頭看看，一定不會錯了。”

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways

Sarah Stein Greenberg
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central Perpetual Titles
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WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD

In an era of ambiguous, messy problems—as well as extraordinary opportunities for positive change—it’s vital to have both an inquisitive mind and the ability to act with intention. Creative Acts for Curious People is filled with ways to build those skills with resilience, care, and confidence.

At Stanford University’s world-renowned Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, aka “the d.school,” students and faculty, experts and seekers bring together diverse perspectives to tackle ambitious projects; this book contains the experiences designed to help them do it. A provocative and highly visual companion, it’s a definitive resource for people who aim to draw on their curiosity and creativity in the face of uncertainty. Teeming with ideas about discovery, learning, and leading the way through unknown creative territory, Creative Acts for Curious People includes memorable stories and more than eighty innovative exercises.

Curated by executive director Sarah Stein Greenberg, after being honed in the classrooms of the d.school, these exercises originated in some of the world’s most inventive and unconventional minds, including those of d.school and IDEO founder David M. Kelley, ReadyMade magazine founder Grace Hawthorne, innovative choreographer Aleta Hayes, Google chief innovation evangelist Frederik G. Pferdt, and many more.

To bring fresh approaches to any challenge–world changing or close to home–you can draw on exercises such as Expert Eyes to hone observation skills, How to Talk to Strangers to foster understanding, and Designing Tools for Teams to build creative leadership. The activities are at once lighthearted, surprising, tough, and impactful–and reveal how the hidden dynamics of design can drive more vibrant ways of making, feeling, exploring, experimenting, and collaborating at work and in life. This book will help you develop the behaviors and deepen the mindsets that can turn your curiosity into ideas, and your ideas into action.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

如何閱讀一本書 (三版) (How to Read a Book)

莫提默‧艾德勒, 查理‧范多倫 (Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren)
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這本書在1940年出版，1972年大幅增訂改寫為新版。
不論什麼時候讀，都不能不嘆服作者對閱讀用心之深、視野之廣。
不懂閱讀的人，初探閱讀的人，讀這本書可以節省冤枉路。
對閱讀有所體會的人，讀這本書可以有更深的印證與領悟。

讀一本好書，會讓你的努力有所回報。而一本最好的書對你的回饋也最多。當然，這樣的回饋分成兩種：第一，當你成功地閱讀了一本難讀的好書之後，你的閱讀技巧必然增進了。第二，一本好書能教你了解這個世界以及你自己，你不只更懂得如何讀得更好，還更懂得生命；你變得更有智慧，而不只是更有知識。

本書提到閱讀主要有四個階段：一是基礎閱讀，只要懂得看書、識字，就算是達到這層閱讀；二是檢視閱讀，此階段有時間限制，要在很短的時間內抓住書籍想要表達的主題與部分內容，也可以稱作略讀；三是分析閱讀，是本書中最重要的一部分，在談如何做到最完整的閱讀，同時也是討論如何提升理解力與閱讀能力；四是主題閱讀，也是最高層次的閱讀，這是所有閱讀中最複雜也最系統化的閱讀。

書中特別提出如何閱讀七種類型的書籍方法：1.實用型，2.想像文學，3.故事、戲劇與詩，4.歷史書，5.科學與數學，6.哲學書，7.社會科學；以供讀者參考。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness

Stephen M. Fleming
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Unlock the secrets to understanding yourself and others with the surprising science of the human mind's greatest power: introspection.

“Are you sure?”

Whether in a court room, a doctor’s office, a gameshow’s hot seat, or a student’s desk, we are always trying to answer that question. Should we accept eyewitness testimony or a physician’s diagnosis? Do we really want to risk it all on a final question? And what should we be studying in order to do as well as possible on a test? In short, how do we know what we and others know - or as importantly, don’t know?

As cognitive neuroscientist Stephen Fleming shows in Know Thyself, we do this with metacognition. Metacognition, or thinking about thinking, is the most important tool we have for understanding our own mind. Metacognition is an awesome power: It is what enables self-awareness as well as what lets us think about the minds of others. It is the ultimate human trait, and in its most rarefied forms is a power that neither other animals, nor our current artificial intelligences, have. Metacognition teaches us the limits of our own knowledge. Once we understand what it is and how it works, we can improve our performance and make better decisions. For example, on the SAT, it helps us gauge when we should skip a question rather than lose points getting an answer wrong.

Know Thyself, like the metacognition itself, is equal parts scientific, philosophical, and practical. And that means, like Thinking, Fast and Slow and Predictably Irrational, it’s that rarest of books: one that can both expand our minds and change our lives.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

玫瑰是沒有理由的開放 : 走近現代詩的40條小徑

廖偉棠
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40堂詩意講座X 63首現代詩經典。
廖偉棠帶路，說新詩也說詩人的故事，
開啟人們對情感節奏的感知，走近文字蘊藏的詩意。

詩是什麼？是文字美感。

美感是肉體感受，不是理性判斷結果，當波赫士要說明詩歌時，他引用了德語詩人西萊修斯(Angelus Silesius)的一句話做總結：玫瑰是沒有理由的開放。(The Rose is without an explanation; She blooms, because She blooms.)

「新詩」誕生超過一百年，人們熟悉胡適、徐志摩、余光中這些著名詩人，<人間四月天>、<再別康橋>、<鄉愁>也是許多人朗朗上口的名篇，為什麼人們還是對現代詩陌生，或是認定現代詩難懂呢？

這本書是熟悉古典詩文，又熱愛現代詩創作的廖偉棠，透過四十個角度與主題，深入淺出地帶領讀者重新認識「詩意」，認識現代詩與文字的美。全書含括近百年來的經典詩人和詩作：周夢蝶、瘂弦、洛夫、夏宇、北島、顧城、西西、梁秉鈞、黃燦然、張棗、余秀華、洛爾迦、宮澤賢治、保羅·策蘭、奧登、布考斯基、辛波絲卡、胡適、卞之琳、廢名、穆旦……廖偉棠文情並茂地引詩論藝，除了是一本了解詩歌的完整論述，也是展現廖偉棠豐厚詩歌教養的創作，是現代詩的入門書。

梁文道｜評論家
「到底什麼叫作詩？什麼叫作好詩？尤其，什麼樣的詩才算是一首好的現代詩呢？這個問題至今都還有很大的爭論。香港著名詩人廖偉棠，左手寫詩，右手寫評論，一樣的精彩。他來談詩，會給大家較全面的認識，尤其是現代詩。」

駱以軍｜作家
「我們說電影電影，其實現代詩感覺才更像那個一瞬之電、一瞬光影。許多現代詩，它在那電流通過的詩人體腔發出陌生如在人造衛星上看地球的光，那是廖偉棠可以把中文現代詩講得那麼迷人，讓人心醉之處。」

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)