Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction

David George Haskell
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Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction and the 2023 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

Winner of the Acoustical Society of America's 2023 Science Communication Award

“[A] glorious guide to the miracle of life’s sound.” —The New York Times Book Review

A lyrical exploration of the diverse sounds of our planet, the creative processes that produced these marvels, and the perils that sonic diversity now faces

We live on a planet alive with song, music, and speech. David Haskell explores how these wonders came to be. In rain forests shimmering with insect sound and swamps pulsing with frog calls we learn about evolution’s creative powers. From birds in the Rocky Mountains and on the streets of Paris, we discover how animals learn their songs and adapt to new environments. Below the waves, we hear our kinship to beings as different as snapping shrimp, toadfish, and whales. In the startlingly divergent sonic vibes of the animals of different continents, we experience the legacies of plate tectonics, the deep history of animal groups and their movements around the world, and the quirks of aesthetic evolution.

Starting with the origins of animal song and traversing the whole arc of Earth history, Haskell illuminates and celebrates the emergence of the varied sounds of our world. In mammoth ivory flutes from Paleolithic caves, violins in modern concert halls, and electronic music in earbuds, we learn that human music and language belong within this story of ecology and evolution. Yet we are also destroyers, now silencing or smothering many of the sounds of the living Earth. Haskell takes us to threatened forests, noise-filled oceans, and loud city streets, and shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament. Sound is a generative force, and so the erasure of sonic diversity makes the world less creative, just, and beautiful. The appreciation of the beauty and brokenness of sound is therefore an important guide in today’s convulsions and crises of change and inequity.

Sounds Wild and Broken is an invitation to listen, wonder, belong, and act.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

看不見的山徑 : 香港可持續山徑之初探

綠惜地球著
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遠足登高，攻頂觀景，行山多是舉目向上的活動，讓我們往往看不見腳下的徑。

山本來只是山，路都是人行出來的，可是山徑沒有我們想的那麼簡單。無論是前期的規劃及建造，或是山徑的復修與維護，又或只是使用，若忽略了對大自然的關顧，都可能讓這些路變成山的「傷痕」；親親大自然，卻在無形中傷害了大自然。

理想的山徑應是可持續的，山徑地表能承載需求，能自我復原，能融入自然景觀，能保護周遭環境。本書記錄了一群關心香港山徑保育的人，探索香港「可持續山徑」之路，由認識山徑歷史、規劃、設計、建造、維護以至教育，嘗試親手復修一條又一條受傷的山徑，希望找出能維持山徑之美歷久不衰的方法。原來人不止是把山徑行出來，守護山徑最重要的也是人。每個人可以有其角色，「手護」山徑，達至「無痕山林」，讓山徑可持續下去，長走長有。

讓我們首先看見山徑，再讓山徑以最自然的方法隱身於山野之中，取之自然，並回歸自然。先看見，後看不見，一起守護香港的山野。

(摘錄自cosmosbooks.com.hk)

Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides

Geoffrey L. Cohen
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Finalist for The Next Big Idea Bookclub • Book of the Year Selection Behavioral Scientist and Greater Good Society

“This is perhaps the richest book on belonging you’ll ever read.… The inspiration one draws from every page of this book is an enhanced sense of what is possible. It revives the very thing we need most in these times: hope.” ―Claude M. Steele, author of Whistling Vivaldi

Discover the secret to flourishing in an age of division: belonging. In a world filled with discord and loneliness, finding harmony and happiness can be difficult. But what if the key to unlocking our potential lies in this deceptively simple concept? Belonging is the feeling of being a part of a group that values, respects, and cares for us―a feeling that we can all cultivate in even the smallest corners of social life. In Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Stanford University professor Geoffrey L. Cohen draws on his own and others’ groundbreaking scientific research to offer simple, concrete solutions for fostering a sense of belonging. These solutions can generate surprisingly significant and long-lasting benefits.

Small but powerful actions can bolster belonging―actions such as encouraging people to reflect on their core values before they face a challenge or expressing belief in someone’s capacity to reach a higher standard. A wide range of innovative approaches have been found to boost achievement at work and at school, bridge political divides, reduce prejudice, and even contribute to overall health. Rigorously tested in diverse arenas―from classrooms to disadvantaged neighborhoods to iconic Silicon Valley companies―these methods offer a path forward in these demanding times. Belonging is a compelling read for all who yearn for a more connected world, whether you’re a manager or employee, an educator or student, a parent or caregiver, or simply someone seeking to make the most out of every moment you spend with others. Packed with actionable insights and specific strategies, this book offers hope and practical guidance, serving as both an inspiration and a roadmap to creating a world of inclusion, understanding, and empathy.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

世界大局地圖全解讀. 5, 最視覺化的地緣政治圖輯, 攤開129張主題地圖, 帶你看懂全球政治劇變! = Mapping the world.

亞歷克西斯．鮑茲曼 (Alexis Bautzmann), 蘿拉．瑪格麗特 (Laura Margueritte)
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深入國際重大議題
129張全彩焦點地圖 ╳ 106張精彩圖表
全球脈動一目瞭然！

★用地圖看懂國際局勢，從脈絡了解地緣政治
全球地緣政治正在快速重組，面對俄烏戰爭、反全球化浪潮、科技和能源技術快速變革等趨勢變化和地緣衝突，本書直擊國際要角，用一張地圖就能展現政治、人口、經貿、文化等不同尺度的資訊，並清楚梳理事件的「歷史脈絡→當前現況→演變趨勢→未來展望」，為所有關注世界局勢的讀者提供兼具地理廣度與歷史縱深、最多元全面的地緣政治分析。

◎【糧食價格飆漲】疫情危機、環境惡化與區域衝突交互作用，導致全球7億人面臨糧食短缺　　、2022年食品價格指數創新高，其中又以亞洲受害人數最多？
　　→搭配精彩地圖：〔糧食危機熱點地圖〕+〔各類食品價格上漲幅度比較〕

◎【太空戰爭最前線】2050年，小行星稀有金屬市場價值將超越千億美元，哪些國家已經布局太空軍隊、聯合私人企業加速探勘稀有燃料？
　　→搭配精彩地圖：〔重要衛星系統覆蓋圖〕+〔各國太空預算統計圖〕

◎【網路犯罪肆虐全球】5G技術加速全球數位化，也讓網路犯罪更加猖狂，勒索軟體受害者支付贖金突破4億美元，美國最大燃油供應業者也成為攻擊對象？
　　→搭配精彩地圖：〔全球網路攻擊&資安地圖〕

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI

Fei-Fei Li
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ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON AI * FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOKS OF 2023

From Dr. Fei-Fei Li, one of TIME's 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL in AI, comes "a powerful plea for keeping humanity at the centre of our latest technological transformation" (Financial Times).

Wired called Dr. Fei-Fei Li “one of a tiny group of scientists—a group perhaps small enough to fit around a kitchen table—who are responsible for AI’s recent remarkable advances.”

Known to the world as the creator of ImageNet, a key catalyst of modern artificial intelligence, Dr. Li has spent more than two decades at the forefront of the field. But her career in science was improbable from the start. As immigrants, her family faced a difficult transition from China’s middle class to American poverty. And their lives were made all the harder as they struggled to care for her ailing mother, who was working tirelessly to help them all gain a foothold in their new land.

Fei-Fei’s adolescent knack for physics endured, however, and positioned her to make a crucial contribution to the breakthrough we now call AI, placing her at the center of a global transformation. Over the last decades, her work has brought her face-to-face with the extraordinary possibilities—and the extraordinary dangers—of the technology she loves.

The Worlds I See is a story of science in the first person, documenting one of the century’s defining moments from the inside. It provides a riveting story of a scientist at work and a thrillingly clear explanation of what artificial intelligence actually is—and how it came to be. Emotionally raw and intellectually uncompromising, this book is a testament not only to the passion required for even the most technical scholarship but also to the curiosity forever at its heart.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

文化地圖 ：八個面向的文化量表，讓你精確掌握文化交鋒的真相，避免淪為「國際文盲」(The Culture Map)

艾琳．梅爾 (Erin Meyer)
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跨國、跨地域、跨文化的合作指南

⇨對你而言的「遲到」，可能不是「遲到」？
⇨對你而言的「讚美」，可能不是「讚美」？
⇨「講話比較直」的問題，外國人也有？
⇨「隨和」，可能也是「缺乏領導力」？

溝通──是最難的事

八個面向的文化量表（the eight-scale model）
　　‧溝通：低情境，或高情境？
　　‧評估：直接否定回應，或是間接否定回應？
　　‧說服：原理優先，或應用優先？
　　‧領導：平權式，或更看重階級？
　　‧決策：重視共識，或是由上而下？
　　‧信任：任務導向，或是關係導向？
　　‧歧異：不怕對峙，或是避免對峙？
　　‧時程：線性時間，或是彈性時間？
　　讓你精確掌握文化交鋒的真相，避免淪為「國際文盲」！

我們看不懂的，很可能不只是外國人的文化，對於自己的文化，也一樣毫無自覺。於是戴著自己的文化有色眼鏡來看待其他人，依此作出錯誤判斷或誤判，無意間為自己製造了許多困難和挫敗。企業想要成功，你必須具有與全世界的人順利合作的能力，那麼你就要能夠和知道如何欣賞文化差異，同時也要能尊重個別差異。

行為的文化模式與信仰，經常影響我們的覺察（我們所看見的）、認知（我們的想法），以及行動（我們的行為）。這本書的目標即在協助你，改善你解讀文化這三個面向的能力，以及提升你的處理效益。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)