Monday, June 3, 2024

Have You Eaten Yet: Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World

Cheuk Kwan
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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An eye-opening and soul-nourishing journey through Chinese food around the world.

*A PEOPLE MAGAZINE BEST NEW BOOK*

*A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE*

*A NEW YORK POST BEST NEW BOOK*


From Cape Town, South Africa, to small-town Saskatchewan, family-run Chinese restaurants are global icons of immigration, community and delicious food. The cultural outposts of far-flung settlers, bringers of dim sum, Peking duck and creative culinary hybrids, Chinese restaurants are a microcosm of greater social forces. They are an insight into time, history, and place.

Author and film-maker Cheuk Kwan, a self-described “card-carrying member of the Chinese diaspora,” weaves a global narrative by linking the myriad personal stories of chefs, entrepreneurs, labourers and dreamers who populate Chinese kitchens worldwide. Behind these kitchen doors lies an intriguing paradox which characterizes many of these communities: how Chinese immigrants have resisted—or have often been prevented from—complete assimilation into the social fabric of their new homes. In both instances, the engine of their economic survival—the Chinese restaurant and its food—has become seamlessly woven into towns and cities all around the world.

An intrepid travelogue of grand vistas, adventure and serendipity, Have You Eaten Yet? charts a living atlas of global migration, ultimately revealing how an excellent meal always tells an even better story.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

人工智慧最後的秘密 : 權力、政治、人類的代價, 科技產業和國家機器如何聯手打造AI神話? (Atlas of AI)

凱特・克勞馥 (Kate Crawford)
online access from De Gruyter eBooks (English)
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AI ≠ 人工 + 智慧
模擬人類微笑的Amazon彎曲箭頭背後,誰受益、誰為此犧牲?
為何Google不惜一切代價避免提到或暗示人工智慧?
從沙漠到海洋,從岩石到城市,從樹木到超大型企業,從跨洋航線到原子彈,
誰在AI後面?誰背叛了AI?

從神話到魔化,從地球、雲端到太空,破解AI背後的6個祕密,探索人工智慧的另一種可能!

當代AI研究先驅、微軟研究院資深首席研究員
第一手揭露人工智慧豐功偉業背後的陰暗面!

▌幽靈代價,我們為AI付出了什麼?


◎人工智慧既非人工的,也不是智慧的,那些看似萬能的智慧是如何「製造」出來的?
◎從內華達沙漠到內蒙古巨大的人工湖、從亞馬遜倉庫到太空殖民,直擊人工智慧帝國全景地圖!
◎人工智慧充滿隱藏成本,從自然資源和勞力到隱私和自由都是代價,深入了解我們為人工智慧付出了什麼?
◎人類為人工智慧制定的倫理架構非常失敗,程式碼和演算法並非致命毒藥,那麼到底哪裡出了錯?

本書作者凱特•克勞馥是當代對人工智慧的影響最深思熟慮的研究者之一,以人文主義者的眼光、藝術家的感知、科學家的嚴謹,揭露人工智慧真實的樣貌。她憑藉十多年的研究,揭示了人工智慧神話背後隱藏了什麼,從打造與支持人工智慧基礎設施所需的能源和礦物、剝削「自動化」服務背後的勞工,到人工智慧從我們身上取得的資料,破除人工智慧的迷思。

全書以地圖集的概念來看待人工智慧,提供我們重新閱讀世界的可能性。在人工智慧的地景中,我們會造訪礦坑、耗能資料中心裡長長的走廊、顱骨檔案庫、影像資料庫,以及日光燈照亮的物流倉庫,了解每一種分類都有自己的後果。世界上最富有公司的人工智慧系統正榨取各種資源,將人類的思考能力商品化,以服務當代科技的一瞬間。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, May 27, 2024

HBR Guide to Critical Thinking

Harvard Business Review
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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Tackle complex situations with critical thinking.

You're facing a problem at work. There are many ways you can approach the situation, but each comes with its own pros and cons. How do you sort through all the information so that you know you're taking the right path?

The answer is in how you think. The HBR Guide to Critical Thinking will help you navigate your most challenging issues, from difficult problems to tough decisions to complex scenarios. By carefully observing the situation, gathering information, inviting other perspectives, and analyzing what's in front of you, you can move forward with confidence while building this crucial leadership skill.

You'll learn how to:

- Question your assumptions
- Keep an open mind to opposing viewpoints
- Sidestep cognitive biases
- Use data—when appropriate
- Grow comfortable with ambiguity
- Find innovative and creative solutions

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

城市的精神 : 何以城市認同在全球化時代如此重要 (The Spirit of Cities)

貝淡寧 (Daniel A. Bell) , 艾維納・德夏里特 (Avner de-Shalit)
online access from iRead eBook
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城市漫遊者的著地觀察,拋開政治理論模型,以實地生活、調查、訪談,消化大量資料後為十座熟悉的城市,各自找出城市的特色、城市的氣質、讓市民感到驕傲的核心價值,定調出「城市的精神」。
十座城市,十種精神。全球化文化同質性的最佳解藥。
經由認識陌生的城市,更加瞭解在地,認同我們居住的城市。
全球文化同質化的年代,「市民精神」可能取代國族或民族的認同。

什麼是城市的精神?

二十世紀八〇年代世界開啟了全球化,國與國之間的緊密聯繫,澈底改變了生活形態,附帶的文化同質化現象,使得國家的特徵逐漸消失,面貌模糊,民族性的差異也逐漸在彼此接納後下降。對於國家和民族的認同感逐漸下降之際,甚至有「世界公民」概念產生。人們有追求獨特性的渴望,依然擁有追尋理想價值的需求,城市,將成為理想的解答。

城市既能凝聚共識,也能彰顯價值,從雅典的城邦政治到當代的城市論壇,我們總是熱切地討論著:我們需要什麼樣的城市?我們的城市該如何發展?城市彷彿擁有生命,有著確切的人格和清晰可辨的特色,並且具有不可撼動的核心價值,維繫著它的發展,令人引以為傲,貝淡寧和德夏里特稱此為「城市的精神」。

各界好評

對於喜愛城市的人來說,他們的書是一段充滿激情、深刻並且鼓舞人心的探索當代城市體驗核心之旅。(城市之光咖啡館)

政治理論中少有新想法,貝淡寧和艾維納・德夏里特肯定有所創新,而且十分出色:培養「城市的精神」是全球文化同質化下的最佳解藥。在九座城市中,以個人軼事、歷史和理論反思的創新和引人入勝的組合作為例子,他們寫出了一本閃閃發光的書,也是政治理論中的新事物。(麥克・瓦爾澤,普林斯頓高等研究院榮譽教授)

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, May 20, 2024

Material World : The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization

Ed Conway
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THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • AN ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These fundamental materials have created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and greed for thousands of years. Without them, our modern world would not exist, and the battle to control them will determine our future. • Finalist for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award

The fiber-optic cables that weave the World Wide Web, the copper veins of our electric grids, the silicon chips and lithium batteries that power our phones and cars: though it can feel like we now live in a weightless world of information—what Ed Conway calls “the ethereal world”—our twenty-first-century lives are still very much rooted in the material.

In fact, we dug more stuff out of the earth in 2017 than in all of human history before 1950. For every ton of fossil fuels, we extract six tons of other materials, from sand to stone to wood to metal. And in Material World, Conway embarks on an epic journey across continents, cultures, and epochs to reveal the underpinnings of modern life on Earth—traveling from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan to the eerie green pools where lithium originates.

Material World is a celebration of the humans and the human networks, the miraculous processes and the little-known companies, that combine to turn raw materials into things of wonder. This is the story of human civilization from an entirely new perspective: the ground up.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

名作要從最後一句開始讀 : 解讀古今東西文豪132部經典名著的結尾品味

齋藤美奈子 (Saito Minako)
online access from HyRead ebook
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文豪在最後一句拚上老命? 文豪也會蓋爛尾樓?
經典名作爆雷更有趣?

名作如人生,不讀最後一句,永遠不知道它有多精采
從《少爺》《雪國》到《傲慢與偏見》
帶你讀透古今東西文豪132部名作的經典結尾

你知道人生最美的○○,就在《少爺》的最後一句話?
為何那位唯美派名家的戀愛小說要以女人拉肚子收場?
哪位大師遺作結尾預言了全世界社畜跪下來的工作日常?

川端康成的結尾竟飄出了BL的味道;三島由紀夫結尾的草食系男子變肉食系,說的正是他自己?!谷崎潤一郎的結尾證明他果然是個變態;海明威的結尾則透露作家其實想當一隻貓……拿最後一句鞭文豪品味的樂趣,全都在本書裡!

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)