Monday, January 10, 2011

Climate Change: In Context

Edited by Brenda Wilmoth Lerner & K. Lee Lerner
online access from Gale Virtual Reference Library
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The book received a prestigious American Library Association RUSA award as one of ten outstanding reference sources for 2009.

Offers coverage of the history, politics, and ethical debates related to climate change, including the impact of climate change on daily life, trade and commerce, travel, and the future of both industrialized and impoverished nations. Provides insights on leading social issues and spurs critical thinking about the impact of environmental issues on daily life and globalization.
(Description from the publisher)



大學之理念 = The Idea of a University

金耀基
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這本書是金耀基對大學的理念,性格及發展的精微論述,並涉及到人文與科學的文化觀的論爭,大學的世界精神,通識教育,以及在世紀之交大學理念與角色的轉換,現代性,全球化與華人教育等問題。
(摘錄自三聯版封面)

什麼是大學?這個問題,我真正認真思考是七十年代中作客劍橋大學時開始的。《大學之理念》在八十、九十年代的台灣曾引起不少回響與共鳴,並且在台灣的大學改革運動的過程中產生了一些影響,其中有幾篇文字還被有些大學指定為通識教育的讀物。
國是一個高度重視教育的國家。從古以來自有一套教育制度。但清末以還,「廢科舉,設學校」,是中國教育制度至為關鍵性的「現代轉向」。北京大學是中國現代型大學之開端,而其制度與精神,實是借鏡西方大學的,所以中國的現代大學是「橫向的移植」,而非「縱向的繼承」。
在今日知識經濟的時代,大學作為發展知識主要的地方,己經成為社會中最重要的一種機體了。大學越變得重要,就越需要對大學之理念與功能作反思。何謂知識?知識是否只是一種或一型?大學又是否只是求真,而與美、善無涉?不誇大地說,大學之發展方向關乎到一個國家的文明之性格。《大學之理念》是我個人對「大學之為大學」的一些看法。當然,在書中處處透顯出我的主觀的價值傾向。
在這個新的牛津版中,我刪去了原台灣版中六篇短文,增加了四篇新的文字,我希望這新版《大學之理念》能繼續引起關心中國的大學前景的人一些思考。
(摘錄自牛津版封面內頁)

Monday, January 3, 2011

The Climate Diet : How You Can Cut Carbon, Cut Costs, and Save the Planet

Jonathan Harrington
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
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We live in a world of excess. We consume too much of everything—food, clothes, cars, bricks and mortar. Our bingeing is often so extreme that it threatens our own health and well being. And we are not the only ones who are getting sick.
The Earth—which provides the food, air, water and land that sustains us—is also under severe pressure. Gluttonous consumption of nature's trans-fats—carbon-based fossil fuels, deforestation and unsustainable resource use—is disrupting the global temperature-regulating machine that mother nature has carefully maintained for millions of years. Try as she may to keep from running a fever, the environmental reengineering wrought by six billion people, like a force of nature, is warming our world. At some point, something just has to give. We either take steps to put our personal lifestyles and planetary systems back into balance or we suffer the consequences.
So, what does any unhealthy overweight person do when the doctor tells him or her that they are eating themselves into an early grave? Go on a diet!
The Climate Diet offers an optimistic, easy to understand and engaging message. It has never been easier for families to cut back on their use of fossil fuels and protect the climate all while saving money. By using the familiar language of weight loss, The Climate Diet explains climate change concepts, problems and solutions in ways that anyone can easily understand. Following a five-step climate diet plan, families will be able to count their carbon calories, learn how to reduce them and aim for one of four different levels of achievement: Participant, Bronze, Silver and Gold, each of which can be tailored to fit almost any lifestyle.
This is the must-have guide to the most important diet ever. If we all participate, the greenhouse gas emissions bulge can be beaten, leaving us with a slim healthy planet now and for the future.
(Excerpt from amazon.com)

生活簡單就是享受 (Simplify Your Life)

愛琳.詹姆絲 (Elaine St. James)
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<新簡樸運動>宣言:
「大」不見得就好,「多」也不見得就是富有;唯有簡單自在,生活才真正是一種享受!
本書提供讓你身心都「簡單」的妙方:
*住小房子吧!否則你會疲於打掃房子。
* 衣櫥不要太大,大了就想多買衣服。
* 關掉電視機吧!因為它佔掉我們太多時間了。
* 不要電話一響,就反射式地急著接。
* 在家裡度假吧!不要出去人擠人。
* 檢討你的購物習慣,不要為買而買!
* 不要做行事曆的奴隸!
* 少工作,多讓自己享受人生吧!
* 學習如何大笑吧!
* 每個月讓自己獨處一天。
* 一次只做一件事。
* 找個時間看夕陽吧!
* 學習說「不」!
* 散步要比去健身院好。
您是否覺得房子太大了,需花費很多時間去打掃?您是否一回家就守在電視機前,並覺得時間永遠不夠用?您是否覺得衣櫃總是少那麼一件,於是不斷地在買新衣服?您是否被生活搞得頭痛、胸悉、失眠,心裡也愈來愈煩躁?請試試書中100個讓您生活簡單自在的妙法!作者旨在提醒我們:「所謂「擁有幸福的秘密」,只要減少對幸福的需求就可以!
(摘錄自book.douban.com)

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Nature Handbook : A Guide to Observing the Great Outdoors

Nature is full of fascinating stories, stories that attract our attention at a young age and keep us amazed throughout our entire lives. The need to understand nature draws us back to its simple beauty again and again, yet underneath this simplicity lies a complex web of associations and patterns. The Nature Handbook does what no other field guide does: explores and explains nature through these connecting patterns, revealing them to the many different types of nature lovers. All naturalists-- from birders to gardeners, hikers to environmentalists, wildflower enthusiasts to butterfliers-- will appreciate the different approach of the Handbook, even those whose interest in the natural world is just beginning to develop. Naturalists who are already well versed in one group of organisms--birders, for example--will find new explanations and patterns for their favorite group, as well as new patterns all around them that they had previously overlooked. Observations in the Handbook are arranged in the three main sections of plants, animals, and habitats. These sections are then connected through discussions of the relationship of size and shape, adaptations, distribution patterns, behavior, and diversity of life. Since the emphasis is on patterns rather than individual species, each chapter has cross-references to related topics …
The book is designed to invite browsing, and readers will gain a rich ecological perspective and insight. Curiosity about the world around us is a basis for human learning; The Nature Handbook serves to aid all nature lovers in their quest for understanding the many stories that our living world provides.
(Excerpt from amazon.com)



閱讀大師的智慧 : 19位世界哲學大師影響人生的150篇經典哲理散文

張秀華 編著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

智慧永遠不會衰老,衰老的是我們的心靈!
本書的寫作方向以當代著名哲學家、詩人、文學家等的作品為主,共十九位哲學家大師,將他們的精闢論點,用一種改寫的方式節錄而出,以形式簡短的文章呈現,內容富有深度,為一種文簡易賅的經典小品文,共有150篇經典哲理散文。並且此書為哲學家、詩人、文學家等的思想結晶,內容簡潔,富有意味,值得人們沉吟再三。
用心靈的筆,重現哲學大師的智慧,閱讀思想新世界。範圍內容,共分九個主題,為人性、生與死、女人、讀書藝術、愛情與婚姻、性、大自然、宗教與律法、生活與其他。
(摘錄自博客來網路書店)