A General Theory of Love

By Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

What is love, and why are some people unable to find it? What is loneliness, and why does it hurt? What are relationships, and how and why do they work the way they do?
Answering these questions, laying bare the heart's deepest secrets, is this book's aim. Since the dawn of our species, human beings in every time and place have contended with an unruly emotional core that behaves in unpredicted and confusing ways. Science has been unable to help them. The Western world's first physician, Hippocrates, proposed in 450 B.C. that emotions emanate from the brain. He was right—but for the next twenty-five hundred years, medicine could offer nothing further about the details of emotional life. Matters of the heart were matters only for the arts—literature, song, poetry, painting, sculpture, dance. Until now …
(Excerpt from the Preface of the book)

生命中不能承受之輕 (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)

米蘭・昆德拉(Milan Kundera) 著
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

《生命中不能承受之輕》以『布拉格之春』蘇聯軍隊進佔、捷克知識分子大量逃亡歐洲海外為背景，一男兩女交纏的愛情故事帶出了對政治、文化、人類生命的省思與嘲諷。

比起昆德拉的其他小說，《生命中不能承受之輕》更像是一部愛情小說。特麗莎嫉妒著，她的嫉妒在白晝馴服，在夜裡甦醒，偽裝成夢境其實卻是死亡的詩篇。
漫漫長路上，這個年輕女子有她的丈夫托馬斯為伴。托馬斯一半是風流的唐璜，一半是深情的崔斯坦，對特麗莎的愛和壓抑不住的放蕩撕扯著他。
薩賓娜是托馬斯的情人，她的命運將小說的脈絡延伸至整個世界。她聰明，她厭惡多愁善感，她離開她的日內瓦情人弗蘭茨，追尋她的自由，從歐洲到美國，目的地卻只是『不能承受的生命之輕』。
究竟，什麼樣的特質最符合人類境況（condition humaine）？是『重』，還是『輕』？嚴肅要到何處才會讓位給輕浮？輕浮又要到何處才會讓位給嚴肅？昆德拉以悖論的手法透過小說提出了這些問題。
這部小說從幾個簡單的主題出發，但卻在結合了故事、夢境、反思、散文、詩歌、新近和古老歷史的變奏遊戲裡，不斷地以音樂的色調變化豐富著這部小說。在昆德拉的作品裡，沈重與輕盈或許從來不曾這樣結合過。死亡在這裡有個雙重面貌︰夢一般的甜美憂傷與殘酷的黑色鬧劇。
因為這部小說也是關於死亡的沈思—關於個人，也或許，關於古老的歐洲。
(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

The Forest and the Trees : Sociology as Life, Practice, and Promise

By Allan G. Johnson
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

Practicing sociology is a way to observe the world and to think about and make sense of it. It is also a way to be in the world and of the world, to play a meaningful role in the life of our species as it shapes and reshapes itself into the mystery of what’s going on and what it’s got to do with us …
This book is one practicing sociologist’s answer to the hypothetical, the core insight with the greatest potential and promise to transform how we see the world and ourselves in it. This book is about what that core view is and why it matters that we understand it, use it, live it, and pass it on.
(Excerpt from the “Introduction: Life, Practice, and Promise” of the book)

If sociology could teach everyone just one thing, what would it be? The Forest and the Trees is one sociologist's response to the hypothetical - the core insight with the greatest potential to change how people see the world and themselves in relation to it. This revised and updated edition features: a new chapter that brings together the various aspects of the sociological model described in previous chapters with a detailed application to the origins of racism; a discussion of how individuals can participate in social change by stepping off paths of least resistance; and, the addition of graphics to illustrate the sociological model of systems and individuals.
(Excerpt from amazon.com)

遇見未知的自己

張德芬 著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

這是一本為你我而寫的生命故事，幫助我們看見自己的未知、發現心想事成的祕密，最終，成就一個全新而自信的自己。
本書宛如現代版《為自己出征》、都會女性版《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》。
吳淡如、莊淑芬、陳藹玲、李欣頻、王尚智　誠摯推薦
這是一本很有感染力的小說，也是現代人工作、婚姻和生活的一部心靈指南。──吳淡如
……若菱，自名校畢業，擁有令人羨慕的工作，但心中卻不時的自問：為什麼我不能擁有想要的生活？為什麼我不快樂？我該如何當自己生命的主人？

在一個下雨的冬夜，若菱巧遇一名智慧老者，在與智者數度交談的過程中，她漸漸填補不快樂、挫敗的心靈缺口，尋回最真實勇敢的自我……
透過本書主角的經歷與起伏，你不僅能從中獲得一些實用的生活指南，更可與實際生活問題產生連結，活出想要的人生，找回真實的自己！
(摘錄自博客來網路書店)



Encyclopedia of Modern China

David Pong, editor in chief
online access from Gale Virtual Reference Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

The book received a prestigious American Library Association RUSA award as one of ten outstanding reference sources for 2010.

…Encyclopedia of Modern China provides critical information on the most populous country and most dynamic trade market in the world: the people, politics, economics, religion, philosophy, traditions, art, and literature of this ancient and enduring civilization is explored from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present day.
Given China's increasing role in world affairs, its modern history and culture are of great interest to many, and this work is designed to bring reliable and accessible facts and analysis to students, professionals, and others who study and interact with China and her people.
• Commissioned contributors from colleges and universities in China and around the world provide authoritative content and fresh scholarly analysis
• Scores of tables, charts, graphs, and maps illustrate key points
• A glossary appendix listing transliteration of unique names, terms, and expressions
• A cumulative index, cross references, and lists of related topics
• All articles end with bibliographies and sources for reference and further reading
• A chronology of Chinese history since 1800
• An appendix of primary sources
• Thematic outline of contents
(Excerpt from gale.cengage.com)

為什麼過節 : 中國節日文化之精神

孫秉山 编著
online access from SuperStar Digital Library
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind

……與西方的節日相比，中國的傳統節日有兩大特色：一是它發端於中華民族的農耕生活；二是它本身就是中華大文化的具體“展現”。也就是說，中國人過節本身就是“人文化成”的過程。不明白這兩大特色，就難懂中國傳統節日的精神價值與意義……
中國傳統的所有節日，有著一個共同的主旨。也就是說中國傳統的節日，共同追尋著一個深層的終極目的，那就是，這所有的節日都各自在適當的時間、適宜的場合，運用節日中的各項活動，來適時地調節和協調人與人、人與天地萬物的關係；也就是協調著　“天、地、人三才”的關係，以期達到人人和諧的社會與“天人合一”的境界。
……當代的一位儒學大家，唐君毅先生在其所撰《中國之祠廟與節日及其教育意義》一書中，就有這樣的一些分析，他把人生分為三類不同的時間段：
工作日：是人們為了生計，必須努力地去從事某項工作，這項工作必定是有著生活實用的目的和實用的價值。
休息日：是為了恢復體力和精力，以便再繼續從事工作。別無任何目的與價值，這休息日是工作日中不可缺少的一環。
節日：既不是為了生計而從事的具有實用價值的工作，也不是為了恢復體力和精力的休息，那麼這節日中的一切活動又有什麼意義呢？
唐先生說：此種活動或生活，大都是具有藝術性、宗教性、道德性，而有社會教育之意義的，因而都是純精神性的……
(摘錄自書中的“序”)