Monday, November 20, 2017

The Gene: An Intimate History

Siddhartha Mukherjee
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THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Wellcome Book Prize Finalist
A New York Times Notable Book
A Washington Post and Seattle Times Best Book of the Year

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies—a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to “read” and “write” our own genetic information?

Siddhartha Mukherjee has a written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices.

Throughout the narrative, the story of Mukherjee’s own family—with its tragic and bewildering history of mental illness—cuts like a bright, red line, reminding us of the many questions that hang over our ability to translate the science of genetics from the laboratory to the real world. In superb prose and with an instinct for the dramatic scene, he describes the centuries of research and experimentation—from Aristotle and Pythagoras to Mendel and Darwin, from Boveri and Morgan to Crick, Watson and Franklin, all the way through the revolutionary twenty-first century innovators who mapped the human genome.

As The New Yorker said of The Emperor of All Maladies, “It’s hard to think of many books for a general audience that have rendered any area of modern science and technology with such intelligence, accessibility, and compassion…An extraordinary achievement.” Riveting, revelatory, and magisterial history of a scientific idea coming to life, and an essential preparation for the moral complexity introduced by our ability to create or “write” the human genome, The Gene is a must-read for everyone concerned about the definition and future of humanity. This is the most crucial science of our time, intimately explained by a master.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

觸景生情──幾代香港人的生活記憶

鄭寶鴻
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全書收錄約二百幅精選舊照片,生動展現鄭寶鴻所收藏的香港,為讀者重構祖父輩們的奮鬥故事,過得雖苦,當中卻有活力無限、希望在前的一點甜。

循著香港人走過的足跡,反覆嚴謹考證圖像與文獻,本書作者鄭寶鴻以個人經歷作引子,帶領讀者從民生居住、攤販商貿、「紅白」儀式與玩樂消遣、交通等方面細味舊日人情。大牌檔、大馬路走地雞、僱警迎親送殯、代客寫信神槍手、OL午餐專人送到、單車電車拍拖駛過……一幕幕已然消失的老香港風景在書中重現,並輔以詳盡解說,圖文並茂地述說人間百態,既側寫歷史,更貼地活潑地反映了幾代香港人的生活記憶。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)

Monday, November 13, 2017

Before the Fall

Noah Hawley
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Winner of the 2017 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL and the 2017 INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are the painter Scott Burroughs and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family.

Was it by chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something more sinister at work? A storm of media attention brings Scott fame that quickly morphs into notoriety and accusations, and he scrambles to salvage truth from the wreckage. Amid trauma and chaos, the fragile relationship between Scott and the young boy grows and glows at the heart of this stunning novel, raising questions of fate, morality, and the inextricable ties that bind us together.

Kristin Hannah raves, "Noah Hawley really knows how to keep a reader turning the pages... a complex, compulsively readable thrill ride of a novel."

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

零秒思考力 : 全世界最簡單的腦力鍛鍊

赤羽雄二
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一個主題、一張A4紙、一分鐘、一天10張
短短三週就能達到95%的腦力開發。
確實鍛練出連麥肯錫都無法實現的瞬間思考力。

只要把浮現於腦海中的想法,逐一寫在A4紙上,
就能夠鍛鍊你的腦力與領導力!

猶疑困惑的時間為零、
煩惱憂慮的時間為零、
瞬間掌握現狀的時間為零、
釐清問題的時間為零、
想出解決方案的時間為零、
做出行動決策的時間為零……
思考重「質」也重「速度」,
將兩者同時達到極致,正是「零秒思考力」的威力!

零秒思考,是一場意識與行動的改革。
為何明明提案在即,思緒卻毫無進展?!

對組織來說,人才的戰鬥力將大幅影響著公司的未來,
但不論是學校教育或工作訓練,都不曾教導我們「如何深入思考」?

本書作者活躍於麥肯錫顧問公司十數年,
親自驗證上萬張A4筆記後,所創造的獨一無二「零秒思考力」,
是最簡單、且最有效的腦力鍛鍊方法。

到目前為止,已成功傳授上千名商務人士驗證,
對於掌握現狀、釐清問題或實際行動,都能立即浮現想法。
即使是人生突如其來的變化,也能面對及預測未來。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, November 6, 2017

Steps to Writing Well with Additional Readings

Jean Wyrick
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Writing well is just a step away! Join the thousands of students who have learned to write well with Jean Wyrick's clear, thoughtful advice. STEPS TO WRITING WELL WITH ADDITIONAL READINGS, 10th Edition, is the ultimate step-by-step guide to writing effective academic essays. Wyrick offers friendly, practical guidelines for composing different types of essays, with discussion of everything from choosing a topic to developing an essay to polishing your prose. This 10th edition includes new "Visualizing the Process" flowcharts that provide at-a-glance summaries of the steps for completing each of the major assignments in the text; many new professional readings and sample essays that offer useful models for academic writing and also touch on engaging topics intended to spark ideas for your own writing; and a wealth of exercises, group activities, and longer assignments that provide additional essay topic ideas and opportunities to apply and review what you are learning.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

讀書便佳

董橋
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本書《讀書便佳》是作者2017年最新作品,全書未曾發表。

作者說,為了寫這本新書他翻看了箱子裏許多陳年筆記,補讀了許多沒有細讀的舊書,也重讀了許多偏愛的老書。作者愛零零星星寫些隨筆札記,記錄讀書的一慮和一得。這樣的寫法不是新穎的嘗試,明清筆記文學前代啟發後代,代代相傳,煥然成風,雲蒸霞蔚。十八十九世紀英國不少散文名家都偏愛這樣瑣碎的寫法,匯之成書,裁之成篇。二十世紀初葉英國出版界出過袖珍送禮的小書裁錄著名散文家文集裏的雋語警句。

作者總覺得中國文化的精髓離不開幽情,閑適:「英國人只在下午茶座上才追求幽情和閑適,不夠的。」我們說「東平云為善最樂,紫陽曰讀書便佳。」為善講機緣,讀書是本份,這本新寫的書取名《讀書便佳》,企盼的不是名成也不是利就,塵世喧囂,爭逐齷齪,一卷在手,字裏徘徊,悠忽間一個回眸的欣喜一次促膝的交會,那才是佳趣。

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)