Monday, December 16, 2019

Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age

by Brad Smith, Carol Ann Browne, Bill Gates (Foreword)
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The instant New York Times bestseller.

From Microsoft's president and one of the tech industry's broadest thinkers, a frank and thoughtful reckoning with how to balance enormous promise and existential risk as the digitization of everything accelerates.

“A colorful and insightful insiders’ view of how technology is both empowering and threatening us. From privacy to cyberattacks, this timely book is a useful guide for how to navigate the digital future.” —Walter Isaacson

A clear, compelling guide to some of the most pressing debates in technology today.”—Bill Gates, from the foreword

Microsoft President Brad Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. This might seem uncontroversial, but it flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, we have reached an inflection point. The world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon, and new approaches are needed to manage an era defined by even more powerful inventions like artificial intelligence. Companies that create technology must accept greater responsibility for the future, and governments will need to regulate technology by moving faster and catching up with the pace of innovation...

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

無言老師──遺體捐贈者給我們的生死教育課

陳新安, 伍桂麟
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榮獲2019年第二屆「香港出版雙年獎」社會科學類別的「最佳出版獎」

無言身教,無言感激

死亡是一個點,生命卻是一條線。在這條線上,遺體捐贈者選擇在離世後成為「無言老師」,延續生命的意義,帶領我們從死看生,活好當下。

我曾遇過一位病人,他的家人不多,當感到年齡大了,知道終有一日會離開人世,希望為社會做些事,例如貢獻在醫學教育上。他知道當「無言老師」能夠幫助醫學生,因這軀體能成為學生深入了解人體結構的重要教材,認識各個器官和人體奧妙。在整個過程中,希望讓學生明白如何尊敬一個人,無論是生是死,每個人都需要有尊嚴,需要受到重視。

如果各位正考慮或曾經考慮參加「無言老師」遺體捐贈計劃,我想在此呼籲,這個捐軀的行動十分有意義,因為這不單讓醫學生在解剖教學上有學習樣本,並且在學習過程中,學懂如何尊敬別人的遺體,以至學習尊重人的一生。
——沈祖堯教授

(摘錄自cp1897.com.hk)


Monday, December 9, 2019

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Bryan Stevenson
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A Book to Read for United Nations Human Rights Day 10 December

 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER; Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time

A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time, as seen in the HBO documentary True Justice

“[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John Legend

Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

Related Post:
我是馬拉拉 : 一位因爭取教育而被槍殺的女孩 (I Am Malala)

憤怒年代 : 共感怨憤、共染暴力的人類歷史新紀元 (Age of Anger: A History of the Present)

潘卡吉.米什拉 (Pankaj Mishra)
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這是一場所有人對抗所有人的戰爭。憎恨、幻滅、失去方向!
寫給此刻身陷衝突、生活在暴亂邊緣的每一個人。
現代文明的根基並非理性、平等、自由,而是暴力與憤怒、屠殺與騷亂。
川普白人民族主義狂潮、英國脫歐、伊斯蘭激進派當道,並非偶然,而是「現代性」失落的宿命。
「歷史的發展看起來既不理性,也不進步。理性並不統治世界;現實明擺著就是不理性。」

《憤怒年代》將現代社會發展至今的脈絡,上推回喜迎個人主義、現代性,投身資本市場不遺餘力的伏爾泰,與識破現代性落空、虛偽、淺薄且並無根基的盧梭二人,並深且廣地論析近代法國、德國、義大利、印度、波蘭、英國、中國的關鍵問題,指出憤怒是小及個人、大至世界、上溯過去且注定擺布未來,這年代的關鍵宿命難題。

18世紀,西方啟蒙運動中知識階級興起,新的商業社會逐漸成形。由少數人發起的改革計畫挑戰教會傳統,講求理性、自由、個人主義,突破階級的個人欲望累積成對社會不平等的猛烈抨擊,造成了真正的革命,破壞了君主獨裁制,讓世界往民主的方向疾奔,影響了全世界。

世界歐洲化了,人人彷彿真的生而平等,但由上而下運作的現代化並未如眾人所想的造就平等新世界,反而讓先來者占盡了便宜,後到者則花費大量時間精力追求不可能達到的美夢。人們頹敗在物質至上造就的巨大不平等之前,各地的傳統文化也受西化衝擊,喪失了權威,外在物質與內在心靈、文化上的落空世代積累,種下燎原之火。「模仿」西方「現代化」成了後起之秀東方國家的有利工具,但在由上而下暴力式西化、現代化的過程中,人們在物質與文化上皆產生了被排除、傷害的感受,讓小至個人大至文明都深受其苦。一個不屬於西方、不屬於東方、沒有傳統,情感、知識、環境皆衝突的世代就這樣誕生,數十億人找不到在這世界上安身立命的所在,被現代化過程擊垮而喪志,這些「被剝奪者」、「多餘者」成了憤怒年代狂暴的源頭。

這是一個憤怨穿越歷史、怒意跨越國界、仇恨如烽火台連綿點燃的世界,是現在的世界、我們的世界。

潘卡吉‧米什拉提醒我們:追求西化的現代社會帶來的,除了人人有機會擺脫階級與出身的光明面,更重要的也許是看似公平榮景之外那些被拋在後頭的人事,導致了人們失根、自我憎恨、燃起報復的怒火,它們不只禍延今日,還會延燒未來的每一個世代。

國際媒體佳評如潮

米什拉是診斷我們所處當下境況的最佳著述者……在《憤怒年代》一書中,他對那些自覺被遺忘與被剝奪者作了迫切的分析,挑戰了我們認知的關於世界現況的一切。──《洛杉磯書評》

米什拉試圖釐清這個讓我們困惑的世界,提出了具說服力、豐富的案例,指出全球化以及收入不平等現象是如何無可避免地迎來反作用力。──NPR

博學……《憤怒年代》成書於英國脫歐和川普上台之前,這位印度非虛構書籍和小說作家潘卡吉‧米什拉,認為我們目前面對的憤怒狂潮有其深刻的歷史淵源。──《時代雜誌》(Time)

這本書是一記打中要害的重擊……米什拉的視野非比尋常地寬廣,有足夠的包容力和反抗力量去釐清一切。《憤怒年代》是這世界現正需要的書……和我們正目睹的全球不滿情緒密切相關。──《金融時報》

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, December 2, 2019

The Calculating Stars: A Lady Astronaut Novel

Mary Robinette Kowal
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Mary Robinette Kowal's science fiction debut, 2019 Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Award for best novel, The Calculating Stars, explores the premise behind her award-winning "Lady Astronaut of Mars."

Winner 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novel
Winner 2019 Locus Award for Best Novel
Winner 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novel
Finalist 2019 Campbell Memorial Award

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too. Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

自由如綠

香港文學館
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榮獲2019年第二屆「香港出版雙年獎」文學及小說類別的「最佳出版獎」 

《自由如綠》乃二十四位重量級香港著名作家,就二十四種植物創作的結集,是一前所未有的嘗試。本書作者屢獲獎項,包括香港書獎、香港文學雙年獎、中文文學創作獎、聯合文學小說獎等。書中內容包含詩、散文、小說、劇本;題材從私人世界到城市、時代、歷史的公共維度,風格各異,豐富多元。植物、文學,兩者對照結合,再搭配本地著名畫家姚柱東繪製精美插畫,更附種籽紙書籤,是視覺藝術與文學的跨界結晶,極具收藏價值。 

二十四篇,每篇附以植物的基本資料,書寫植物的種種照面,閱讀一花一草,體會自由如綠的意義。許廸鏘引言,朗天作跋。 

作者:(合集)董啟章、曹疏影、謝曉虹、袁兆昌、鄧小樺、黃碧雲、盧勁馳、何福仁、鄭單衣、周思中、陳麗娟、黃怡、馮睎乾、鍾國強、胡燕青、王良和、陳慧、洪曉嫻、韓麗珠、張婉雯、淮遠、劉芷韻、甄拔濤、陳曦靜

(摘錄自hkliteraturehouse.org)