Monday, January 15, 2024

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

Ed Yong
online access from EBSCOhost Ebooks
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ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, People, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Reader’s Digest, Chicago Public Library, Outside, Publishers Weekly, BookPage

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2022: Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Economist, Smithsonian Magazine, Prospect (UK), Globe & Mail, Esquire, Mental Floss, Marginalian, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal


The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world.

In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.

Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.”

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

人類使用說明書 : 關於生活與人際難題,科學教我們的事 (Explaining Humans)

卡蜜拉‧彭 (Camilla Pang)
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榮獲科普書最高榮譽
2020「英國皇家學會科學圖書大獎」
史上最年輕得主!

作者於八歲時被診斷患有自閉症(ASD),二十六歲時診斷出注意力不足過動症(ADHD),這種獨異狀態,意味著她不太可能過一般社群生活、與「人類這種生物」和諧共處,因而四處碰壁,動輒掀翻周身親友同儕的常人世界,於是她天真地詢問母親是否有一本「人類使用說明書」可按圖索驥,導出解方。答案是沒有。成人之後,她有幸獲得生化博士學位,終於尋得開啟自我封閉天地的專業之鑰,以她最熟悉的科學語言,拆解繁複晦澀的身心機制與社會儀俗,回歸並肯定自身的特異性,釐清了「如何當一個人」的最終意義。本書以作者的第一人稱、「半回憶錄式」敘事鋪陳,探索人類生活中可能引燃衝突、牽動交流的日常現象或決策機制,例如:

  - 決定,以及我們如何做出決定
  - 衝突,以及我們如何避免衝突
  - 關係,以及我們如何建立關係
  - 禮儀,以及我們如何遵守禮儀

本書以罕見、原創的「心理回憶錄/圖解分析/科學入門知識介紹」多合一形式,追問身心地帶令人費解的常軌脫逸或糾結景象,搭配作者親繪、深入淺出的二十餘幅「手寫風」圖表,溫暖包容的心靈精神觀與廣納物理、化學、生物、心理學的基礎科學世界觀和諧共振,交織出這本幽默有餘、嚴謹有度的「人類心智現象解說指南」——原來生活決策有分「箱型思維」與「樹狀思維」?人人個性有別,都是「蛋白質」搞的鬼?宇宙萬物注定失序,清掃房間只是違逆「熱力學」的徒然之舉?「一見如故」或「平行時空」,都是「波長」不同步的問題,振幅各異,絕不可能搖擺共舞;人與人憑靠「化學鍵」牽連相依,自然界「四大作用力」也在其間吸斥生剋。「人我」化成,其來有自,這本新世代天才學者的得獎大作,將領你踏上「與人同相」之路⋯⋯

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Monday, January 8, 2024

The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves

Alexandra Hudson
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Alexandra Hudson, daughter of the "Manners Lady," was raised to respect others. But as she grew up, Hudson discovered a difference between politeness—a superficial appearance of good manners—and true civility. In this timely book, Hudson sheds light on how civility can help bridge our political divide.

From classical philosophers like Epictetus, to great twentieth-century thinkers like Martin Luther King Jr., to her own experience working in the federal government during one of the most politically fraught eras in our nation's history, Hudson examines how civility—a respect for the personhood and dignity of others—transcends political disagreements. Respecting someone means valuing them enough to tell them when you think they are wrong.

It’s easy to look at the divided state of the world and blame our leaders, the media, or our education system. Instead, we should focus on what we can control: ourselves. The Soul of Civility empowers readers to live tolerantly with others despite deep differences, and to rigorously protest wrongs and debate issues rather than silencing disagreements. A robust public discourse is essential to a truly civil society, and respecting others means telling hard truths. If enough of us decide to change ourselves, we might be able to change the world we live in, too.

Provocative, personal, and acutely relevant, The Soul of Civility is an essential book for our era.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

必有人重寫愛情 : 北島讀本

北島 著; 林道群 編
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這是北島作品出版人林道群應邀編選的一部「北島讀本」。編者有意把作者的小說、散文、評論和他的詩歌歸結在一起,突出一個詩人北島。十幾年前詩人不再漂泊,定居香港,步入六十歲時着手篩選半生的寫作,幾十年的詩歌生涯只留下了一百四十首的《守夜》,按篇幅計,小說《波動》、散文《藍房子》《午夜之門》《時間的玫瑰》《青燈》《城門開》《古老的敵意》所佔份量遠比詩歌大得多。但讀者不難發現,這「讀本」所選五十多篇章裏面那根詩歌的黃金線——簡練的格言和豐富的意象,詩人道義的認知和政治的表述,沉重的歷史感和鄉愁的隱喻,言說背後的沉默和綻放的時間的玫瑰。「北島讀本」未收〈回答〉一詩,編者說是一種人為的遺忘和記憶。

(摘錄自https://book.douban.com/)


Monday, January 1, 2024

Doing Academic Research: A Practical Guide to Research Methods and Analysis

Ted Gournelos, Joshua R. Hammonds, Maridath A. Wilson
online access from ProQuest Ebook Central Perpetual Titles
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Doing Academic Research is a concise, accessible, and tightly organized overview of the research process in the humanities, social sciences, and business. Conducting effective scholarly research can seem like a frustrating, confusing, and unpleasant experience. Early researchers often have inconsistent knowledge and experience, and can become overwhelmed – reducing their ability to produce high quality work.

Rather than a book about research, this is a practical guide to doing research. It guides budding researchers along the process of developing an effective workflow, where to go for help, and how to actually complete the project. The book addresses diversity in abilities, interest, discipline, and ways of knowing by focusing not just on the process of conducting any one method in detail, but also on the ways in which someone might choose a research method and conduct it successfully. Finally, it emphasizes accessibility and approachability through real-world examples, key insights, tips, and tricks from active researchers.

This book is a highly useful addition to both content area courses and research methods courses, as well as a practical guide for graduate students and independent scholars interested in publishing their research.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

多模型思維 : 天才的32個思考策略 (The Model Thinker)

裴吉(Scott E. Page)
online access from iRead eBook
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這世界太複雜,資料數據太氾濫了,
妥善運用馭繁為簡的模型,進行邏輯思考,方可避免我們掉入認知陷阱。
模型是使用數學和圖表來呈現的形式結構,能幫助我們瞭解世界。
熟習這些模型的蘊含和運用,
可以提升推理、解釋、策劃、溝通、行動、預測和探索的能力。
然而模型有三個特徵:簡化、公式化、以及必有疏漏。
因此我們不能倚賴單一模型,我們必須成為多模型思考者。
如此,就需要學習32種核心模型的內涵與應用。
這些模型源自數學、科學與工程、經濟、金融投資、社會行為等領域,

包括:常態分布模型、長尾分布模型、線性模型、非線性模型、
貢獻度與影響力模型、網路模型、三種傳播模型(廣播、擴散、傳染)、
隨機漫步模型、路徑依賴模型、系統動力學模型、集體行動模型、
合作模型、學習模型、訊號傳遞模型、以及十幾種賽局模型。
熟練多模型思考,將有助於我們在面對生活中與社會上的種種難題時,
能夠很有效率的進行推理、詮釋、策劃應對方案、進行溝通、
以及採取行動,並且能進一步做預測和更深入探索。

本書特色
 ♦ 鍛鍊當前最需要的「數理邏輯、商務運籌、社會意識」三合一人才。
 ♦ 概述32種核心模型的內涵和應用,開展跨領域的視野。
 ♦ 一種情境可使用多種模型來解析,一種模型也可以應用到多種情境。
 ♦ 提供了稍微複雜的公式或定理,但不會超過初等微積分的難度。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)