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Did I Ever Tell You?: The most moving memoir of 2024
By Genevieve Kingston. 2024
'Compelling and heartbreaking' Ann NapolitanoA deeply moving memoir of a young daughter, her dying mother - and the trail of…
letters and gifts she left behind.'Her messages met me like guideposts in a dark forest; if her words couldn't point the way, at least they offered the comfort of knowing someone had been there before'Ten days before Gwen Kingston turned twelve, her beloved mother - with whom she shared a birthday - died. She left behind two chests - one for Gwen and one for her brother - filled with lovingly wrapped presents and letters marking the milestones she would miss: driver's licences, graduations and every one of their birthdays until the age of thirty. Each gift a chance to reach back into the past and, for the briefest moment, hear her voice again.Over the last twenty years, the chest of treasures has travelled with Gwen across a continent, from state to state and apartment to apartment, growing lighter with each passing birthday. And now, just three gifts remain . . .In this beautiful and heart-rending memoir, Gwen describes growing up in the shadow of loss, guided by what her mother left behind. Woven in is her mother's own story, and that of their whole family - tragedies foreseen and unforeseen, paths taken and not taken. It's about a mother's love for her daughter, but more than that, it is a story of marriage, family, inheritance and everything that shapes a life.Crossing the Border: On the Quadruple-Evidence Method
By Li Yang, Shuxian Ye. 2024
This book is the first monograph of its kind in the academic world which comprehensively expounds the new methodology of…
humanities. The quadruple-evidence method is one which integrates quadruple-evidences to open up new horizon for interpretation of ancient culture in the three-dimensional manner. The first layer of evidence refers to documents passed down from the past; the second layer of evidence refers to local written materials; the third layer of evidence includes oral legends of anthropology and folklore and etiquette in the living folk customs; the fourth layer of evidence refers to those ancient objects and images either unearthed in archaeological excavations or handed down from the past. The book consists of theoretical explorations and their applications in individual cases. While the first part studies the academic evolution, theory and methodological value of the quadruple-evidence method, the second part, in using the method in different cases, explores different historical and cultural phenomena in the history of China, attempting to extend the frontier of the origin of civilization from the approach of mythological study*DON'T MISS OUT - PRE-ORDER THE STUNNING LIMITED FIRST EDITION NOW!*FEATURES A JIGSAW PIECE FRONT COVER CUT-OUT, EXCLUSIVE TO FIRST…
PRINT RUN ONLY'Utterly beautiful. I adored it' JOANNA CANNON'Hugely uplifting and wonderful' AJ PEARCE'A ripping yarn full of warmth and wonder' BETH MORREYSometimes finding your place in the world is the greatest puzzle of all...Clayton Stumper is an enigma.He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt.Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution. When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future. Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve - and it's a secret that will change everything...***Readers are loving The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers!'Absolutely wonderful. A beautiful story of love and friendship' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Quirky and joyful. A delight to read with lovely characters' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A charming tale. Original and uplifting and an absolute ode to not just friendship but fellowship' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Such a joyful book. A unique storyline, the characters are wonderful and it's really uplifting' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Truly, the most joyous of books!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐The Routledge Handbook for Global South Studies on Subjectivities (Transdisciplinary Souths)
By Sebastian Thies, Susanne Goumegou, Georgina Cebey. 2024
The Routledge Handbook for Global South Studies on Subjectivities provides a series of exemplary studies conjoining perspectives from Asian, African,…
and Latin American Studies on subjectivity in the Global South as a central category of social and cultural analysis. The contestation of the Northern myth of the autonomous subject—the dispositive that contests subject formation in the South by describing it as fragmented, incomplete, delayed or simply deviant, has been a cornerstone of theory production from the South over the years.This volume’s contributions offer an interdisciplinary and transarea dialogue, reframing issues of selfhood and alterity, of personhood, of the human, of the commons and contesting the North’s presumption in determining what kind of subjectivities abide by its norms, whose voices are heard, who is recognised as a subject, and, by extension, whose lives matter. In the context of the shifting dynamics of today’s manifold crises, they raise questions regarding how subjectivities act on or resist such forms of contestation, contingency, and indeterminacy.A major contribution to the growing body of scholarship on the Global South, this handbook will be an essential resource for students, scholars, researchers and instructors in literature, media and culture studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, law, politics, visual arts and art history.Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women
By Ellen Atlanta. 2023
A generation defining exposé of toxic beauty culture in our digital age and how it is harming women We are…
living in a new age of beauty. With advancements in cosmetic surgery, augmented reality face filters, photo editing apps, and exposure to more images than we were ever meant to see, we have the ability to craft ourselves in whichever way we please. We pinch, pull, squeeze, tweeze, smooth and slice ourselves beyond recognition. But is modern beauty culture truly empowering? Are we really in control?In every era there is a beauty ideal. Yet, today the pressure to attain and retain the perfect body is compounded by our addiction to sharing every angle of ourselves online. In an age of influencers and social media, modern beauty culture is all-consuming and it is hurting the lives of women around the world. From Love Island to lip filler, blackfishing to the beauty tax, Ellen Atlanta reconfigures our understanding of women's relationship with beauty culture to account for the digital age. Providing an eye-opening account of the realities young women face under a dominant industry, Pixel Flesh unmasks the absurdities of the dystopia we find ourselves living in. Both a rallying cry and a refusal to suffer in silence, this is a vital insight into what it feels like to exist as a woman in a digitally obsessed world.Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women
By Ellen Atlanta. 2023
A generation defining exposé of toxic beauty culture in our digital age and how it is harming women We are…
living in a new age of beauty. With advancements in cosmetic surgery, augmented reality face filters, photo editing apps, and exposure to more images than we were ever meant to see, we have the ability to craft ourselves in whichever way we please. We pinch, pull, squeeze, tweeze, smooth and slice ourselves beyond recognition. But is modern beauty culture truly empowering? Are we really in control?In every era there is a beauty ideal. Yet, today the pressure to attain and retain the perfect body is compounded by our addiction to sharing every angle of ourselves online. In an age of influencers and social media, modern beauty culture is all-consuming and it is hurting the lives of women around the world. From Love Island to lip filler, blackfishing to the beauty tax, Ellen Atlanta reconfigures our understanding of women's relationship with beauty culture to account for the digital age. Providing an eye-opening account of the realities young women face under a dominant industry, Pixel Flesh unmasks the absurdities of the dystopia we find ourselves living in. Both a rallying cry and a refusal to suffer in silence, this is a vital insight into what it feels like to exist as a woman in a digitally obsessed world.Did I Ever Tell You?: The most moving memoir of 2024
By Genevieve Kingston. 2024
'Compelling and heartbreaking' Ann NapolitanoA deeply moving memoir of a young daughter, her dying mother - and the trail of…
letters and gifts she left behind.'Her messages met me like guideposts in a dark forest; if her words couldn't point the way, at least they offered the comfort of knowing someone had been there before'Ten days before Gwen Kingston turned twelve, her beloved mother - with whom she shared a birthday - died. She left behind two chests - one for Gwen and one for her brother - filled with lovingly wrapped presents and letters marking the milestones she would miss: driver's licences, graduations and every one of their birthdays until the age of thirty. Each gift a chance to reach back into the past and, for the briefest moment, hear her voice again.Over the last twenty years, the chest of treasures has travelled with Gwen across a continent, from state to state and apartment to apartment, growing lighter with each passing birthday. And now, just three gifts remain . . .In this beautiful and heart-rending memoir, Gwen describes growing up in the shadow of loss, guided by what her mother left behind. Woven in is her mother's own story, and that of their whole family - tragedies foreseen and unforeseen, paths taken and not taken. It's about a mother's love for her daughter, but more than that, it is a story of marriage, family, inheritance and everything that shapes a life.Natality: Toward A Philosophy Of Birth
By Jennifer Banks. 2023
“A gripping exploration of some of society’s biggest contradictions.… [Natality] is a fascinating read.” —Dana Suskind, MD, author of Parent…
Nation An exhilarating exploration of natality, a much-needed counterpoint to mortality, drawing on the insights of brilliant writers and thinkers. Birth is one of the most fraught and polarized issues of our time, at the center of debates on abortion, gender, work, and medicine. But birth is not solely an issue; it is a fundamental part of the human condition, and, alongside death, the most consequential event in human life. Yet it remains dramatically unexplored. Although we have long intellectual traditions of wrestling with mortality, few have ever heard of natality, the term political theorist Hannah Arendt used to describe birth’s active role in our lives. In this ambitious, revelatory book, Jennifer Banks begins with Arendt’s definition of natality as the “miracle that saves the world” to develop an expansive framework for birth’s philosophical, political, spiritual, and aesthetic significance. Banks focuses on seven renowned western thinkers—Arendt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, Sojourner Truth, Adrienne Rich, and Toni Morrison—to reveal a provocative countertradition of birth. She narrates these writers’ own experiences alongside the generative ways they contended with natality in their work. Passionately intelligent and wide-ranging, Natality invites readers to attend to birth as a challenging and life-affirming reminder of our shared humanity and our capacity for creative renewal.Comment Réaliser Vos Rêves et Vos Objjectifs
By Dave McAllen. 2024
Un auteur de renom nous montre comment déjouer les conseils permanents, cesser d'essayer d'être "parfait" tout le temps pour atteindre…
notre plein potentiel et être plus heureux. La vie est pavée de conseils pour que vous puissiez agir, vous comporter et faire les choses parfaitement, en imitant des mentors. Il y a donc des juges et des prophètes partout, qui vous disent si vous réussirez dans la vie, si vous excellerez dans votre carrière et ainsi de suite. Mais Dave vous indique une vérité rafraîchissante : vous pouvez diriger vous-même votre destin. Son livre, ''Comment réaliser vos rêves et vos objectifs'' est son antidote à la complaisance et l'absence de sentiment qui ont infecté le monde et reconfiguré une génération. Ce livre est de grande valeur. Dave n'est pas d'accord avec l'idée, corroborée à la fois par des recherches historiques et des exemples bien choisis, que les personnes qui réussissent dépendent de la capacité de leurs parrains et des personnes bien informées à prédire leur destin avec précision. Pour lui, il faut apprendre à se découvrir soi-même et à rester concentré sur ses rêves. Tous les êtres humains ont des faiblesses et des défauts, des succès et des échecs, des hauts et des bas. Nous ne pouvons pas tous devenir grands et exceptionnels. Mais c'est catastrophique quand la direction naturelle de notre vie est changée. Dave nous conseille de procéder à une étude approfondie de nous-mêmes pour commencer à être juste envers notre avenir. Une fois que c'est fait, agissez conformément à votre personnalité et arrêtez de remettre votre destin entre les mains d'autres personnes, qu'il s'agisse de vos pairs, de vos parents, de vos professeurs, etc.Le cadeau
By Julie Hodgson. 2024
Une fantaisie humoristique pour les fêtes de fin d'année. Le cadeau (attention à ce que vous souhaitez) Joe est le…
fan numéro un de Noël. Il adore cette fête et a hâte de la passer avec sa femme, Beth, à faire ce qu'ils aiment le plus : manger des tartelettes à la viande, boire du vin chaud, rire et se blottir l'un contre l'autre pendant que la télévision diffuse It's a Wonderful Life (La vie est belle). Cependant, Beth a une idée un peu différente cette année. Elle veut passer un très mauvais moment, sinon pourquoi aurait-elle invité sa mère - la belle-mère démoniaque de l'enfer, qui déteste Noël et tout ce qui s'y rapporte ? En fait, il n'y a qu'une seule chose que la terrible belle-mère déteste plus que Noël... et c'est Joe. Heureusement, Joe a un allié dans sa guerre contre le monstre aux cheveux orange et au chewing-gum : un Père Noël de centre commercial qui n'est pas du tout ce qu'il semble être. Ce Père Noël plus grand que nature offre à Joe un cadeau magique qui, promet-il, fera disparaître le problème, mais ce colis d'apparence innocente donne le coup d'envoi d'une aventure que Joe n'oubliera jamais. S'il parvient à atteindre le jour de Noël en un seul morceau et à sauver sa femme et son enfant à naître d'une vie en Laponie, il aura appris une leçon d'une importance vitale : il faut faire attention à ce que l'on souhaite... on pourrait bien l'obtenir.There Must Be a Better Explanation: God, Jesus, Christianity, Life, and Death
By Chris R Korte. 2007
This book uses a recent writing given by Jesus called, A Course in Miracles, to explain and correct the Christian…
understanding of God, Jesus, Heaven, the Bible, and the World. After 2000 years we have thousands of Christian denominations with differing theologies and rituals. A Course in Miracles clears up these inconsistencies and contradictions in Christianity and the Bible to present a unified message of love, peace, and forgiveness.A Course in Miracles answers questions like:Why are we even here?What is our purpose? How can I live a happy and peaceful life regardless of what is happening in the world?What parts of Christianity are true? What is God&’s will for us?Why is there so much suffering?What is God&’s true nature?What was Jesus&’ real message?What is salvation and how do I get to Heaven?If God wills that none shall perish, why will so many perish and how can I make sure I&’m not one of them?Many practicing Christians, non-practicing Christians, and those leaving the faith are dissatisfied with how the Bible and Christianity explain the purpose of life. Christianity comes up wanting as an explanation for the evidence of life in this world and eternity in Heaven. There Must Be a Better Explanation: God, Jesus, Christianity, Life, and Death, provides answers to life&’s questions that are plausible, compleAttached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find--and Keep-- Love
By Amir Levine, Rachel Heller. 2010
&“Over a decade after its publication, one book on dating has people firmly in its grip.&”—The New York TimesWe already…
rely on science to tell us what to eat, when to exercise, and how long to sleep. Why not use science to help us improve our relationships? In this revolutionary book, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel Heller scientifically explain why some people seem to navigate relationships effortlessly, while others struggle.Discover how an understanding of adult attachment—the most advanced relationship science in existence today—can help us find and sustain love. Pioneered by psychologist John Bowlby in the 1950s, the field of attachment posits that each of us behaves in relationships in one of three distinct ways: • Anxious people are often preoccupied with their relationships and tend to worry about their partner's ability to love them back. • Avoidant people equate intimacy with a loss of independence and constantly try to minimize closeness. • Secure people feel comfortable with intimacy and are usually warm and loving.Attached guides readers in determining what attachment style they and their mate (or potential mate) follow, offering a road map for building stronger, more fulfilling connections with the people they love.Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads
By Gary Greenberg, Jeannie Hayden. 2004
An indispensable survival manual for men entering the trenches of fatherhood, Be Prepared is loaded with one-of-a-kind insights, MacGyver-esque tips…
and tricks, and no-nonsense advice for mastering the first year as a dad.Finally, a book that teaches men all the things they really need to know about fatherhood...including how to: -Change a baby at a packed sports stadium -Create a decoy drawer full of old wallets, remote controls, and cell phones to throw baby off the scent of your real gear -Stay awake (or at least upright) at work -Babyproof a hotel room in four minutes flat -Construct an emergency diaper out of a towel, a sock, and duct tape Packed with helpful diagrams and detailed instructions, and delivered with a wry sense of humor, Be Prepared is the ultimate guide for sleep-deprived, applesauce-covered fathers everywhere.A bitingly funny field guide to modern love from the woman who's dated them all. Through highly relatable anecdotes from…
a decade of dating, Twenty Guys You Date in Your Twenties dives into the joys, frustrations, and hilarity of swiping right on relationships. After a world-shattering breakup in her early twenties, comedian Gabi Conti logged thousands of hours on dating apps, conducting research and gathering intel on our behalf. Real and relatable, this dating guide is laugh-out-loud funny without being prescriptive or cynical.• Each chapter focuses on a different type of guy and offers advice on how to deal, from The Guy Who's Great on Paper to The Guy Who Texts "sup" at 2 a.m.• Includes charts, quizzes, and "Boy Bingo"• Captures the frustrations, heartache, and hilarity of Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, and all other online dating appsFor the modern, app-using woman, this hilarious dating guide profiles 20 stereotypical men, from their physical appearance and dating style to red flags, tips, and success stories.Filled with charts and quizzes, hysterical anecdotes, and helpful insight from therapists and dating coaches, these pages offer advice and humor in equal measure.• Offers sincere advice to cope with dating app horror stories• Great for fans of How to Date Men When You Hate Men by Blythe Roberson, Bye Felipe: Disses, Dick Pics, and Other Delights of Modern Dating by Alexandra Tweten and HEY, U UP? (For a Serious Relationship) by Emily Axford and Brian MurphyDiscover the secrets to successful open relationships. A Happy Life in an Open Relationship is a handbook to healthy nonmonogamous…
relationships. For anyone curious about open relationships, here is a valuable handbook from an expert in love, sex, and communication. Relationship therapist Susan Wenzel—who is in an open marriage herself—delivers skillful advice on how to navigate the complex emotional landscape of multi-partner relationships, from polyamory to swinging.• Filled with of compelling personal stories, anecdotes from clients, and practical exercises• A guide to cultivating harmonious and fulfilling open relationships• Author Susan Wenzel is a sex and relationship therapist with years of experience counseling patients on issues related to monogamy, intimacy, and trust.A Happy Life in an Open Relationship will help you develop your trust and communication skills, explore sexuality and desire, build your confidence and self-worth, set healthy boundaries, overcome jealousy, and so much more. People interested in making changes in their relationships will appreciate the positive tone, helpful advice, and expert wisdom from an accomplished relationship therapist who has gone through the experience herself. • A great book for anyone interested in testing the boundaries of monogamy and exploring the world of polyamory• An accessible and inviting guide for couples to build an open relationship that is strong and lasting• Perfect for fans of Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence and The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity by Esther Perel, The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family by Dan Savage, and Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships by Christopher RyanFamily Field Trip: Explore Art, Food, Music, and Nature with Kids
By Erin Austen Abbott. 2020
With more than 40 family-friendly cultural activities and adventures, Family Field Trip makes it easy to incorporate moments of learning…
and exploration into life with kids. In this engaging guide, parents and caretakers will find simple-to-follow ideas and tips for cultural experiences the whole family can enjoy, whether they are at home, exploring the neighborhood, or taking a vacation. Drawing on a range of popular experiential educational techniques—including Montessori, World Schooling, Forest Schooling, and more—Family Field Trip is the perfect handbook for any family with young children and an invaluable resource for raising kids who will grow into curious, well-rounded citizens of the world.• Gives parents the tools and inspiration to turn the world into a giant field trip full of opportunities to teach children cultural appreciation• Provides parents with easy ways to incorporate learning, adventure, and exploration into both travel and daily life• Tackles a range of lessons and topics without being prescriptive or overwhelmingBy exploring sites, languages, and foods of the world, Family Field Trip is an inspiring guide to raise globally minded kids who appreciate art, food, music, nature, and more.Activities include starting a supper club to introduce kids to the basics of cooking, having conversations that encourage empathy and cross-cultural understanding, designing fun scavenger hunts for any kind of museum, exhibit, or park, packing for trips with kids, and more.• Perfect for parents, grandparents, and caregivers who aspire to raise open-minded world citizens with good taste• A lovely book for the adventurous, travel-loving family• Great for readers who enjoyed How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims, Atlas of Adventures by Rachel Williams, and Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela DruckermanDavid Walker: The Politics of Racial Egalitarianism (Black Lives)
By Sherrow O. Pinder. 2024
David Walker, a free (with a small f) black man, was one of the most significant African-American abolitionists of the…
nineteenth century. Born in a slave society before moving to Boston where, after the American Revolutionary War, slavery was abolished, Walker devoted his life to fighting slavery and antiblack racism. In this book, Sherrow O. Pinder brings to light Walker’s lived experience, activism, and the synchronizing of his Christian principles and reformist radicalism to demonstrate why and how slavery must be eliminated. Walker’s call for blacks to regain their natural rights culminated in his Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, an enormously influential work that is now considered a founding text of black studies. Today, given the escalation of antiblack racism manifested in the upholding of institutionalized violence by the state and the continued marginality of African-Americans, we cannot afford to forget Walker’s push for racial egalitarianism: it is more urgent than ever.The Power of Saying No: The New Science of How to Say No that Puts You in Charge of Your Life
By Vanessa Patrick. 2023
"If you're tired of agreeing to annoying asks and thankless tasks, read this book. The Power of Saying No offers…
the smartest advice I've ever encountered for declining requests without risking your reputation or your relationships. This essential guide will sharpen your mind and steel your spine to live life on your own terms." —Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret, Drive, and To Sell Is HumanStop saying yes. Start saying no. Change your life!You have probably said "yes" to bosses, partners, family, friends, and even strangers, when you actually want to say "no." Maybe you wish you could say no more often, but you're not sure how or if it's even possible to do so. You're not alone! We're taught to say yes as often as we can. After all, if you say no, aren't you likely to miss out on opportunities and sever important relationships? Isn't saying no a harmony-buster?In The Power of Saying No, award-winning professor and researcher Vanessa Patrick delves into the new science of saying no. She introduces the ground-breaking concept of "empowered refusal"—a proven framework for saying no that puts you in charge of your life—and reveals some surprising secrets about the power of the word no.Dr. Patrick shares:Why empowered refusal is a valuable superskill that helps us say no in a way that does not invite pushback from others.The toolkit of three competencies you need to develop to effectively communicate an empowered no response.A framework to help separate the "good-for-me" from the "not-good-for-me" activities and engagements that come our way.How to establish and implement personal policies that empower your refusal.How to use empowered refusal to manage difficult askers, strengthen your relationships and realize your full potential.It's more important than ever to protect your time, focus on your top priorities, and use the power of saying no to reach your goals at work and at home. Empowered refusal is a unique, positive, and meaning-filled approach to managing your energy and ambition effectively, allowing you to make lasting, positive changes in your life.This empowering book is a fascinating read that will help you with conflict resolution, boundaries, communication, and difficult conversations!"The Power of Saying No will stay within arm's reach for me. It offers the explanations and the inspirations I need to take charge of my life and career, with concrete tools to make it happen. I was able to put Vanessa Patrick's lessons to work the day I started reading the book and have continued every day since. Read this book. Twice." —Dolly Chugh, author of The Person You Mean to Be and A More Just Future, Jacob B. Melnick Term Professor at the NYU Stern School of BusinessThis book examines the writings of seven English women economists from the period 1735–1811. It reveals that contrary to what…
standard accounts of the history of economic thought suggest, eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century women intellectuals were undertaking incisive and gender-sensitive analyses of the economy.Women’s Economic Thought in the Romantic Age argues that established notions of what constitutes economic enquiry, topics, and genres of writing have for centuries marginalised the perspectives and experiences of women and obscured the knowledge they recorded in novels, memoirs, or pamphlets. This has led to an underrepresentation of women in the canon of economic theory. Using insights from literary studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and feminist economics, the book develops a transdisciplinary methodology that redresses this imbalance and problematises the distinction between literary and economic texts. In its in-depth readings of selected writings by Sarah Chapone, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Hays, Mary Robinson, Priscilla Wakefield, Mary Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen, this book uncovers the originality and topicality of their insights on the economics of marriage, women and paid work, and moral economics.Combining historical analysis with conceptual revision, Women’s Economic Thought in the Romantic Age retrieves women’s overlooked intellectual contributions and radically breaks down the barriers between literature and economics. It will be of interest to researchers and students from across the humanities and social sciences, in particular the history of economic thought, English literary and cultural studies, gender studies, economics, eighteenth-century and Romantic studies, social history, and the history of ideas.The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization
By Roland Ennos. 2000
A &“smart and surprising&” (Booklist) &“expansive history&” (Publishers Weekly) detailing the role that wood and trees have played in our…
global ecosystem—including human evolution and the rise and fall of empires—in the bestselling tradition of Yuval Harari&’s Sapiens and Mark Kurlansky&’s Salt.As the dominant species on Earth, humans have made astonishing progress since our ancestors came down from the trees. But how did the descendants of small primates manage to walk upright, become top predators, and populate the world? How were humans able to develop civilizations and produce a globalized economy? Now, in The Age of Wood, Roland Ennos shows for the first time that the key to our success has been our relationship with wood. &“A lively history of biology, mechanics, and culture that stretches back 60 million years&” (Nature) The Age of Wood reinterprets human history and shows how our ability to exploit wood&’s unique properties has profoundly shaped our bodies and minds, societies, and lives. Ennos takes us on a sweeping journey from Southeast Asia and West Africa where great apes swing among the trees, build nests, and fashion tools; to East Africa where hunter gatherers collected their food; to the structural design of wooden temples in China and Japan; and to Northern England, where archaeologists trace how coal enabled humans to build an industrial world. Addressing the effects of industrialization—including the use of fossil fuels and other energy-intensive materials to replace timber—The Age of Wood not only shows the essential role that trees play in the history and evolution of human existence, but also argues that for the benefit of our planet we must return to more traditional ways of growing, using, and understanding trees. A brilliant blend of recent research and existing scientific knowledge, this is an &“excellent, thorough history in an age of our increasingly fraught relationships with natural resources&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).