Acemoglu, Daron, and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Crown Business 2012 "Some time ago a little-known Scottish philosopher wrote a book on what makes nations succeed and what makes them fail. The Wealth of Nations is still being read today. With the same perspicacity and with the same broad historical perspective, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have retackled this same question for our own times. Two centuries from now our great-great- . . . -great grandchildren will be, similarly, reading Why Nations Fail." —George Akerlof, Nobel laureate in economics, 2001  
Amazon   back

Cornwell, Patricia D, Cruel and Unusual, Pocket Books 2005 School Library Journal 'In this fourth Kay Scarpetta mystery, the chief medical examiner for the state of Virginia is once again challenged by gruesome murder and confusing evidence. How could the fingerprints of Ronnie Joe Waddell appear at the scene of a murdered psychic after Waddell was executed in the electric chair? In the midst of many puzzling matters come other difficult issues to confront Kay as she tries to do her job. She becomes the object of hysterical media attention, and finds that she herself might be indicted for the very crimes she is trying to solve.' 
Amazon   back

Dexter, Pete, Paris Trout, Penguin Books 1989 'In this novel of social drama, a casual murder in the small Georgia town of Cotton Point just after World War II and the resulting court case cleave open the ugly divisions of race and class. The man accused of shooting a black girl, a storekeeper named Paris Trout, has no great feeling of guilt, nor fear that the system will fail to work his way. Trout becomes an embarrassment to the polite white society that prefers to hold itself high above such primitive prejudice. But the trial does not allow any hiding from the stark reality of social and racial tensions.' 
Amazon   back

Jaynes, Julian, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Mariner Books 2000 Jacket: 'At the heart of this book is the revolutionary idea that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but is a learned process brought into being out of an earlier hallucinatory mentality by cataclysm and catastrophe only 3000 years ago and still developing.' 
Amazon   back

Knox, Ronald, Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion, University of Notre Dame Press 1994 Amazon customer review: 'Hard not to be very enthusiastic about this magnum opus of Msgr Ronald Knox. . . . This has been one of my favorite books over the years; read and re-read for the sheer joy of reading! Knox takes us on a marvellous journey through history, unveiling some of the mystical and "enthusiastic" movements, going back to Corinth and Montanism, and some of the "enthusiastic" personalities behind these movements. . . . ' gerard77 
Amazon   back

Lewis, Clive S , The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition, Oxford UP 1979 Jacket: ' The Romance of the Rose, its ancestors and its descendants are here studied not as an obstacle to be surmounted on our way to Chaucer, but as a true expression of the ages which produced them. The allegorical form is found to be at once an imaginative bridge from mythical to reflective consciousness and a principal origin of Romanticism; ... ' 'Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. What ever we may have been, in some sort we still are. Neither the form nor the sentiment of this old poetry has passed away without leaving indelible traces on our minds.' 
Amazon   back

Nicolis, Gregoire, and Ilya Prigogine, Exploring Complexity: An Introduction, W H Freeman 1989 Jacket: 'This provocative book surveys the wide range of complex phenomena arising in the framework of physico-chemical and biological systems and in the global environment, defining the elements of a new scientific vocabulary - the vocabulary of complexity- and elaborating the tools for analyzing these problems efficiently. It breaks disciplinary barriers to consider issues beyond the realm of traditional physical science, including the dynamics of climatic change and the behaviour of social insects and human populations. Exploring Complexity incorporates many new discussions on topics such as chaos, attractors, and fractals. The authors offer innovative views on recent reseach into non-linear systems, complexity and chaos that might further challenge the laws of science. 
Amazon   back

Noyes, H. Pierre, and J. C. van den Berg, Bit-String Physics: A Finite and Discrete Approach to Natural Philosophy, World Scientific 2001 'We could be on the threshold of a scientific revolution. Quantum mechanics is based on unique, finite, and discrete events. General relativity assumes a continuous, curved space-time. Reconciling the two remains the most fundamental unsolved scientific problem left over from the last century. The papers of H Pierre Noyes collected in this volume reflect one attempt to achieve that unification by replacing the continuum with the bit-string events of computer science. Three principles are used: physics can determine whether two quantities are the same or different; measurement can tell something from nothing; this structure (modeled by binary addition and multiplication) can leave a historical record consisting of a growing universe of bit-strings. This book is specifically addressed to those interested in the foundations of particle physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, physical cosmology and the philosophy of science 
Amazon   back

t' Hooft (editor), Gerardus, 50 Years of Yang-Mills Theory, World Scientific Publishing Company 2005 Amazon Product Description ' On the 50th anniversary of Yang-Mills theory, this invaluable volume looks back at the developments and achievements in elementary particle physics that ensued from that beautiful idea. During the last five decades, Yang-Mills theory, which is undeniably the most important cornerstone of theoretical physics, has expanded widely. It has been investigated from many perspectives, and many new and unexpected features have been uncovered from this theory. In recent decades, apart from high energy physics, the theory has been actively applied in other branches of physics, such as statistical physics, condensed matter physics, nonlinear systems, etc. This makes the theory an indispensable topic for all who are involved in physics. An international team of experts, each of whom has left his mark on the developments of this remarkable theory, contribute essays or more detailed technical accounts to this volume. These articles highlight the new discoveries from the respective authors' perspectives. The distinguished contributors are: S Adler, P van Baal, F A Bais, C Becchi, M Creutz, A DeRujula, B S DeWitt, F Englert, L D Faddeev, P Hasenfratz, R Jackiw, P van Nieuwenhuizen, A Polyakov, R Stora, S Weinberg, F Wilczek, E Witten, C N Yang. Included in each article are introductory and explanatory remarks by the editor, G 't Hooft, who is himself a major player in the development of Yang-Mills theory.' 
Amazon   back

Wilczek, Frank, The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces, Basic Books 2008 ' In this excursion to the outer limits of particle physics, Wilczek explores what quarks and gluons, which compose protons and neutrons, reveal about the manifestation of mass and gravity. A corecipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, Wilczek knows what he’s writing about; the question is, will general science readers? Happily, they know what the strong interaction is (the forces that bind the nucleus), and in Wilczek, they have a jovial guide who adheres to trade publishing’s belief that a successful physics title will not include too many equations. Despite this injunction (against which he lightly protests), Wilczek delivers an approachable verbal picture of what quarks and gluons are doing inside a proton that gives rise to mass and, hence, gravity. Casting the light-speed lives of quarks against “the Grid,” Wilczek’s term for the vacuum that theoretically seethes with quantum activity, Wilczek exudes a contagious excitement for discovery. A near-obligatory acquisition for circulating physics collections.' --Gilbert Taylor  
Amazon   back

Ahdaf Soueif, In Egypt, we thought democracy was enough. It was not, 'Mohamed Morsi broke his promises to the Egyptian people. He must go, and the revolution must continue' back

Allegro (film) - Wikipedia, Allegro (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Allegro is a 2005 Danish film directed by Christoffer Boe, who also wrote the screenplay together with Mikael Wulff.[2] It is Christoffer Boe's second film as a director. It features Ulrich Thomsen and former model Helena Christensen.' back

Boolean algebra - Wikipedia, Boolean algebra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is the branch of algebra in which the values of the variables are the truth values true and false, usually denoted 1 and 0 respectively. Instead of elementary algebra where the values of the variables are numbers, and the main operations are addition and multiplication, the main operations of Boolean algebra are the conjunction and, denoted ∧, the disjunction or, denoted ∨, and the negation not, denoted ¬. It is thus a formalism for describing logical relations in the same way that ordinary algebra describes numeric relations.' back

Daniel Boffey, Plan to sell 50m meals made from electricity, water and air, ' It is produced through a process similar to brewing beer. Living microbes are put in liquid and fed with carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles, which have been released from water through the application of electricity. The microbes create protein, which is then dried to make the powder. Dr Pasi Vainikka, the chief executive of the tech startup, said the company had produced a carbon-neutral way to produce a fully natural protein source without wasting land or water. Pre-engineering on a full-scale factory had just started, he added.' back

Emma Brockes, WhenAlexandris Ocasio-Cortez met Grets Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious', ' Thunberg, now 16, catapulted to fame last year for skipping school every Friday to stand outside the Swedish parliament, protesting against political inaction over the climate crisis and sparking an international movement, the school strike for climate, in which millions of other children followed suit. Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district is, at 29, the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress, whose election over a well-funded incumbent in 2018 was a huge upset to politics-as-usual. ' back

Erik P Verlinde, The Origins of gravity and the Laws of Newton, 'Starting from first principles and general assumptions Newton's law of gravitation is shown to arise naturally and unavoidably in a theory in which space is emergent through a holographic scenario. Gravity is explained as an entropic force caused by changes in the information associated with the positions of material bodies. A relativistic generalization of the presented arguments directly leads to the Einstein equations. When space is emergent even Newton's law of inertia needs to be explained. The equivalence principle leads us to conclude that it is actually this law of inertia whose origin is entropic.' back

Father Brown - Wikipedia, Father Brown - Wikipedia, the free enyclopedia, 'Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 51 detective short stories (and two framing vignettes), most of which were later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor (1870–1952), a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922. The relationship was recorded by O'Connor in his 1937 book Father Brown on Chesterton.' back

Global integrity - Wikipedia, Global integrity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Global Integrity is an independent, nonprofit organization tracking governance and corruption trends around the world using local teams of researchers and journalists to monitor openness and accountability. Global Integrity's reporting has been cited by over 50 newspapers worldwide and is used by the World Bank, USAID, Millennium Challenge Corporation and other donor agencies to evaluate aid priorities. Global Integrity's methodology differs considerably from existing metrics of governance and corruption (such as the Corruption Perceptions Index or Bribe Payers Index) by using local experts and transparent source data, rather than perception surveys. Unlike traditional charities, Global Integrity is a hybrid organization that seeks to generate earned revenue to support its public-interest mission.' back

Holly Otterbein, Progressive Jewish Group IfNotNow expands forces for 2020, ' A progressive group of young Jewish activists opposed to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is expanding its organization in hopes of making a major impact on the Democratic race for the White House. . . . “Our focus is going to be trying to push the candidates past giving lip-service to a two-state solution,” said IfNotNow co-founder Emily Mayer, “without recognizing the underlying dynamics and explicit moves by the Israel government that are creating a one-state reality where Palestinians are denied basic rights.” ' back

Katherine Wilson, Demolish your front fence. It would be an act of radical kindness, ' Fenced properties encourage castle doctrines (a mindset of fortification) and social splitting (which justifies us-versus-them thinking). For instance, at the 1987 inception of Sanctuary Cove, Australia’s first gated community, the developer told reporters: the streets these days are full of cockroaches and most of them are human. Every man has a right to protect his family, himself and his possessions, to live in peace and safety. Yet according to a United Nations Habitat report, fenced communities can experience more crime than unfenced ones, and they foster paranoia and social division. This is because, as British international affairs journalist Tim Marshall describes it: “physical divisions are mirrored by those in the mind.” ' back

Landauer, Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process, 'Abstract: 'It is argued that computing machines inevitably involve devices which perform logical functions that do not have a single-valued inverse. The logical irreversibility is associated with physical irreversibility, and requires a minimum heat generation, per machine cycle, typically of the order of kT for each irreversible function. The dissipation serves the purpose of standardizing signals and making them independent of their exact logical history. Two simple, but representative, models of bistable devices are subjected to a more detailed analysis of switching kinetics to yield the relationship between speed and energy dissipation, and to estimate the effects of errors induced by thermal fluctuations.' back

Liberation theology- Wikipedia, Liberation theology- Wikipedia, the free encylcopedia, 'Liberation theology is a political movement in Roman Catholic theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in relation to a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents[who?] as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor", and by detractors as Christianized Marxism.' back

List of schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada - Wikipedia, List of schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'This is a list of the graduate schools of theology accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.' back

Matt Neal, Ancient Indigenous aquaculture site Budg Bim added to UNESCO World Heritage List, 'A south-west Victorian Indigenous site that is older than the pyramids has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. After more than a decade of hard work and lobbying, the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape near Portland was accepted onto the list at a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan on the weekend. The site was created about 6,600 years ago by the Gunditjmara people, who used stones to build an elaborate series of channels and pools to harvest eels from Lake Condah. back

Matthew Sharpe, Freedom of speech: a history from the forbidden fruit to Facebook, ' If the Bible is to be believed, humans have sought knowledge since Eve. They have been disagreeing since Cain and Abel. From long before kings, people have been subject to rulers with a vested interest in controlling what was said and done. Humans have always had a need to ask big questions and their freedom to ask them has often pushed against orthodoxies. Big questions make many people uneasy. Socrates, killed by the Athenians for corrupting the youth in 399 BCE, is only the most iconic example of what can happen when politics and piety combine against intellectuals who ask too many questions.' back

Order of Preachers, Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology, 'DSPT offers a variety of academic and/or professional programs for all its students and provides a program of professional preparation to candidates for ordained and lay ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. The School draws its students into the tradition of classical philosophy and Catholic theology, especially as exemplified by St. Thomas Aquinas.' back

Pablo de Orlelana and Nicholas Michelsen, The New Right: how a Frenchman born 150 years ago inspired the extreme nationalism behind Brexit and Donald Trump, ' Dressed in pastel-coloured Sunday best, Charles does not look like your typical far-right extremist. Yet he is a member of Génération Identitaire, a militant French youth group keen to overcome the thuggish reputation of the far right. Génération Identitaire is a key example of contemporary nationalist movements and has become particularly notorious after the attack perpetrated by one of its members in Christchurch, New Zealand.' back

Reddit, What's the most intelligent joke you know, 'Three logicians walk into a bar. The bartender asks if they would all like a drink. The first logician says "I'm not sure." The second logician says "I'm not sure." The third logician says "Yes." back

Stephanie Baker, Sun, Sand and the $1.5 Trillion Dark Offshore Economy, ' The British Virgin Islands is home to more than 400,000 companies that hold $1.5 trillion in assets. You wouldn’t know it if you walked through Road Town, the capital of this Caribbean archipelago. Hens and roosters compete brazenly with cars on the single narrow lane of Main Street. Law firms that set up and serve thousands of offshore companies occupy modest buildings next to brightly painted wooden houses that host cheap beauty salons and clothing shops with names like Goodfellas.' back

WHO, Female genital mutilation, 'Key facts Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women. Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths. About 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM.' back

WHO, Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, 'This report presents initial results based on interviews with 24 000 women by carefully trained interviewers. The study was implemented by WHO, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), PATH, USA, research institutions and women's organizations in the participating countries. This report covers 15 sites and 10 countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Peru, Namibia, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand and the United Republic of Tanzania.' back