General encyclopaedias Books

Book SynopsisA visual guide to how the world really works, through stunning infographics and data visualisations, thoroughly revised, recalculated and reimagined for this new edition.We are overwhelmed by information from our phones, our televisions, our computers, our newspapers.This new edition of Information is Beautiful has been revised throughout with over 20 updates and 20 new visualisations. It offers shelter from the flood by visualising data in a new way that blends facts with their connections, their context and their relationships making information meaningful, entertaining and beautiful.This is information like you have never seen it before easy to flick through but also engaging enough to study information that comes to life in your hands and your eyes.Trade Review‘Unbelievably brilliant’ – Vogue ‘(a) terrific compendium of visual information’ – Shortlist ‘thought-provoking, lovingly crafted and informative; a handsome book that anyone would be grateful to receive’ – The Independent on Sunday ‘In this intriguing book, David McCandless presents a cavalcade of compelling and colourful graphics, each one innovative in its attempt to offer a new perspective on some of our most pervasive twenty-first century obsessions’ – Time Out ‘Stunning’ – The Sunday Times ‘thought-provoking, lovingly-crafted and informative; a handsome book that anyone would be grateful to receive’ Picked as one of the best science books of the year in Arts & Books, Independent on Sunday ‘What David McCandless has done is genius… dry data is transformed into small pieces of pop art that engage so much you end up learning more, without realising it. The ideal encyclopaedia for the information age.' Red Handed

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive encyclopedia of film. It features more than 8,000 entries on the artistic, technical, and commercial aspects of moviemaking, including: directors, producers, stars, screenwriters, and cinematographers, styles, genres, and schools of filmmaking, motion picture studios and film centers; and film-related organizations and events.Trade Review"Wow! What a book!" -- Katharine Hepburn "Recommended for any reference collection in need of a world view of film." -- Booklist "The best movie reference book, hands down." -- Newsweek

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Book SynopsisThe Collins English Dictionary is a book to be treasured, no home should be without one, The Times.The largest single-volume English dictionary in print celebrates the extraordinary breadth and changing nature of world English, with more than 732,000 words, meanings and phrases.Updated with the very latest new words and senses, this is an unparalleled resource for word lovers, word gamers and word geeks everywhere. It draws on Collins' extensive language databases and covers many literary and rare words useful for crossword solvers and setters as well as Scrabble players.Ideal for use at work, at home and for study new words, new meanings and new uses are tracked by Collins' lexicographers who monitor language change around the world. This, along with suggestions from the public on the award-winning collinsdictionary.com, ensures Collins English Dictionary truly is the home of living language.More place names and biographical entries with over 9,500 place names and 7,300 biographies Trade Review“I am absolutely thrilled to have a copy of the Collins English Dictionary. If I am ever cast off on a desert island, this is the book I want to have with me.”Dame Judi Dench “I find Collins English Dictionary invaluable because it is an encyclopaedia as well as a dictionary, and it stands up to really intensive use.”John Grant, Crossword Editor, The Times

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Book SynopsisA bumper-size quiz book with all new questions to test your general knowledge, with 500 quizzes and 10,000 questions. Includes 30 picture rounds to get you scratching your head!Perfect for playing with friends and family.Arranged in easy, medium and hard sections, these quizzes offer something for everyone.Have a go at these questions:Which acid is used in lead-acid car batteries?Sulphuric acid.How many eyes does a bee have?Five.Taking its name from one of the largest rivers in the nation, the kwanza is the currency of which African country?Angola.This is the ideal gift for all budding quizzers, whether playing at home with friends and family, or practising for a night down the pub.The answers are quick and easy to find so that anyone can pick this up and test themselves or play quiz master.Trade ReviewSo here’s the perfect gift book (for the festive season or any time of the year!) that brings together the generations to enjoy a super-fun quiz night of trivia knowledge offering entertainment, education… and plenty of head scratching.Lancashire Post

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Book SynopsisThe legacy of ancient Greece and Rome has been imitated, resisted, misunderstood, and reworked by every culture that followed. In this volume, some five hundred articles by a wide range of scholars investigate the afterlife of this rich heritage in the fields of literature, philosophy, art, architecture, history, politics, religion, and science.Trade ReviewOver a thousand pages in length, with some five hundred articles surveying the survival, transmission, and reception of the cultures of Greek and Roman antiquity, The Classical Tradition is a low-cost Wunderkammer, a vast cabinet of curiosities… The Classical Tradition should rightly evoke…gratitude. This is a book whose long, learned, and witty essay on Rome could stand alone as a surprisingly comprehensive guide to that city’s ancient relics, but that also has time for entries on Armenian Hellenism, Hunayn ibn-Ishaāq, and Gandhara; carpe diem, deus ex machina, and the translatio imperii; the Society of Dilettanti, the Grand Tour, and Fascism. It is possible to get pleasantly lost in these pages, as in the internal courtyards of Pompeii, and not emerge for hours. -- Stephen Greenblatt and Joseph Leo Koerner * New York Review of Books *A heady, hefty new single-volume reference… This is a browser’s paradise… While Greece and Rome are no longer the foundation of education, classical scholarship has never been richer. -- Steve Coates * New York Times Book Review *Entries of commendable clarity and range include those on Homer, on pastoral, on Catullus, and on the Argonauts. This is a valuable reference work, especially for those new to the classical world. -- Victoria Moul * Times Literary Supplement *The Classical Tradition is a guidebook of great erudition that is notably well written and unexpectedly compelling. It definitely is not another of those solemn introductions to ‘the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome.’ Instead it is a lively compendium of the manifold ways in which the enduring creations of the classical tradition, and the Greek and Latin classics, have been imitated, adulated, denounced and misunderstood—or understood all too well—over the past two millennia… Each article brings some unexpected insight or little known fact into the discussion, to illuminating effect… The scholarship is impeccable, but there is a donnish drollery in many of the articles… [A] marvelous guide. -- Eric Ormsby * Wall Street Journal *Now here is a fabulous book—and a bargain to boot. Harvard has produced this gigantic volume, packed with color plates and essays by some of the greatest scholars alive, for the price of a couple of hardback thrillers. Better still, while The Classical Tradition may look like a work of reference, it’s actually one of the best bedside books you could ask for. I know because I’ve been browsing around in it with immense pleasure… Certainly anyone even mildly interested in the Western cultural heritage will find The Classical Tradition a necessary purchase… [It] shows us how deeply the stories, iconic figures and ideas of antiquity succor our imaginations and still suffuse the world we live in. -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *[The Classical Tradition’s] catalogue of contributors is a who’s who of classical scholarship and includes some of the best known scholars writing for an educated non-specialist public, such as Ingrid Rowland, Simon Goldhill, Mary Beard and Glen Bowersock… [The editors] have sourced not so much anodyne entries on set-piece subjects—the staple of any encyclopedia—as stories brightly told that move through time to relate, for example, the achievements of the Roman poet Horace as they were seen in the ancient world, followed by an assessment of his immediate influence on Latin poetry, and his considerable impact on subsequent poets from Petrarch to Joseph Brodsky, with a slight pause over the case of Byron, who loathed Horace after their encounters in school… The publication of this Harvard guide not so much to the classical past as to the uses we have made of it—its various metamorphoses—is in itself a cultural event. Consider it one among many markers of a contemporary re-attachment to the classical past. -- Luke Slattery * Australian Literary Review *If, as some classicists say, our minds, bodies, government, law, medicine, arts, and fill-in-the-blank are unintelligible without an understanding of the Greco-Roman heritage, then do not waste another minute in ignorance and read this massive work, or at least selections of it, with urgency. A team of distinguished scholars—rivaling the number of warriors in the Battle of Thermopylae—dispenses knowledge and opinions on every imaginable topic under the Classical sun, connecting us to our ancient bloodline. -- Christopher Benson * First Things *Eclectic rather than exhaustive, the compendium is less an encyclopedia than a buffet, in alphabetical order, of topics and glosses. There is, fortunately, no ideological consistency or purpose. The harvesting academics bring home a bumper crop to remind and instruct the reader of how the Classics are still central to the civilized intelligence; food for thought and primers of the imagination. -- Frederic Raphael * Literary Review *Anthony Grafton’s entry on Historiography is as elegant and learned as everything he does. So elegant and learned, in fact, that I wanted to read each and every essay he had written in The Classical Tradition… Being lost in this book can be invigorating. -- Brendan Boyle * New Criterion *Make no mistake, The Classical Tradition is exceedingly delightful… An esoteric tool for the scholar on the face of it, The Classical Tradition turns out to be a guide for living here, now, in the 21st century as we find it. -- Morgan Meis * The Smart Set *A stunningly wonderful compilation… Massive in length and unimpeachable in scholarship, it nonetheless manages to be endlessly absorbing, and often quietly entertaining into the bargain… I’ve pored over this book like a madman ever since setting hands on it and I’ve devoured enough to be certain that it’s a masterpiece of concision, knowledge, judgment and dedication. It’s clearly going to be a companion for life, and all the better for being well-nigh inexhaustible. -- Bradley Winterton * Taipei Times *This absorbing and endlessly browsable compendium, edited by Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, and Salvatore Settis, explores the richness of our classical legacy through scores of essays, alphabetically arranged by subject, that illuminate our past, our present, and probably our future as well. * Barnes and Noble Review *This magnificent compendium explicates the outsized influence Greek and Roman society, literature and myth has had on the medieval and modern European ages that followed, and in turn on the imperial culture exported around the world. The Greek gods and their attributes—from wise Athena and fierce Ares to bibulous Dionysus—are key elements in a worldview we still look back on, at once alien and familiar. A wonder of research and writing that connects both casual browser and scholar to centuries of learning. * Barnes and Noble Review *Whether priced by the pound or the page, this hefty compendium is quite a bargain. Lead editor Grafton…is perhaps the perfect captain for an ambitious work that attempts to capture, as the preface indicates, the ‘reception of Graeco-Roman antiquity in all its dimensions in later cultures.’… More than 150 color images only add to the browsing pleasure. -- B. Juhl * Choice *

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Book SynopsisAfter 70 years, open the next chapter of record breaking! Filled with thousands of awesome facts and feats for the whole family, this year's edition celebrates Guinness World Records' 70th anniversary. Learn how record breaking has changed over the years and what incredible looks like in 2025.

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Book SynopsisIn 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., isolated himself from the demands of the civil rights movement, rented a house in Jamaica with no telephone, and labored over his final manuscript. In this prophetic work, which has been unavailable for more than ten years, he lays out his thoughts, plans, and dreams for America's future, including the need for better jobs, higher wages, decent housing, and quality education. With a universal message of hope that continues to resonate, King demanded an end to global suffering, asserting that humankind-for the first time-has the resources and technology to eradicate poverty.

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Book SynopsisThe sixth edition of Chinese History: A New Manual, revised and expanded to two volumes, includes the latest developments in digital tools and the ancillary disciplines essential for work on Chinese history. Volume 1 covers topics ranging from Language to Technology. Volume 2 presents primary and secondary sources chronologically by period.Trade ReviewA monument of scholarship, one of the great works on China published in English (or any other language) in the last hundred years. -- Lee Moore * China Books Review *Already the size of a telephone directory by the time of its fifth edition, in 2018, Wilkinson’s perennially popular Chinese History: A New Manual has now expanded still further into two volumes, with newly written introductions to each section, additions throughout, links to much recent scholarship, and new chapters that bring its account forward to the end of the Maoist era…An essential reference for even the most casual sinologist, with its pithy explanations of key historical and cultural issues, and extensive bibliographies for those who want to delve deeper. -- Peter Neville-Hadley * South China Morning Post *A magnificent achievement; the most valuable English-language reference book on China anywhere. -- Richard J. SmithWilkinson displays a mastery of a vast array of topics and subfields… No one undertaking serious research about Chinese history…should be without it. -- Bruce Rusk (reviewing the 2017 edition) * Journal of Asian Studies *A mighty book…magnificent. -- Jonathan Mirsky (reviewing the 2015 edition) * New York Review of Books blog *The book is in every way absolutely indispensable to work in Chinese history. -- Carla Nappi (reviewing the 2013 edition) * New Books in East Asian Studies *

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Book SynopsisUnlock the lost and hidden meanings of the world''s ancient and modern signs and symbols with the latest in the hugely popular series of ''Element Encyclopedias''. This is the biggest A-Z reference book on symbolic objects you''ll ever find.The latest in the popular series of ''Element Encyclopedias'', this is the largest, most definitive guide to the secret and ancient knowledge of signs and symbols, some of which has been lost over thousands of years.Why is the eye believed to be a powerful symbol of protection by fishermen?Why do Masonic Temples have a black and white chequered floor covering?Why do Hindus use coloured rice powder to draw elaborate symbols in front of their homes, only to have these patterns destroyed every day by footprints?What are the hidden meanings behind the symbols on the American dollar?What is the most important symbol in the World?Divided into easy-to-follow A-Z themed sections, the book answers all these questions and more, from sections on Magic and Mystery, Deities and Rituals, the Animal and Plant Kingdom, Landscape and the Elements, to Food and Sacred Geometry.Find out about the secret Demonic alphabet and Script of the Magi, the Glastonbury Zodiac, the Masonic Compass, the Eye of Horus, Native American hunting symbols, the Caduceus and the Indian Diwali ritual.Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols is a fascinating compendium of the hidden meanings behind the most important visual symbols in the world.

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Book SynopsisTraces the history of the civil rights movement in the twentieth century, focusing on the unheralded activists who brought the movement to life.

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Book SynopsisBeautifully designed maps, flags and country profile data make this atlas an ideal source of information about our ever changing world.If you're interested in finding out more about the geography of the world we live in, then this world atlas book is perfect for you. Compact World Atlas provides an excellent source of accurate and informative  geographical information in an attractive, affordable, user-friendly package.Journey all over the world as you explore:- New fully revised 8th Edition incorporating hundreds of updates to maps and statistics.- Over 60 regional maps, 196 country fact files, flags and statistics.- 25 larger scale inset maps of cities and smaller countries- Fully cross-referenced index/gazetteer.Arranged in three main sections, the Compact World Atlas proves ideal for family reference, encompassing  crosswords and quizzes, whilst presenting an intriguing and absorbing journey around th

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Book SynopsisDavid Remfry MBE RA has long been fascinated by the relationships that develop between dogs and their owners. In this charming new book, his deft portraits in watercolour and gouache reveal the mutual understanding and sympathy of these partnerships. Many of his portraits are accompanied by sketches from the artist's many notebooks alongside brief accounts by his sitters of how dog and owner came to find each other. Remfry's lively watercolours and sketches illustrate such celebrities as Ethan Hawke (and Nina), Susan Sarandon (and Penny and Rigby) and Alan Cumming (and Honey). Some of the sitters were Remfry’s neighbours at the iconic Chelsea Hotel in New York.Table of Contents6 Love and Dogs 10 Alan and Honey 22 Michael and Dino 26 Laura and Oscar 34 Mayer and Louise 42 Drew and Fuzzy 46 Josh, Lucio and Acteón 50 Jeanne, Charley and Molly 56 Agnes, Tina, Giotto and Bronzino 64 Nikki and Wallis, Duchess of Pugs 70 Kate and Pickle 72 Lester and Devage 76 Geoffrey and Rocco 84 Susan, Penny and Rigby 90 Richard, Stephen and Mona 96 Jim and Teddy 98 Ethan and Nina 100 La Tasha and Kahlua 104 April and Ava 110 David and Blue 114 In the Park 115 Sketchbooks and Postcards 126 Prints

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Trade Review"Along with stunning photos, the book also has helpful "care and training" basics…as well as amazing illustrations of canine anatomy and interesting dog-culture coverage of canine evolution, art, lore and history. An engrossing and entertaining book for the whole family to savor." – The Bark Magazine

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Book SynopsisChallenge yourself at home with word and number puzzlesGive your memory a workout and hone your general knowledge with 80 definition-style puzzles from The Times2 section.Containing 80 definition-style puzzles all reflecting the T2''s unique style, and encompassing a wide range of topics from geography, to literature, history and culture, this collection will test your word power and boost your general knowledge to boot.Compiled by the T2 Crossword Editor and taken from the T2 section of The Times, these quick accessible puzzles are utterly absorbing and addictive, yet concise enough to be completed on the move.With clues that are satisfyingly skilful and solutions helpfully provided at the back of the book, Times T2 Crossword Book 10 is guaranteed to entertain your brain.Previously published as The Times T2 Crossword book 10.

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Book SynopsisPonder, if you will ...What is the difference between a kit and a caboodle?Why don''t people get goose bumps on their faces?Where do houseflies go in the winter?What causes that ringing sound in your ears?Pop-culture guru David Feldman demystifies these topics and so much more in Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? -- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization''s most nagging questions. Part of the Imponderables® series and charmingly illustrated by Kassie Schwan, Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? challenges readers with the knowledge about everyday life that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don''t have. And think about it, where else are you going to get to the bottom of why hot dogs come ten to a package while hot dog buns come in eights?

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Book SynopsisWhen Do Fish Sleep? is the third book in David Feldman’s best-selling Imponderables™ series, packed with answers to perplexing questions and solutions to everyday mysteries, repackaged and featuring a new cumulative index to all ten Imponderables™ books.In his bestselling Imponderables™ series, David Feldman has shown conclusively that there are answers to just about every question that has been baffling the human race in our relentless search for knowledge and self-improvement. Not the “What is life?” sort of questions, but the really hard ones, like “Why does Mickey Mouse have only four fingers?” or “Why don’t birds tip over when they sleep on a telephone wire?”Where lesser mortals fear to tread, David Feldman charges on undaunted and brings us When Do Fish Sleep?, the third installment of his witty, intelligent, enlightening Imponderables™ series. Since 1986, the Impond

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Addictive, fascinating, exciting--even on topics I already knew quite a lot about. Very high quality." -- Daniel C. Dennett, bestselling author of Breaking the Spell; University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University "Delightful. ... Lucid intellectual hors d'oeuvres that deserve rereading." -- Kirkus Reviews "Brockman's array of contributors and subject matter makes for an often lively collection." -- Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisAn updated edition of a classic African American autobiography, with new supplementary materialsA Penguin Vitae EditionThe preeminent American slave narrative first published in 1845, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative powerfully details the life of the abolitionist from his birth into slavery in 1818 to his escape to the North in 1838, how he endured the daily physical and spiritual brutalities of his owners and driver, how he learned to read and write, and how he grew into a man who could only live free or die. In addition to Douglass’s classic autobiography, this new edition also includes his most famous speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” and his only known work of fiction, The Heroic Slave, which was written, in part, as a response to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin.Penguin Classics presents Penguin Vitae, loosely translated as “Penguin of one&rsquo

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Book SynopsisA collectible hardcover edition of the landmark book about being black in America, featuring an introduction by Ibram X. Kendi, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an AntiracistA Penguin Vitae Edition When The Souls of Black Folk was first published in 1903, it had a galvanizing effect on the conversation about race in America--and it remains both a touchstone in the literature of African America and a beacon in the fight for civil rights. Believing that one can know the soul of a race by knowing the souls of individuals, W. E. B. Du Bois combines history and stirring autobiography to reflect on the magnitude of American racism and to chart a path forward against oppression, and introduces the now-famous concepts of the color line, the veil, and double-consciousness.Penguin Vitae--loosely translated as “Penguin of one’s life”--is a deluxe hardcover series from Penguin Classics celebrating a

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Book SynopsisThis work represents, in many ways, the French Enlightenment. It traces the history of intellectual progress from the Renaissance to 1751 and includes a revision of Diderot's Prospectus, and an introduction to the philosophes.

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Book SynopsisThe picture encyclopaedia in question was a popular work invented by preacher-turned-publisher Johann Siegmund Stoy in 18th century Germany. This study of individual objects provides an unusual perspective on the German bourgeois enlightenmentTrade Review"This is a truly magnificent book - the most impressive histoire totale of an object that I have read. te Heesen provides a fascinating series of perspectives on the German bourgeois Enlightenment through minute study of the production, physical make-up, marketing, reviewing, and educational uses of Stoy's world in a box." - Nicholas Jardine, University of Cambridge

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Book SynopsisThe picture encyclopedia in question was a popular work invented by preacher-turned-publisher Johann Siegmund Stoy in 18th century Germany. This study of an individual object provides an unusual perspective on the German bourgeois enlightenmentTrade Review"This is a truly magnificent book - the most impressive histoire totale of an object that I have read. te Heesen provides a fascinating series of perspectives on the German bourgeois Enlightenment through minute study of the production, physical make-up, marketing, reviewing, and educational uses of Stoy's world in a box." - Nicholas Jardine, University of Cambridge

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Book SynopsisAn adventurous collection that examines how the design field has consistently failed to attract and support Black professionalsand how to create an anti-racist, pro-Black design industry instead. An Anthology of Blackness examines the intersection of Black identity and practice, probing why the design field has failed to attract Black professionals, how Eurocentric hegemony impacts Black professionals, and how Black designers can create an anti-racist design industry. Contributing authors and creators demonstrate how to develop a pro-Black design practice of inclusivity, including Black representation in designed media, anti-racist pedagogy, and radical self-care. Through autoethnography, lived experience, scholarship, and applied research, these contributors share proven methods for creating an anti-racist and inclusive design practice. The contributions in An Anthology of Blackness include essays, opinion pieces, case studies, and visual narratives. Many contributors write from an intersectional perspective on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and ability. Each section of the book expands on community-driven concerns about the state of the design industry, design pedagogy, and design activism. Ultimately, this articulated intersection of Black identity and Black design practice reveals the power of resistance, community, and solidarityand the hope for a more equitable future. With a foreword written by design luminary Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall, An Anthology of Blackness is a pioneering contribution to the literature of social justice. ContributorsKprecia Ambers, Jazmine Beatty, Anne H. Berry, John Brown VI, Nichole Burroughs, Antionette D. Carroll, Jillian M. Harris, Asher Kolieboi, Terrence Moline, Tracey L. Moore, Lesley-Ann Noel, Pierce Otlhogile-Gordon, Jules Porter, Stacey Robinson, Melanie Walby, Jacinda N. Walker, Kelly Walters, Jennifer White-Johnson, Maya Aduba Williams, S. Alfonso Williams

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Book SynopsisEverything Explained That Is Explainable is the audacious, utterly improbable story of the publication of the Eleventh Edition of the legendary Encyclopædia Britannica. It is the tale of a young American entrepreneur who rescued a dying publication with the help of a floundering newspaper, and in so doing produced a series of books that forever changed the face of publishing. Thanks to the efforts of 1,500 contributors, among them a young staff of university graduates as well as some of the most distinguished names of the day, the Eleventh Edition combined scholarship and readability in a way no previous encyclopedia had (or ever has again). Denis Boyles’s work of cultural history pulls back the curtain on the 44-million-word testament to the age of reason that has profoundly shaped the way we see the world.

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Book SynopsisThe Encyclopaedia Britannica was the first English-language compendium to be called an encyclopaedia. It was compiled on a completely new plan, alphabetically arranged, combining easy reference to individual items, terms and minor topics, pioneering a new way to organize and disseminate learning. This milestone in the history of encyclopaedia-making was first issued in one hundred parts in less than three years.

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Book SynopsisThe sixth edition of Chinese History: A New Manual, revised and expanded to two volumes, includes the latest developments in digital tools and the ancillary disciplines essential for work on Chinese history. Volume 1 covers topics ranging from Language to Technology. Volume 2 presents primary and secondary sources chronologically by period.Trade ReviewA monument of scholarship, one of the great works on China published in English (or any other language) in the last hundred years. -- Lee Moore * China Books Review *Already the size of a telephone directory by the time of its fifth edition, in 2018, Wilkinson’s perennially popular Chinese History: A New Manual has now expanded still further into two volumes, with newly written introductions to each section, additions throughout, links to much recent scholarship, and new chapters that bring its account forward to the end of the Maoist era…An essential reference for even the most casual sinologist, with its pithy explanations of key historical and cultural issues, and extensive bibliographies for those who want to delve deeper. -- Peter Neville-Hadley * South China Morning Post *A magnificent achievement; the most valuable English-language reference book on China anywhere. -- Richard J. SmithWilkinson displays a mastery of a vast array of topics and subfields… No one undertaking serious research about Chinese history…should be without it. -- Bruce Rusk (reviewing the 2017 edition) * Journal of Asian Studies *A mighty book…magnificent. -- Jonathan Mirsky (reviewing the 2015 edition) * New York Review of Books blog *The book is in every way absolutely indispensable to work in Chinese history. -- Carla Nappi (reviewing the 2013 edition) * New Books in East Asian Studies *

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Book SynopsisUpdated 2020. An in-depth history of the Jewish faith and development of Jewish culture, from the time of Abraham and the 12 tribes through the destruction of the Temple and the Diaspora, including the Golden Age of Spain and the flowering of Yiddish culture in Eastern Europe, to the founding of modern Israel.

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Book SynopsisThis A-to-Z encyclopedia offers students and non-specialist readers a broad introduction to the fascinating civilization of the Incas. Brief narrative entries, based on archaeological research and historical records, explore Inca settlements, culture, society, celebrations, and achievements—the texture and scope of the Inca Empire.Trade ReviewAmong recent works in Inca studies, there is nothing quite comparable to this reference work designed for the curious to follow cross-references and seek out both the classic and current sources mentioned in bibliographies accompanying each of its 130-plus brief topical and biographical entries. Editors Urton and von Hagen contribute about half of the entries, while the remainder are by 33 specialists in disciplines spanning archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, art, architecture, materials science, linguistics, history, bioanthropology, ethnomusicology, and museology. . . .The Rowman and Littlefield encyclopedia is well structured for its purpose...with a table of contents of entries arranged A-Z, another divided into historic personages and thematic topics, and a list of contributors with affiliations. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels. * CHOICE *While the Inca Empire was the largest in the pre-Columbian New World, until recent decades it had drawn less scholarly attention than the Maya and Aztecs. Editors Urton (pre-Columbian Studies, Harvard Univ.) and Peruvian archaeologist von Hagen have gathered 35 Inca specialists to describe key elements of an empire that extended from Colombia to Chile and encompassed coastal plains, mountains, and tropical forests. The Incas did not invent a writing system but used quipus (knotted string devices) for record keeping. There are fascinating entries on fortifications, and their extraordinary road and bridge network, which was some 25,000 miles long, linked Cuzco to the rest of the empire and featured roadside lodgings called tambos every ten to 15 miles. Specialists and students alike will reap the benefits of this helpful reference. * Library Journal *Urton and von Hagen present an encyclopedia that has a broad introduction outlining the main themes of their volume before presenting material in an accessible format that can be considered current, accurate and comprehensive. Encyclopedia of the Incas at once presents its reader with a fascinating array of information but leaves them with many questions. For scholars, this will be ideal, leading to new branches of knowledge and research. For amateurs, it provides a further investigation into a fascinating culture with an emphasis not only on the people but also on their invaders. Fascinating, unique and important, this is a well-presented and important work. * s *Thirty-five specialists from varied disciplines and with distinct points of view contributed to this Encyclopedia of the Incas, the first of its kind. The challenge of the editors, Gary Urton and Adriana von Hagen, was to assemble an organic array of authors and entries that would result in a work capable of synthesizing the vast body of knowledge on the Incas in a comprehensive, detailed and authoritative fashion. At the same time, the volume is accessible to a non-specialist, English speaking audience; which, for historical and geopolitical reasons, is not very familiar with the world created by the lords of Cuzco. Through a careful selection that does not omit a single central aspect of Inca civilization and that also includes specific features of the most diverse nature, the editors have minimized the potential randomness implicit in any selection of this type while at the same time skirting the restrictions proper to the academic genre to which the work belongs. -- José Carlos de la Puente * Revista Andina *This comprehensive book features an expert cast of authors and a rich narrative that illuminates the Inca. Sections combining ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological data are particularly well-written. It is a valuable reference in general, but also (and surprisingly for an encyclopedia) a solid resource for scholars who will benefit from its interpretive strengths and bibliographic references. -- Ryan Williams, The Field Museum

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Book SynopsisThis indispensable resource provides an illustrated introduction to and overview of the archaeological study of food and foodways today.Trade ReviewFood has always been an essential part of human life and culture; food is not just what provides humans sustenance but is used to celebrate, communicate, and innovate. This set delves into these diverse aspects of the archaeological history of food through more than 240 entries covering various time periods, theories, foodstuffs, and locations and cultures worldwide. Entries with a broad focus, such as Agriculture and Food and capitalism, are longer than most entries and include research from different places, eras, and cultures to provide a wide-ranging context. Entries on specific locations, food items, techniques, and concepts, such as RNA analysis, Fishing, and Jamestown, Virginia, are more narrowly focused and provide great detail on the topic. Each entry includes a see also section to direct readers to related entries and a 'Further Reading' list of important publications on the topic. The two-volume set is easy to navigate, with a thematic table of contents to help readers locate related topics and a detailed index with cross-referencing. Although the archaeology of food is a very specific topic, this encyclopedia is interdisciplinary in order to provide context and comprehensiveness. Therefore, it would serve as a great resource for college-age students in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, food studies, history, sociology, and other related disciplines. * Booklist *Devoted to ‘the fundamental connection between food and archaeology,’ this two-volume set contains 284 entries written by 236 archaeologists and scholars from around the globe. One of the book’s major strengths is that it includes recent discoveries and current scientific methods and technologies alongside the older research. The contributors, especially those who wrote the longer, broader topics, effectively explain how new techniques have changed the thinking on certain topics. For instance, the entry on ‘bioarchaeological analysis’ spans 11 pages, beginning with the first use of the phrase in 1972. This work is interdisciplinary, joining science with the humanities to illustrate how food affects every aspect of life, from nutrition to sense of self, with such entries as ‘food and gender,’ ‘food and power,’ and ‘food and status.’ The topics are arranged alphabetically, and a useful thematic table of contents is also included, which helps readers get a sense of related subjects. There are also numerous tables and figures peppered throughout. Each entry contains its own further reading list. Editors Metheny and Beaudry and contributors have done an admirable job of bringing the science and art of archaeology to food. Verdict: This is a solid introduction with broad appeal for public libraries and undergraduate colleges and universities. * Library Journal *General awareness of food, cuisines, and food culture has become an integral part of contemporary life, demonstrated by the growing number of podcasts and reality shows dedicated to food, and the popularity of farmers markets and eating local. Archaeologists Metheny and Beaudry invited 236 international scholars to contribute more than 280 entries to this two-volume work. In addition to individual entries on specific foods (coffee, bread, bottle gourd, etc.), readers may investigate techniques (isotope or DNA analysis, infrared spectroscopy, paleofecal analysis), particular sites (Jamestown, Virginia, Franchthi Cave in Greece, Quseir al-Qadim in Egypt), and theoretical approaches to understanding the acquisition, consumption, and role of food in ancient cultures. Arranged alphabetically by topic, essayists emphasize archaeological theory related to social impacts of food, food culture, and agriculture, identifying a solid range of techniques for studying the physical remains of food production and collection in different societies. . . .The new compilation is…designed to serve the current crop of university courses devoted to the archaeological and anthropological study of foodways by offering snapshots—many entries occupying fewer than two pages—on selective topics (e.g., Neanderthal diet, trade routes). Indexes in both volumes facilitate cross-referencing, and limited bibliographies complete each entry. There is a single map of archaeological sites accompanied by 71 figures, mostly black-and-white (but some color) photos, and line drawings. These illustrations range over a diversity of topics of archaeological interest (aurochs' bones, excavated living floors, ancient cooking techniques, and much more). The work will help students writing papers begin to understand the complexity of what may first appear to be a simple subject—the food eaten by peoples of the past. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Students at all levels; general readers. * CHOICE *This two-volume set provides 284 articles on a wide range of information on topics 'including eras, places, cultural groups, specific foodstuffs, landmark sites, analytical techniques, methodology, pioneers in the field, innovations, theories, issues, controversies, and more.' Scholars from around the world explore the history of food over the last 40,000 years. Whether discussing sweet potatoes or rye, explaining the significance of a Mesolithic site in England, or describing the value of scanning electron microscopy, the entries provide a rich introduction to the archaeological history of food. . . .For students and faculty, or anyone interested in the history of our food, these volumes will provide useful, and often fascinating, information. One nice feature: the contents and index are included in both volumes. * American Reference Books Annual *This book is an encyclopedia/dictionary with around 250 entries. It takes a broad approach to the subject of archaeology. . . .This book is rich on the interpretation of the finds and goes further in looking at social and economic systems that are affected by food. . . .There is much in this book that will interest the ethnobotanist and the social historian. The book is aimed at the research community, but it is also of general interest. When I did my first degree we had a course on the major agricultural crops that was taught to all the agricultural first years. In the final year those of us doing agricultural botany had a course on tropical crops. Information from this book could have added to those courses. * s *A useful encyclopedia for anyone interested in how humans used to eat and how ancient food choices have shaped today’s dietary preferences and cultural practices. Entries by eminent scholars cross the globe and span millennia to reveal the reciprocal evolution of humankind and the plants and animals we eat. A stand-out feature is the inclusion of several long entries explaining the history and current thinking about important topics such as the origins of agriculture, the utility of bioarchaeological analysis, and the relevance of past diseases to our understanding of foodways in history. Both the encyclopedia as a whole and the synoptic entries are truly multidisciplinary, integrating archaeological, historical, linguistic, and biological data to ground the reader in the latest research from the field of ancient food studies. -- Kristina Killgrove, University of West Florida

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Book SynopsisTold through the powerful stories of Black lives that were ravaged by racism, this manifesto holds 10 demands to rectify racial injusticeTold through his perspective as an activist, acclaimed commentator Solomon Jones tells the stories of real people whose lives and deaths pushed the Black Lives Matter movement forward. He explains how each act of violence was incited by specific instances of structural racism, and details concrete and actionable strategies to address crimes committed by our “justice” system.These stories and strategies are a critical resource for social justice activists looking to further their anti-racist education. These 10 demands form an actionable plan that is necessary to repair our racist past, change the racist present, and bring justice to the future:   1. George Floyd: Pay financial reparations to Black communities that have been damaged by legalized racism.    2. Mic

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Book SynopsisA challenge to the cultural tradition of corporal punishment in Black homes—and its connections to racial violence in America—that encourages positive, nonviolent discipline for those rearing, teaching, and caring for children of color Why do so many African Americans have such a special attachment to whupping children? Studies show that nearly 80 percent of Black parents see spanking, popping, pinching, and beating as reasonable, effective ways to teach respect and to protect black children from the streets, incarceration, encounters with racism, or worse. However, the consequences of this widely accepted approach to child-rearing are far-reaching and seldom discussed. Dr. Stacey Patton’s extensive research suggests that corporal punishment is a crucial factor in explaining why Black folks are subject to disproportionately higher rates of school suspensions and expulsions, criminal prosecutions, improper mental health diagnoses, child abuse cases, and

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Book SynopsisAt the beginning of World War II, Heinz August Lüning, posing as a Jewish refugee, was sent to Cuba to spy for the Third Reich. Lüning's assignment was to collect information about the United States and its allies and report back to Abwehr, the German for

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Book SynopsisThe story of African Americans in Kentucky is as diverse and vibrant as the state's general history. The work of more than 150 writers, The Kentucky African American Encyclopedia is an essential guide to the black experience in the Commonwealth. The encyclopedia includes biographical sketches, portrays politicians and community leaders, as well as pioneers in art, science, and industry.

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Book SynopsisHistorian, sociologist, novelist, editor, and political activist, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was the most gifted and influential black intellectual of his time. This Library of America volume presents his essential writings, covering the full span of a restless life dedicated to the struggle for racial justice.The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States 1638–1870 (1896), his first book, renders a dispassionate account of how, despite ethical and political opposition, Americans tolerated the traffic in human beings until a bloody civil war taught them the disastrous consequences of moral cowardice.The Souls of Black Folk (1903), a collection of beautifully written essays, narrates the cruelties of racism and celebrates the strength and pride of black America. By turns lyrical, historical, and autobiographical, Du Bois pays tribute to black music and religion, explores the remarkable history of the Reconstruction Fre

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Book SynopsisThere is a rich body of encyclopaedic writing which survives from the two millennia before the Enlightenment. This book sheds new light on that material. It traces the development of traditions of knowledge ordering which stretched back to Pliny and Varro and others in the classical world. It works with a broad concept of encyclopaedism, resisting the idea that there was any clear pre-modern genre of the 'encyclopaedia', and showing instead how the rhetoric and techniques of comprehensive compilation left their mark on a surprising range of texts. In the process it draws attention to both remarkable similarities and striking differences between conventions of encyclopaedic compilation in different periods, with a focus primarily on European/Mediterranean culture. The book covers classical, medieval (including Byzantine and Arabic) and Renaissance culture in turn, and combines chapters which survey whole periods with others focused closely on individual texts as case studies.Trade Review'… this volume can be used in two different ways: each article can be read separately (I think it will be its main use), but the whole reading is stimulating. The interest of this book is to remind us that the theme of encyclopaedism, apparently limited to a technical genre, is not of small importance: it enables us to think about intertextuality, visions of the world or relations between power and knowledge.' Jacques Elfassi, Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewTable of Contents1. Introduction: Jason König and Greg Woolf; Part I. Classical Encyclopaedism: 2. Encyclopaedism in the Roman Empire Jason König and Greg Woolf; 3. Encyclopaedism in the Alexandrian Library Myrto Hatzimichali; 4. Labores pro bono publico: the burdensome mission of Pliny's Natural History Mary Beagon; 5. Encyclopaedias of virtue? Collections of sayings and stories about wise men in Greek Teresa Morgan; 6. Plutarch's corpus of Quaestiones in the tradition of imperial Greek encyclopaedism Katerina Oikonomopoulou; 7. Artemidorus' Oneirocritica as fragmentary encyclopaedia Daniel Harris-McCoy; 8. Encyclopaedias and autocracy: Justinian's Encyclopaedia of Roman law Jill Harries; 9. Late Latin encyclopaedism: towards a new paradigm of practical knowledge Marco Formisano; Part II. Medieval Encyclopaedism: 10. Byzantine encyclopaedism of the ninth and tenth centuries Paul Magdalino; 11. The imperial systematisation of the past in Constantinople: Constantine VII and his Historical Excerpts András Németh; 12. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam: Joseph Rhakendytès' synopsis of Byzantine learning Erika Gielen; 13. Shifting horizons: the medieval compilation of knowledge as mirror of a changing world Elizabeth Keen; 14. Isidore's Etymologies: on words and things Andrew Merrills; 15. Loose Giblets: encyclopaedic sensibilities of ordinatio and compilatio in later medieval English literary culture and the sad case of Reginald Pecock Ian Johnson; 16. Why was the fourteenth century a century of Arabic encyclopaedism? Elias Muhanna; 17. Opening up a world of knowledge: Mamluk encyclopaedias and their readers Maaike van Berkel; Part III. Renaissance Encyclopaedism: 18. Revisiting Renaissance encyclopaedism Ann Blair; 19. Philosophy and the Renaissance encyclopaedia: some observations D. C. Andersson; 20. Reading 'Pliny's Ape' in the Renaissance: the Polyhistor of Caius Julius Solinus in the first century of print Paul Dover; 21. Shakespeare's encyclopaedias Neil Rhodes; 22. Big Dig: Dugdale's drainage and the dregs of England History of Embanking and Drayning Claire Preston; 23. Irony and encyclopedic writing before (and after) the Enlightenment William West; Part IV. Chinese Encyclopaedism: A Postscript: 24. The passion to collect, select, and protect: fifteen hundred years of the Chinese encyclopaedia Harriet Zurndorfer.

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Book SynopsisVolume 2 of the Encyclopedia of Financial Models The need for serious coverage of financial modeling has never been greater, especially with the size, diversity, and efficiency of modern capital markets.Table of ContentsVolume II Equity Models and Valuation 1 Dividend Discount Models 3 Discounted Cash Flow Methods for Equity Valuation 15 Relative Valuation Methods for Equity Analysis 33 Equity Analysis in a Complex Market 47 Equity Portfolio Selection Models in Practice 61 Basics of Quantitative Equity Investing 89 Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management 107 Forecasting Stock Returns 121 Factor Models for Portfolio Construction 135 Factor Models 137 Principal Components Analysis and Factor Analysis 153 Multifactor Equity Risk Models and Their Applications 171 Factor-Based Equity Portfolio Construction and Analysis 195 Cross-Sectional Factor-Based Models and Trading Strategies 213 The Fundamentals of Fundamental Factor Models 243 Multifactor Equity Risk Models and Their Applications 255 Multifactor Fixed Income Risk Models and Their Applications 267 Financial Econometrics 293 Scope and Methods of Financial Econometrics 295 Regression Analysis: Theory and Estimation 305 Categorical and Dummy Variables in Regression Models 333 Quantile Regression 353 ARCH/GARCH Models in Applied Financial Econometrics 359 Classification and Regression Trees and Their Use in Financial Modeling 375 Applying Cointegration to Problems in Finance 383 Nonlinearity and Nonlinear Econometric Models in Finance 401 Robust Estimates of Betas and Correlations 437 Working with High-Frequency Data 449 FinancialModeling Principles 465 Milestones in Financial Modeling 467 From Art to Financial Modeling 479 Basic Data Description for Financial Modeling and Analysis 485 Time Series Concepts, Representations, and Models 501 Extracting Risk-Neutral Density Information from Options Market Prices 521 Financial Statement Analysis 529 Financial Statements 531 Financial Ratio Analysis 545 Cash-Flow Analysis 565 Finite Mathematics for Financial Modeling 579 Important Functions and Their Features 581 Time Value of Money 595 Fundamentals of Matrix Algebra 621 Difference Equations 629 Differential Equations 643 Partial Differential Equations in Finance 659 Model Risk and Selection 689 Model Risk 691 Model Selection and Its Pitfalls 699 Managing the Model Risk with the Methods of the Probabilistic Decision Theory 719 Fat-Tailed Models for Risk Estimation 731

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Book SynopsisThe International Encyclopedia of Media Effects presents a comprehensive collection of the most up-to-date research on the uses and impacts of media throughout the world. Provides the definitive resource on the most recent findings of media effects research Covers all aspects of the uses and impact of media, utilizing empirical, psychological, and critical research approaches to the field Features over 200 entries contributed by leading international scholars in their associated fields Offers invaluable insights to for students, scholars and professionals studying and working in related fields, and will stimulate new scholarship in emerging fields such as the Internet, Social Media and Mobile Communication Part of The Wiley Blackwell-ICA International Encyclopedias of Communication series, published in conjunction with the International Communication Association. Online version available at

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Book SynopsisThe International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication offers a comprehensive collection of entries contributed by international experts on the origin, evolution, and current state of knowledge of all facets of contemporary organizational communication. Represents the definitive international reference resource on a topic of increasing relevance, in a new series of sub-disciplinary international encyclopedias Examines organization communication across a range of contexts, including NGOs, global corporations, community cooperatives, profit and non-profit organizations, formal and informal collectives, virtual work, and more Features topics ranging from leader-follower communication, negotiation and bargaining and organizational culture to the appropriation of communication technologies, emergence of inter-organizational networks, and hidden forms of work and organization Offers an unprecedented level of authority and diverse perspTable of ContentsVolume I The International Communication Association ix About the Editors xi Contributors xiii Alphabetical List of Entries xxiii Thematic List of Entries xxvii Introduction xxxi Organizational Communication A–C 1 Volume II Organizational Communication D–I 631 Volume III Organizational Communication J–Q 1397 Volume IV Organizational Communication R–Z 2031 Index 2563

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Book SynopsisTHE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE GOTHIC Well written and interesting [it is] a testament to the breadth and depth of knowledge about its central subject among the more than 130 contributing writers, and also among the three editors, each of whom is a significant figure in the field of gothic studies A reference work that's firmly rooted in and actively devoted to expressing the current state of academic scholarship about its area. New York Journal of BooksA substantial achievement. Reference Reviews Comprehensive and wide-ranging, The Encyclopedia of the Gothic brings together over 200 newly-commissioned essays by leading scholars writing on all aspects of the Gothic as it is currently taught and researched, along with challenging insights into the development of the genre and its impact on contemporary culture. The A-Z entries provide comprehensive coverage of relevant authors, national traditions, critical developments, and notable texts that conTrade Review“The essays are well written and interesting, and many of them provide moments of real and pleasurable insight … [It is] a testament to the breadth and depth of knowledge about its central subject among the more than 130 contributing writers, and also among the three editors, each of whom is a significant figure in the field of gothic studies … A reference work that’s firmly rooted in and actively devoted to expressing the current state of academic scholarship about its area.” New York Journal of Books“It includes over 200 commissioned essays from experts in gothic studies …The entries are well written and vary in length from one to five thousand words. Recommended.” Choice“A substantial achievement ... An essential addition for humanities libraries, particularly those with researchers active in Gothic.” Reference ReviewsTable of ContentsAlphabetical List of Entries ix General Editors xiii Notes on Contributors xv Introduction xxxv The Gothic A–Z 1–757 Index 758

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Book SynopsisIn this exhilarating celebration of human ingenuity and perseverancepublished all around the worlda trailblazing Italian scholar sifts through our cultural and social behavior in search of the origins of our greatest invention: writing.The L where a tabletop meets the legs, the T between double doors, the D of an armchair's oval backrestall around us is an alphabet in things. But how did these shapes make it onto the page, never mind form complex structures such as this sentence? In The Greatest Invention, Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at howand how many timeshuman beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, traveling back and forth in time and all across the globe to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond.With Ferrara as our guide, we examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts, including famous cases like the Phaistos Disk and the Voynich Manuscript; we

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