Search results for """ "The Spectacle of Online Life""

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Book SynopsisThe authoritative guide to the online world by the award-winning author of Blame My Brain, The Teenage Guide to Stress and The Teenage Guide to Friends.From the award-winning author of Blame My Brain, The Teenage Guide to Stress and The Teenage Guide to Friends comes The Teenage Guide to Life Online, a balanced look at what happens to us all young and old when we spend time on the internet. Nicola Morgan explores the pros and cons of life in the Digital Age, from the information explosion to the growth of social media. Opening with a brief history of the web she then explores hot topics like fake news and online privacy, and draws on fascinating, cutting-edge research into how the internet and screen-use affect our ability to concentrate, our mood and sleep patterns. This is a book for families to share: a way for teenagers, their parents and carers to inform themselves about the many advantages and risks of life onliTrade ReviewThis is a must for teenagers (and adults like me) who worry about the effects of the little glowing screen in their pocket. * Children's Books Ireland - Mind Yourself *

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Book SynopsisOur world is, increasingly, a digital one. Over half of the planet’s adult population now spend more of their waking hours ‘plugged in’ than not, whether to the internet, mobile telephony, or other digital media. To email, text, tweet and blog our way through our careers, relationships and even our family lives is now the status quo. But what effect is this need for constant connection really having? For the first time, Tom Chatfield examines what our wired life is really doing to our minds and our culture - and offers practical advice on how we can hope to prosper in a digital century. One in the new series of books from The School of Life, launched May 2012: How to Stay Sane by Philippa Perry How to Find Fulfilling Work by Roman Krznaric How to Worry Less About Money by John Armstrong How to Change the World by John-Paul Flintoff How to Thrive in the Digital Age by To

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Book SynopsisEveryday Life in the Spectacular Cityis a groundbreaking urban ethnography that reveals how middle-class citizens and longtime residents of Dubai interact with the city's so-called superficial spaces to create meaningful social lives. Rana AlMutawa shows that inhabitants adapt themselves to top-down development projects, from big malls to megaprojects. These structures serve residents' evolving social needs, transforming Dubai's spectacular spaces into personally important cultural sites. These practices are significant because they expand our understanding of agency as not only subversive but also adaptive. Throughextensive fieldwork, AlMutawa, herself an Emirati native to Dubai, finds a more nuanced story of belonging. This story does not seek to uncover the real city that lies beneath the veneer of the spectacle, but rather to demonstrate that social meanings and forms of belonging take place within the spectacle itself.By offering an alternative to the discourse of authenticity and elucidating the dynamics of ambivalent belonging, AlMutawa belies stereotypes that portray Dubai's developments as alienating and inherently disempowering.Everyday Life in the Spectacular Cityspeaks beyond the Middle East to a globalized phenomenon, for Dubai's spectacles are unexceptional in today's changing world. Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. (In)Authenticity in Brand Dubai 2. Negotiating Belonging in Dubai’s Glitzy, Neoliberal Spaces 3. Globalization and Diversity at a Cosmopolitan Crossroads 4. An Appropriately Modern City 5. The Costs and Benefits of Safety in Sanitized Spaces Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNetworks and computer-mediated communication now penetrate the spaces of everyday life at a fundamental level. We communicate, work, bank, date, check the weather, and fuel conspiracy theories online. In each instance, users interact with network technology as much more than a computational device. Cyberspaces of Everyday Life provides a critical framework for understanding how the Internet takes part in the production of social space. Mark Nunes draws on the spatial analysis work of Henri Lefebvre to make sense of cyberspace as a social product. Looking at online education, he explores the ways in which the Internet restructures the university. Nunes also examines social uses of the World Wide Web and illustrates the ways online communication alters the relation between the global and the local. He also applies Deleuzian theory to emphasize computer-mediated communications’ performative elements of spatial production. Addressing the social and cultura

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Book SynopsisThe incredible #1 bestselling debut novel from YouTube phenomenon Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, now in paperback. Contains exclusive extracts from the sequel. I have this dream that, secretly, all teenage girls feel exactly like me. And maybe one day, when we realize that we all feel the same, we can all stop pretending we''re something we''re not... But until that day, I''m going to keep it real on this blog and keep it unreal in real life.Penny has a secret. Under the alias Girl Online, Penny blogs her hidden feelings about friendship, boys, high school drama, her crazy family, and the panic attacks that have begun to take over her life. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets Noah, a gorgeous, guitar-strumming American. Suddenly Penny is falling in love - and capturing every moment of it on her blog.But Noah has a secret, too, one that threatens to ruin Penny''s cover - and her closest friends

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Book SynopsisFrom EverQuest to World of Warcraft, online games have evolved from the exclusive domain of computer geeks into an extraordinarily lucrative staple of the entertainment industry. People of all ages and from all walks of life now spend thousands of hoursand dollarspartaking in this popular new brand of escapism. But the line between fantasy and reality is starting to blur. Players have created virtual societies with governments and economies of their own whose currencies now trade against the dollar on eBay at rates higher than the yen. And the players who inhabit these synthetic worlds are starting to spend more time online than at their day jobs. In Synthetic Worlds, Edward Castronova offers the first comprehensive look at the online game industry, exploring its implications for business and culture alike. He starts with the players, giving us a revealing look into the everyday lives of the gamersoutlining what they do in their synthetic worlds and why. He then describes the economies inside these worlds to show how they might dramatically affect real world financial systems, from potential disruptions of markets to new business horizons. Ultimately, he explores the long-term social consequences of online games: If players can inhabit worlds that are more alluring and gratifying than reality, then how can the real world ever compete? Will a day ever come when we spend more time in these synthetic worlds than in our own? Or even more startling, will a day ever come when such questions no longer sound alarmist but instead seem obsolete? With more thanten million active players worldwideand with Microsoft and Sony pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into video game developmentonline games have become too big to ignore. Synthetic Worlds spearheads our efforts to come to terms with this virtual reality and its concrete effects. Illuminating. . . . Castronova's analysis of the economics of fun is intriguing.Virtual-world economies are designed to make the resulting game interesting and enjoyable for their inhabitants. Many games follow a rags-to-riches storyline, for example. But how can all the players end up in the top 10%? Simple: the upwardly mobile human players need only be a subset of the world's population. An underclass of computer-controlled 'bot'citizens, meanwhile, stays poor forever. Mr. Castronovaexplains all this with clarity, wit, and a merciful lack of academic jargon.The EconomistSynthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange for things they value, are not merely like real economies, they are real economies, displaying inflation, fraud, Chinese sweatshops, and some surprising in-game innovations.Tim Harford, Chronicle of Higher Education

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Book SynopsisDrawing on radical democratic theory and the ideas of political theorist Guy Debord, Rethinking the Spectacle examines the tension between spectacles and political agency in our digital society.Table of ContentsIntroduction1 The Spectacle in Theory: Debord’s Conception and Beyond2 Practical Implications: From the Situationist International to Autonomist Marxism3 Rethinking the Spectacle 1: Lessons from the Situationist International4 Rethinking the Spectacle 2: Toward a Radically Democratic Approach5 The Spectacular Politics of the 2011 Occupy MovementConclusionNotes; Bibliography; Index

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. (In)Authenticity in Brand Dubai 2. Negotiating Belonging in Dubai’s Glitzy, Neoliberal Spaces 3. Globalization and Diversity at a Cosmopolitan Crossroads 4. An Appropriately Modern City 5. The Costs and Benefits of Safety in Sanitized Spaces Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFilm and television create worlds, but they are also of a world, a world that is made up of stuff, to which humans attach meaning. Think of the last time you watched a movie: the chair you sat in, the snacks you ate, the people around you, maybe the beer or joint you consumed to help you unwindall this stuff shaped your experience of media and its influence on you. The material culture around film and television changes how we make sense of their content, not to mention the very concepts of the mediums. Focusing on material cultures of film and television reception, The Stuff of Spectatorshipargues that the things we share space with and consume as we consume television and film influence the meaning we gather from them. This book examines the roles that six different material cultures have played in film and television culture since the 1970sincluding video marketing, branded merchandise, drugs and alcohol, and even gun violenceand shows how objects considered peripheral to film and television culture are in fact central to its past and future.Trade Review "This book is an important and cutting-edge contribution. . . . A provocative, entertaining contribution to context and material culture studies, The Stuff of Spectatorship provides an outstanding rationale to investigate stuff." * Film Quarterly * "These unique analyses leave readers aware that a show's or a film's meaning and interest hinge on a material experience inseparable from the images flashing on the screen." * CHOICE *Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction: Material Mediations 1. Collecting and Recollecting: Battlestar Galactica through Video's Varied Technologies of Memory 2. The Commercial Economy of Film History: Or, Looking for Looking for Mr. Goodbar 3. "Let’s Movie": How TCM Made a Lifestyle of Classic Film 4. Spirits of Cinema: Alcohol Service and the Future of Theatrical Exhibition 5. Blunt Spectatorship: Inebriated Poetics in Contemporary US Television 6. Shot in Black and White: The Racialized Reception of US Cinema Violence Conclusion: Expanding the Scene of the Screen Appendix: Documented Incidents of Cinema Violence in the United States through December 31, 2019 Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTravelling from high culture to pop culture and back again, this book approaches cyberspace and Las Vegas through Hegel and Kant and reads Melville's The Confidence-Man through the film Wall Street.

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Book SynopsisAlex Preda provides an ethnographic exploration of how financial expertise is performed and produced in the media, analyzing its features and how audiences react to it. He examines how analysts, anchors, and producers collaborate in manufacturing financial talk that circulates around the world.Trade ReviewThis is easily the most original book in the sociology of finance that I have read in many years. Preda singles out financial expert talk by academics, analysts, and financial journalists, showing how it is interactionally produced and performed, and how it invades the public sphere and influences how finance is understood. This book should not be missed by sociologists of finance and financial economists. It is also a must read for science communication generally, expert studies and media studies—and for practitioners, seeking to look into a mirror of their practice. -- Karin Knorr Cetina, author of Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make KnowledgeHow are we ever going to make sense of our world after the 2008 crash without understanding what financial experts think they are doing? Reaching into all the latest research on, and analysis of expertise, Alex Preda tells us what is going on when financial experts present themselves in the media. -- Harry Collins, coauthor of Why Democracies Need ScienceTalk is fundamental to how human beings interact, and what we say about money and finance matters. Focusing on Hong Kong's TV and radio studios, and employing his trademark combination of ethnographic insight and sharp sociological analysis, Preda throws important new light on financial talk, its nuances, and its audiences. -- Donald MacKenzie, author of Trading at the Speed of Light: How Ultrafast Algorithms Are Transforming Financial MarketsWritten in clear prose, Preda’s ethnography moves easily between theory and evidence. * Social Forces *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. What Is Financial Expertise?2. Talk, Spectacle, and Expertise3. The Organization of Expert Talk4. Strategic Facework: The Expert Presentation of Experts5. Unfaultable Talk6. Talk and Truth7. Managing AudiencesConclusionAppendix 1. Hong Kong as a Global Financial CenterAppendix 2. Ethnographic MethodsAcknowledgmentsNotesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisSpeculative Communities investigates the financial world’s influence on the social imagination, unraveling its radical effects on our personal and political lives.Trade Review"Speculative Communities is a masterful critique of the financialisastion of everyday life, which provides an innovative account of the role of speculation and uncertainty in shaping the way we understand, and act within, the world. Komporozos-Athanasiou masterfully blends economic theory with political and sociological analysis to deliver a fascinating reading of how finance has colonised our imaginations, and the challenges this process poses to movements seeking to construct a collective sense of what life beyond capitalism might look like. Speculative Communities is both a novel and exciting academic contribution, and a critical reference point for those seeking to organise in a world defined by the logic of speculation."--Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen: How to Save the World From FinancialisationTable of ContentsKey Terms Introduction Part 1: Speculation: Finance and Capitalism 1. The Rise of Speculative Communities 2. A Genealogy of Speculative Imagination: Old Spirits of Capitalism Part 2: Spectacle: Finance and Society 3. Speculative Technologies and the New Homo speculans 4. Speculative Intimacies Part 3: Specter: Finance and Polity 5. Financialized Populism and New Nationalisms 6. Counter-speculations Conclusions Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisA powerful, comprehensive guide to spotting, responding to and proactively defending yourself from online abuse - and learning how to be a good ally to those experiencing it.''The need-to-know, must-have and barrier breaking book on fighting online abuse that everyone must have a copy of'' Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu''A book written from the front line of life online - heartfelt, heart-breaking, practical, brilliant'' Richard Curtis ______________________________________ Digital spaces are a positive force for change, connection and community, but left unregulated, they are not always safe. Globally, women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online. Black women are 84% more likely to face online harassment than white. There has been a 71% rise in online disability abuse and 78% of LGBTQ+ people have experienced hate speech online. How to Stay Safe Online is an urgent, necessary digital selTrade Review'Seyi Akiwowo's work to make the online world safer, especially for Black women, is not only powerful, it's necessary' -- Nova Reid, Anti-racism activist and author of 'The Good Ally''Seyi Akiwowo's book is the need-to-know, must-have and barrier breaking book on fighting online abuse that everyone must have a copy of. This book is the knowledge that gives you power. It is conversational, current and relevant. Seyi talks you through it like she's right there with you - letting you know that you are not alone' -- Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu'Seyi Akiwowo has been at the forefront of campaigning for more intentional social media usage throughout the years, and this book highlights the various ways one goes about doing that. It is the first book of its kind to highlight how we go about being safe online as well as providing the nuance required of minoritised and marginalised people's experience of the internet. This is essential reading for the times we live in' -- Kelechi Okafor Actor Director Podcaster Writer'This book needed to be written and thankfully it finally has. Seyi's experience, and those of countless others, are full of valuable lessons for keeping us safe and empowered online' -- Kajal Odedra. Author of Do Something: Activism for Everyone'I wish the Internet was a safer place, but until that day comes, this helpful book is a crucial companion. How wonderful to have Seyi on our side as we navigate through the stormy seas of the online world which she, sadly, knows all too well. The brilliant tools in this book will help you set better boundaries, protect your mental health, be a better digital citizen, and in general look after ourselves and each other' -- Emma Gannon, bestselling author of The Multi-Hyphen Method'Seyi Akiwowo is a force of nature and this book is a godsend. She exposes the depth and urgency of the online abuse crisis, explores the hypocrisy and inefficacy of tech companies and government, and explains what readers can do to improve their online lives. Accessible, empowering and potentially life-changing, this is a book everyone should read' -- Laura Bates, feminist activist and bestselling author of Everyday Sexism'Educational and entertaining. No one should be using the internet without having read this book' -- Alex Holder, journalist and bestselling author of Open Up: The Power of Talking About Money'The digital world is evolving far faster than our brain can keep up. Seyi's powerful story of the impact of the online world provides important lessons for how to navigate this to keep our mind and ourselves healthy and safe' -- Dr Emma Hepburn, clinical psychologist and bestselling author of A Toolkit for Modern Life'Such a relevant, thoughtful and practical book which has important lessons for us all whilst we learn to navigate this digital world' -- Natalie Evans, co-founder of Everyday Racism and co-author of The Mixed Race Experience'Seyi's... vibrant and robust approach to how we navigate social media and use it more mindfully. This book [is] refreshing... empowering us with tools and providing guidance on how we can collectively make digital spaces safer and better for our communities' -- Ronke Lawal, PR and Comms consultant'I loved this! Such a powerful personal story, and actually doable practical advice. Social media can be like the Wild West for women, so we need strategies and boundaries to protect ourselves. Seyi Akiwowo's book is an indispensable handbook for being online in a way that is safe, intentional and - importantly - fun!' -- Rosamund Dean, journalist and author of Mindful Drinking:'The online world can be a scary place. Seyi's book will help us protect our online communities and the vulnerable people who need them. An urgent, powerful book' -- Ian Wright, Footballer, Pundit'A book written from the front line of life online - heartfelt, heart-breaking, practical, brilliant' -- Richard Curtis, Writer, Director, United Nations SDG Advocate'Online abuse is at an all-time high, with significant consequences. Read this book before you think you need it, it could save your life, or at least protect your sanity' -- Dr Soph'A clever and timely toolkit, Seyi is brilliantly leading the charge in navigating vital conversations around online abuse and digital self-care. This book is both honest and practical, offering wisdom we should all put into practice right now!' -- Amika George'Digital self care is critical to mental health and Seyi has written a thought provoking and highly practical guide to living a happier and safer life online and off. Millions of people have been victims of online abuse and I am so inspired and grateful to Seyi and her work for ensuring no one feels alone. Her mission is one that affects us all and this book is one of the most important topics of our generation' -- Poppy Jamie

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Book SynopsisFundamental Rights Protection Online presents an in-depth analysis of national, supranational and international attempts at online speech regulation, illustrating how the law has been unsettled on how to treat intermediaries.In this book, expert contributors explore how problems ranging from disinformation to hate speech to copyright violations are framed and tackled though legislation, codes of conduct and judicial interpretation. The chapters discuss positive law developments in the intersection of intermediary liability and rights, considering both the history and current intellectual debates surrounding European and US legislative initiatives. In addition to examining how the European Union and individual European nations regulate speech online, the book also analyses the e-Commerce Directive, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and principles established under the United Nations. It concludes that content regulation online is best captured by the notion of 'speech curation', involving both private and public actors. Taking a human rights approach to online speech regulation, this timely book will be critical reading for academics and students of law, particularly those with an interest in internet law, information law and human rights. Its exploration of intermediary liability and fundamental rights will also be beneficial for legal practitioners working in online rights protection.Trade Review‘Fundamental Rights Protection Online offers profoundly original insights into critical challenges for internet regulation. Petkova, Ojanen and the contributors call for the EU to overhaul the intermediary liability regime and to demand more responsibility from tech companies. Engaging, provocative and timely, this collection will shape critical policy discussions in the years ahead.' -- Marc Rotenberg, Centre for AI and Digital Policy, Michael Dukakis Institute, US'This volume presents diverse voices and options for addressing the challenges presented by media and business model convergence.' -- Chris Hoofnagle, University of California, Berkeley, US'New technologies of sharing information through online intermediaries can be quite democratizing, as people now have an unprecedented ability to express themselves to a worldwide audience. But there is a dark side to the rise of these technologies: privacy violations, harassment, hate speech, and other insidious dangers have greatly worsened. Fundamental Rights Protection Online is an insightful collection of essays that explores these issues from a European Union fundamental rights perspective. This is an essential volume for understanding how the EU and various member states are addressing intermediaries, free speech, and privacy issues.' -- Daniel J. Solove, George Washington University Law School, USTable of ContentsContents: Foreword: The Challenges of Change 1 Acknowledgments 2 IntroductionPreface: Fundamental Rights Protection Online: Curation v. Regulation? Bilyana Petkova and Tuomas Ojanen 5 Part I: Conceptual Issues 21 1. Metaphors and judicial frame: why legal imagination (also) matters in the protection of fundamental rights in the digital age Oreste Pollicino 21 2. Filter Bubble and Human Rights Christoph Bezemek 34 Part II: The National Law Approach 43 3. ‘What is illegal offline is also illegal online’ –The German Network Enforcement Act 2017 Thomas Wischmeyer 43 4. Protecting Liberal Democracy from Artificial Information: The French Proposal Kamel Ajji 67 5. Mambo Italiano: The Perilous Italian way to ISP liability Marco Bassini 92 6. A Consumer Protection Approach to Platform Content Moderation in the United States Mark MacCarthy 119 Part III: Toward a European Law Approach? 140 7. The scandal of intermediary: Acknowledging the both/and dispensation for regulating hybrid actors Sophie Stalla-Bourdillon and Robert Thorburn 140 8. Intermediaries in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU: The interplay between liability exemptions and rules on IP protection Alberto Miglio 168 9. Self-Regulation of Fundamental Rights? The EU Code of Conduct on Hate Speech, related initiatives and beyond Teresa Quintel and Carsten Ullrich 182 10. EU proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market: Compatibility of Draft Article 13 with the EU intermediary liability regime Aleksandra Kuczerawy 205 Part IV: Toward an International Law Approach? 220 11. The Liability of Internet Intermediaries and the European Court of Human Rights Marta Maroni 220 12. A Business and Human Rights Perspective for Internet Intermediaries – The Case for Human Rights Due Diligence Lia Heasman 242 Index

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Book SynopsisDrawing on over a hundred interviews with the key players driving this revolution, The History of the Future weaves together a rich, cinematic narrative that captures the breakthroughs, breakdowns and human drama of trying to change the world.Trade Review“A riveting story full of colorful characters… a fascinating, illuminating history… an essential read.” — Publishers Weekly “A highly entertaining behind-the-scenes thriller.” — Kirkus Reviews “Brilliant...masterful...a sprawling story filled with unforgettable characters.” — Forbes “Like the pixels that together create a larger picture, Harris presents the various elements of the business in vivid color...remarkably detailed and fast paced.” — Booklist “A must-read. Period.” — IGN

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Book SynopsisFrom the late eighteenth century to the present day, public exhibitions featuring displays of human anatomy have proven popular with a wide range of audiences, successfully marketed as educational facilities for medical professionals as well as improving entertainments for the general public. Partly a product of the public sanitation and health reform movements that began in the eighteenth century, partly a form of popular spectacle, early public anatomical exhibitions drew on two apparently distinct cultural developments: firstly, the professionalisation of medicine from the mid 1700s and the increasingly central role of practical anatomy within it; secondly, the rise of a culture of public spectacles such as world fairs, public museums, circuses and side shows, and the use of new visual technologies these spaces pioneered. Such spectacles often drew on medical discourses as a way of lending legitimacy to their displays of human bodies, while their popularity also helped make the then-contentious practice of anatomy publicly acceptable. This book examines the cultural work performed by such exhibitions and their role in (re)producing new ways of seeing and knowing the body over the modern era. While public anatomical exhibitions might seem to occupy a marginal position in the history of popular culture and that of medicine, their distinctive intermixing of the medical and the spectacular has made them an influential and intensely productive cultural space, an important site of emergence for new ideas about bodily health and care. This book traces the influential role of such exhibitions in popularising a distinctly modern idea of the body as something requiring constant work and careful self-cultivation—an idea which continues to play a central role in the contemporary fascination with practices and possibilities of self-improvement. Through a series of representative case studies—including eighteenth-century exhibitions of anatomical Venuses, nineteenth-century anatomical museums “for men only” that served as quack clinics for sexual disorders, traditional and contemporary freak shows, and the recent public display of real human remains in Body Worlds and other such exhibitions—Anatomy as Spectacle traces how these exhibitions taught their spectators to see their bodies as something requiring constant self-monitoring and management, constructing an embodied modern subject who is always responsible, productive, temperate, and focused on self-improvement.Trade ReviewA pleasure to read, this well-written book offers many thoughtful and provocative reflections on anatomy and exhibition and will appeal to a wide range of scholars concerned with disability, culture and medical history. Maria FrawleyTable of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Docile Subject of Anatomy: Gynomorphic Waxworks in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Public Exhibitions 2. Lost Manhood: Turn-of-the-Century "Museums of Anatomy" and the Spermatorrhoea Epidemic 3.From the Freak to the Disabled Person: Anatomical Difference as Public Spectacle and Private Condition 4. Inventing the Bodily Interior: Ecorche Figures in Early Modern Anatomy and von Hagens' Body Worlds Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAre we really being ourselves on social media? Can we benefit from connecting with people we barely know online? Why do some people overshare on social networking sites?The Psychology of Social Media explores how so much of our everyday lives is played out online, and how this can impact our identity, wellbeing and relationships. It looks at how our online profiles, connections, status updates and sharing of photographs can be a way to express ourselves and form connections, but also highlights the pitfalls of social media including privacy issues. From FOMO to fraping, and from subtweeting to selfies, The Psychology of Social Media shows how social media has developed a whole new world of communication, and for better or worse is likely to continue to be an essential part of how we understand our selves.Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Profiles 3. Connections 4. Updates 5. Media 6. Messaging 7. Values

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Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a revival of the heated culture wars of the 1990s, but this time its battle ground is the internet. On one side the "alt right" ranges from the once obscure neo-reactionary and white separatist movements, to geeky subcultures like 4chan, to more mainstream manifestations such as the Trump-supporting gay libertarian Milo Yiannopolous. On the other side, a culture of struggle sessions and virtue signalling lurks behind a therapeutic language of trigger warnings and safe spaces. The feminist side of the online culture wars has its equally geeky subcultures right through to its mainstream expression. Kill All Normies explores some of the cultural genealogies and past parallels of these styles and subcultures, drawing from transgressive styles of 60s libertinism and conservative movements, to make the case for a rejection of the perpetual cultural turn.

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Book SynopsisWe are so used to living in a media-saturated world that we do not notice just how much damage is being done to us daily by the images we see and the articles and posts we read. If you are often anxious or find it hard to sleep, or you regularly want to give up on your fellow human beings, the reason may come down to the relentless influence of the modern media. How Modern Media Destroys Our Minds is a guide for navigating the media today. The book encourages the reader to consider the many peculiarities of the modern media: its excessive focus on scandal, its emphasis on novelty, its capacity to breed envy and self-hatred, its high-minded defence of itself, its ever shorter attention span and its obsession with fame. The book teaches us how to liberate ourselves from the media, in order to achieve calm and a more generous, original and imaginative state of mind. We are shown how to redress the balance and emerge with a stronger, more positive outlook on life.

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Book SynopsisIn 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's 'prevailing taste for deformity'. This work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference.Trade Review"This is a marvelously researched and engagingly written work of history." Bulletin Of The History Of Medicine "Spectacle of Deformity is a detailed and provocative history of the Victorian freak show in Great Britain." Victorian StudiesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Exhibiting Freaks 1. Monstrosity, Masculinity, and Medicine: Reexamining "the Elephant Man" 2. Two Bodies, Two Selves, Two Sexes: Conjoined Twins and "the Double-Bodied Hindoo Boy 3. The Missing Link and the Hairy Belle: Evolution, Imperialism, and "Primitive" Sexuality 4. Aztecs and Earthmen: Declining Civilizations and Dying Races 5. "When the Cannibal King Began to Talk": Performing Race, Class, and Ethnicity Conclusion / The Decline of the Freak Show Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisSpeculative Communities investigates the financial world’s influence on the social imagination, unraveling its radical effects on our personal and political lives.Trade Review"Speculative Communities is a masterful critique of the financialisastion of everyday life, which provides an innovative account of the role of speculation and uncertainty in shaping the way we understand, and act within, the world. Komporozos-Athanasiou masterfully blends economic theory with political and sociological analysis to deliver a fascinating reading of how finance has colonised our imaginations, and the challenges this process poses to movements seeking to construct a collective sense of what life beyond capitalism might look like. Speculative Communities is both a novel and exciting academic contribution, and a critical reference point for those seeking to organise in a world defined by the logic of speculation."--Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen: How to Save the World From FinancialisationTable of ContentsKey Terms Introduction Part 1: Speculation: Finance and Capitalism 1. The Rise of Speculative Communities 2. A Genealogy of Speculative Imagination: Old Spirits of Capitalism Part 2: Spectacle: Finance and Society 3. Speculative Technologies and the New Homo speculans 4. Speculative Intimacies Part 3: Specter: Finance and Polity 5. Financialized Populism and New Nationalisms 6. Counter-speculations Conclusions Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Give the gift of inspiration: an essential guide to living wisely and well, no matter what challenges the world throws at you - from Alain de Botton, the bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Course of LoveThis is a book about everything you were never taught at school. It''s about how to understand your emotions, find and sustain love, succeed in your career, fail well and overcome shame and guilt. It''s also about letting go of the myth of a perfect life in order to achieve genuine emotional maturity. Written in a hugely accessible, warm and humane style, The School of Life is the ultimate guide to the emotionally fulfilled lives we all long for - and deserve. This book brings together ten years of essential and transformative research on emotional intelligence, with practical topics including: - how to understand yourself- how to master the dilemmas of relationships- how to become more effective at work - how to endure failure- how to grow more serene and resilient Praise for Alain de Botton:''What he has managed to do is remarkable: to help us think better so that we may live better lives'' Irish Times''A serious and optimistic set of practical ideas that could improve and alter the way we live'' Jeanette Winterson, The Times''Alain de Botton likes to take big, complex subjects and write about them with thoughtful and deceptive innocence'' ObserverTrade Review[Alain] de Botton's injunction to understand ourselves could not matter more. * The Times *It is an amazing book. Beautifully written . . . a beautiful book that you should have in your home * Chris Evans *

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to be Muslim in Britain today? If the media is anything to go by, it has something to do with mosques, community leaders, whether you wear a veil, and your views on religious extremists. But as all our lives become increasingly entwined with our online presence, British Islam has evolved into a multidimensional cultural identity that goes well beyond the confines of the mosque. Entering a world of memes and influencers, Muslim dating apps, and alt-right Islamophobes, Hussein Kesvani reveals how a new generation of young Muslims who have grown up with the internet are using social media to determine their religious identity on their own terms--something that could change the course of ‘British Islam’ forever.Trade Review'A detailed and often witty journey through the online areas where Muslims congregate . . . Kesvani delivers a tableau of British Muslims wrestling with subjects ranging from clean eating and marriage to LGBT and gender rights.' * The Observer *'The book's scope is impressive.''Follow Me, Akhi provides an important first case study into the struggles of British Islamic identity, exploring how a new generation of young Muslims are using the internet to determine identity on their own terms.''A fascinating and compelling look at the impact of the internet on the lives of British Muslims. Kesvani is a funny, passionate and wise narrator, and his book is a brilliant meditation on how our online selves shape our mores and identities.' -- Nikesh Shukla, editor of 'The Good Immigrant''A superbly engaging book, unparalleled in its urgency and insight. Not only has Kesvani taken a forensic look at the online lives of British Muslims, but he has also crafted a terminology with which to speak about a culturally significant moment in British history.' -- Guy Gunaratne, author of 'In Our Mad and Furious City''Kesvani's personal quest is relentlessly curious as well as compassionate. This book gives us an unparalleled insight into the digital lives of young Muslims in Britain today.' -- Shelina Janmohamed, author of 'Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World''Deeply researched, surprising and considerate. It portrays the online world of British Muslims as diverse, rich and fraught – but above all else innovative, exciting and criminally under-reported.' -- New Statesman

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Book SynopsisThis work uses a collective analysis of Albert Borgmann's controversial ideas as a jumping-off point from which to address questions about the role and significance of technology in our lives. Contributors apply Borgmann's theories to areas such as film, design and ecological restoration.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Digital Factory is an important contribution to the discussion of digital labor. But it also makes clear that researchers must now address the next task at hand: how to turn these bad jobs into good jobs." * Science *"Altenried's insights into the rapidly changing relationship between technological change, digitization and global work are breathtaking. The Digital Factory develops a deeper knowledge of the terrain, both social and physical, on which present and future labor disputes willy-nilly have to be fought. Continuing, expanding and diversifying this endeavor is and will remain an enormous undertaking. Books of similar intellectual thoroughness and comparable political depth are badly needed." * Kritisch-Lesen *"In this extensively researched volume, Altenreid uses interviews with workers in this complex digital economy to deftly link the hidden human labor behind automation and algorithms to the Taylorist factories of the Industrial Age. Covering everything from the complex interactions between humans and automation at Amazon’s distribution centers to World of Warcraft gold farmers in China and the unseen human labor behind Facebook and Google algorithms, The Digital Factory gives readers who may not be as familiar with Taylorism and its relationship to the complex landscape of the digital factory age a solid foundation on the topic." * Choice *"Altenried takes readers on an amazing tour into the contemporary mutations of what Marx famously called 'the hidden abode of production.' What looms behind the magic of algorithms, artificial intelligence, and automation is a world of heterogeneous labor regimes, exploitation, and struggles. The Digital Factory is a landmark contribution to the study of contemporary capitalism, a must-read for scholars and activists." -- Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna"From the warehouse to the multiplayer game, content moderation to people-as-a-service, Altenried unearths the shifting stakes, geographies, and experiences of digital labor. The Digital Factory offers no solace to purveyors of data and automation fantasies. By exposing how the power of machines entangles living knowledge, intelligence and subjectivity, this remarkable book offers resources for changing the worlds of work and technology alike." -- Brett Neilson, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sidney University"In this ground-breaking book, Altenried shows us that, far from marking the end of the factory era the digital age is spreading the factory model of centralized control of vulnerable labor beyond its walls, extending into every corner of the global economy. Drawing on vivid first-hand observations, he spotlights the experiences of workers carrying out the hidden tasks that keep the information economy going, from the hidden housework of the Internet to the delivery of parcels under the panoptic surveillance of the algorithm." -- Ursula Huws, University of HertfordshireTable of ContentsOne Workers Leaving the Factory: Introduction Two The Global Factory: Logistics Three The Factory of Play: Gaming Four The Distributed Factory: Crowdwork Five The Hidden Factory: Social Media Six The Platform as Factory: Conclusion Seven The Contagious Factory: Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFrom much-loved documentary maker Louis Theroux comes a funny, heartfelt and entertaining account of his life and weird times in TV.The Sunday Times Bestseller.'Honest and soul-searching' - Sunday Express______________In 1994 fledgling journalist Louis Theroux was given a one-off gig on Michael Moore’s TV Nation, presenting a segment on apocalyptic religious sects. Gawky, socially awkward and totally unqualified, his first reaction to this exciting opportunity was panic. But he’d always been drawn to off-beat characters, so maybe his enthusiasm would carry the day. Or, you know, maybe it wouldn’t . . .In Gotta Get Theroux This, Louis takes the reader on a joyous journey from his anxiety-prone childhood to his unexpectedly successful career. Nervously accepting the BBC’s offer of his own series, he went on to create an award-winning documentary style that has seen him immersed in the weird worlds of paranoid US militias and secretive pro-wrestlers, get under the skin of celebrities like Max Clifford and Chris Eubank and tackle gang culture in San Quentin prison, all the time wondering whether the same qualities that make him good at documentaries might also make him bad at life.As Louis woos his beautiful wife Nancy and learns how to be a father, he also dares to take on the powerful Church of Scientology. Just as challenging is the revelation that one of his old subjects, Jimmy Savile, was a secret sexual predator, prompting him to question our understanding of how evil takes place. Filled with wry observation and self-deprecating humour, this is Louis at his most insightful and honest best.______________'Funny, engaging' - Sunday Times'Gripping' - Daily Mail'Absorbing and surprisingly candid' - Telegraph MagazineTrade ReviewAn absorbing and surprisingly candid book . . . * Telegraph Magazine *Gripping * Daily Mail *Engaging, funny * Sunday Times *If you are a fan of Louis Theroux's self-deprecating humour and relaxed broadcasting style, you will enjoy this honest and soul-searching account of his life so far. * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisThe definitive biography of the author of The Society of the Spectacle and a compelling account of his war against inauthenticity.Trade Review"This book demands attention." —AnarchyA Choice Outstanding Academic TitleTable of ContentsContents Introduction: A Reader without Qualities 1. Lost Children Origins; Scratched Negatives and the Game of Appearances; Passing through Lettrism; Having Boarded at Night the Lightest of Crafts; I wanted to Speak the Beautiful Language of My Century; The Golden Age; Bernard, Bernard, This Bloom of Youth Will Not Last Forever; My Child, My Sister...; No Turning Back; Whatever Was Directly Experienced Has Been Distanced through Representation 2. An Art Without Works The End of Art; Cartes du Tendre; The Poetics of the Dérive; Psychogeography and Psychoanalysis; Unitary Urbanism: Between Utopia and Architecture 3. The Light Brigade Means of Communication; The Poetics of Revolution; From Strasbourg to Seovia; the Greater the Fame of Our Arguments, the Greater Our Obscurity; The Last Guardian 4. Strategy The moving Surface of the River of Time; Descriptions of Battle; How to Be Disliked; Refutations; Considerations on an Assassination; Against Interpretation; Shadows, Secrets, and Mirrors; The Game of War, Gondi Conclusion: Debord, Against Type Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLooks inside this landscape of digital scientific work. This title chronicles the emergence of bioinformatics - the mode of working across and between biology, computing, mathematics, and statistics - from the 1960s to the present, seeking to understand how knowledge about life is made in and through virtual spaces.Trade Review"What happens to biology with computerization? Hallam Stevens's compelling ethnographic and historical narrative shows how the nature of the biological experiment has changed with the increasing use of the tools of information technology in life science and biomedicine." (Hannah Landecker, University of California, Los Angeles)"

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