The shortest century

The shortest century PDF Author: Stefano Cariolato
Publisher: Youcanprint
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Today the development of digital technology continues at an accelerated pace, but the problem of information retention arises, which previously was mainly entrusted to paper printing. But while a book or letter can be read immediately even centuries after their writing if they have resisted time, digital information still has a short life, even in the absence of the deterioration of the media used: this due to the same technological development, which quickly makes any recording obsolete by irreversibly changing both the hardware and the reading software. Other registrations are also volatile by their very nature, such as emails or web pages, although they may host information that may have value in the future. The problem is particularly relevant in this century precisely because we are at the initial stages of a new and important need, but we are not yet equipped to deal with it and we are not sufficiently aware of it. The past century has been baptized "the short century", but our present century risks being known by posterity as the "shortest century", precisely because they will not have much information about us. Preserving digital documents for their future use has not only a mere historiographical purpose, but also a concrete and irreplaceable value for future generations. Because if we don't keep the data, we can't reuse them. They are a kind of renewable resource, whose real value is in their reuse. So it's important to be at least aware of this problem, which the book tries to answer.

The shortest century

The shortest century PDF Author: Stefano Cariolato
Publisher: Youcanprint
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description
Today the development of digital technology continues at an accelerated pace, but the problem of information retention arises, which previously was mainly entrusted to paper printing. But while a book or letter can be read immediately even centuries after their writing if they have resisted time, digital information still has a short life, even in the absence of the deterioration of the media used: this due to the same technological development, which quickly makes any recording obsolete by irreversibly changing both the hardware and the reading software. Other registrations are also volatile by their very nature, such as emails or web pages, although they may host information that may have value in the future. The problem is particularly relevant in this century precisely because we are at the initial stages of a new and important need, but we are not yet equipped to deal with it and we are not sufficiently aware of it. The past century has been baptized "the short century", but our present century risks being known by posterity as the "shortest century", precisely because they will not have much information about us. Preserving digital documents for their future use has not only a mere historiographical purpose, but also a concrete and irreplaceable value for future generations. Because if we don't keep the data, we can't reuse them. They are a kind of renewable resource, whose real value is in their reuse. So it's important to be at least aware of this problem, which the book tries to answer.

The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) PDF Author: Linda Jaivin
Publisher: The Experiment, LLC
ISBN: 1615198210
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Journey across epic China—through millennia of early innovation to modern dominance. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. As we enter the “Asian century,” China demands our attention for being an economic powerhouse, a beacon of rapid modernization, and an assertive geopolitical player. To understand the nation behind the headlines, we must take in its vibrant, tumultuous past—a story of “larger-than-life characters, philosophical arguments and political intrigues, military conflicts and social upheavals, artistic invention and technological innovation.” The Shortest History of China charts a path from China’s tribal origins through its storied imperial era and up to the modern Communist Party under Xi Jinping—including the rarely told story of women in China and the specters of corruption and disunity that continue to haunt the People’s Republic today. A master storyteller and exacting historian, Linda Jaivin distills this vast history into a short, riveting account that today’s globally minded readers will find indispensable.

The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) PDF Author: James Hirst
Publisher: The Experiment, LLC
ISBN: 1615199152
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Uncover the decisive moments that shaped a world-changing continent. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. Celebrated historian John Hirst draws from his own lectures to deliver this ultra-accessible master class on the making of modern Europe, from Ancient Greece through World War II. With over 600,000 copies sold worldwide, this brief history is a global sensation propelled by a thesis of astonishing simplicity: Just three elements—German warfare, Greek and Roman culture, and Christianity—come together to explain everything else, from the Crusades to the Industrial Revolution. Hirst’s razor-sharp grasp of cause and effect helps us see with sparkling clarity how the history of Europe—the crucible of liberal democracy—shapes the way we live today.

The Shortest History of Democracy: 4,000 Years of Self-Government - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

The Shortest History of Democracy: 4,000 Years of Self-Government - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) PDF Author: John Keane
Publisher: The Experiment, LLC
ISBN: 1615198970
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
The full chronological sweep of democracy, from the assemblies of ancient Mesopotamia and Athens to present perils around the globe. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. This compact history unspools the tumultuous global story that began with democracy’s radical core idea: We can collaborate, as equals, to determine our own futures. Acclaimed political thinker John Keane traces how this concept emerged and evolved, from the earliest “assembly democracies” in Syria-Mesopotamia to European-style “electoral democracy” and to our uncertain present. Today, thanks to our always-on communication channels, governments answer not only to voters on Election Day but to intense scrutiny every day. This is “monitory democracy”—in Keane’s view, the most complex and vibrant model yet—but it’s not invulnerable. Monitory democracy comes with its own pathologies, and the new despotism wields powerful warning systems, from social media to election monitoring, against democracy itself. At this urgent moment, when despots in countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia reject the promises of democratic power-sharing, Keane mounts a bold defense of a precious global ideal.

The Shortest Day

The Shortest Day PDF Author: Susan Cooper
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN: 0763686980
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
In this seasonal treasure, Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper’s beloved poem heralds the winter solstice, illuminated by Caldecott Honoree Carson Ellis’s strikingly resonant illustrations. So the shortest day came, and the year died . . . As the sun set on the shortest day of the year, early people would gather to prepare for the long night ahead. They built fires and lit candles. They played music, bringing their own light to the darkness, while wondering if the sun would ever rise again. Written for a theatrical production that has become a ritual in itself, Susan Cooper’s poem "The Shortest Day" captures the magic behind the returning of the light, the yearning for traditions that connect us with generations that have gone before — and the hope for peace that we carry into the future. Richly illustrated by Carson Ellis with a universality that spans the centuries, this beautiful book evokes the joy and community found in the ongoing mystery of life when we celebrate light, thankfulness, and festivity at a time of rebirth. Welcome Yule!

The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

The Shortest History of War: From Hunter-Gatherers to Nuclear Superpowers - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) PDF Author: Gwynne Dyer
Publisher: The Experiment, LLC
ISBN: 1615199314
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
A brisk account of this defining feature of human society, from prehistory to nuclear proliferation and lethal autonomous weapons. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. War has changed, but we have not. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the rival nuclear powers of today, whenever resources have been contested, we’ve gone to battle. Acclaimed historian Gwynne Dyer illuminates our many martial clashes in this brisk account, tracing warfare from prehistory to the world’s first cities—and on to the thousand-year “classical age” of combat, which ended when the firearm changed everything. He examines the brief interlude of “limited war” before eighteenth-century revolution ushered in “total war”—and how the devastation was halted by the nuclear shock of Hiroshima. Then came the Cold War and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which punctured the longest stretch of peace between major powers since World War II. For all our advanced technology and hyperconnected global society, we find ourselves once again on the brink as climate change heightens competition for resources and superpowers stand ready with atomic bombs, drones, and futuristic “autonomous” weapons in development. Throughout, Dyer delves into anthropology, psychology, and other relevant fields to unmask the drivers of conflict. The Shortest History of War is for anyone who wants to understand the role of war in the human story—and how we can prevent it from defining our future.

Shortest Century

Shortest Century PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) PDF Author: James Hawes
Publisher: The Experiment, LLC
ISBN: 1615198156
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
How the most powerful country in the UK was forged by invasion and conquest, and is fractured by its north-south divide. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. England—begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor—is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors; and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else on Earth. This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented—yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line. It carries us swiftly through centuries of conflict between Crown and Parliament (starring the Magna Carta), America’s War of Independence, the rise and fall of empire, two World Wars, and England’s break from the EU. We discover: why the American colonists of 1776 believed that they were the true Anglo-Saxons how the British Empire was undermined from within why Winston Churchill said the UK could only be saved by splitting up England itself and how populism spawned Brexit and its “new elite.” The Shortest History of England brings all this and more to prescient life—offering the most direct, compelling route to understanding the country behind today’s headlines.

The Canadian Short Story

The Canadian Short Story PDF Author: Reingard M. Nischik
Publisher: Camden House
ISBN: 9781571131270
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
Beginning in the 1890s, reaching its first full realization by modernist writers in the 1920s, and brought to its heyday during the Canadian Renaissance starting in the 1960s, the short story has become Canada's flagship genre. It continues to attract the country's most accomplished and innovative writers today, among them Margaret Atwood, Mavis Gallant, Alice Munro, Carol Shields, and many others. Yet in contrast to the stature and popularity of the genre and the writers who partake in it, surprisingly little literary criticism and theory has been devoted to the Canadian short story. This collection redresses that imbalance by providing the first collection of critical interpretations of a range of thirty well-known and often-anthologized Canadian short stories from the genre's beginnings through the twentieth century. A historical survey of the genre introduces the volume and a timeline comparing the genre's development in Canada, the US, and Great Britain via representative examples completes it. The collection is geared both to specialists in and to students of Canadian literature. For the latter it is of particular benefit that the volume provides not only a collection of interpretations, but a comprehensive introduction to the history of the Canadian short story. Reingard M. Nischik is professor and chair of American Literature at the University of Constance, Germany.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable PDF Author: Elizabeth Knowles
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191578568
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. What is a ham-and-egger? What are Anglo-Saxon attitudes? Who or what is liable to jump the shark? Who first tried to nail jelly to the wall? The answers to these and many more questions are in this fascinating book. Here in one volume you can track down the stories behind the names and sayings you meet, whether in classic literature or today's news. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled bank of reference and language online resources, this dictionary covers classical and other mythologies, history, religion, folk customs, superstitions, science and technology, philosophy, and popular culture. Extensive cross referencing makes it easy to trace specific information, while every page points to further paths to explore. A fascinating slice of cultural history, and a browser's delight from start to finish. What is the fog of war? Who first wanted to spend more time with one's family? When was the Dreamtime? How long since the first cry of Women and children first? Where might you find dark matter? Would you want the Midas touch? Should you worry about grey goo?