Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521374561
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Get Book Here
Book Description
Jon Elster delves into what binds societies together and prevents them from disintegrating into chaos and war.
Author: Annie Zaidi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108840647
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 169
Get Book Here
Book Description
In this prize-winning exploration of the meaning of home, Annie Zaidi reflects on places, cultures and conflicts that shape identity.
Author: Adam Ferguson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Jon Elster
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 311
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Robert Courland
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 163388869X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425
Get Book Here
Book Description
Concrete: We use it for our buildings, bridges, dams, and roads. We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us live and work within its walls. But very few of us know what it is. We take for granted this ubiquitous substance, which both literally and figuratively comprises much of modern civilization's constructed environment; yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. Featuring a new epilogue on the Surfside condominium collapse and the current state of infrastructure in America, this book delves into this history, opening readers' eyes at every turn. In a lively narrative peppered with intriguing details, author Robert Courland describes how some of the most famous personalities of history became involved in the development and use of concrete-including King Herod the Great of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who once owned the largest concrete cement plant in the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland points to recent archaeological evidence suggesting that the discovery of concrete directly led to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of the earliest civilizations. Much later, the Romans reached extraordinarily high standards for concrete production, showcasing their achievement in iconic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of concrete manufacturing were lost for over a millennium. The author explains that when concrete was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century it was initially viewed as an interesting novelty or, at best, a specialized building material suitable only for a narrow range of applications. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that the use of concrete exploded. During this rapid expansion, industry lobbyists tried to disguise the fact that modern concrete had certain defects and critical shortcomings. It is now recognized that modern concrete, unlike its Roman predecessor, gradually disintegrates with age. Compounding this problem is another distressing fact: the manufacture of concrete cement is a major contributor to global warming. Concrete Planet is filled with incredible stories, fascinating characters, surprising facts, and an array of intriguing insights into the building material that forms the basis of the infrastructure on which we depend.
Author: Fedor Gladkov
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 9780810111752
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 330
Get Book Here
Book Description
**** Reprint of the Ungar edition of 1960 (which is cited in BCL3). Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Adrian Forty
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861899335
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Get Book Here
Book Description
Concrete has been used in arches, vaults, and domes dating as far back as the Roman Empire. Today, it is everywhere—in our roads, bridges, sidewalks, walls, and architecture. For each person on the planet, nearly three tons of concrete are produced every year. Used almost universally in modern construction, concrete has become a polarizing material that provokes intense loathing in some and fervent passion in others. Focusing on concrete’s effects on culture rather than its technical properties, Concrete and Culture examines the ways concrete has changed our understanding of nature, of time, and even of material. Adrian Forty concentrates not only on architects’ responses to concrete, but also takes into account the role concrete has played in politics, literature, cinema, labor-relations, and arguments about sustainability. Covering Europe, North and South America, and the Far East, Forty examines the degree that concrete has been responsible for modernist uniformity and the debates engendered by it. The first book to reflect on the global consequences of concrete, Concrete and Culture offers a new way to look at our environment over the past century.
Author: Peter Hewlett
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080535410
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 1087
Get Book Here
Book Description
Lea's Chemistry of Cement and Concrete deals with the chemical and physical properties of cements and concretes and their relation to the practical problems that arise in manufacture and use. As such it is addressed not only to the chemist and those concerned with the science and technology of silicate materials, but also to those interested in the use of concrete in building and civil engineering construction. Much attention is given to the suitability of materials, to the conditions under which concrete can excel and those where it may deteriorate and to the precautionary or remedial measures that can be adopted. First published in 1935, this is the fourth edition and the first to appear since the death of Sir Frederick Lea, the original author. Over the life of the first three editions, this book has become the authority on its subject. The fourth edition is edited by Professor Peter C. Hewlett, Director of the British Board of Agrement and visiting Industrial Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Dundee. Professor Hewlett has brought together a distinguished body of international contributors to produce an edition which is a worthy successor to the previous editions.
Author: Natalie Jenner
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250248728
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 374
Get Book Here
Book Description
* INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER * "This novel delivers sweet, smart escapism." —People "Fans of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will adore The Jane Austen Society... A charming and memorable debut, which reminds us of the universal language of literature and the power of books to unite and heal." —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris Just after the Second World War, in the small English village of Chawton, an unusual but like-minded group of people band together to attempt something remarkable. One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, and a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from the recent war, others from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create the Jane Austen Society. A powerful and moving novel that explores the tragedies and triumphs of life, both large and small, and the universal humanity in us all, Natalie Jenner's The Jane Austen Society is destined to resonate with readers for years to come.
Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610441834
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294
Get Book Here
Book Description
The well-being of individuals routinely depends on their success in obtaining goods and avoiding burdens distributed by society. Local Justice offers the first systematic analysis of the principles and procedures used in dispensing "local justice" in situations as varied as the admission of students to college, the choice of patients for organ transplants, the selection of workers for layoffs, and the induction of men into the army. A prominent theorist in the field of rational choice and decision making, Jon Elster develops a rich selection of empirical examples and case studies to demonstrate the diversity of procedures used by institutions that mete out local justice. From this revealing material Elster fashions a conceptual framework for understanding why institutions make these crucial allocations in the ways they do. Elster's investigation discloses the many complex and varied approaches of such decision-making bodies as selective service and adoption agencies, employers and universities, prison and immigration authorities. What are the conflicting demands placed on these institutions by the needs of applicants, the recommendations of external agencies, and their own organizational imperatives? Often, as Elster shows, methods of allocation may actually aggravate social problems. For instance, the likelihood that handicapped or minority infants will be adopted is further decreased when agencies apply the same stringent screening criteria—exclusion of people over forty, single parents, working wives, and low-income families—that they use for more sought-after babies. Elster proposes a classification of the main principles and procedures used to match goods with individuals, charts the interactions among these mechanisms of local justice, and evaluates them in terms of fairness and efficiency. From his empirical groundwork, Elster builds an innovative analysis of the historical processes by which, at given times and under given circumstances, preferences become principles and principles become procedures. Local Justice concludes with a comparison of local justice systems with major contemporary theories of social justice—utilitarianism, John Rawls's A Theory of Justice, Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia—and discusses the "common-sense conception of justice" held by professional decision makers such as lawyers, economists, and politicians. The difference between what we say about justice and how we actually dispense it is the illuminating principle behind Elster's book. A perceptive and cosmopolitan study, Local Justice is a seminal work for all those concerned with the formation of ethical policy and social welfare—philosophers, economists, political scientists, health care professionals, policy makers, and educators.
