The Great Civilized Conversation

The Great Civilized Conversation PDF Author: Wm. Theodore de Bary
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231162774
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Having spent decades teaching and researching the humanities, Wm. Theodore de Bary is well positioned to speak on its merits and reform. Believing a classical liberal education is more necessary than ever, he outlines in these essays a plan to update existing core curricula by incorporating classics from both Eastern and Western traditions, thereby bringing the philosophy and moral values of Asian civilizations to American students and vice versa. The author establishes a concrete link between teaching the classics of world civilizations and furthering global humanism. Selecting texts that share many of the same values and educational purposes, he joins Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Western sources into a revised curriculum that privileges humanity and civility. He also explores the tradition of education in China and its reflection of Confucian and Neo-Confucian beliefs. He reflects on historyÕs great scholar-teachers and what their methods can teach us today, and he dedicates three essays to the power of The Analects of Confucius, The Tale of Genji, and The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon in the classroom.

The Great Civilized Conversation

The Great Civilized Conversation PDF Author: Wm. Theodore de Bary
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231162774
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Get Book

Book Description
Having spent decades teaching and researching the humanities, Wm. Theodore de Bary is well positioned to speak on its merits and reform. Believing a classical liberal education is more necessary than ever, he outlines in these essays a plan to update existing core curricula by incorporating classics from both Eastern and Western traditions, thereby bringing the philosophy and moral values of Asian civilizations to American students and vice versa. The author establishes a concrete link between teaching the classics of world civilizations and furthering global humanism. Selecting texts that share many of the same values and educational purposes, he joins Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Western sources into a revised curriculum that privileges humanity and civility. He also explores the tradition of education in China and its reflection of Confucian and Neo-Confucian beliefs. He reflects on historyÕs great scholar-teachers and what their methods can teach us today, and he dedicates three essays to the power of The Analects of Confucius, The Tale of Genji, and The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon in the classroom.

The Art of Civilized Conversation

The Art of Civilized Conversation PDF Author: Margaret Shepherd
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307419339
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
For those intimidated by the complexity of personal interaction, or those simply looking to polish their speaking skills, The Art of Civilized Conversation is a powerful guide to communicating in an endearing way. In our fast-paced, electronic society, the most basic social interaction—talking face-to-face—can be a challenge for even the most educated and self-assured individuals. And yet making conversation is a highly practical skill: those who do it well shine at networking parties, interviews, and business lunches. Good conversation also opens doors to a happier love life, warmer friendships, and more rewarding time with family. In The Art of Civilized Conversation, author Margaret Shepherd offers opening lines, graceful apologies, thoughtful questions, and, ultimately, the confidence to take conversations beyond hello. From the basics—first impressions, appropriate subject matter, and graceful exits—to finding the right words for difficult situations and an insightful discussion of body language, Shepherd uses her skilled eye and humorous anecdotes to teach readers how to turn a plain conversation into an engaging encounter. Filled with common sense and fresh insight, The Art of Civilized Conversation is the perfect inspiration not only for what to say but for how to say it with style.

Could It Be Autism?

Could It Be Autism? PDF Author: Nancy Wiseman
Publisher: Harmony
ISBN: 0767919734
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
If you have questions or concerns about your child’s social, emotional, or behavioral development, you’re not alone. The number of children affected by autism—an umbrella term for a wide spectrum of disorders that includes “classic” autism, Asperger's syndrome, and Rett syndrome—is growing every year. Most children are not diagnosed until they start school. But developmental problems can be recognized in infants as young as four months old. Early intervention can vastly improve a child’s chances for a successful outcome and recovery. Could It Be Autism? provides vital information so you can recognize the red flags of developmental delays and begin treatment based on those first signs. Nancy Wiseman is the founder and president of First Signs, the organization dedicated to educating parents, clinicians, and physicians on the early identification of and intervention for developmental delays. She is also the mother of a child who was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, and she draws on her own experiences as well as the latest research to present real strategies. Emphasizing warning signs, she describes the most important milestones at each stage of a child’s growth, including things parents and pediatricians often overlook. She also empowers parents to act on their instincts and initial concern, rather than to “wait and see,” which is often encouraged. The book explains the steps parents can take to confirm or rule out a developmental delay or disorder. It details various diagnoses and show how sometimes multiple diagnoses may apply. But even more valuable is the information on how to design and implement the best intervention plan based on a child’s unique developmental profile. Different treatments and therapies are outlined so parents can explore and understand what may work best for their child, based on his or her particular strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, Could It Be Autism? is about giving parents hope--hope that they can know one way or the other where their child is developmentally and hope that they can give their child what he or she needs to have the best life possible.

Civilized to Death

Civilized to Death PDF Author: Christopher Ryan
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1451659113
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live—how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die—in this “engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking” (Booklist) book. Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending—balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease. Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? Civilized to Death “will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light” (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that “the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want to the earth to outlive us” (Psychology Today). Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future.

The Highly Civilized Man

The Highly Civilized Man PDF Author: Dane Kennedy
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674039483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
Though best remembered as an adventurer who entered Mecca in disguise and sought the source of the White Nile, Richard Burton contributed so forcefully to his generation that he provides us with a singularly panoramic perspective on the world of the Victorians. Engagingly written and vigorously argued, this book is an important contribution to our understanding of a remarkable man and a crucial era.

Conversation

Conversation PDF Author: Stephen Miller
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030013018X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
Essayist Stephen Miller pursues a lifelong interest in conversation by taking an historical and philosophical view of the subject. He chronicles the art of conversation in Western civilization from its beginnings in ancient Greece to its apex in eighteenth-century Britain to its current endangered state in America. As Harry G. Frankfurt brought wide attention to the art of bullshit in his recent bestselling On Bullshit, so Miller now brings the art of conversation into the light, revealing why good conversation matters and why it is in decline. Miller explores the conversation about conversation among such great writers as Cicero, Montaigne, Swift, Defoe, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and Virginia Woolf. He focuses on the world of British coffeehouses and clubs in “The Age of Conversation” and examines how this era ended. Turning his attention to the United States, the author traces a prolonged decline in the theory and practice of conversation from Benjamin Franklin through Hemingway to Dick Cheney. He cites our technology (iPods, cell phones, and video games) and our insistence on unguarded forthrightness as well as our fear of being judgmental as powerful forces that are likely to diminish the art of conversation.

Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics

Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics PDF Author: Wm. Theodore De Bary
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231153961
Category : Best books
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics is an essential, all-access guide to the core texts of East Asian civilization and culture. Essays address frequently read, foundational texts in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, as well as early modern fictional classics and nonfiction works of the seventeenth century. Building strong links between these writings and the critical traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, this volume shows the vital role of the classics in the shaping of Asian history and in the development of the humanities at large. Wm. Theodore de Bary focuses on texts that have survived for centuries, if not millennia, through avid questioning and contestation. Recognized as perennial reflections on life and society, these works represent diverse historical periods and cultures and include the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Xunxi, the Lotus Sutra, Tang poetry, the Pillow Book, The Tale of Genji, and the writings of Chikamatsu and Kaibara Ekken. Contributors explain the core and most commonly understood aspects of these works and how they operate within their traditions. They trace their reach and reinvention throughout history and their ongoing relevance in modern life. With fresh interpretations of familiar readings, these essays inspire renewed appreciation and examination. In the case of some classics open to multiple interpretations, de Bary chooses two complementary essays from different contributors. Expanding on debates concerning the challenges of teaching classics in the twenty-first century, several pieces speak to the value of Asia in the core curriculum. Indispensable for early scholarship on Asia and the evolution of global civilization, Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics helps one master the major texts of human thought.

The Message of the Mind in Neo-Confucianism

The Message of the Mind in Neo-Confucianism PDF Author: William Theodore De Bary
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231068085
Category : Neo-Confucianism
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Based on lectures delivered at the Collège de France in May 1986.

Learning for One's Self

Learning for One's Self PDF Author: William Theodore De Bary
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231074261
Category : Neo-Confucianism
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
Well known as a scholar of Asian culture, de Bary examines the concepts of self-understanding and self-cultivation in neo-Confucian thought from the 12th to the 17th centuries, in relation to the social, political, and scholarly roles of educated men in late imperial China. Rejecting the notion that

The Art of Conversation

The Art of Conversation PDF Author: Catherine Blyth
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1592404979
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Read Catherine Blyth's posts on the Penguin Blog. Reclaim the pleasures and possibilities of great conversation with this sparkling guide from the witty pen of an Englishwoman wise to its art Every day we use cell phones and computers to communicate, but it's easy to forget that we possess a communication technology that has been in research and development for thousands of years. Catherine Blyth points out the sorry state of disrepair that conversation has fallen into-and then, taking examples from history, literature, philosophy, anthropology, and popular culture, she gives us the tools to rebuild. The Art of Conversation isn't about etiquette, elocution, or knowing how to hold your teacup with your little finger crooked just so. It's about something simple and profound: connecting. Conversation costs nothing, but can bring you the world, because it transcends the ability to talk to anyone. What transforms encounters into adventures is how we listen, laugh, flirt, and flatter. Blyth celebrates techniques for reading and changing minds, whether you're in a bar or a boardroom. As Alexander Pope nearly wrote, "True ease in talking comes from art, not chance, as those move easiest who have learned to dance." When you have read The Art of Conversation, you'll not only know the steps, but hear the music like never before.