Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593297385
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 497
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Book Description
"All disasters are in some sense man-made." Setting the annus horribilis of 2020 in historical perspective, Niall Ferguson explains why we are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters. Disasters are inherently hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises. and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate the next catastrophe. But when disaster strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted, or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet in 2020 the responses of many developed countries, including the United States, to a new virus from China were badly bungled. Why? Why did only a few Asian countries learn the right lessons from SARS and MERS? While populist leaders certainly performed poorly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work--pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters. In books going back nearly twenty years, including Colossus, The Great Degeneration, and The Square and the Tower, Ferguson has studied the foibles of modern America, from imperial hubris to bureaucratic sclerosis and online fragmentation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics, cliodynamics, and network science, Doom offers not just a history but a general theory of disasters, showing why our ever more bureaucratic and complex systems are getting worse at handling them. Doom is the lesson of history that this country--indeed the West as a whole--urgently needs to learn, if we want to handle the next crisis better, and to avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline.
Author: Julie Ann Dawson
Publisher: Bards and Sages Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 330
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Book Description
Cursed in life. Damned in death. The only person capable of stopping a terrible prophecy, is the one born to fulfill it. Nadia Gareth knows all too well the evil of the Necromancers. Born a dhampir as a result of their experiments, she now uses her cursed gifts to wage war against them. But all of her power may not be enough to hold back the undead hordes waiting for the Spirit Wall to fall.
Author: David Gatward
Publisher: Hachette Children's
ISBN: 1444907700
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
Seth Crow has lived a thousand lives, and in each one he's been murdered before he turns thirteen. And now he's being hunted again. But this time it's different ... Enter Lily, who tells him of his fate: Seth is CONQUEST. The first of the four riders of the Apocalypse. And people want him dead, before he can fulfil his destiny. Seth's only hope lies in finding the other riders - Strife, Famine and Death. Together the fate of the world will be in their hands. The Apocalypse is coming. And the only ones who can save the world, hold the power to destroy it.
Author: William Sutcliffe
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471120244
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 149
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Book Description
"Writing that is as light on its feet as a human cannonball… what really sets it apart is the easy humour, cameos (Granny and Fizzer the dog) and the postmodern footnotes that might flop in different hands, but instead lift the book into classic status. Bring on the next act!" The Times, Children's Book of the Week "One of the best children's books I've read in ages" Wondrous Reads "Sutcliffe is a natural storyteller who gets you laughing from page one" Moontrug "Delightfully funny… definitely up there as one of the best" BooksforBoys Roll up, roll up! The circus comes to town in this hilariously wacky adventure from bestselling author William Sutcliffe. Hannah's life is boring, boring, boring! Then Armitage Shank's Impossible Circus comes to town and Hannah's world is turned on its head when she meets Billy Shanks, his astonishing camel, Narcissus, and a host of other bizarrely brilliant members of the circus. But all is not as it seems; Armitage Shank, evil ringmaster and Billy's surrogate father, has a dastardly plan that could end in catastrophe for Hannah's dull little village and it's up to Hannah and Billy to stop his stinking scheme before it's too late… Full of fun, adventure and wacky characters, William Sutcliffe's debut children's novel - brought to life by the energetic illustrations of David Tazzyman - is a must for fans of Andy Stanton, David Walliams and Roald Dahl.
Author: Brian M. Fagan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781862077515
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A fascinating look at how climate has challenged and shaped human history, from the Ice Age to the Medieval era, to the uncertain future.
Author: Robert Edward Norton
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801433542
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 888
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Book Description
Stefan George (1868-1933) was one of the most important and influential poets to have written in German. In this first full biography of George to apear in any language, Robert E. Norton traces the poet's life and rise to fame.
Author: Michael Harrison
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192741288
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 80
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Book Description
Follows the adventures of the inhabitants of Asgord, their magic weapons and their battles with their enemies.
Author: Clare West
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780194228374
Category : Readers
Languages : en
Pages : 123
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Book Description
A school reader for secondary pupils, in the OXFORD BOOKWORMS. BLACK SERIES STAGE 6. This new series offers students at all levels the opportunity to extend their reading and appreciation of English.
Author: James Kennedy
Publisher: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0375848991
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 418
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Book Description
JO LAROUCHE HAS lived her 13 years in the California desert with her Aunt Lily, ever since she was dropped on Lily’s doorstep with this note: This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a dangerous baby. At Lily’s annual Christmas costume party, a variety of strange events take place that lead Jo and Lily out of California forever—and into the mysterious, strange, fantastical world of Eldritch City. There, Jo learns the scandalous truth about who she is, and she and Lily join the Order of Odd-Fish, a collection of knights who research useless information. Glamorous cockroach butlers, pointless quests, obsolete weapons, and bizarre festivals fill their days, but two villains are controlling their fate. Jo is inching closer and closer to the day when her destiny is fulfilled, and no one in Eldritch City will ever be the same.
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 1783785535
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Roses, pleasure and politics: a fresh take on Orwell as an avid gardener, whose political writing was grounded in his passion for the natural world. 'I loved this book... An exhilarating romp through Orwell's life and times' Margaret Atwood 'Expansive and thought-provoking' Independent Outside my work the thing I care most about is gardening - George Orwell Inspired by her encounter with the surviving roses that Orwell is said to have planted in his cottage in Hertfordshire, Rebecca Solnit explores how his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, illuminates his other commitments as a writer and antifascist, and the intertwined politics of nature and power. Following his journey from the coal mines of England to taking up arms in the Spanish Civil War; from his prescient critique of Stalin to his analysis of the relationship between lies and authoritarianism, Solnit finds a more hopeful Orwell, whose love of nature pulses through his work and actions. And in her dialogue with the author, she makes fascinating forays into colonial legacies in the flower garden, discovers photographer Tina Modotti's roses, reveals Stalin's obsession with growing lemons in impossibly cold conditions, and exposes the brutal rose industry in Colombia. A fresh reading of a towering figure of the 20th century which finds solace and solutions for the political and environmental challenges we face today, Orwell's Roses is a remarkable reflection on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance. 'Luminous...It is efflorescent, a study that seeds and blooms, propagates thoughts, and tends to historical associations' New Statesman 'A genuinely extraordinary mind, whose curiosity, intelligence and willingness to learn seem unbounded' Irish Times
