The recent financial crisis shook not only the global economy but also conventional wisdom about economic policy. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, policy makers reversed course and acted on an unprecedented scale. The policy response was remarkable both for its magnitude and for the variety of measures undertaken. This book examines both the major role central banks played in the crisis and the role they might play in preventing or preparing for future crises.

The contributors, central bankers from around the world, focus on monetary policy, the new area of macroprudential policy, and issues of exchange rates, capital flows, and banking and financial markets. They look at the experiences of both developed and emerging economies, considering why some, including Israel and Australia, suffered only mild effects while others--Ireland for example--plunged into severe financial crisis.

The American people are frustrated with their government-dismayed by a series of high-profile failures (Iraq, Katrina, the financial meltdown) that seems to just keep getting longer. Yet our nation has a proud history of great achievements: victory in World War II, our national highway system, welfare reform, the moon landing.

We need more successes like these to reclaim government's legacy of competence. In If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, William Eggers and John O Leary explain how to do it. The key? Understand-and avoid-the common pitfalls that trip up public-sector leaders during the journey from idea to results.

The authors identify pitfalls including:

-The Partial Map Trap: Fumbling handoffs throughout project execution

-The Tolstoy Syndrome: Seeing only the possibilities you want to see

-Design-Free Design: Designing policies for passage through the legislature, not for implementation

-The Overconfidence Trap: Creating unrealistic budgets and timelines

-The Complacency Trap: Failing to recognize that a program needs change

At a time of unprecedented challenges, this book, with its abundant examples and hands-on advice, is the essential guide to making our government work better. A must-read for every public official, this book will be of interest to anyone who cares about the future of democracy.

Reisverslagen in het voetspoor van enkele Franse schrijvers, gevolgd door een studie over kookkunst in de Franse literatuur (met recepten) en een inleiding tot de Franse erotische letteren.

Historisch-sociologische studies door de vooraanstaande socioloog (1897-1990).

Besprekingen van twintig sterrenkundige en natuurkundige vragen.

Geschiedenis van spionage-activiteiten en inlichtingenwerk tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Overzicht in foto's en tekst van de jaren zestig.

Documentatie in woord en beeld over de Duitse schildersgroep uit het begin van de 20e eeuw.

n.a.v.tentoonstelling  Caravaggio Auf den Spuren des Genies

Een meeslepende ontdekkingstocht langs de boomgrens waarin de effecten van klimaatverandering voelbaar worden. 'Onze bomen zijn aan het verdwijnen: een verschrikkelijk beeld. Dit boek is een evocatieve, wijze en krachtige ontdekkingstocht naar wat dat zal betekenen voor de mensheid.' - Jay Griffiths, auteur van 'A Sideways Look at Time' De afgelopen 50 jaar krimpen de noordelijke sneeuwbossen in een rap tempo. Hier worden de geologische effecten van klimaatverandering voor het eerst pijnlijk zichtbaar. Ben Rawlence neemt ons mee langs die cruciale grenslijn - van Noorwegen naar Siberië, van Alaska tot Groenland - en combineert een reisverhaal met journalistiek en wetenschap. Hij portretteert 6 boomsoorten, hun mysterieuze werking op de lucht waar wij afhankelijk van zijn, en schetst een verontrustend toekomstbeeld. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie.

Historie en biologie alsmede economische achtergronden rond de overbevissing van de tonijn.

Inleidend overzicht van recente ontwikkelingen in de kosmologie.

Biografie van de Nederlandse schrijver Willem Frederik Hermans (1921-1995).

Bespreking van leven en werk van de bekende antroposoof, psychiater, en pedagoog.

Among all the forms of early humans, the Neandertals hold a special place in our imaginations. Thriving through the Ice Age rigors of Europe and western Asia for 150,000 years, they combined enormous physical strength with manifest intelligence. They could not lose. And then, somehow, they lost. The Neandertals disappeared some 35,000 years ago, just as a new kind of human made its gaudy entrance on the continent: Homo sapiens sapiens, the "double wise" species that left its handprints on the walls of caves and the mark of its mind everywhere on the globe. How did it happen? What part did the Neandertals play? Who were they, and what was their fate?

In this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating topics in modern science, acclaimed science writer Kitty Ferguson examines the discovery of black holes, their nature, and what they can teach us about the mysteries of the universe. In search of the answers, we trace a star from its birth to its death throes, take a hypothetical journey to the border of a black hole and beyond, spend time with some of the world's leading theoretical physicists and astronomers, and take a whimsical look at some of the wild ideas black holes have inspired. Prisons of Light--Black Holes is comprehensive and detailed. Yet Kitty Ferguson's lightness of touch and down-to-earth analogies set this book apart from all others on black holes and make it a wonderfully stimulating and entertaining read.

"All life in all worlds" -- this was the object of the author's seventeen-year quest for knowledge and discovery, culminating in this book. In a manner unmistakably his own, Murchie delves into the interconnectedness of all life on the planet and of such fields as biology, geology, sociology, mathematics, and physics. He offers us what the poet May Sarton has called "a good book to take to a desert island as sole companion, so rich is it in knowledge and insight".

Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941) is rightly regarded as one of the founders of modern anthropology. This volume is the author's own abridgement of his great work, and was first published in 1922. It offers the thesis that man progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought.

De geschiedenis van Nederland in de eerste decennia van de twintigste eeuw, toen op economisch, cultureel en sociaal-maatschappelijk terrein een sterke vooruitgang te zien was.

Bijdragen in proza, poëzie en beeldende kunst van vrienden van de Nederlandse letterkundige bij diens 70e verjaardag.

This concise biography is written with great wit and panache, but also has a serious purpose: to make us face up to the moral bankruptcy of Napoleon`s dictatorship. Johnson tells the whole story: his astonishing gift for figures and calculation, his mastery of cannon, his audacious, hyperactive and aggressive generalship and his simple battle tactics; his complete control of propaganda and the success of the cultural presentation of the Empire, the Code Napoleon, his failure as an international statesman, as Europe grew to hate him; his marshals and ministers; his wives, mistresses, personal style and working methods; the British blockade and the Continental System, the mistakes in Spain and Russia. The escape from Elba, the events leading up to Waterloo and the battle itself, which gets a full treatment, is particularly riveting.

Biografie van de Weense Alma Schindler (1879-1964), die achtereenvolgens getrouwd was met de componist Gustav Mahler, de architect Walter Gropius en de schrijver Franz Werfel.

Ervaringen van een oorlogsvrijwilliger in Indonesië in de periode december 1945-mei 1948.