In City Life, Witold Rybczynski, bestselling author of Now I Sit Me Down, looks at what we want from cities, how they have evolved, and what accounts for their unique identities. In this vivid description of everything from the early colonial settlements to the advent of the skyscraper to the changes wrought by the automobile, the telephone, the airplane, and telecommuting, Rybczynski reveals how our urban spaces have been shaped by the landscapes and lifestyles of the New World.

Negenenveertig brieven van de Nederlandse auteur (1848-1923) aan zijn collega (1845-1931) uit de periode 1873-1922

On the eve of June 30, Hong Kong was officially passed back to China. This event will mark what Willem van Kemenade sees as the start of an increasingly problematic -- and even dangerous -- reintegration of the old Chinese empire into a new world superpower. Since the early 1980s, investment money has been pouring into China from Hong Kong and trade has escalated at a rocket's pace. A few years later, the same pattern began between China and Taiwan. The combination of Hong Kong/Taiwan management, financial and export know-how with China's inexhaustible pool of cheap labor and land has enabled China in one decade to leap from an impoverished revolutionary state to a major international trading power. This economic boom, in conjunction with the violation of intellectual property rights, systematic tax fraud, and the corruption of the police force, has helped shape the "socialist market economy," China's third way -- and a new mix of old-fashioned Soviet Communism and East Asian capitalism.

The formal addition of Hong Kong will add to this mixture the democratic structures set in place by the British. And, as China moves to reclaim Taiwan (the process has already begun), it will be incorporating a rival Chinese sub-nation with a fully election-based political system and a powerful independence movement. Can such a reunified China resist the "spiritual pollution" of democratic values, human rights, and political freedom? Will it become the first depoliticized "corporatist superpower"? What are the prospects that reunification will be peaceful?

Van Kemenade's portrait of the true internal power structures of the three Chinas provides our clearest look yet at the fastest-rising new empire in the world today.

Alfabetisch op trefwoord geordende citaten uit interviews met de Nederlandse schrijver (1944- ).

Not so very long ago, some might have considered wood a material of the past, long since replaced by more modern components such as concrete and steel. The truth is radically different. Bolstered by new manufacturing techniques and ecological benefits, wood has seen a fabulous resurgence in contemporary construction.

This Bibliotheca Universalis edition explores how architects around the world have created and invented with this elementary material. Featuring follies, very large buildings, and ambitious urban renewal schemes, it celebrates the diverse deployment of wood by architects around the world. We see how wood can at once transform urban spaces, as in the Metropol Parasol in Seville by Jürgen Mayer H., and allow for sensitive interventions in natural environments, such as at the Termas Geométricas Hot Springs Complex in Pucón, Chile, by Germán del Sol.

True to all TASCHEN architecture titles, the book pays tribute to many emerging international talents as well as to such renowned figures as Tadao Ando and Renzo Piano. It celebrates each architect's vision and innovation, as well as investigating the techniques, trends, and principles that have informed their work with wood. It examines the computer-guided milling that has allowed for novel new forms, the responsible harvesting that allows wood to align with our environmental concerns, and, above all, wood's enduring appeal to our senses and psyche, comforting hectic modern lives with a sense of Arcadian simplicity.

About the series

Bibliotheca Universalis -- Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe!

Recently, the National Center for Victims of Crime reported annual figures showing 103,845 children were sexually abused, while in that same year there was a 20% increase in all rape incidents and a 33% increase in sexual assaults. Incarceration and therapy have not reduced the rates, points out this author. The rate of incarceration has increased, but incidence of sex crimes is not waning. Dobbert warns we must all play a vital role to reduce such crimes, by prevention. The seasoned forensic examiner enables us to see life through the sexual predator's eyes, to understand the motives and intentions of people with abnormal and uncontrollable desires. He argues we can create a safer world by removing the opportunity for such people to act on their ideas.

The author clearly explains disorders from exhibitionism to pedophilia, and presents scenes that illustrate precursor behaviors shown by people preparing to act on such disordered thinking. Also illustrated are stalking patterns common to mentally ill people who commit sexual assaults or lust murders, including the activities of Kenneth Bianci, the Hillside Strangler, and Jeffrey Dahmer, whose serial lust homicides horrified the world. Community activists, teachers, principals, police officers, prosecutors, social workers, and students of criminal justice, forensic psychology, and psychopathology will find this volume of interest.

Studie over de veranderende rol van de schoonheid in de klassieke en moderne kunst.

Interviews uit het tv-programma College Tour met mensen die tot de top behoren in hun vakgebied.

Beschouwingen over de Meestergraad

Zeven opstellen over postmodernisme in architectuur, literatuur, filosofie en beeldende kunst.

Graven en grafmonumenten van bekende personen uit heden en verleden. Met alfabetisch register.

Deel zes uit een serie kinder-kunstboeken. Biografie en achtergrond van de spiegel van Rembrandt, foto's van zijn vele zelfportretten en andere kunstwerken die hij in de zeventiende eeuw gemaakt heeft . Met fotoverantwoording.

Kennismaking met de Spaanse schilder Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), die surrealistische schilderijen maakte. Met kleurenfoto's. Vanaf ca. 11 jaar.

Paul van Loon is bezig met zijn nieuwe boek over Jeroen Bosch als hij naar Den Bosch gelokt wordt en via een put terecht komt in de wereld die Jeroen Bosch schilderde. Met veel gekleurde illustraties. Vanaf ca. 11 jaar.

Philip Freriks vertelt op meeslepende wijze het verhaal van de impressionisten, de schilders van Parijs. Hij neemt je mee naar Frankrijk, zijn lievelingsland. Philip Freriks woont al jaren in Parijs. Dagelijks loopt hij door de stad van de impresionisten, langs hun cafés en door de straten die zij schilderden. De schilders van Parijs is de ideale kennismaking voor een jong publiek om meer te weten te komen over het impressionisme, de kleurrijke kunststroming die in zijn tijd niet begrepen werd, maar tegenwoordig geliefd is bij een wereldwijd publiek.De kinder - kustboekenreeks is een initiatief van de Kunsthal Rotterdam en Waanders uitgevers en vormt een ideale kennismaking voor jong en oud met hoogtepunten uit de wereld van de schilderkunst.

Vanaf ca. 11 jaar.

Eeuwenlang hebben we de zee als een oppervlakte gezien. We gebruiken ze voor een reeks van menselijke activiteiten zoals varen, vissen en zwemmen. In de afgelopen decennia is onze perceptie van de oceanen drastisch veranderd. Samen vormen ze een gigantische oceanische ruimte, waarin de tijd de vierde dimensie is. De oceaan heeft een geheugen dat ons toelaat klimaatvoorspellingen te doen. En we staan nog maar aan het begin van deze veranderingen. Zeedieren als 'onderzoeker', onderwaterlandbouw, energie uit zee... het komt er allemaal aan.

In dit boek maken we twaalf wandelingen in de oceanische ruimte. De wandelingen vormen een drieluik. De eerste vijf gaan over het natuurlijk systeem. Dan volgt, vanuit een Europees perspectief, de kentering: de Portugezen en Spanjaarden gaan de wereld 'aan de overkant van de zee' verkennen. Zo gauw ze nieuwe werelden vinden, claimen ze die voor zichzelf. De andere wandelingen gaan over de gevolgen van al die ontdekkingen: walvisjacht, slavernij, diepzeemijnbouw en de visserijproblematiek.
Alle wandelingen kunnen ook op zichzelf worden afgelegd. Dat doen we in de natuur op het land immers ook. Maar één ding is zeker. Na deze twaalf wandelingen zult u anders denken over uzelf, uw activiteiten, uw leefwijze en de rol van de oceanische ruimte in uw leven.

To some, England has long represented tolerance, reason, and political moderation. To others, it is a moribund bastion of snobbery and outdated tradition. In this lively and diverting social history, noted author Ian Buruma, himself the son of Dutch immigrants to England, provides an incisive look at anglophilia--and anglophobia--over the last two centuries.

From passionate enthusiasts like Voltaire and Goethe, to exiles like Garibaldi and Herzen, to colorful England-bashers like Napoleon, Marx, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, Anglomania gives a sharply satirical account of Europe's sometimes comical, sometimes deadly prejudices, and explains why England's individuality and her relationship with Europe is still vitally important as we enter the twenty-first century.

Publikaties van het P.J. Meertens-Instituut  voor Dialectologie, Volkskunde en Naamkunde van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Deel 18.

A Global Introduction, with its international outlook and cultural diversity, represents a unique and complete learning resource for sociology students worldwide. Each chapter addresses a new change in society, and reveals how progress in society often comes at a price. This text has been fully updated to include the latest key debates, topics and data, and also highlights the importance of technology in contemporary social life.

Human beings have to make plans and strategize for the future. As the pace of our lives becomes faster and faster, we have to do so more often and more quickly. But are our predictions any good? Is there hope for improvement? In this book the author examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy, ever-increasing data. Many predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and uncertainty. We are wired to detect a signal, and we mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the prediction paradox: the more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, and the more we are willing to learn from our mistakes, the more we can turn information into knowledge and data into foresight. The author examines both successes and failures to determine what more accurate forecasters have in common. In keeping with his own aim to seek truth from data, he visits innovative forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. Even when their innovations are modest, we can learn from their methods. How can we train ourselves to think probabilistically, as they do? How can the insights of an eighteenth-century Englishman unlock the twenty-first-century challenges of global warming and terrorism? How can being smarter about the future help us make better decisions in the present?

In How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil offers a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilisation: reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines. Kurzweil explores how the brain functions, how the mind emerges from the brain, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence in addressing the world’s problems. He thoughtfully examines emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness and envisions the radical - arguably inevitable - future of our merging with the intelligent technology we are creating.

This is a masterly narrative history of the Seven Years War, in which the British decisively eliminated French power north of the Caribbean, and yet also managed to ignite the slow-burning fuse of the American Revolution.Fred Anderson observes how the war displaced native peoples from their previously central role in an American diplomatic system; how it gave American colonists their first encounters with real live Englishmen; and how Americans were consequently emboldened to rally against the men who were once their masters. Anderson offers a wholly engrossing account of the conflict, interweaving the stories of kings and officers with those of traders, Native Americans, and colonial peoples.

From Abraham to Saul Bellow, from Moses Maimonides to Woody Allen, from the Baal Shem Tov to Albert Einstein, this comprehensive dictionary of Jewish biographies provides a first point of entry into the fascinating richness of the Jewish heritage. Compiled with the assistance of a distinguished group of scholars, theDictionary of Jewish Biographyprovides a rapid reference to the biographies of almost 4000 Jewish men and women who, over the past four millennia, have contributed to the life, history, and study of Judaism in all its facets. Those profiled represent every walk of life and every area of accomplishment. Included are rabbinic scholars, key religious figures, spiritual leaders, founders of modern movements, major writers, Enlightenment figures, novelists, journalists, scientists, mystics, Israeli politicians, musicians, actors and actresses, film stars, famous rabbis, distinguished cantors, biblical figures, economists, architects, athletes, and radicals and heretics. Each entry is followed by a short bibliography. The book includes an extended Introduction, which explains the criteria for inclusion, and outlines the history of Israel and the Jewish diaspora. This dictionary will prove essential for general readers interested in the evolution of Judaism from ancient times to the present day, a perfect study aid for students and teachers. This panoramic bibliographic survey provides a unique guide to the leading figures of the past and present.