Science Fiction A Guide For The Perplexed

Author : Sherryl Vint
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1441119604
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Science Fiction: A Guide for the Perplexed written by Sherryl Vint and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-03-13 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its beginnings in the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne to the virtual worlds of William Gibson's Neuromancer and The Matrix, Science Fiction: A Guide to the Perplexed helps students navigate the often perplexing worlds of a perennially popular genre. Drawing on literature as well as example from film and television, the book explores the different answers that criticism has offered to the vexed question, 'what is science fiction?' Each chapter of the book includes case studies of key texts, annotated guides to further reading and suggestions for class discussion to help students master the full range of contemporary critical approaches to the field, including the scientific, technological and political contexts in which the genre has flourished. Ranging from an understanding of the genre through the stereotypes of 1930s pulps through more recent claims that we are living in a science fictional moment, this volume will provide a comprehensive overview of this diverse and fascinating genre.

Author : Sherryl Vint
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262539993
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Science Fiction written by Sherryl Vint and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How science fiction has been a tool for understanding and living through rapid technological change. The world today seems to be slipping into a science fiction future. We have phones that speak to us, cars that drive themselves, and connected devices that communicate with each other in languages we don't understand. Depending the news of the day, we inhabit either a technological utopia or Brave New World nightmare. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge surveys the uses of science fiction. It focuses on what is at the core of all definitions of science fiction: a vision of the world made otherwise and what possibilities might flow from such otherness.

Author : E. F. Schumacher
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0060906111
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED written by E. F. Schumacher and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1978-05-31 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the world wide best-seller, Small Is Beautiful, now tackles the subject of Man, the World, and the Meaning of Living. Schumacher writes about man's relation to the world. man has obligations -- to other men, to the earth, to progress and technology, but most importantly himself. If man can fulfill these obligations, then and only then can he enjoy a real relationship with the world, then and only then can he know the meaning of living. Schumacher says we need maps: a "map of knowledge" and a "map of living." The concern of the mapmaker--in this instance, Schumacher--is to find for everything it's proper place. Things out of place tend to get lost; they become invisible and there proper places end to be filled by other things that ought not be there at all and therefore serve to mislead. A Guide for the Perplexed teaches us to be our own map makers. This constantly surprising, always stimulating book will be welcomed by a large audience, including the many new fans who believe strongly in what Schumacher has to say.

Author : Sherryl Vint
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1441102817
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Science Fiction: A Guide for the Perplexed written by Sherryl Vint and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-03-13 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its beginnings in the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne to the virtual worlds of William Gibson's Neuromancer and The Matrix, Science Fiction: A Guide to the Perplexed helps students navigate the often perplexing worlds of a perennially popular genre. Drawing on literature as well as example from film and television, the book explores the different answers that criticism has offered to the vexed question, 'what is science fiction?' Each chapter of the book includes case studies of key texts, annotated guides to further reading and suggestions for class discussion to help students master the full range of contemporary critical approaches to the field, including the scientific, technological and political contexts in which the genre has flourished. Ranging from an understanding of the genre through the stereotypes of 1930s pulps through more recent claims that we are living in a science fictional moment, this volume will provide a comprehensive overview of this diverse and fascinating genre.

Author : Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1441188975
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed written by Wouter J. Hanegraaff and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-02-14 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western esotericism has been a pervasive presence in Western culture from late antiquity to the present day, but until recently it was largely ignored by scholars and surrounded by misconceptions and prejudice. This accessible guide provides readers with the basic knowledge and tools that will allow them to find their way in this bewildering but fascinating field. What is it that unites phenomena as diverse as ancient gnosticism and hermetism, the "occult sciences" of astrology, alchemy, and magic, rosicrucianism, as well as Christian theosophy, occultism, spiritualism, and the contemporary New Age spiritualities? What can the study of them teach us about our common cultural and intellectual heritage, and what is it that makes them relevant to contemporary concerns? How do we distinguish reliable historical knowledge from legends and fictions about esoteric traditions? These and many other questions are answered clearly and succinctly, so that the reader can find his way into the labyrinth of Western esotericism and out of it again.

Author : Sherryl Vint
Publisher : Liverpool University Press
ISBN 13 : 1846312345
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Animal Alterity written by Sherryl Vint and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animal Alterity uses readings of science fiction texts to explore how animals are central to our perception of humanity. Arguing that the academic field of animal studies and the popular genre of science fiction share a number a critical concerns, Sherryl Vint expresses an urgent need to reconsider the human-animal boundary in a world of genetic engineering, factory farming, species extinctions, and increasing evidence of animal intelligence, emotions, and tool use. Mapping the complex terrain of human relations with non-human animals, this book offers an important intervention into the contentious ongoing discussions of the post-human.

Author : Lawrence M. Krauss
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 0465007139
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fear of Physics written by Lawrence M. Krauss and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-07-30 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Assume the cow is a sphere." So begins this lively, irreverent, and informative look at everything from the physics of boiling water to cutting-edge research at the observable limits of the universe. Rich with anecdotes and accessible examples, Fear of Physics nimbly ranges over the tools and thought behind the world of modern physics, taking the mystery out of what is essentially a very human intellectual endeavour.

Author : Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226493245
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Buddhism and Science written by Donald S. Lopez Jr. and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, both Buddhists and admirers of Buddhism have proclaimed the compatibility of Buddhism and science. Their assertions have ranged from modest claims about the efficacy of meditation for mental health to grander declarations that the Buddha himself anticipated the theories of relativity, quantum physics and the big bang more than two millennia ago. In Buddhism and Science, Donald S. Lopez Jr. is less interested in evaluating the accuracy of such claims than in exploring how and why these two seemingly disparate modes of understanding the inner and outer universe have been so persistently linked. Lopez opens with an account of the rise and fall of Mount Meru, the great peak that stands at the center of the flat earth of Buddhist cosmography—and which was interpreted anew once it proved incompatible with modern geography. From there, he analyzes the way in which Buddhist concepts of spiritual nobility were enlisted to support the notorious science of race in the nineteenth century. Bringing the story to the present, Lopez explores the Dalai Lama’s interest in scientific discoveries, as well as the implications of research on meditation for neuroscience. Lopez argues that by presenting an ancient Asian tradition as compatible with—and even anticipating—scientific discoveries, European enthusiasts and Asian elites have sidestepped the debates on the relevance of religion in the modern world that began in the nineteenth century and still flare today. As new discoveries continue to reshape our understanding of mind and matter, Buddhism and Science will be indispensable reading for those fascinated by religion, science, and their often vexed relation.

Author : John Collins
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1441190090
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed written by John Collins and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2008-07-14 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth-century. His work in linguistics, philosophy and political theory has spanned six decades, and has been met with critical acclaim and controversy in equal measure. This book is an introduction to Chomsky's theoretical writings, but also a critical engagement with his work. Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed covers every aspect of Chomsky's thought, from transformational grammar to political dissent. John Collins shows how Chomsky's linguistic theory, philosophy and politics are all connected, and by so doing helps the reader to understand this key thinker's massive contribution to twentieth-century thought. The book examines: the different faces of NoamChomsky; transformational grammar; Chomsky's opposition to behaviorism; government and binding theory; the minimalist program; and libertarian socialism.

Author : Clare Carlisle
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 9780826486103
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.0X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Kierkegaard: A Guide for the Perplexed written by Clare Carlisle and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kierkegaard is an important literary and religious figure, as well a major philosopher whom students may have a difficult time comprehending- this guide provides a clear and concise understanding of his work