Praise for Alpha Beta "This book comes at the perfect moment as we rediscover the importance in early reading of cracking the alphabetic code. The story of how that code came into being is a fascinating one, and Man is the ideal writer to tell it." Times Educational Supplement "A richly absorbing exploration, from B.C. to PCs, of the evolution of the most fundamental characters...(展开全部)

Praise for Alpha Beta "This book comes at the perfect moment as we rediscover the importance in early reading of cracking the alphabetic code. The story of how that code came into being is a fascinating one, and Man is the ideal writer to tell it." Times Educational Supplement "A richly absorbing exploration, from B.C. to PCs, of the evolution of the most fundamental characters...(展开全部)

John Man follows the trail of the alphabet from its origins in Ancient Egypt to its present form, and considers how it shaped the western world. The idea behind the alphabet — that language with all its wealth of meaning can be recorded with a few meaningless signs — is an extraordinary one. So extraordinary, in fact, that it has occurred only once in human history: in Egypt a...(展开全部)

John Man follows the trail of the alphabet from its origins in Ancient Egypt to its present form, and considers how it shaped the western world. The idea behind the alphabet — that language with all its wealth of meaning can be recorded with a few meaningless signs — is an extraordinary one. So extraordinary, in fact, that it has occurred only once in human history: in Egypt a...(展开全部)

Chronicles the history of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the present day, critically analyzing the influence of trade and globalization--as well as the resulting exchange of intellectual ideas--on human...

Acclaimed by readers and critics around the globe, A Splendid Exchange is a sweeping narrative history of world tradefrom Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. to the firestorm over globalization todaythat brilliantly explores trade’s colorful and contentious past and provides new insights into its future.

Acclaimed by readers and critics around the globe, A Splendid Exchange is a sweeping narrative history of world tradefrom Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. to the firestorm over globalization todaythat brilliantly explores trade’s colorful and contentious past and provides new insights into its future.

Chronicles the history of global commerce from its prehistoric origins to the present day, critically analyzing the influence of trade and globalization--as well as the resulting exchange of intellectual ideas--on human...

给莉莉的信”由三十封给外孙女莉莉的信组成。 从追问人是谁， 人所由何来， 人的种族国家等问题开始， 接着探讨人的爱和友谊， 人类的暴力和恐惧， 知识和信仰， 权力和秩序， 自我与他人， 生与死， 身心关系等基本问题。 文字生动浅白。 麦克法兰没有把人类作为“万物的灵长， 宇宙的精华”一味赞颂。 而是认为“人类是悖论的化身， 是矛盾的集成”。 作者写到： 人类真是莫名奇妙啊。 他们明明只是动物， 却自以为是别具一格。 他们拿不定主意， 到底该看重自己的精神还是肉体。他们也不能决定， 到底应该看重自己的感官还是思想。 他们自视不朽， 而终于要死亡。 他们聪明绝顶， 然而这份智慧只不过把他们引向愚行和无礼取闹。 他们自称是真理的唯一判官， 却在谎言中度日。 他们不乏仁爱之心， 却不惜光阴彼此仇恨， 互相损害。 他们有能力创造伟大的艺术， 却把世界弄得丑陋而...(展开全部)

In a frank and unpretentious series of letters addressed to a teenage granddaughter, this highly original book teaches us to know and understand the world we live in and its rules, and how to behave in it. In these thirty letters, Alan Macfarlane answers his granddaughter's questions about how the world works, how it got to be as it is, what it could be, and where she fits in. ...(展开全部)