The Earth, James Lovelock proposes, behaves as if it were a superorganism, made up from all the living things and from their material environment. When he first sketched out his brilliant Gaia theory in the 1970s, people around the world embraced it; within a short time Gaia has moved from the margins of scientific research to the mainstream. James Lovelock argues that such thi...(展开全部)

Lovelock presents the theory that the earth is a living organism and draws expertly from chemistry, biology, geology, paleontology, physics, and meteorology that life has evolved not just by adapting to its surroundings but by taking control of them and remaking them into an immense life-sustaining organism.

Our sun is one star among 50 billion in the galaxy. Our galaxy is only one among 50 billion in the universe. With a vastness this incomprehensible, it is easy to feel like we are mere specks of sand on an endless shore. But our sun is special. Though roughly 150 million kilometers separate us, we could not be more connected. Literally, everything you see comes from the sun. The...(展开全部)

Most people in the West know very little about the prophet Muhammad. The acclaimed religious writer Karen Armstrong has written a biography which will give us a more accurate and profound understanding of Islam and the people who adhere to it so strongly. Muhammad also offers challenging comparisons with the two religions most closely related to it - Judaism and Christianity. '...(展开全部)

The pixel as the organizing principle of all pictures, from cave paintings to Toy Story. The Great Digital Convergence of all media types into one universal digital medium occurred, with little fanfare, at the recent turn of the millennium. The bit became the universal medium, and the pixel—a particular packaging of bits—conquered the world. Henceforward, nearly every picture i...(展开全部)

Exodus is the second book of the Hebrew Bible, but it may rank first in lasting cultural importance. It is here that the classic biblical themes of oppression and redemption, of human enslavement and divine salvation, are most dramatically expressed. Joel Baden tells the story of this influential and enduring book, tracing how its famous account of the Israelites’ journey to th...(展开全部)

克里斯托弗·希伯特（Christopher Hibbert，1924—2008），出生于英国莱斯特郡，毕业于牛津大学拉德利和奥里尔学院。二战期间他在伦敦爱尔兰步枪团任步兵军官，曾两次负伤，并于1945年获得军功十字勋章。普拉姆教授（J. H. Plumb）称其为“能力极高的作家”，《新政治家》称其为“传记作者中的明珠”。他是一位久负盛名的通俗历史学家。 其作品以治学严谨著称，包括《拉格伦王的灭亡》（The Destruction of Lord Raglan，荣获1962年海涅曼文学奖）、《温莎宫廷》（The Court at Windsor）、《查尔斯·狄更斯成名之路》（The Making of Charles Dickens）、《猛龙觉醒：1793—1911年的中国与西方》（The Dragon Wakes: China and the Wes...(展开全部)

This beautifully written, informative study is a portrait, a history and a superb guide book, capturing fully the seductive beauty and the many layered past of the Eternal City. It covers 3,000 years of history from the city's quasi-mythical origins, through the Etruscan kings, the opulent glory of classical Rome, the decadence and decay of the Middle Ages and the beauty and co...(展开全部)

Ever since her triumphant debut in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath, arguably the first ordinary and recognizably real woman in English literature, has obsessed readers—from Shakespeare to James Joyce, Voltaire to Pasolini, Dryden to Zadie Smith. Few literary characters have led such colourful lives or matched her influence or capacity for reinvention in poetry, dra...(展开全部)

This beautifully written, informative study is a portrait, a history and a superb guide book, capturing fully the seductive beauty and the many layered past of the Eternal City. It covers 3,000 years of history from the city's quasi-mythical origins, through the Etruscan kings, the opulent glory of classical Rome, the decadence and decay of the Middle Ages and the beauty and co...(展开全部)