Author: Brenda Maddox File Type: epub A rich and exuberant group biography of the first geologists, the people who were first to excavate from the layers of the world its buried history. These first geologists were made up primarily, and inevitably, of gentlemen with the necessary wealth to support their interests, yet boosting their numbers, expanding their learning and increasing their findings were clergymen, academics - and women. This lively and eclectic collection of characters brought passion, eccentricity and towering intellect to geology and Brenda Maddox in Reading the Rocks does them full justice, bringing them to vivid life. The new science of geology was pursued by this assorted band because it opened a window on Earths ancient past. They showed great courage in facing the conflict between geology and Genesis that immediately presented itself for the rocks and fossils being dug up showed that the Earth was immeasurably old, rather than springing from a creation made in the six days that the Bible claimed. It is no coincidence that Charles Darwin was a keen geologist. The individual stories of these first geologists, their hope and fears, triumphs and disappointments, the theological, philosophical and scientific debates their findings provoked, and the way that as a group, they were to change irrevocably and dramatically our understanding of the world is told by Brenda Maddox with a storytellers skill and a fellow scientists understanding. The effect is absorbing, revelatory and strikingly original. **

Author: Xuetong Yan File Type: pdf A leading foreign policy thinker uses Chinese political theory to explain why some powers rise as others decline and what this means for the international order While work in international relations has closely examined the decline of great powers, not much attention has been paid to the question of their rise. The upward trajectory of China is a particularly puzzling case. How has it grown increasingly important in the world arena while lagging behind the United States and its allies across certain sectors? Borrowing ideas of political determinism from ancient Chinese philosophers, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers explains Chinas expanding influence by presenting a moral-realist theory that attributes the rise and fall of nations to political leadership. Yan Xuetong shows that the stronger a rising states political leadership, the more likely it is to displace a prevailing state in the international system. Yan defines political leadership through the lens of morality, specifically the ability of a government to fulfill its domestic responsibility and maintain international strategic credibility. Examining leadership at the personal, national, and international levels, Yan shows how rising states like China transform the international order by reshaping power distribution and norms. Yan also considers the reasons for Americas diminishing international stature even as its economy, education system, military, political institutions, and technology hold steady. The polarization of China and the United States will not result in another Cold War scenario, but their mutual distrust will ultimately drive the world center from Europe to East Asia. Using the lens of classical Chinese political theory, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers offers a provocative, alternative perspective on the changing dominance of nations on the global stage. **Review In Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers, Yan Xuetong draws insights from Chinese history and philosophy to challenge international relations scholarship. Yan offers a powerful vision of a new bipolar world whose stability depends not on material power or norms, but on the quality of leadership exercised by China and the United States. A thoughtful and provocative book.--Amitav Acharya, American University, Washington, DC Yan Xuetong has been prominent in rethinking realist international relations theory in the light of classical Chinese political philosophy. In this important new book, he shows us what realist theory and world history look like from a Chinese perspective. A welcome and often challenging corrective to Eurocentric orthodoxies. There is nothing like this book on the market.--Barry Buzan, emeritus professor, London School of Economics This fascinating book represents the current thinking of an influential figure on some of the pressing questions of international politics.--Jonathan Kirshner, author of American Power after the Financial Crisis The rise and fall of hegemons, Yan Xuetong argues, is based not only on their power but also on the quality of their leadership. This compelling book advances key debates about the rise and decline of great powers, the nature and impact of soft power, and the crisis of liberalism.--Jennifer Lind, Dartmouth College In this riveting account of the rise and decline of global leadership, Yan Xuetong engages classical realism and Chinese philosophy to formulate a theory of moral realism. He applies this theory to the rise of China and the decline of the United States in a new bipolar world order without global leadership. A compelling contribution for understanding the current transformations of the international system.--Thomas Risse, Freie Universitat Berlin In this thought-provoking book, Yan Xuetong proposes a Chinese theory of international relations that enriches realist literature and international relations theory. His distinct take has clear policy relevance and will generate much controversy and debate among scholars inside and outside of China. Offering insights not often found in the Western literature, this work will be widely read and cited.--Feng Zhang, Australian National University About the Author Yan Xuetong is professor of political science and dean of the Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing. His many books include Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power (Princeton).

Author: Glenda Dawn Goss File Type: pdf One of the twentieth centurys greatest composers, Jean Sibelius (18651957) virtually stopped writing music during the last thirty years of his life. Recasting his mysterious musical silence and his undeniably influential life against the backdrop of Finlands national awakening, Sibelius will be the definitive biography of this creative legend for many years to come. Glenda Dawn Goss begins her sweeping narrative in the Finland of Sibeliuss youth, which remained under Russian control for the first five decades of his life. Focusing on previously unexamined events, Goss explores the composers formative experiences as a Russian subject and a member of the Swedish-speaking Finnish minority. She goes on to trace Sibeliuss relationships with his creative contemporaries, with whom he worked to usher in a golden age of music and art that would endow Finns with a sense of pride in their heritage and encourage their hopes for the possibilities of nationhood. Skillfully evoking this artistic climatein which Sibelius emerged as a leaderGoss creates a dazzling portrait of the painting, sculpture, literature, and music it inspired. To solve the deepest riddles of Sibeliuss life, work, and enigmatic silence, Goss contends, we must understand the awakening in which he played so great a role. Situating this national creative tide in the context of Nordic and European cultural currents, Sibelius dramatically deepens our knowledge of a misunderstood musical giant and an important chapter in the intellectual history of Europe.

Author: Ingrid Adriaans File Type: epub p itemprop=description Ingrid Adriaans had een droom. Ooit wilde ze een boot bouwen en daarmee een zeilzwerftocht rond de wereld maken. Haar droom maakte ze waar. Ze bouwde samen met haar man Marcel begin jaren negentig een stalen zeiljacht. In 1991 gooiden ze de trossen los en zeilden ze de horizon voorbij, het avontuur tegemoet.. Recencie(s) Schitterend reisverslag van een wereldreis per zeilboot. De auteur en haar partner hebben in eerste instantie het plan opgevat om in hun - zelf afgebouwde zeilschip - een paar jaar de wereldzeeen te verkennen. Het wordt een wereldreis en ontdekkingstocht die hen over bijna alle zeeen zal brengen. De reis duurt uiteindelijk vijf jaar. De vorm is zeer gedetailleerd - zelfs zeilers kunnen er hier en daar nog wat van opsteken - en om de pagina voorzien van kleine, grappige, zwart-witillustraties en landkaarten. In het middenkatern zijn kleurenfotos opgenomen. De reis gaat vanaf het vertrek in juni 1991 naar Zuid-Amerika, naar Oceanie, Australie en Indonesie, via Zuid-Oost-Azie naar Japan, van Japan naar Lake Victoria (Amerikaanse westkust) via New York en de Azoren terug naar huis (1995). Er worden onderweg heel wat speciale plekjes aangedaan. Wat bovendien curieus is, is dat de noordelijke route tussen Canada en de Verenigde Staten als traject richting thuishaven wordt gekozen. Naast de onoverkomelijke ontberingen staan de pracht van de natuur en het water (de idylle) en het krijgen van dochter Maartje centraal. Voor wat betreft anekdotes en historisch achtergronden van bezochte plekken, komen er heel wat leuke, soms nieuwe feiten in voor.A. Meeusen (source Bol.com)