Once and Future Giants
Once and Future Giants

Author: Sharon Levy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-03-22

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 0199831548

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Until about 13,000 years ago, North America was home to a menagerie of massive mammals. Mammoths, camels, and lions walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago's streets. Then, just as the first humans reached the Americas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever. In Once and Future Giants, science writer Sharon Levy digs through the evidence surrounding Pleistocene large animal ("megafauna") extinction events worldwide, showing that understanding this history--and our part in it--is crucial for protecting the elephants, polar bears, and other great creatures at risk today. These surviving relatives of the Ice Age beasts now face the threat of another great die-off, as our species usurps the planet's last wild places while driving a warming trend more extreme than any in mammalian history. Deftly navigating competing theories and emerging evidence, Once and Future Giants examines the extent of human influence on megafauna extinctions past and present, and explores innovative conservation efforts around the globe. The key to modern-day conservation, Levy suggests, may lie fossilized right under our feet.

Fall of Giants
Fall of Giants

Author: Ken Follett

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2011-08-30

Total Pages: 1010

ISBN-13: 1101543558

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Ken Follett’s magnificent historical epic begins as five interrelated families move through the momentous dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits. . . . An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House. . . . A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy. . . . And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution. From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again. . . .

Tech Giants, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Journalism
Tech Giants, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Journalism

Author: Jason Paul Whittaker

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-02-11

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1351013734

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This book examines the impact of the "Big Five" technology companies – Apple, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft – on journalism and the media industries. It looks at the current role of algorithms and artificial intelligence in curating how we consume media and their increasing influence on the production of the news. Exploring the changes that the technology industry and automation have made in the past decade to the production, distribution and consumption of news globally, the book considers what happens to journalism once it is produced and enters the media ecosystems of the internet tech giants – and the impact of social media and AI on such things as fake news in the post-truth age. The audience for this book are students and researchers working in the field of digital media, and journalism studies or media studies more generally. It will also be useful to those who are looking for extended case studies of the role taken by tech giants such as Facebook and Google in the fake news scandal, or the role of Jeff Bezos in transforming The Washington Post. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351013758, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Rhinoceros Giants
Rhinoceros Giants

Author: Donald R. Prothero

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2013-05-09

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 0253008190

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A book for everyone fascinated by the huge beasts that once roamed the earth, Rhinoceros Giants: The Paleobiology of the Indricotheres, introduces a prime candidate for the largest land mammal that ever lived - the giant hornless rhinoceros, Indricotherium. These massive animals lived in Asia and Eurasia for more than 14 million years, about 37 to 23 million years ago. They had skulls 2 metres long, stood over 7 meters at the shoulder, and were nearly twice as heavy as the largest elephant ever recorded, tipping the scales at 20,000 kg. Fortunately, the big brutes were vegetarians, although they must have made predators think twice before trying to bring them down. In this book for lovers of ancient creatures great and small, Donald R. Prothero tells their story, from their discovery by palaeontologists just a century ago to the latest research on how they lived and died, with some interesting side trips along the way.

Once & Future
Once & Future

Author: Amy Rose Capetta

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2019-03-26

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1786076551

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King Arthur as you’ve never seen her! This bold YA novel reimagines the Once and Future King as a queer teenage girl on an epic quest to save the universe. Coming to terms with your identity is always difficult. But for Ari, the 42nd reincarnation of King Arthur, it just got a whole lot more complicated. Gender-bending royalty, caustic wit and a galaxy-wide fight for peace and equality all collide in this epic adventure. With an awkward adolescent Merlin and a rusty spaceship, this is the Arthurian legend as you have never before seen it. ‘A rip-roaring, no holds-barred, gloriously queer reinvention of Arthurian legend.’ Malinda Lo, author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club ‘Utterly compelling, brilliantly witty, and delightfully queer.’ Simon James Green, author of Noah Can't Even

The Big 50: New York Giants
The Big 50: New York Giants

Author: Patricia Traina

Publisher: Triumph Books

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1641255412

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Longtime sportswriter Patricia Traina explores the living history of the team, counting down from number fifty to number one. This dynamic and comprehensive book brilliantly brings to life the historic franchise's remarkable story, including greats like Taylor, Strahan, Parcells, Manning, and more.

The Once & Future King
The Once & Future King

Author: T. H. White

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Published: 2015-10-13

Total Pages: 705

ISBN-13: 1551999145

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The definitive modern take on the timeless tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round table. The legends of King Arthur date back to medieval Europe, and have become some of the dominant myths of Western culture. In The Once & Future King, T. H. White reinvents the story for a modern audience. The novel starts by introducing the reader to a young Arthur – just a child, and far from the King he will become – as he is raised by the wizard Merlyn, and moves on to chronicle his rise to Kingship, the affair between Guinevere and Lancelot, and the eventual destruction of the round table. The first section, released independently as The Sword in the Stone, was adapted into an animated film by Walt Disney Pictures. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

Tracks and Shadows
Tracks and Shadows

Author: Harry W. Greene

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2013-10-28

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 0520956737

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Intellectually rich, intensely personal, and beautifully written, Tracks and Shadows is both an absorbing autobiography of a celebrated field biologist and a celebration of beauty in nature. Harry W. Greene, award-winning author of Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature, delves into the poetry of field biology, showing how nature eases our existential quandaries. More than a memoir, the book is about the wonder of snakes, the beauty of studying and understanding natural history, and the importance of sharing the love of nature with humanity. Greene begins with his youthful curiosity about the natural world and moves to his stints as a mortician's assistant, ambulance driver, and army medic. In detailing his academic career, he describes how his work led him to believe that nature’s most profound lessons lurk in hard-won details. He discusses the nuts and bolts of field research and teaching, contrasts the emotional impact of hot dry habitats with hot wet ones, imparts the basics of snake biology, and introduces the great explorers Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He reflects on friendship and happiness, tackles notions like anthropomorphism and wilderness, and argues that organisms remain the core of biology, science plays key roles in conservation, and natural history offers an enlightened form of contentment.

Giant Telescopes
Giant Telescopes

Author: W. Patrick McCray

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2006-04-30

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 0674019962

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Every night, astronomers use a new generation of giant telescopes at observatories around the world to study phenomena at the forefront of science. By focusing on the history of the Gemini ObservatoryÑtwin 8-meter telescopes located on mountain peaks in Hawaii and ChileÑGiant Telescopes tells the story behind the planning and construction of modern scientific tools, offering a detailed view of the technological and political transformation of astronomy in the postwar era. Drawing on interviews with participants and archival documents, W. Patrick McCray describes the ambitions and machinations of prominent astronomers, engineers, funding patrons, and politicians in their effort to construct a modern facility for cutting-edge scienceÑand to establish a model for international cooperation in the coming era of Òmegascience.Ó His account details the technological, institutional, cultural, and financial challenges that scientists faced while planning and building a new generation of giant telescopes. Besides exploring how and why scientists embraced the promise and potential of new technologies, he considers how these new tools affected what it means to be an astronomer. McCrayÕs book should interest anyone who desires a deeper understanding of the science, technology, and politics behind finding our place in the universe.