Edwin Hutchins combines his background as an anthropologist and an open ocean racing sailor and navigator in this account of how anthropological methods can be combined with cognitive theory to produce a new reading of cognitive science. His theoretical insights are grounded in an extended analysis of ship navigation—its computational basis, its historical roots, its social organization, and the details of its implementation in actual practice aboard large ships. The result is an unusual interdisciplinary approach to cognition in culturally constituted activities outside the laboratory—"in the wild." Hutchins examines a set of phenomena that have fallen in the cracks between the established disciplines of psychology and anthropology, bringing to light a new set of relationships between culture and cognition. The standard view is that culture affects the cognition of individuals. Hutchins argues instead that cultural activity systems have cognitive properties of their own that are different from the cognitive properties of the individuals who participate in them. Each action for bringing a large naval vessel into port, for example, is informed by culture: the navigation team can be seen as a cognitive and computational system. Introducing Navy life and work on the bridge, Hutchins makes a clear distinction between the cognitive properties of an individual and the cognitive properties of a system. In striking contrast to the usual laboratory tasks of research in cognitive science, he applies the principal metaphor of cognitive science—cognition as computation (adopting David Marr's paradigm)—to the navigation task. After comparing modern Western navigation with the method practiced in Micronesia, Hutchins explores the computational and cognitive properties of systems that are larger than an individual. He then turns to an analysis of learning or change in the organization of cognitive systems at several scales. Hutchins's conclusion illustrates the costs of ignoring the cultural nature of cognition, pointing to the ways in which contemporary cognitive science can be transformed by new meanings and interpretations. A Bradford Book
"Wild about Harry delivers on its promise to make the Truman Scholarship application process transparent to applicants and their advisors. Truman Scholars are widely known as energetic leaders from a variety of disciplines who have in common the desire to make a difference, to bring about sustainable positive change, and to serve the greater public good"--
Soon to be a DreamWorks movie, coming to theaters 9/27/24! Includes 8 pages of full color stills from the movie! Wall-E meets Hatchet in this #1 New York Times bestselling illustrated middle grade novel from Caldecott Honor winner Peter Brown Can a robot survive in the wilderness? When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is all alone on a remote, wild island. She has no idea how she got there or what her purpose is--but she knows she needs to survive. After battling a violent storm and escaping a vicious bear attack, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island's unwelcoming animal inhabitants. As Roz slowly befriends the animals, the island starts to feel like home--until, one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her. From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed novel about what happens when nature and technology collide.
For the twentieth-century naturalist and poet Loren Eiseley, the relationship between human beings and the natural world has become unnatural, divided by the era of modern technology. Loren Eiseley’s Writing across the Nature and Culture Divide analyses how the philosopher of science becomes a boundary crosser in time and space. Qianqian Cheng points to Eiseley’s method of uniting science and the humanities to reflect on human evolution and the past and future role of science with a visionary and poetic imagination. Seizing the connectedness of living beings, Eiseley, and now Cheng, makes us aware of the presence of nature even in daily urban life. Qianqian Cheng unveils Eiseley’s merits, showing the poet as a necessary voice in the urgent mission to make individuals realize their responsibility to respond ethically to the living world.
Marcy Norton tells a new history of the European colonization of the Americas, one that places wildlife and livestock at the center of the story. She reveals that it was, above all, the encounters between European and Native American beliefs about animal life that transformed societies on both sides of the Atlantic.
John Muir's 'Wilderness Essays, Environmental Studies, Memoirs & Letters' is a collection of the author's powerful writings that profoundly influenced the American conservation movement. Muir's lyrical prose beautifully describes his experiences in the American wilderness, showcasing the raw beauty and importance of nature. This illustrated edition captures Muir's passion for nature through detailed descriptions and vivid imagery, making it an essential read for those seeking to connect with the natural world. Muir's literary style weaves together personal reflections, scientific observations, and philosophical insights, creating a comprehensive account of his environmentalist beliefs. John Muir, known as the 'Father of the National Parks,' dedicated his life to preserving the wilderness and promoting environmental conservation. His extensive travels and close observations of nature inspired his writing, making him a prominent voice in the preservation of American landscapes. Muir's deep connection to the natural world is evident in his writings, reflecting his advocacy for the protection of wild spaces. I recommend 'Wilderness Essays, Environmental Studies, Memoirs & Letters' to readers interested in environmental literature and the history of conservation in America. Muir's timeless writings continue to resonate with audiences today, urging us to appreciate and protect our natural surroundings.
Omar Khayyam’s Secret: Hermeneutics of the Robaiyat in Quantum Sociological Imagination is a twelve-book series of which this book is the third volume, subtitled Khayyami Astronomy: How Omar Khayyam’s Newly Discovered True Birth Date Horoscope Reveals the Origins of His Pen Name and Independently Confirms His Authorship of the Robaiyat. Each book is independently readable, although it will be best understood as a part of the whole series. In the overall series, the transdisciplinary sociologist Mohammad H. Tamdgidi shares the results of his decades-long research on Omar Khayyam, the enigmatic 11th/12th centuries Persian Muslim sage, philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, physician, writer, and poet from Neyshabour, Iran, whose life and works still remain behind a veil of deep mystery. Tamdgidi’s purpose has been to find definitive answers to the many puzzles still surrounding Khayyam, especially regarding the existence, nature, and purpose of the Robaiyat in his life and works. To explore the questions posed, he advances a new hermeneutic method of textual analysis, informed by what he calls the quantum sociological imagination, to gather and study all the attributed philosophical, religious, scientific, and literary writings of Khayyam. Omar Khayyam’s true birth date horoscope, as newly discovered in this series, is comprised of a dazzling number of Air Triplicities sharing a vertex on a Sun-Mercury Cazimi point on the same Ascendant degree 18 of Gemini. Among other features, his Venus, Sextile with Moon, also plays a lifelong, secretively creative role to intentionally balance his chart. These features would not have escaped the attention of Omar Khayyam, a master astronomer and expert in matters astrological, no matter how much he embraced, doubted, or rejected astrological interpretations. In this third book of the series, conducting an in-depth hermeneutic analysis of Khayyam’s horoscope, Tamdgidi reports having discovered the origins of Khayyam’s pen name in his horoscope. The long-held myth that “Khayyam” was a parental name, even if true, in no way takes away from the new finding; it only adds to its intrigue. Tamdgidi’s hermeneutic analysis of Khayyam’s horoscope in intersection with extant Khayyami Robaiyat also leads him to discover an entirely neglected signature quatrain that he proves could not be from anyone but Khayyam, one that provides a reliably independent confirmation of his authorship of the Robaiyat. He also shows how another neglected quatrain reporting its poet to have aged to a hundred is from Khayyam. This means all the extant Khayyami quatrains are now in need of hermeneutic reevaluation. Tamdgidi’s further study of a sample of fifty Khayyami Robaiyat leads him to conclude that their poet definitively intended the poems to remain in veil, that they were considered to be a collection of interrelated quatrains and not sporadic separate quatrains written marginally in pastime, that they were meant to offer a life’s intellectual journey as in a “book of life,” that the poems’ critically nuanced engagement with astrology was not incidental but essential throughout the collection, and that, judging from the signature quatrain discovered, 1000 quatrains were intended to comprise the collection. Oddly it appears that, after all, “The Khayyam who stitched his tents of wisdom” was a trope that had its origins in Omar Khayyam’s horoscope heavens. CONTENTS About OKCIR—i Published to Date in the Series—ii About this Book—iv About the Author—viii Notes on Transliteration—xvii Acknowledgments—xix Preface to Book 3: Recap from Prior Books of the Series—1 Introduction to Book 3: The Hermeneutic Significance of Omar Khayyam’s Newly Discovered True Birth Date Horoscope—21 CHAPTER I—Was Omar Khayyam’s Birth Horoscope Intended Just to Offer a Birth Date or Was It an Astrological Bread Crumb?—31 CHAPTER II—Considering Both the Stated and the Silent Features of Omar Khayyam’s True Birth Date Horoscope—53 CHAPTER III—Features of Omar Khayyam’s Horoscope as a Whole Based on Astrological House and Other Definitions Traditionally Held in His Own Time—89 CHAPTER IV— Hermeneutically Interpreting Omar Khayyam’s Horoscope as a Whole: Discovering the Origins of His Pen Name—131 CHAPTER V—Discovering the Signature Robai of Omar Khayyam, Leading to An Independent and Final Confirmation of His Authorship of the Robaiyat—177 CHAPTER VI—The Case of A Second Signature Robai of Omar Khayyam, Reporting Its Author to Have Turned A Centenarian—215 CHAPTER VII—Tentatively Intersecting the Findings with a Few More Khayyami Quatrains—251 CHAPTER VIII— Khayyami Astronomy and the ‘Khayyami Code’: Hermeneutically Understanding Omar Khayyam’s Attitude Toward Astrology and His Own Horoscope—297 Conclusion to Book 3: Summary of Findings—317 Appendix: Transliteration System and Book 3 Glossary—337 Book 3 Cumulative Glossary of Transliterations—350 Book 3 References—357 Book 3 Index—361
