Trust in Numbers
Trust in Numbers

Author: Theodore M. Porter

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-08-18

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0691210543

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A foundational work on historical and social studies of quantification What accounts for the prestige of quantitative methods? The usual answer is that quantification is desirable in social investigation as a result of its successes in science. Trust in Numbers questions whether such success in the study of stars, molecules, or cells should be an attractive model for research on human societies, and examines why the natural sciences are highly quantitative in the first place. Theodore Porter argues that a better understanding of the attractions of quantification in business, government, and social research brings a fresh perspective to its role in psychology, physics, and medicine. Quantitative rigor is not inherent in science but arises from political and social pressures, and objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts. In a new preface, the author sheds light on the current infatuation with quantitative methods, particularly at the intersection of science and bureaucracy.

The Namesake
The Namesake

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

Publisher: Fourth Estate

Published: 2023-04-13

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780008609986

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The incredible bestselling first novel from Pulitzer Prize- winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri. 'The kind of writer who makes you want to grab the next person and say "Read this!"' Amy Tan 'When her grandmother learned of Ashima's pregnancy, she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family's first sahib. And so Ashima and Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes...' For now, the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI. But as time passes and still no letter arrives from India, American bureaucracy takes over and demands that 'baby boy Ganguli' be given a name. In a panic, his father decides to nickname him 'Gogol' - after his favourite writer. Brought up as an Indian in suburban America, Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name, just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents. And so he sets off on his own path through life, a path strewn with conflicting loyalties, love and loss... Spanning three decades and crossing continents, Jhumpa Lahiri's debut novel is a triumph of humane story-telling. Elegant, subtle and moving, The Namesake is for everyone who loved the clarity, sympathy and grace of Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut story collection, Interpreter of Maladies.

X-rays for Archaeology
X-rays for Archaeology

Author: M. Uda

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2005-08-10

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781402035807

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The application of X-rays to objects of archaeology and insights into construction and chemical composition in a non-destructive manner date back to the discovery of radiation. This book contains measurement data taken with portable XRF and XRD, and data taken with accelerating ion beams and synchrotron radiations, and with their explanation.

Dosso's Fate
Dosso's Fate

Author: Dosso Dossi

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9780892365050

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Dosso Dossi has long been considered one of Renaissance Italy's most intriguing artists. Although a wealth of documents chronicles his life, he remains, in many ways, an enigma, and his art continues to be as elusive as it is compelling. In Dosso's Fate, leading scholars from a wide range of disciplines examine the social, intellectual, and historical contexts of his art, focusing on the development of new genres of painting, questions of style and chronology, the influence of courtly culture, and the work of his collaborators, as well as his visual and literary sources and his painting technique. The result is an important and original contribution not only to literature on Dosso Dossi but also to the study of cultural history in early modern Italy.

Assembling the Tropics
Assembling the Tropics

Author: Hugh Cagle

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-09-06

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1107196639

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This book charts the convergence of science, culture, and politics across Portugal's empire, showing how a global geographical concept was born. In accessible, narrative prose, this book explores the unexpected forms that science took in the early modern world. It highlights little-known linkages between Asia and the Atlantic world.