We Americans love to have ourselves a big old time. It's not just our waistlines that have exploded outward since the post-WWII era. Our houses have grown larger, as have the appliances within them, the vehicles in their driveways, the income inequalities between ourselves and our neighbors, and the challenges we face on a rapidly warming planet. In his new book, Size: How It Explains the World, Dr. Vaclav Smil, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, takes readers on a multidiscipline tour of the social quirks, economic intricacies, and biological peculiarities that result from our function following our form.William MorrowFrom SIZE by Vaclav Smil. Copyright 2023 by Vaclav Smil. Reprinted courtesy of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.Modernity’s Infatuation With Larger SizesA single human lifetime will have witnessed many obvious examples of this trend in sizes. Motor vehicles are the planet’s most numerous heavy mobile objects. The world now has nearly 1.5 billion of them, and they have been getting larger: today’s bestselling pickup trucks and SUVs are easily twice or even three times heavier than Volkswagen’s Käfer, Fiat’s Topolino, or Citroën’s deux chevaux — family cars whose sales dominated the European market in the early 1950s.Sizes of homes, refrigerators, and TVs have followed the same trend, not only because of technical advances but because the post–Second World War sizes of national GDPs, so beloved by the... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-06-04 14:30:20 UTC ]
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HEROES CARRY SWORDS. Pale women with fine blonde hair are chosen for a special fate. Ugly sub-humans, often dark-skinned, offer diabolical bargains or, in an indistinguishable horde, hang out until the good guys stab them to death. Evildoers crave power, and the good reliably shrink from it.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-08-10 12:30:59 UTC ]
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Books are important to the texture of everyday life in Orange Is the New Black, which is based on a memoir ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-04 10:31:09 UTC ]
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Remember a few years ago when adults discovered coloring books and a wave of new pieces hailed them as a tool for mindfulness and dealing with anxiety? In a move both educational and depressingly efficient, this coloring book on climate change and renewable energy covers the topic that is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-26 15:06:44 UTC ]
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With token redemptions up three per cent year on year and sales of the £1 books topping seven figures, World Book Day 2019 has been hailed a success by its organisers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-08 08:19:01 UTC ]
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The Los Angeles Times Book Club is reading "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean. Here's an excerpt. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-19 10:00:08 UTC ]
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The Los Angeles Times Book Club is reading "The Library Book" by Susan Orlean. Here’s an excerpt. The opposite of a sensory-deprivation tank might be to spend a Monday morning in the library’s InfoNow Department. The phone rings with that weird blooping electronic tone all day long, and the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-06-19 10:00:00 UTC ]
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African publishers should publish more books in indigenous languages to stop their disappearance and to increase the awareness of African writers in their own countries, the celebrated Kenyan writer and activist Ngugi wa Thing’o told delegates at the second International Publishers Association... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-13 23:53:47 UTC ]
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Michael Wolff's sequel to his blockbuster book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," which became a runaway bestseller when it was released last January, will hit bookstore shelves next month, publisher Henry Holt & Co. said in a surprise announcement Wednesday. Wolff's latest,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-05-15 16:35:00 UTC ]
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W H Smith has revealed plans to refit its post office stores with a bigger emphasis on books. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Andersen Press will publish “the first Brexit picture book”, Smriti Prasadam-Halls and illustrator Robert Starling’s The Little Island. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bath-based travel publisher Wild Things Publishing has won the inaugural British Book Awards Small Press of the Year, announced at the London Book Fair, and sponsored by the CPI Group. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Brexit remains a source of uncertainty for all British publishers, but it has already negatively impacted the academic publishing sector in the U.K. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As France's international publishing agency struggles to get its collective stand and books to London in time, the UK's French Institute plans more shows of solidarité in the British capital. The post France’s BIEF Hit by London Book Fair Transit Delays in Calais’ Brexit Protests appeared first... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The publishing industry might have to think back to Harry Potter’s heyday for a book that has garnered as much attention as the former first lady’s has. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2018-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jenny Han's 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before' knocks Kevin Kwan's 'Crazy Rich Asians' down to #2 following the lauded release last week of its Netflix adaptation. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-08-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House UK has confirmed it is embarking on a "Stranger Things" book programme with Netflix and will release two titles in autumn 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House and Netflix are teaming up in an effort to take book fans to the Upside Down. “Stranger Things” will be moving from the small screen to the page when the publisher and the entertainment company roll out a number of books based on the hit science fiction series, Deadline... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House imprint Century is to publish two new books from astronaut Tim Peake and The European Space Agency this autumn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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3. The 'pee-tape' stuff is back, biglyThe Washington Post also got an advance copy of the book. Rather than review it, the Post's White House Bureau Chief Philip Rucker sums it up in a story titled "James Comey's memoir: Trump fixates on proving lewd dossier allegations false." Rucker... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2018-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Man-bear love in Saddam Hussein's romance novel, Vladimir Putin's judo manual, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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